The Rumbling Edge

Thunderbird Mercurial comm-central builds now available.

2008-07-25T07:39:48Z

Fresh off the oven, Thunderbird Mercurial comm-central builds are now available, as we continue our move off CVS. They can be downloaded from the comm-central hourly builds links, if you’re interested in hourlies (Not recommended unless you know what you are doing!). Be sure to click the latest changeset to obtain the latest code.

I tested the Mac build with changeset ID 1216968657, and it seems to startup and download my mails fine. A far cry from the flames just even a couple of hours ago.

Subsequent nightlies will be built off comm-central as well. Many thanks to the great work put into this by KaiRo, Standard8, gozer among others!

Thunderbird 2.0.0.16 Released

2008-07-24T15:02:46Z

Changelog for previous release (Thunderbird 2.0.0.14) | Changelogs for other Thunderbird releases

Released on 23 Jul 08, and this changelog was last updated on 24 Jul 08.

Mozilla Thunderbird 2.0.0.16 has been released. Release notes are available. This post lists the improvements in Thunderbird 2.0.0.16 over 2.0.0.14. This list encompasses almost every single known fix that went into this release. Do check out the known issues as well.

The Gecko 1.8.1.x branch (Thunderbird 2.0.0.x series) will not include any groundbreaking features that Gecko 1.9.x will bring, since it is based on Gecko 1.8. Additionally, in order to synchronize the version numbering with Firefox, 2.0.0.15 was dropped in favour of 2.0.0.16.

Impact key for security issues listed on the Mozilla Foundation Security Advisories webpage:

Critical: Vulnerability can be used to run attacker code and install software, requiring no user interaction beyond normal browsing.
High: Vulnerability can be used to gather sensitive data from sites in other windows or inject data or code into those sites, requiring no more than normal browsing actions.
Moderate: Vulnerabilities that would otherwise be High or Critical except they only work in uncommon non-default configurations or require the user to perform complicated and/or unlikely steps.
Low: Minor security vulnerabilities such as Denial of Service attacks, minor data leaks, or spoofs. (Undetectable spoofs of SSL indicia would have "High" impact because those are generally used to steal sensitive data intended for other sites.)

Changes in 2.0.0.16: (15)

Security issues: (8)

Fixed: MFSA 2008-34 - Remote code execution by overflowing CSS reference counter (Moderate)
Fixed: MFSA 2008-33 - Crash and remote code execution in block reflow (Moderate)
Fixed: MFSA 2008-31 - Peer-trusted certs can use alt names to spoof (Moderate)
Fixed: MFSA 2008-25 - Arbitrary code execution in mozIJSSubScriptLoader.loadSubScript() (Moderate)
Fixed: MFSA 2008-24 - Chrome script loading from fastload file (Moderate)
Fixed: MFSA 2008-21 - Crashes with evidence of memory corruption (rv:1.8.1.15) (Moderate)
Fixed: MFSA 2008-29 - Faulty .properties file results in uninitialized memory being used (Low)
Fixed: MFSA 2008-26 - Buffer length checks in MIME processing (Low)

Other fixes: (7)

Fixed: 90584 - charset=… must be applied to non-MIME Subject:/From:/To:/etc. fields
Fixed: 381588 - Junk filter duplicating messages when connections cached set to 1 plus non-inbox folders configured to get checked for new messages
Fixed: 411481 - Make it easier for extensions to overlay the TB menubar by adding IDs
Fixed: 413874 - Audit mail MIME code for string buffer abuse
Fixed: 417957 - Setting mail.auth_login and mail.server.default.auth_login to false breaks IMAP after restart
Fixed: 432026 - Various accessibility fixes in mail/base/content XUL files
Fixed: 432919 - Help viewer content pane should not allow scripts, plugins, meta redirects, or subframes

Official Windows installer

Official Linux (i686)

Official Mac (Universal binary)

2008-07-22 Sunbird 0.9 builds

2008-07-24T09:14:03Z

Current Sunbird (0.8) | Next planned Sunbird (0.9) | Previous releases

Common:

Fixed: 290325 - Font is too small and gets cut off when event time is less than 30 minutes
Fixed: 319909 - Failure to properly serialize/unserialize ics ATTACH properties
Fixed: 322059 - Current year not visible in any view
Fixed: 352513 - Localizability issues with newevent.recurrence.every.label in calendar.dtd
Fixed: 354979 - Timezone names sorted by their English names
Fixed: 358695 - Week(Multiday)view: vertical time column too wide, should be narrower
Fixed: 370150 - API enhancement: additions for group scheduling
Fixed: 375631 - New TASK column: Days to Due
Fixed: 391495 - calRecurrenceInfo::getNextOccurrence/getNextOccurrenceDate have bugs
Fixed: 392561 - Need to revise provider error notifications
Fixed: 397026 - Organizer’s E-Mail Account should be selectable
Fixed: 412962 - The filters of task pane should contain "Open Tasks" or "Not Completed Tasks"
Fixed: 416594 - [Task Mode] Priority and progress buttons are broken after customizing toolbar
Fixed: 428274 - Can’t accept Invitation when received via a mailgroup since Lightning 0.8
Fixed: 428324 - Creating new profile fails on some systems; error in reading from storage.sdb
Fixed: 429255 - Lightning not emailing invites for CalDAV calendars
Fixed: 429488 - Email drag and drop populates attendee list and causes failure to save event.
Fixed: 429687 - Follow-up features for the mode dependent today-pane
Fixed: 431522 - Can’t add an invitation to an event if the same event is already in one of your calendars
Fixed: 432417 - calRecurrenceInfo::onStartDateChange leaves wrong RECURRENCE-IDs
Fixed: 432660 - [RFE] Choose email account when sending mail
Fixed: 437442 - Update timezone definitions
Fixed: 437939 - Invitation counter needs restart for update
Fixed: 438534 - Remove processor define for windows x64 build
Fixed: 440017 - include config.mk before using INSTALL_LIGHTNING so that var can be set
Fixed: 440126 - Error during timezone guessing [ReferenceError: navigator is not defined]
Fixed: 440550 - XML prologue in calendar-occurrence-prompt.dtd confuses compare-locales
Fixed: 440715 - Event duration>’Show …hours in view’ -> selecting event in the unifinder doesn’t scroll view to event if
Fixed: 441528 - Need a preference setting for the default state of "send attendees invitations via email"
Fixed: 442392 - Expected errors are notified via dialog box
Fixed: 442566 - make Lightning build on new shared calendar/mail/suite repository
Fixed: 443157 - task invitation leads to exceptions on startup
Fixed: 443722 - Add possiblity to change elements order in Edit Recurrence window
Fixed: 444292 - Replace Decorated Header (Nav Bar) by standard Items
Fixed: 444407 - Progressbar should not be shown if column is to narrow or progress is 0%
Fixed: 444551 - Select an event in a readonly calendar and use the delete key -> error message
Fixed: 444713 - Allow providers to provide a set of supported timezones
Fixed: 444822 - Add documentation to UI code and some UI code fixes
Fixed: 444827 - Add binding for calendar captions
Fixed: 445299 - Accepting an event via iTIP/iMIP email doesn’t work
Fixed: 445400 - Startup Error: ics-service doesn’t recognize own tzid: Asia/Choibalsan
Fixed: 445488 - Mind default alarm setting if replying via invitations or event summary dialog
Fixed: 445728 - Delete an single event of a recurring event with attendees -> ‘Notify Attendees’ dialog pops up two times
Fixed: 445796 - Deleting an event without attendees prompts "Notify Attendees" dialog
Fixed: 446170 - Lightning builds fail [make: *** ../../extensions/webdav: No such file or directory. Stop.]
Fixed: 446190 - alarm service should mind disabled calendars

Common (Providers):

Fixed: 338527 - Load of remote calendar fails if ‘Automatic proxy configuration URL’ is set
Fixed: 432579 - Enabling cache for public calendar like US Holidays causes entries to dissappear
Fixed: 436476 - Deleting a single instance of a recurring event fails
Fixed: 438515 - Lightning doesn’t send iTIP messages on event updates in CalDAV calendars
Fixed: 441246 - Add support for categories in Google Calendar
Fixed: 441748 - deleting a single occurrence of a ‘non floating’ all day rule is not possible
Fixed: 442651 - No organizer in the attendees dialog
Fixed: 443361 - Misleading logon prompt when subscribing to multiple Google calendars
Fixed: 444748 - Get rid of custom timezone service

Lightning-only:

Fixed: 435390 - Style sheet missing from iMip/iTip
Fixed: 437451 - Menu "File -> New -> Calendar" is disabled in Mail Mode
Fixed: 438546 - "Select All" (Ctrl+A) & "Undo" (Ctrl+Z) in Mail mode doesn’t work anymore
Fixed: 440022 - ensure that Lightning doesn’t have empty min/maxVersion in install.rdf
Fixed: 442003 - Create a binding to easily add notification bars to emails
Fixed: 442571 - Integrate "Create a new Calendar" into the account central pane
Fixed: 445997 - No email identity in calendar properties selected

Sunbird-only:

Fixed: 445527 - Some keyboard shortcuts are not shown in menu
Fixed: 445545 - Port Firefox/Thunderbird Bug 378598 to Sunbird

Outstanding bugs (marked blocking-calendar0.9+): (28)

Open: 390036 - https webdav based ICS or CalDAV calendar and secure IMAP/SMTP (SSL) email accounts leads to TB hanging with 50% cpu usage
Open: 405530 - Dismissed alarms re-triggered after remote calendar automatic refresh
Open: 409845 - [Mac] ‘Preferences’ and ‘Quit Thunderbird’ are disabled in Calendar mode and Task mode
Open: 409921 - Implement CalDAV scheduling
Open: 429664 - Floating events overlapps events with timezone
Open: 434354 - CalDAV provider should cope with multiple principal-collection-sets
Open: 437347 - zero-length events/tasks overlaps in calendar view
Open: 437412 - zero-length and short events are shown at the wrong times in the timegrid
Open: 437420 - Wrong display of WCAP all day events in the unifinder
Open: 437441 - Finalize calendar-timezones.xpi
Open: 437622 - Sunbird: Upgrade via update mechanism fails, restart results in error on local calendars (timezone extension not installed)
Open: 438029 - Display of overlapping events in rotated day/week view is broken
Open: 438963 - All day event is shown on the day before the actual day of the event (only in the today pane)
Open: 439309 - text overlap of short events at same time
Open: 440106 - Editing of an event on a cached calendar in online mode isn’t possible
Open: 440358 - no WCAP calendar events visible after restart of sunbird
Open: 442236 - change timezone from non-server-TZ back to server-TZ and reopen the timezone dialog causes exceptions
Open: 442881 - Error message after closing the timezone dialog
Open: 442915 - Warning: reference to undefined property this.mTaskArray[aRow]
Open: 444276 - Try to accept a iTIP/iMIP invitation (open Mail in a separate window) -> select calendar dialog is empty
Open: 444532 - Select ‘Convert to->Task/event’ in the preview pane in mailmode causes an uncaught exception
Open: 445287 - Cache combined with read-only calendar spawns error flood
Open: 445492 - Use ‘DEL’ key to delete an event of a WCAP rule -> ‘Deleting Repeating Event’ dialog starts two times.
Open: 445731 - Editing an saved event with an attendee -> 2 mails were send, one ‘Event Invitation’, one Event Canceled’
Open: 445736 - Wcap event/non-server attendee -> organizer gets no Update button in reply mail
Open: 445995 - Event dialog also contains elements from task dialog
Open: 446512 - Recent nightlies of Lightning cause NULL-pointer dereference crash in TB
Open: 446666 - "Send attendees invitations via email" checkbox is disabled (grayed out)

Lightning .xpi:

Official Windows .xpi, gdata provider

Official Linux .xpi, gdata provider

Official Mac .xpi, gdata provider

Sunbird builds:

Official Windows, Official Windows installer

Official Linux (i686)

Official Mac (Universal binary)

2008-07-22 Thunderbird Trunk builds

2008-07-24T08:53:49Z

What’s new in Trunk since 12 August 2005 | Current Shredder - Alpha 1 | Previous releases

Thunderbird-specific:

Fixed: 148195 - remove session-logout code from mailnews
Fixed: 230448 - Change default forwarding preference to inline instead of attachment
Fixed: 297534 - Want to entirely disable marking a message as read when viewed
Fixed: 323531 - crash when deleting all attachments after(!) detaching all of them from one mail [@ CompareAttachmentPartId]
Fixed: 324953 - Run Junk Mail Controls (on selected messages) broken
Fixed: 345468 - port fix for bug #341697 (branding wizards) to tbird
Fixed: 365623 - [TB3a1] memory leak on account setting dialog box.
Fixed: 365723 - [TB3a1] memory leak after closing message window
Fixed: 369159 - missing access keys for Gmail, RSS News & Blogs, and Movemail account types in the account wizard
Fixed: 373345 - Clicking "About Mozilla Thunderbird" has the build ID highlighted
Fixed: 373403 - Bogus Vista Keys from 1.5.0.10 Shim Need Cleaned Up When Installing Thunderbird
Fixed: 386158 - Sending receipt fails but no warning returns to user
Fixed: 392016 - User certificates are not retrieved if Address Autocompletion for LDAP is (globally) disabled
Fixed: 397621 - Thunderbird Nightlies/RCs/Beta builds should have different branding to full releases like Firefox
Fixed: 424756 - [Mac] If there’s an open about window, activate it on Thunderbird->About Mozilla Thunderbird
Fixed: 425849 - Consider changing mail.imap.fetch_by_chunks pref value
Fixed: 426046 - "About" dialog: add full BuildID, as in Firefox
Fixed: 431130 - xpcshell test test_nsIDownloadHistory.js fails on Thunderbird
Fixed: 432188 - Swap Thunderbird to use www.mozillamessaging.com for in-product pages
Fixed: 436869 - non-standard MIME types, application/x-pkcs7-mime and application/x-pkcs7-signature - don’t need the x- prefix
Fixed: 439320 - Use timed textbox in mailnews and addressbook (port bug 179050 to Thunderbird)
Fixed: 439367 - De-rdfifiy msgViewNavigation.js
Fixed: 439486 - Right-clicking on an IMAP or NNTP folder, selecting Subscribe displays empty folder list
Fixed: 439601 - use of wbr tag by YahooGroups corrupts text in simple HTML view
Fixed: 440286 - Add Thunderbird UI for System Proxy Settings (port firefox bug 416274)
Fixed: 440513 - Thunderbird always displays "Delete" in Address Book edit menu, despite code being there for more (also port bug 112959)
Fixed: 441342 - Get rid of empty <contextHelp.js>
Fixed: 441429 - In <FilterEditor.xul>, "Warning: Failed to load overlay from chrome://messenger/content/msgFolderPickerOverlay.xul."
Fixed: 441448 - Folder dialogs have useless includes
Fixed: 441476 - No icons in addressbook search results in Pinstripe
Fixed: 441480 - doHelpButton() doesn’t help
Fixed: 441750 - Clicking on column headers doesn’t change the sort.
Fixed: 441940 - Clean up msgSynchronize’s include/global story
Fixed: 442052 - Update preferences for "browser.download.manager.useWindow"
Fixed: 442246 - In <am-offline.xul>, "Warning: Failed to load overlay from chrome://messenger/content/msgFolderPickerOverlay.xul."
Fixed: 442337 - GetSelectedIndices busted
Fixed: 442360 - Drag and drop of folders broken (yet again)
Fixed: 442523 - Clean up some unused Pinstripe bits
Fixed: 442549 - Add ids to accountCentral
Fixed: 442874 - Remove some unnecessary force overrides in mail/base/jar.mn
Fixed: 443398 - Fix remaining parts of unofficial branding
Fixed: 443539 - Remove mail-biff-badge vestiges
Fixed: 443671 - Remove 3pane layout preference leftovers
Fixed: 443846 - thunderbird connection settings dialog should make use of type="number" textboxes
Fixed: 443908 - "next" shortcut in account setup for News, Server information panel doesn’t work
Fixed: 444281 - More unused Pinstripe images
Fixed: 445501 - Two images on officially branded Thunderbird migration wizard
Fixed: 445708 - Disable official branding on Thunderbird l10n tinderboxes.
Fixed: 446266 - Missing accesskey for Print Preview in Message Pane context-menu

MailNews and other related categories:

Fixed: 11054 - Ignore (kill) a Subthread (branch: not the whole thread) (Troll)
Fixed: 22102 - Load next message before performing IMAP delete/move
Fixed: 58775 - remove empty threads from db when last msg header is deleted to improve performance
Fixed: 59279 - investigate Mork memory allocation improvements
Fixed: 64580 - NNTP logs XPAT twice
Fixed: 72899 - fix GetHasSubFolders() and fix nsMsgFolderDataSource::createFolderChildNode to use it
Fixed: 166164 - default for MDN confirmation dialog should be No (i.e. Do Not Send)
Fixed: 169588 - make nsIMIMEConverter minimally scriptable
Fixed: 190974 - [IMAP] Can’t manage mail by ‘deleted’ flag
Fixed: 200138 - Delete Mail Marked as Junk changes/forces selection
Fixed: 213729 - should look in mem cache for messages when offline
Fixed: 229032 - modernize ‘String’ usage in mailnews
Fixed: 262641 - Import of account settings from Outlook Express misses SSL/port number/root folder
Fixed: 278383 - Get All New Messages doesn’t work with movemail account
Fixed: 341312 - Wrong event-name
Fixed: 366837 - "LDAP server connection failed" message erases address, user can’t edit address
Fixed: 369918 - Crash Loading a Saved Search Folder [ nsMsgQuickSearchDBView::OnSearchDone]
Fixed: 372786 - Keynote files sent as attachments cannot be opened by the receiver of the e-mail
Fixed: 373967 - Custom column added by extension is not displayed properly while in "grouped by sort"
Fixed: 382446 - Alert on shutdown when using ldaps address book - "operation can not be completed because of an internal failure. A secure network communication has not been cleaned up correctly."
Fixed: 411988 - hang in nsMsgSearchTerm::MatchArbitraryHeader while getting mail
Fixed: 414179 - Add junkpercent support to nsIMsgSearchTerm
Fixed: 416284 - Detached attachments should not be able to be re-detached
Fixed: 419143 - Ignore thread filter action doesn’t
Fixed: 428427 - Unread count in virtual folders not updated for changed headers
Fixed: 428729 - setting "watch thread" does not work as a filter action
Fixed: 431414 - Review MailNews uses of idl functions that return xpcom allocated arrays [..., array, ...] for memory leaks
Fixed: 433175 - freeze when specific custom tags are added in a specific order. (A tag, "abc", and tag of substring of the tag, "bc", then loop in saved search of "Tag contains bc")
Fixed: 437192 - Implement a POP fake server testing scheme for /mailnews
Fixed: 437619 - Centralise and de-branch the Address Book results view functions
Fixed: 437903 - Can’t send emails to OS X mailing lists.
Fixed: 438035 - nsAbView does dangerous things to nsIAbDirectory objects and doesn’t clean up itself as a listener
Fixed: 438654 - Set imap keywords for junk messages in manual junk analysis.
Fixed: 439266 - Leak of array if rv != NS_OK in BuildSearchElements()
Fixed: 439471 - "Allow remote images in HTML mail" is selectable on OS X cards
Fixed: 439475 - Crash [@ConvertToCard] when deleting card/mailing list from Mac OS X Address Book and Thunderbird Address Book is open
Fixed: 439494 - folderRenamed nsIMsgFolderListener notification in local folders broken
Fixed: 439925 - nsMsgCopyService::CopyMessages not working as intended in xpcshell tests on Mac OS X
Fixed: 440185 - crash importing outlook email [@ nsMsgLocalMailFolder::IsChildOfTrash]
Fixed: 440190 - crash importing outlook contact csv data file [@ nsTextAddress::GetField]
Fixed: 440712 - In <smtpEditOverlay.js>, "Warning: assignment to undeclared variable gSmtpUseSecAuth"
Fixed: 441043 - Change nsIMsgFolderListener folderDeleted notification to fire only for the topmost folder deleted
Fixed: 441075 - mailto:?body= gives corrupted body (send link from firefox gets corrupted) in plain text composition
Fixed: 441191 - POP/RSS automatic filtering: delete message action is marking read, not deleting
Fixed: 441220 - Port |Bug 183419 – Message Filter dialog and Search dialogs (Message, Address) need close facilities (was buttons)| to Thunderbird
Fixed: 441586 - Autocomplete not matching nicknames for mailing lists
Fixed: 441914 - Add missing error checks in search views
Fixed: 441916 - Consolidate UpdateSummaryTotals into nsMsgDBFolder
Fixed: 441987 - Run Junk Mail Controls on Folder broken (again)
Fixed: 442256 - Make getURIs/IndicesForSelection easier to call from JS
Fixed: 442800 - Add database listener to local GetDBFolderInfoAndDB
Fixed: 443035 - Some Address Book functions are disabled when the abResultsTree has focus
Fixed: 443296 - morkRowCellCursor::NextCell skips first cell
Fixed: 444211 - OS X mailing list name not visible within the contacts sidebar
Fixed: 444417 - IMAP undo of delete appears to work, but doesn’t
Fixed: 445167 - Remove "comments only" <msgHdrViewAddresses.js>
Fixed: 445199 - GetMsgTextFromStream should return an AUTF8String
Fixed: 445343 - adding imap saved search creates unneeded .sbd
Fixed: 445403 - imap saved searches with spaces in the name display escaped name
Fixed: 445554 - MsgMailboxGetURI doesn’t escape the relative path as should be done for a URL
Fixed: 446047 - IMAP Empty Folder action does not result in nsIMsgFolderListener notification

Note: Development on CVS has now ceased, and further progress will occur on hg (Mercurial). Thunderbird 3 development will also move over to Gecko 1.9.1.x instead of the 1.9.0.x branch. More information on the migration can be found on this wiki page.

Outstanding bugs (marked blocking-thunderbird3.0a2+): (2)

Open: 411171 - Thunderbird Mac tinderbox crashing in dump_syms
Open: 443369 - Prepare Thunderbird 3 Alpha 2 release notes

Official Windows, Official Windows installer (discussion)

Official Linux (i686)

Official Mac (Universal binary)

Vacation

2008-07-24T08:22:12Z

I will be on vacation for the next fortnight till the Summit, with my MacBook Pro in the service centre due to it being unable to charge even after a power cable replacement. So I’ll be off Bugzilla, IRC, newsgroups, and only extremely intermittent via email.

The Rumbling Edge will return after that, including catching up on changelogs for upcoming releases Thunderbird 2.0.0.16 and Shredder Alpha 2, due out this month.

Edit on 24 July: I’m back, MBP is fine now, pre-Summit! Besides catching up on (bi)weekly changelists and release changelogs, Thunderbird 2.0 branch posts will be discontinued since they have very little development occurring there. Changelogs will be posted only when releases are actually released.

QA in an open source community

2008-06-25T19:16:50Z

As my internship with Mozilla Messaging draws to a close in a couple of days’ time, I will only be sporadically online for the next few weeks due to vacations prior to my resumption of school in mid-August. This presents a QA shortage for Thunderbird, especially since the code freeze date for Shredder Alpha 2 is still scheduled for July 8, 2008. Wayne Mery, known on IRC as wsmwk, has kindly stepped up to volunteer his time to lead the QA efforts for Shredder Alpha 2. David Ascher has also blogged about the incredible aspects and virtually "impossible" job of a QA lead for Thunderbird.

Perhaps I should start off by stating the steps taken to improve the QA process of Thunderbird:

- Over the months, the documentation on the Mozilla Wiki was overhauled and now presents a more comprehensive and structured approach in an effort to be much clearer and more precise to the reader, compared to the old layout.
- Bugdays were implemented with invaluable input from various community members and developers, and together we worked towards a significant drop in the number of unconfirmed bugs.
- We reached out to the community through many channels, including but not limited to newsgroups, Bugzilla, email, IRC etc.
- It is imperative that we continue these efforts in the months ahead, as anybody who steps up will no doubt prove his or her worth in one way or another, be it as sophisticated as providing a patch for a new functionality or as simple as triaging / verifying bugs.

We would like to maintain a certain level of quality even for an alpha release, and certainly having a crash on startup on a platform that is officially supported but never had any QA to detect the crash, is definitely not an ideal scenario. The challenge here is as such, how can we maintain and guarantee the quality of an open source email client that is widely used by thousands of people around the world, leveraging almost purely on the contributions of its community in all parts of the world?

Such previously mentioned ways are merely the start of a gradual QA process, something to push a train with rusty wheels along a track that hasn’t been maintained for a long time. A comprehensive QA for a release such as an alpha or beta, requires slightly more efforts. Once the build team gives the word "Go!" from the moment the builds are completed, these efforts run parallel to the ones already listed above:

- Smoketests on all platforms, as seen in the test plan here and which are based on Litmus, are absolutely vital to being able to have community input on the alpha release. It has to be made sure that all supported platforms are tested.
- The estimated timeframe given the manpower / schedule constraints within a reasonable amount of time. e.g. I spent a couple of days planning out the way I would test the Alpha, and approximately three days to execute it, though with much of the hardware and time already prepared and accounted for in advance.
- Much time was also spent on gathering input and feedback on the plan itself, i.e. whether it was comprehensive enough, or whether it ensured that all platforms / functionalities were adequately covered.
- Previous QA efforts, i.e. before I hopped on, for Thunderbird were small, and I adapted the QA plan for testing Thunderbird from Firefox’s plan. It wasn’t exactly similar in that one was a browser and the other a email client. Some test approaches were similar, such as whether there was a crash on startup / shutdown, while others were obviously different, in that a email client requires testing of the transfer messages to and from an IMAP account much more than the proper rendering of a HTML document with special edge-case and rarely used markup code.
- Every bug found is reported in Bugzilla with the corresponding screenshot and listed on the testplan for archival purposes. While every effort is made to ensure that there are no duplicates filed, having dupes is definitely better than having a bug that was not filed at all due to someone mistaking it for a dupe. Duplicates can also be reopened in the future, as deemed appropriate.
- Having a testday for the release and timing QA efforts around it are crucial. Regular triagers encourage new folks to test out the soon-to-be released product and help out in the IRC channels, such as #testday, whenever they can. There will always be a couple of people interested in contributing their valuable time in testing out an open source product.
- Obviously, ensuring that the QA folks have comprehensively executed the testplan is a very important step in ensuring the level of quality in the product.

The challenge goes into ensuring that at least all of the above needs are met, in order to adequately ensure a reputable QA sign-off for a product, with much assortment of testers around the world. The following ways are suggested:

- Continue the smoketests and assign one platform of each smoketest to a reputable and trustworthy community member / developer. He / she must ensure that the smoketests are executed in full, and the corresponding bugs reported as such.
- Plan the entire process based on the above assumption that each smoketester would take a certain number of hours to execute the smoketest, and come up with an estimated timeframe of completion, on the condition that no blocker bugs are found. The overall lead should then consolidate the testing results, and after discussion with the developers, the drivers will then decide whether the tested build is ready for release.
- Guide new folks who are ad-hoc testing the release using the IRC channels.
- All these with the time and efforts of people in all parts of the world, different timezones and different languages, with different needs and different wants for testing of an open source product.

It is a collaborative QA effort for Thunderbird. In the event that blocker bugs are found and brought to the relevant developer’s attention, the process is stopped, new builds respun, and the process resumed from the beginning. There is no issue about who gets the blame for delaying the release here, quality is what sets the bar for a Mozilla release. We will do what is necessary to ensure that the quality bar remains as appropriate for an alpha / beta, and especially so for a final release in the future.

2008-06-23 Sunbird 0.9 builds

2008-07-24T09:13:59Z

Current Sunbird (0.8) | Next planned Sunbird (0.9) | Previous releases

Common:

Fixed: 363191 - Handle Timezones more efficiently (Timezone Database)
Fixed: 387398 - Missing (Client, Server) Certificate support
Fixed: 389251 - Cannot dismiss alarm on single overridden instance of recurring item
Fixed: 395017 - Event & Task dialog for read-only calendars don’t show start time and end/due date and time
Fixed: 413908 - Events using internal timezones are no longer updated to recent timezone version
Fixed: 416594 - [Task Mode] Priority and progress buttons are broken after customizing toolbar
Fixed: 419807 - After closing task dialog now save-messagebox pops up
Fixed: 429685 - Toggling of ‘Delete’ - toolbarbutton in calendar-mode and task-mode does not work
Fixed: 437398 - Invitation Link broken (currently WCAP only): createXULElement is undefined
Fixed: 437593 - invitations link should be provided in mail mode too.
Fixed: 437615 - Exceptions when creating/editing/deleting an event/task/calendar or selecting/deselecting a calendar
Fixed: 437689 - [Trunk] Timezone definitions extension is not compatible with Sunbird 0.6a1
Fixed: 437898 - events list can have a selector for ‘later today’ list
Fixed: 437941 - Task-Trees: Selection Style does not make a difference between focused/unfocused
Fixed: 437942 - Find calendars is broken
Fixed: 437964 - ‘Mark Completed’ via context menu doesn’t work
Fixed: 438020 - Task list is broken [Error: document.getElementById("modeBroadcaster") has no properties]
Fixed: 439245 - Selecting events in the unifinder doesn’t scroll view to event
Fixed: 439608 - modifyEventWithDialog cannot be called with false as third parameter
Fixed: 439633 - Error console output in month/multiweek view when selecting events in the unifinder

Common (Providers):

Fixed: 432579 - Enabling cache for public calendar like US Holidays causes entries to dissappear
Fixed: 435877 - UTF-8 decoding problem breaks wcap calendar
Fixed: 436476 - Deleting a single instance of a recurring event fails
Fixed: 437189 - Gdata prov: cannot delete last remaining occurence by “delete this occurence”
Fixed: 437921 - Not working with TB 3a2pre by default
Fixed: 438372 - Sunbird 0.8 opens newer database from 0.9pre but fails to read - schema check not working

Lightning-only:

Fixed: 413326 - Read only calendar, use ‘Click Here to Add a New Task’ text field -> nothing happens
Fixed: 419816 - Task mode does not set Application title
Fixed: 428496 - Editing event or dismissing alarm collapses Today/Tomorrow/Soon section in Agenda

Outstanding bugs (marked blocking-calendar0.9+): (19)

Open: 370150 - API enhancement: additions for group scheduling
Open: 390036 - https webdav based ICS or CalDAV calendar and secure IMAP/SMTP (SSL) email accounts leads to TB hanging with 50% cpu usage
Open: 405530 - Dismissed alarms re-triggered after remote calendar automatic refresh
Open: 409921 - Implement CalDAV scheduling
Open: 428324 - Creating new profile fails on some systems; error in reading from storage.sdb
Open: 431522 - Can’t add an invitation to an event if the same event is already in one of your calendars
Open: 432660 - [RFE] Choose email account when sending mail
Open: 437254 - can’t delete tasks from task list
Open: 437412 - zero-length and short events are sometimes not in sync with the timegrid
Open: 437420 - Wrong display of WCAP all day events in the unifinder
Open: 437441 - Finalize calendar-timezones.xpi
Open: 437442 - Update timezone definitions
Open: 437451 - Menu “File -> New -> Calendar” is disabled in Mail Mode
Open: 437622 - Upgrade via update mechanism fails, restart results in error on local calendars
Open: 438963 - All day event is shown on the day before the actual day of the event (only in the today pane)
Open: 439309 - text overlap of short events at same time
Open: 440106 - Editing of an event on a cached calendar in online mode isn’t possible
Open: 440126 - Error during timezone guessing [ReferenceError: navigator is not defined]
Open: 440358 - no WCAP calendar events visible after restart of sunbird

Lightning .xpi:

Official Windows .xpi, gdata provider (2008-06-22 build)

Official Linux .xpi, gdata provider (2008-06-22 build)

Official Mac .xpi, gdata provider

Sunbird builds:

Official Windows, Official Windows installer (2008-06-22 build)

Official Linux (i686) (2008-06-22 build)

Official Mac (Universal binary)

2008-06-23 Thunderbird Trunk builds

2008-07-24T09:14:31Z

What’s new in Trunk since 12 August 2005 | Current Shredder - Alpha 1 | Previous releases

Thunderbird-specific:

Fixed: 214136 - Close all windows , then cannot reopen window
Fixed: 242361 - User-Agent header malformed
Fixed: 307392 - RSS account should have “Disk Space” (retention) settings like other accounts
Fixed: 363461 - Add “Hide toolbar” to toolbar’s context menu
Fixed: 368218 - message filters move up/down accelerators toggle enabled state
Fixed: 385768 - Drafts folder claims to have one unread message after update to 2.0.0.4
Fixed: 423956 - Global inbox is missing after creating a first account which uses global inbox - No mail receiving possible then
Fixed: 432267 - Cannot Move/Copy using Recent menu
Fixed: 432568 - Thunderbird should use unified toolbar styling on OS X
Fixed: 433202 - Crash when trying to search in a deleted address book
Fixed: 433264 - Address book doesn’t appear after upgrade
Fixed: 436166 - pt-PT thunderbird to Mozilla l10n tinderbox
Fixed: 436630 - Thunderbird should not use the rdf-infected msgFolderPickerOverlay
Fixed: 436673 - de-rdfify folderProps.xul
Fixed: 436718 - Only convert from a uri to a folder through GetMsgFolderForUri, not by using the rdf service directly
Fixed: 436799 - add help menu (and mac window menu) to “view source” windows
Fixed: 437168 - Fix Pinstripe smiley CSS
Fixed: 437187 - Adding ka (Georgian) to Thunderbird all-locales
Fixed: 437860 - Lots of windows/dialogs declare the nc-rdf namespace when they don’t need to
Fixed: 438050 - default client dialog comes up in before all other windows, placed at 0,0
Fixed: 438533 - Support Windows x64 build for mailnews
Fixed: 438778 - Some menus and menupopups in address book and compose don’t have IDs
Fixed: 438808 - Thunderbird is unnecessarily including extra locale files and preprocessing others.
Fixed: 438834 - fcc2 (Send Copy to menu in composition window) does not work, regression from #413781
Fixed: 439128 - Migrate most of the profile migrator code away from nsISupportsArray
Fixed: 439311 - Empty Junk option broken on Thunderbird
Fixed: 439364 - Eliminate GetResourceForUri
Fixed: 439373 - Remove front end users of nsIMsgRDFDatasource
Fixed: 439378 - Renaming folders busted with undefined preselectedURI in dump()
Fixed: 439380 - Unread counts incorrect after IMAP filter move
Fixed: 439839 - Next and previous keyboard shortcuts and menus broken
Fixed: 440196 - Create new search and filter create dialogs don’t work.
Fixed: 440222 - messenger.xul doesn’t need to include msgAccountCentral.js
Fixed: 440561 - Drag and drop of folders broken
Fixed: 440706 - New copies and folders menus lack icons
Fixed: 441126 - Thunderbird doesn’t use the Communicator:WorkMode broadcaster

MailNews and other related categories:

Fixed: 23394 - Quote just the selected portion of a message during Reply
Fixed: 181165 - Deleting an address card (of a Mailing List) doesn’t refresh card-pane; stale entry shown.
Fixed: 187768 - allow filter of “To or CC” to use “is in Address Book…” and “is not in Address Book…”
Fixed: 217034 - Restore capability: “Label”/”Tag” as filter criterion
Fixed: 261467 - Spaces not stripped from end-of-line on Send (plain-text compose, wrap column=0)
Fixed: 273114 - When forwarding messages signature line is placed after forwarded message (should obey reply signature position pref)
Fixed: 289467 - MailNews should not use simple-uri
Fixed: 342934 - Double-clicking LDAP directory should edit
Fixed: 353036 - “Label is None” custom view lists no messages instead of unlabeled/untagged ['No Tag' filter]
Fixed: 428614 - Crash every time I try to read news [@SearchTable]
Fixed: 435153 - Better Faster IMAP: Pseudo-offline Delete and Move support
Fixed: 436051 - nsIMsgFolder::getFoldersWithFlag abuses idl interface conventions
Fixed: 436792 - Incorrect RDF Data Source function prototypes following nsISupportsArray patch in bug 435290 (IsCommandEnabled, DoCommand)
Fixed: 436847 - Implement an SMTP fake server testing scheme for /mailnews
Fixed: 436960 - selecting saved search with a lot of results can be slow
Fixed: 437098 - Enable junk token limits
Fixed: 437556 - Mailnews crashes while importing an address book if a field map is required but not set
Fixed: 437848 - Moving a local folder with subfolders causes infinite recursion
Fixed: 437975 - Can’t send emails to non-mork mailing lists
Fixed: 438333 - Make determining which address books to search on autocomplete a lot easier
Fixed: 438335 - CopyRequest not cleared when local folder is moved
Fixed: 438724 - imap code should treat $label1-5 like any other keyword
Fixed: 438786 - single folder saved search folders no longer work
Fixed: 439132 - removing tags from local messages sometimes doesn’t survive rebuild index
Fixed: 439498 - Its possible to attempt to delete mailing lists from OS X Address book via TB
Fixed: 439548 - When tag name is substring of other tag, tag can not be added.
Fixed: 439835 - When “X-Mozilla-Keys: abc bc” exists(bc is substring of abc), Thunderbird freezes(loop,CPU 100%) when Virtual Folder(saved search folder) of “Tags contains bc” is created
Fixed: 440219 - deleted imap messages reappear and disappear rapidly

Outstanding bugs (marked blocking-thunderbird3.0a2+): (8)

Open: 190974 - [IMAP] Can’t manage mail by ‘deleted’ flag
Open: 382446 - Alert on shutdown when using ldaps address book - “operation can not be completed because of an internal failure. A secure network communication has not been cleaned up correctly.”
Open: 411171 - Thunderbird Mac tinderbox crashing in dump_syms
Open: 411988 - hang in nsMsgSearchTerm::MatchArbitraryHeader while getting mail
Open: 413260 - Refactor the Address Book interfaces
Open: 432088 - When trying to move a message, the “Move To” sub menu comes up completely blank
Open: 432188 - Swap Thunderbird to use www.mozillamessaging.com for in-product pages
Open: 434642 - regular Thunderbird hangs in IMAP: TellThreadToDie monitor deadlock

Official Windows, Official Windows installer (discussion)

Official Linux (i686)

Official Mac (Universal binary)

2008-06-23 Thunderbird 2.0.0.16 builds

2008-07-24T09:15:06Z

Current Thunderbird 2.0 (2.0.0.14) | Next planned Thunderbird 2.0 (2.0.0.15) | Previous releases

Fixed (in the upcoming 2.0.0.15): 417957 - Setting mail.auth_login and mail.server.default.auth_login to false breaks IMAP after restart

No outstanding bugs.

Official Windows, Official Windows installer (discussion)

Official Linux (i686)

Official Mac (Universal binary)

The Rumbling Edge has just moved…

2008-06-25T20:26:21Z

The Rumbling Edge has just moved to its own shiny new domain at rumblingedge.com! (proudly hosted by DreamHost)

Many thanks to mozillaZine for hosting me for ~4 years, and jX, Jesse and Reed for their invaluable support and help with this migration.

I am still fine tuning this site over the next few weeks / months as I get used to Wordpress, but it honestly is much easier to use than Movabletype.

I hope this new layout preserves the readability of the old Rumbling Edge, otherwise please do comment!

Historical statistics: 765,000 visitors to the old Rumbling Edge site, with 450 posts, in ~4 years.