Can I use "hacks" to override "New tab" page in Opera?

[Juraj M.]

As you may not know, Opera doesn't allow extensions to override New tab page:

This started already in 2018 when they deleted all extensions from their store that allowed it:
https://forums.opera.com/topic/30318/custom-new-tab-page-add-on-by-sanishmistry-is-gone

But ever since, I'm getting requests from users to "fix" this.

Would it be OK if I detected Opera and then when user enabled it in Options, I would use something like:

if (self.opr && USER_OPTIONS.USER_ALLOWED_OVERRIDE_NEW_TAB) {
  browser.tabs.onCreated.addListener(tab => {
    if (tab.url === 'chrome://startpageshared') {
      // ...
    }
  });
}

(actually, the option check would have to be moved down to the handler since this needs to run in the first event loop round when storage is not loaded yet)

[Roberto Oneto]

Hi Jurai,

If I can give you some advice, forget about adapting and developing extensions for Opera. It's a waste of time. There's no one on the other end of the line to listen to you. I've repeatedly reported major bugs without ever receiving a response.

Furthermore, there are people (like me) who have been waiting years for an extension to be updated.

[Juraj M.]

Thanks Roberto, that's actually also my experience :)

I have a feeling one of my extensions still waits for admin approval and it's been like 6 years :D.

But I don't plan to release the update to the Opera store, only to the Chrome Store, which Opera also supports.