Implement our own NavigationController

atom/browser/api/lib/navigation-controller.coffee

@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+# JavaScript implementation of Chromium's NavigationController.
+# Instead of relying on Chromium for history control, we compeletely do history
+# control on user land, and only rely on WebContents.loadUrl for navigation.
+# This helps us avoid Chromium's various optimizations so we can ensure renderer
+# process is restarted everytime.
+class NavigationController
+  constructor: (@webContents) ->
+    @history = []
+    @currentIndex = -1
+    @pendingIndex = -1
+
+    @webContents.on 'navigation-entry-commited', (event, url) =>
+      if @pendingIndex >= 0  # Go to index.
+        @currentIndex = @pendingIndex
+        @pendingIndex = -1
+        @history[@currentIndex] = url
+      else  # Normal navigation.
+        @history = @history.slice 0, @currentIndex + 1  # Clear history.
+        if @history[@currentIndex] isnt url
+          @currentIndex++
+          @history.push url
+
+  loadUrl: (url, options={}) ->
+    @pendingIndex = -1
+    @webContents._loadUrl url, options
+
+  getUrl: ->
+    if @currentIndex is -1
+      ''
+    else
+      @history[@currentIndex]
+
+  stop: ->
+    @pendingIndex = -1
+    @webContents._stop()
+
+  reload: ->
+    @pendingIndex = @currentIndex
+    @webContents._loadUrl @getUrl(), {}
+
+  reloadIgnoringCache: ->
+    @webContents._reloadIgnoringCache()  # Rely on WebContents to clear cache.
+    @reload()
+
+  canGoBack: ->
+    @currentIndex > 0
+
+  canGoForward: ->
+    @currentIndex < @history.length
+
+  canGoToIndex: (index) ->
+    index >=0 and index < @history.length
+
+  canGoToOffset: (offset) ->
+    @canGoToIndex @currentIndex + offset
+
+  goBack: ->
+    return unless @canGoBack()
+    @pendingIndex = @currentIndex - 1
+    @webContents._loadUrl @history[@pendingIndex], {}
+
+  goForward: ->
+    return unless @canGoForward()
+    @pendingIndex = @currentIndex + 1
+    @webContents._loadUrl @history[@pendingIndex], {}
+
+  goToIndex: (index) ->
+    return unless @canGoToIndex index
+    @pendingIndex = index
+    @webContents._loadUrl @history[@pendingIndex], {}
+
+  goToOffset: (offset) ->
+    return unless @canGoToOffset offset
+    @goToIndex @currentIndex + offset
+
+module.exports = NavigationController

atom/browser/api/lib/web-contents.coffee

@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 EventEmitter = require('events').EventEmitter
+NavigationController = require './navigation-controller'
 binding = process.atomBinding 'web_contents'
 ipc = require 'ipc'
 
@@ -26,10 +27,12 @@ module.exports.wrap = (webContents) ->
   webContents.getId = -> "#{@getProcessId()}-#{@getRoutingId()}"
   webContents.equal = (other) -> @getId() is other.getId()
 
-  # Provide a default parameter for |urlOptions|.
-  webContents.loadUrl = (url, urlOptions={}) -> @_loadUrl url, urlOptions
-  webContents.reload = (urlOptions={}) -> @_reload urlOptions
-  webContents.reloadIgnoringCache = (urlOptions={}) -> @_reloadIgnoringCache urlOptions
+  # The navigation controller.
+  controller = new NavigationController(webContents)
+  webContents.controller = controller
+  for name, method of NavigationController.prototype when method instanceof Function
+    do (name, method) ->
+      webContents[name] = -> method.apply controller, arguments
 
   # Translate |disposition| to string for 'new-window' event.
   webContents.on '-new-window', (args..., disposition) ->