Standard8’s Blog

Thunderbird - Lanikai/Thunderbird 3.1 nightly builds now set up

Lanikai/Thunderbird 3.1

As mentioned in David’s blog post, we’re using Lanikai as the code name for the Thunderbird 3.1 branch.

Last week we transitioned our Thunderbird 3.1 nightly builds to be building with Gecko 1.9.2 and to have the Lanikai code name. We’re still missing some new images for the branding, but hopefully they will come soon.

If you want to help with testing these builds, then the nightly builds can now be found in the latest-comm-1.9.2 (or latest-comm-1.9.2-l10n for localised builds) directory on ftp.

Thunderbird Trunk

In tandem with the setting up of Lanikai builds, we’ve also set up new trunk builds with Gecko 1.9.3. These builds currently have the version number “3.2a1pre” - this does not mean that the release after Thunderbird 3.1 will be called Thunderbird 3.2, it is just the lowest increase that we need to implement at this stage to be something different from 3.1.

Trunk builds are retaining the Shredder branding but will hopefully get new images at some stage.

At the moment, these builds are pretty much the same as the Lanikai builds from the Thunderbird perspective. It is only the core files that are different.

The nightly builds can be found in the latest-comm-central-trunk (or latest-comm-central-l10n) directory on ftp.

Thunderbird 3.0.x

There’s no changes on the stable builds for Thunderbird 3.0.x - just mentioning for completeness. The nightly builds are still in the latest-comm-1.9.1 (or latest-comm-1.9.1-l10n) directory on ftp.

For Developers / Other interested parties

The Lanikai and Thunderbird 3.2 builds are both generated using the comm-central repository (this has not been branched yet).

Thunderbird 3.2 builds are using the core mozilla-central repository.

Lanikai builds are using the mozilla-1.9.2 repository (specify --mozilla-repo=http://hg.mozilla.org/releases/mozilla-1.9.2/ to client.py to pull that repository).

The branch date for comm-central into comm-1.9.2 has not yet been agreed, iirc it is likely to happen around about the first Lanikai preview build, more on that later.

Tinderbox pages can be found as follows:

• Thunderbird Trunk
• Lanikai (Thunderbird 3.1)
• Thunderbird 3.0.x

Using the Add-on Compatibility Reporter for really incompatible add-ons

Whilst tracking the Thunderbird 3 release and looking through the bugs, every now and again we get a bug where something isn’t working and it turns out that it is due to one of the add-ons the bug reporter is using (unfortunately, in the cases I’ve seen recently I suspect it is because we’ve been forcing the extension author to decide on a single compatibility range for their add-on which means supporting the current branch and trunk, or just the current branch).

When we’ve been getting these reports, rather asking the bug reporter to report back to the add-on author, I’ve been spending an extra 5 minutes using the add-on compatibility reporter to pass a report back to addons.mozilla.org that will then make it back to the extension author. Although this takes me a bit longer, it isn’t as long as going to amo and looking for a web site or email address. It also means the add-on author will get back a good report (with versions and other information) and hopefully will subsequently fix the extension.

I like this way of reporting issues, the only thing I would like is a preference in the add-on compatibility reporter to allow me to decide if I want compatibility checking enabled or not - but that is more because I’m using it in a slightly different way (more towards bug reporting) than it was originally intended.

Even so, the original intention is good, and I like the way the reporter works and the ideas behind it.

Thunderbird 3 Release Candidate 1 - now available

We’ve just released Thunderbird 3 Release Candidate 1 check out the post on the Mozilla Developer Center for details.

comm-central has branched!

Further to my previous post, we’ve now branched comm-central. There are now two repositories for the comm-central applications:

• comm-central: The trunk repository containing source code for Thunderbird 3.next, SeaMonkey 2.next and Lightning 1.next.
• comm-1.9.1: The stable branch repository, based on Gecko 1.9.1, for Thunderbird 3, SeaMonkey 2, Lightning 1.0.

If you already have comm-central checked out with mozilla-1.9.1 (the default until now), you will be automatically switched to mozilla-central. The mozilla-1.9.1 repository will be archived in your directory as ‘.mozilla-1.9.1′.

Local clones of mozilla will not be affected, only the ones that point to http://hg.mozilla.org/releases/mozilla-1.9.1/.

The tree rules page has been updated with the current status and requirements for checkins, please check that before checking in. The various tinderbox pages have also been updated.

Whilst we’ve branched, there are still a couple of issues that we’re resolving on buildbot and some of the builders, so the comm-central and comm-1.9.1 trees will be staying closed until tomorrow morning when we’ll have hopefully resolved the issues.

Also, comm-1.9.1 isn’t on mxr yet, we have a bug filed to get it added.

comm-central branch date set

We’ve now set a date of Thursday 22nd October for branching comm-central. This will create a releases/comm-1.9.1 repository that will become the stable branch for Thunderbird 3, SeaMonkey 2 and Sunbird/Lightning 1.0.

Bug 522211 is tracking the work on setting up the repository and the infrastructure around it.

I’ll be providing more details as we go, however do note that we’ll be setting the repository up early and I’ll be keeping it synchronised with comm-central - so please don’t push to the new one until we give the announcement after the branch.

Thunderbird 2 to Thunderbird 3 upgrade test day

Today (Thursday 15th) is a special test day. We’re having a test day where we want people with Thunderbird 2 profiles to upgrade to the Thunderbird 3 builds.

Now that we’re in the final run up to the release, we want to ensure that we have a stable upgrade system and find out any issues now so that we have a chance to fix them.

So if you have a Thunderbird 2 (or earlier) profile and want to take a peak at Thunderbird 3, come and join us - find out the full details on Ludovic’s blog.

Thunderbird 3 Beta 4 is now available

After a busy few weeks and a lot of hard work, Thunderbird 3 Beta 4 is now available for download and testing. We’ve made some big changes since the last beta, which bring together the work done over the last few betas.

Thunderbird 3 Beta 4 is the last planned beta before Thunderbird 3. We welcome your feedback to help us make Thunderbird 3 even better.

So what are the big changes? Read on…

New Search with Advanced Filtering Tools

Search results now include advanced filtering tools. You have the option to filter your results by sender, tag, attachments, people, folder, and mailing list. You can also filter your email using the timeline tool.

New Global Search field and Redesigned Mail Toolbar

The Mail Toolbar is redesigned to include the new Global Search bar. Buttons such as reply, forward, delete, junk are part of each email message. When typing in the Global Search field, Thunderbird autocompletes against your address book. You have the option of searching everywhere or filtering within folders against different parts of the email such as by subject or by sender.

New Mail Account Setup Wizard

The new Mail Account Setup Wizard matches against a database of email settings from popular mail providers so that you will only need to provide your name, email, and password to set up new mail accounts.

Smart Folders

The folder pane offers a Smart Folders mode which combines special mailboxes (e.g. Inbox) from multiple accounts together. Smart Folders is now on by default.

Help us test our last Beta

As I said above, this is our last planned beta before the final release of Thunderbird 3. Therefore we’d like as much testing as possible to make sure it is stable for our users when we release it. Please provide feedback via the normal channels. If you want to help us with more specific testing, please see the wiki page.

Thunderbird 3 Beta 4 version number added to AMO

Just a short note to Thunderbird extension developers - we’ve now added the 3.0b4 version to AMO so that you can update and publish your extensions for Thunderbird 3 Beta 4.

We are starting on the first builds of Beta 4 today - today’s nightlies will be using the same revisions of the code. We then have a period of QA testing and general preparations before we release Beta 4.

Now is a good time to give your extension a test against Beta 4. If you’re stuck with some of the changes, then we’re working on documentation - although it isn’t extensive yet we have some starters. There is a Thunderbird 3 for Developers page and a general Thunderbird extensions page both of which are growing. If we’re missing documentation and you can add it, great! If you can’t that doesn’t matter, but if have suggestions for more where we’re missing items please either add them to the appropriate talk page or contact Jen.

Busy day: Faceted Global Search lands, Thunderbird string freeze for beta 4, test day….

Busy day for Thunderbird today. Yesterday and overnight we landed several big changes:

• Faceted Global Search for Thunderbird.
• Enabled the global indexer by default.
• Set the new auto configuration wizard for email accounts to be the default wizard.

Now we’ve entered our string freeze and we’ve got a few more blockers to land before code freeze.

So we’re have a big test day to test out these changes and get your feedback before Beta 4, starting now! Please do come and join us and help us make Thunderbird 3 even better. More details here.

Thunderbird 3 Beta 4 freezes over the next week

Here is a reminder of what is happening for the Thunderbird 3 Beta 4 freezes.

Definition of Thunderbird affecting patch: a patch to comm-central that affects mailnews/, mail/ or other code that Thunderbird uses. This does not include test-only patches.

Reminder SeaMonkey is in lock down for its 2.0 release.

Monday 7th September 23:59 PDT - Slushy Code Freeze

Thunderbird affecting patches will either be for a blocking-thunderbird3+ or require explicit approval from one of the Thunderbird drivers.

Test-only code is not included in this restriction.

Wednesday 9th September 23:59 PDT - Firm String Freeze

Strings in mail/ will be frozen and may not be changed prior to beta 4.

Friday 11th September 23:59 PDT - Firm Code Freeze

No patches that affect Thunderbird can land in comm-central unless given explicit approval from myself.

Post Freezes

We expect to start generating TB 3 beta 4 builds on Tuesday 15th assuming no issues are found during the weekend. As a result we may completely close comm-central for a time on Tuesday to allow stability whilst we are tagging builds.

Once we have tagged and started builds we’ll re-open comm-central for work towards rc1 (more on that later).