The Rumbling Edge

Thunderbird 1.0.2 is now available for download.

Edited from a mozillaZine post:
“Mozilla Thunderbird 1.0.2 has been released. Consisting of security and stability fixes, this version is an essential upgrade for all Thunderbird 1.0 users. The Mozilla Thunderbird 1.0.2 Release Notes have more information and builds can be obtained from either the Thunderbird product page or the Thunderbird 1.0.2 directory on ftp.mozilla.org. As previously reported, there was no Thunderbird 1.0.1.”

List of fixed bugs in 1.0.2 can be found on Mozilla.org’s list of known vulnerabilities.

Bombshell:
Additionally, official zip builds of Firefox and Thunderbird have been discontinued as of version 1.0.2 onwards.

Asa Dotzler has some workarounds, which I post here:
“there are a couple of workarounds here. First, you could just get the zipped nightly build that corresponds to the final release (look at the build ID in the final release, and get the same nightly build from the same branch and you’re set). There is nothing magical about the release build. It is the exact same nightly build bits that we QA’d with a new file name and location on FTP. The second answer is to make a “zipped” build of your own. Just install the installer and don’t run it, then zip up the Firefox directory and carry that around.“

However, some people have expressed concerns that the zipped nightly build that corresponds to the final release are not exactly identical either. The real impact of this decision remains to be seen, as system administrators who use the zipped builds for network installs and people who create their own installers have been inconvenienced. There has been word that many users are unhappy with this arrangement, but it seems that the Mozilla Foundation is unlikely to reverse their decision in the face of the backlash.

On Chase’s blog, Ben Goodger adds:
“Way to go Chase for doing this at last - I’ve wanted to discontinue these releases for a long while.

Folks, we’re on a shoestring QA budget. Testing software update and other functions with a complex installation matrix is neither glamorous nor fun, nor something we can afford to be doing.”

Users have come up with a counter-argument: How difficult is it to take the file list for installer builds and zip it up to put it on the ftp server? One suggested that it could be due to some files being generated by the installer script, so the situation is not as simple as that. And the argument goes on…

Read comments in this mozillaZine forum post and Asa’s and Chase’s blogs to find out more. Sorry for the late post. I was busy the past few days.

Official Windows installer, pigfoot’s, moox’s

Official Linux

Official Mac, ozjason’s

I was browsing around Wikipedia when I chanced upon this in the Mozilla Thunderbird article:

As of March 14, 2005, security site Secunia counts 1 unpatched security flaws not yet fixed for Mozilla Thunderbird 1.x, compared to 6 unpatched security flaws for Microsoft Outlook Express 6, 2 unpatched security flaws for Eudora 6.x and 0 unpatched security flaws for Ximian Evolution 1.4.x.

Is Thunderbird safe enough for general purpose use, especially in corporations? You be the judge.

I had some free time today, so decided to post.

• Fixed: 283365 - Tbird ZIP nightly busted 23-Feb-2005
• Fixed: 285606 - Thunderbird Installer Builds DOA
• Fixed: 129183 - Crash opening the address book after editing the history.mab file -TBTrunk
• Fixed: 269067 - RSS feed verification (validation) process never ends for a valid feed
• Fixed: 274800 - saving to imap stored drafts folder while offline does not work
• Fixed: 283080 - Training.dat not updating since 02/19/05 build.
• Fixed: 234121 - Should not mark the mail as Read with view-timer=0
• Fixed: 268807 - add default prefs for SignonFileName
• Fixed: 272304 - security options don’t appear from mail compose window
• Fixed: 282048 - Register thunderbird with the OS to handle feed:// URLS
• Fixed: 282174 - Add Podcasting Support
• Fixed: 282399 - Fork SMIME locale files from mozilla\mailnews
• Fixed: 282429 - Re-design Message Status Bars (junk bar & remote content bar) to be more flexible
• Fixed: 282491 - Add a Phishing Notification Bar to the message pane
• Fixed: 282500 - Phishing Detector should look for HTML forms in e-mail
• Fixed: 282645 - address autocomplete doesn’t work for replies (but works for new compose)
• Fixed: 282859 - Insert Character Dialog broken (XUL parsing error, bad DTD)
• Fixed: 282985 - Not Possible to Disable Phishing Warnings
• Fixed: 283216 - Add CRL and OCSP Support To Thunderbird
• Fixed: 284126 - Quick search icon is no longer showing up in the quick search bar
• Fixed: 284183 - XML Parse Error on opening an attachment
• Fixed: 284973 - Don’t focus the SMTP Server List
• Fixed: 285815 - Unable to maximize main window
• Fixed: 285831 - Opening accountmanager from mail compose leads to a blank account panel
• Fixed: 263801 - Hang when importing invalid address book (csv file)
• Fixed: 270418 - Delete item from context menu doesn’t corresponds to the toolbar button
• Fixed: 283122 - [Cosmetic] About: Thunderbird copyright notice is 1998-2004, should be 1998-2005

Refreshed the existing buglist:

• Since 12 Apr 04: 240307 - Large text attachments cause Thunderbird to hang/crash on reply
• Since 08 Sep 04: 258465 - Duplicate entries appear in feeds
• Since 18 Nov 04: 270743 - First launch account creation doesn’t honor unchecking “Download messages now” option
• Since 01 Dec 04: 272729 - Import of mozilla profile reports success even though disk full and not all mails imported
• Since 03 Dec 04: 272994 - When I move a whole mailing list between address books, it gets destroyed.
• Since 16 Jan 05: 278612 - Thunderbird can nuke local folder contents when you move them around
• Since 12 Mar 05: 285878 - “show passwords” does nothing

Newest features on the trunk are:

• Podcasting support, bug 282174
• Phishing detection abilities, bug 282500
• Mail version on the aviary1.0.1 branch has been bumped to 1.0.2, bug 285657

Official Windows, Official Windows installer, Official Windows MSI (discussion) (2005-03-15)

Official Linux (2005-03-15)

Official Mac (2005-03-15)

Thunderbird 1.0.1 RC is now available for download.

From mozillaZine:
Release candidate builds of Mozilla Thunderbird 1.0.1 are now available. Like last month’s Mozilla Firefox 1.0.1, this new version will just fix a few security and stability bugs; it’s not a major update. Testers can download the release candidate from the latest-aviary1.0.1 directory on ftp.mozilla.org. Assuming no problems are found, the final version of Thunderbird 1.0.1 will come out within a day or two.

Asa writes:
“With Thunderbird, we don’t have the update mechanism at all (unlike Firefox where it is partially working) so we don’t need to test that but we do need to make sure that installing over previous installs, using old profiles, etc, all works with 1.0.1. If you find any problems with 1.0.1, please let me know in a hurry. Thanks.”

Bug list will be posted later. I will probably lump everything in a super grand huge post from the last date of my bug posting to the day when 1.0.1 final is released.

Official Windows, Official Windows installer (2005-03-09)

Official Linux (2005-03-09)

Official Mac (2005-03-09), ozjason’s