Switch from `node-gcm` to `firebase-admin` dependency

[mtrezza]

New Feature / Enhancement Checklist

• I am not disclosing a vulnerability.
• I am not just asking a question.
• I have searched through existing issues.

Current Limitation

The push adapter is depending on https://github.com/parse-community/node-gcm, which is using a now deprecated API for Google's FCM. The API will be decommissioned in June 2024:

On June 20, 2024, we’re reducing the number of Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) legacy register APIs and legacy send APIs that provide similar functionality. This step will allow us to provide you with a more consistent experience and align with Google security standards to improve security, reliability and performance. Because of these API decommissions, some already-deprecated SDKs and features will stop working after June 20, 2024. Please consult the tables below to find which Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) APIs and corresponding services/SDKs/features will be discontinued and replaced with new alternatives.

It's unclear at this point whether the community of the original node-gcm repository will adapt the node-gcm to the new API, especially since Firebase provides a native SDK as alternative with firebase-admin-node.

Feature / Enhancement Description

Evaluate whether to adapt node-gcm or switch to the firebase-admin-node. If the community of the original node-gcm repository won't update it, then the initial assumption is that switching to the native SDK will bring more benefits over the long run, as it will be maintained by Google and receive continuous updates. The effort required to switch may be similar to the effort required to adapt node-gcm.

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[mtrezza]

cc @parse-community/server This is a critical issue that will require everyone to upgrade the push adapter for continued FCM support.

[jimnor0xF]

Added support for this for myself since using APNS and GCM separately together with Flutter and the firebase_messaging package did not play very well.

Created a quick draft for this here #222. Not the best at JS, so probably needs to be refined.

It uses sendEachForMulticast() which is a bit concerning in its current state:
https://eladnava.com/send-multicast-notifications-using-node-js-http-2-and-the-fcm-http-v1-api/

[mtrezza]

@jimnor0xF That's amazing, thanks for taking a lead on this.

[henrik]

To confirm:

Is the current state of parse-server-push-adapter (and thus of parse-server) that it does not support the new API, so if nothing changes, parse-server won't work with Firebase after June 2024 (4 months from now)?

[jimnor0xF]

To confirm:

Is the current state of parse-server-push-adapter (and thus of parse-server) that it does not support the new API, so if nothing changes, parse-server won't work with Firebase after June 2024 (4 months from now)?

In the current state only APNS based push notifications (Apple only) will work after June 2024. Haven't looked at this issue in a while, been busy with other things.

But I guess what remains here to get this merged in is adding some tests and a code review. I've been running this in production for quite some time with no problems.

[mtrezza]

Basically for the review of the existing PR we just need to make sure it's not a breaking change for people who are for example using the current API that will be removed in June. And at least a few tests. But it's good to know that this is running fine in production for a while already.

[bdubale]

@jimnor0xF Thank you for implementing this fix for everyone. This would have been a disaster for legacy systems. @mtrezza When will this be merged?

[mtrezza]

We'd need someone to test the PR out with their current set-up for node-gcm, so we know whether the push adapter still works without forcing to switch to the new API.

[henrik]

I’ve made a note to try this out in our staging environment in a few weeks, during our next cooldown.

If anyone is willing to write up specific instructions on how to test it (the package.json incantation for Parse to use this version of the push adapter; what auth to get from FCM; how to configure it in Parse), that would lower the barrier a lot and I’m sure more people would be happy to test it.