extensions T5
Ran Garoo
of themes/extensions, but I don't have to like it.
Add-ons are a major factor towards making Thunderbird an app of choice.
I truly believe the add-on system for Thunderbird (and Firefox) is
broken.
Mozilla should create a way that add-ons in their online catalog be
automatically updated to work with new releases.
Can Mozilla do this?
Why make add-ons, a major part of Mozilla products, so flaky and
unreliable across new versions.
Just plain - "Bleaah ! "
Tarkus
> I understand that if I want Thunderbird 5 I have to accept the loss
> of themes/extensions, but I don't have to like it.
> Add-ons are a major factor towards making Thunderbird an app of choice.
>
> I truly believe the add-on system for Thunderbird (and Firefox) is
> broken.
>
> Mozilla should create a way that add-ons in their online catalog be
> automatically updated to work with new releases.
They have, sort of:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/thunderbird/addon/add-on-compatibility-reporter/
Be sure to read all disclaimers (though you don't necessarily have to
use it only in alpha and beta versions).
WLS
All 4 of my extensions work with TB 5.
Those being:
Adblock Plus 1.3.8
Add-on Compatibility Reporter 0.8.5
Console2 0.8b1
Lightning 1.0b4
WLS
--
Thunderbird 5
Chris Ilias
> I understand that if I want Thunderbird 5 I have to accept the loss
> of themes/extensions, but I don't have to like it.
> Add-ons are a major factor towards making Thunderbird an app of choice.
Just so there's no confusion, it depends on the add-on. Two of my
add-ons were already compatible Thunderbird 5.
This is because add-ons are not built by Mozilla. The Thunderbird code
is publicly available, so anyone can not only contribute to the code,
but also develop an add-on that will work on top of the Thunderbird code.
Some add-on authors stop maintaining their add-ons. Others wait for the
the next release before updating their add-ons. In many cases, add-on
authors test their add-ons with pre-releases of Thunderbird, and update
their add-ons before the new version of Thunderbird is offered to end-users.
There are public channels to communicate changes to add-on authors to
help them update their add-ons; and in the case of Firefox 4 and 5, the
folks at addons.mozilla.org scanned the add-ons there for code that
would be affected by the new version, and bumped the compatibility of
those add-ons were not going to be affected by the new version.
See
<http://blog.mozilla.com/addons/2011/05/21/firefox-5-compatibility-bump/>.
With Thunderbird, there was an announcement earlier this month at
<http://ccgi.standard8.plus.com/blog/archives/524>.
In addition to that, there are tools such as the Add-on compatibility
reporter, which allows users to override the add-on compatibility check
to test incompatible add-ons and report back whether or not the add-on
works with the new version. That data is then sent to the corresponding
add-on authors, so they know if they can increase the compatibility range.
See
<https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/add-on-compatibility-reporter/>
In addition to all that, Mozilla has created a new add-on SDK (formerly
named "Jetpack") designed to make it easier to create Mozilla add-ons.
The idea is to provide tools that add-on authors can use without:
* hurting Firefox performance
* having to worry about version compatibility (or at least greatly
improve that issue)
* learning too much Mozilla code
* etc.
One of its features is that you don't have to restart Thunderbird when
installing an add-ons.
Here's a video of jatpack creation at last years Mozilla summit:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKN4_fOKEWQ>
As far as I know, the new Add-on SDK is built into Thunderbird 5; so
it's just a matter of getting add-on authors to convert their add-ons.
There are already add-ons available that take advantage of it. You can
search AMO for the tag "restartless".
<https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/tag/restartless>
or "jetpack"
<https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/tag/jetpack>
--
Chris Ilias <http://ilias.ca>
Mailing list/Newsgroup moderator
David E. Ross
What about --
Signature Switch 1.6.7
Compact Headers 1.4.0
Toggle Word Wrap 1.8
--
David E. Ross
<http://www.rossde.com/>
On occasion, I might filter and ignore all newsgroup messages
posted through GoogleGroups via Google's G2/1.0 user agent
because of spam from that source.
Chris Ilias
> What about --
> Signature Switch 1.6.7
> Compact Headers 1.4.0
> Toggle Word Wrap 1.8
If you're specifically wondering about your installed add-ons, you can
try the "Is It Compatible?" extension, which will show you the
compatibility range of each add-on in the add-ons manager.
<https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/is-it-compatible/>
Ron Hunter
> I understand that if I want Thunderbird 5 I have to accept the loss
> of themes/extensions, but I don't have to like it.
> Add-ons are a major factor towards making Thunderbird an app of choice.
>
You seem to imply that all your themes and extensions failed. I find
this VERY hard to believe as all of mine survived.
> I truly believe the add-on system for Thunderbird (and Firefox) is
> broken.
>
> Mozilla should create a way that add-ons in their online catalog be
> automatically updated to work with new releases.
>
Yes, and we should have anti-gravity, and perpetual motion machines too.
Unreasonable expectations.
> Can Mozilla do this?
>
Not completely. However, a mechanical testing process can identify
extensions that SHOULD continue to work, and bump the 'maxversion' to
allow them to install on each new version, and that IS being done.
> Why make add-ons, a major part of Mozilla products, so flaky and
> unreliable across new versions.
>
Firefox extensions go far beyond those in any other browser in what they
can do, and change, in the working of the browser. Other browsers,
basically, enable extensions to work ONLY with the data coming in, NOT
the way the program itself works. Firefox extensions, because they have
this ability to actually change the way the browser works, are far more
sensitive to changes in the core code of the browser. It's a question
of whether you want the power of Firefox extensions, or the
compatibility of extensions for IE and Chrome.
Mark Banner
> On 11-06-28 9:19 PM, Ran Garoo wrote:
> There are public channels to communicate changes to add-on authors to
> help them update their add-ons; and in the case of Firefox 4 and 5, the
> folks at addons.mozilla.org scanned the add-ons there for code that
> would be affected by the new version, and bumped the compatibility of
> those add-ons were not going to be affected by the new version.
> See
> <http://blog.mozilla.com/addons/2011/05/21/firefox-5-compatibility-bump/>.
> With Thunderbird, there was an announcement earlier this month at
> <http://ccgi.standard8.plus.com/blog/archives/524>.
For the next version of Thunderbird we hope to be using the same add-on
compatibility bump mechanism as Firefox. This should help extension
authors in knowing if their add-ons are compatible or not.
> In addition to all that, Mozilla has created a new add-on SDK (formerly
> named "Jetpack") designed to make it easier to create Mozilla add-ons.
...
> One of its features is that you don't have to restart Thunderbird when
> installing an add-ons.
You don't actually need to use jetpack to have a restartless add-on,
however it is easier to be restartless if you use jetpack.
Standard8
Ron Hunter
Ran Garoo
>
> In addition to all that, Mozilla has created a new add-on SDK (formerly
> named "Jetpack") designed to make it easier to create Mozilla add-ons.
> The idea is to provide tools that add-on authors can use without:
> * hurting Firefox performance
> * having to worry about version compatibility (or at least greatly
> improve that issue)
> * learning too much Mozilla code
> * etc.
>
> One of its features is that you don't have to restart Thunderbird when
> installing an add-ons.
> Here's a video of jatpack creation at last years Mozilla summit:
> <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKN4_fOKEWQ>
>
> As far as I know, the new Add-on SDK is built into Thunderbird 5; so
> it's just a matter of getting add-on authors to convert their add-ons.
>
> There are already add-ons available that take advantage of it. You can
> search AMO for the tag "restartless".
> <https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/tag/restartless>
>
> or "jetpack"
> <https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/tag/jetpack>
Thanks for what seems to me to be the best response to my concern.
If this integration of an improved SDK works, then my concern
will be fully met.
I understand that each user of FF/T could try communicating with
add-on authors, but that is an unwieldy process and increases the
probabilities that an extension will end up being version specific.
I especially like the no-restart feature as it was getting silly
to have to go through that with each add-on sequentially. That
made me think of what Windows has been historically; i.e., do one
update that requires a machine restart for the sole reason of updating
a desktop icon or start menu item. Mozilla is wise to eschew that.
I do hope the communication between authors of add-ons and Mozilla
improves and that there will be a user-transparent upgrade of the
whole product. Gambling that the functioanlity of either FF or
T depends on synchronization between core-Mozilla people and add-on
people is not pleasant and forces what should be an uncessary
decison to stay behind at an old product version or move ahead
at a loss of usefulness and function. Especially in the light
of the new EOL policies.
I'm glad that someone at Mozilla is considering this process - maybe
they too were irked by the loss of an extension or four.
thanks
>
Ron Hunter
that extensions can be made to require neither a restart on
installation, or reworking in order to accommodate security updates, and
minor bug fixes. This needs to still allow extension writers to get
into the core code so that they can do things not allowed by other
browsers. This will still require changes when that core code is
changed, but most extensions will not need to be that 'intimate' with
the core code.
Steve
> On 11-06-28 11:01 PM, David E. Ross wrote:
>> What about --
>> Signature Switch 1.6.7
>> Compact Headers 1.4.0
>> Toggle Word Wrap 1.8
>
> If you're specifically wondering about your installed add-ons, you can
> try the "Is It Compatible?" extension, which will show you the
> compatibility range of each add-on in the add-ons manager.
> <https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/is-it-compatible/>
>
Is it compatible is not supported by 5.0b2.
--
*/Stephen ("Steve") Fox/*
Bookish Stuff <http://www.american-gulag.com> - Fun Stuff
<http://tinyurl.com/2fb9vce>
/"Nobody has ever measured, not even poets, how much the heart can
hold."/ - Zelda Fitzgerald
WLS
> On 6/28/11 8:04 PM, Chris Ilias wrote:
>> On 11-06-28 11:01 PM, David E. Ross wrote:
>>> What about --
>>> Signature Switch 1.6.7
>>> Compact Headers 1.4.0
>>> Toggle Word Wrap 1.8
>>
>> If you're specifically wondering about your installed add-ons, you can
>> try the "Is It Compatible?" extension, which will show you the
>> compatibility range of each add-on in the add-ons manager.
>> <https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/is-it-compatible/>
>>
> Chris,
>
> Is it compatible is not supported by 5.0b2.
>
This one works with the Thunderbird 5 release.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/add-on-compatibility-reporter/
--
Using Thunderbird 5
How can I help you?
When you won't even help yourself?
Chris Ilias
> On 6/28/11 8:04 PM, Chris Ilias wrote:
>
>> If you're specifically wondering about your installed add-ons, you can
>> try the "Is It Compatible?" extension, which will show you the
>> compatibility range of each add-on in the add-ons manager.
>> <https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/is-it-compatible/>
>
> Chris,
>
> Is it compatible is not supported by 5.0b2.
Yeah, if you've already upgraded, there isn't much point in installing it.