Thunderbird Council launched a new site for Thunderbird and SeaMonkey add-ons

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JustOff

Thunderbird Council launched a new site for Thunderbird and SeaMonkey add-ons

Unread post by JustOff » 2018-07-10, 15:16

As announced at Mozilla Discourse:
Caitlin Neiman wrote:When Firefox Quantum (version 57) launched in November 2017, it exclusively supported add-ons built using WebExtensions APIs. addons.mozilla.org (AMO) has followed a parallel development path to Firefox and will soon only support WebExtensions-based add-ons.

As Thunderbird and SeaMonkey do not plan to fully switch to the WebExtensions API in the near future, the Thunderbird Council has agreed to host and manage a new site for Thunderbird and SeaMonkey add-ons. This new site, addons.thunderbird.net, will go live this week.

Starting on July 12th, all add-ons that support Thunderbird and SeaMonkey will be automatically ported to addons.thunderbird.net. The update URLs of these add-ons will be redirected from AMO to the new site and all users will continue to receive automatic updates. Developer accounts will also be ported and developers will be able to log in and manage their listings on the new site.

Thunderbird or SeaMonkey add-ons that also support Firefox or Firefox for Android will remain listed on AMO..

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Re: Thunderbird Council launched a new site for Thunderbird and SeaMonkey add-ons

Unread post by Isengrim » 2018-07-10, 19:11

Caitlin Neiman wrote:As Thunderbird and SeaMonkey do not plan to fully switch to the WebExtensions API in the near future...
Very interesting, they way they phrase this. I interpret it to mean that comm-central won't be shutting down in the near future just because Firefox is pushing ahead with a XUL/XPCOM-less future. Good for them, I suppose.
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Re: Thunderbird Council launched a new site for Thunderbird and SeaMonkey add-ons

Unread post by Lootyhoof » 2018-07-10, 19:35

Isengrim wrote:I interpret it to mean that comm-central won't be shutting down in the near future just because Firefox is pushing ahead with a XUL/XPCOM-less future.
They will both be basing on 60 ESR, which still (barely) has XUL add-on support. There's still concerns about their future beyond that, though. I believe both of them are planning the same fate as Firefox already has.

JustOff

Re: Thunderbird Council launched a new site for Thunderbird and SeaMonkey add-ons

Unread post by JustOff » 2018-07-10, 19:39

Isengrim wrote:I interpret it to mean that comm-central won't be shutting down in the near future
Actually I don't quite understand how they are going to live without XUL "tree" widget :crazy:

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Re: Thunderbird Council launched a new site for Thunderbird and SeaMonkey add-ons

Unread post by Moonchild » 2018-07-10, 20:01

JustOff wrote:
Isengrim wrote:I interpret it to mean that comm-central won't be shutting down in the near future
Actually I don't quite understand how they are going to live without XUL "tree" widget :crazy:
They can't. The XUL tree widget was specifically designed FOR Thunderbird back in the day. I don't think there will be a suitable replacement possible with what post-Quantum Firefox offers, because the tree replacement needs to be fast, robust and have deep complexity at the same time to suit message lists and views. I don't see that happening.
Last edited by Moonchild on 2018-07-10, 20:02, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Thunderbird Council launched a new site for Thunderbird and SeaMonkey add-ons

Unread post by mrnhmath » 2018-07-10, 20:08

A small delay until their inevitable defeat. Can't wait for Firefox 68 ESR :lol:

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Re: Thunderbird Council launched a new site for Thunderbird and SeaMonkey add-ons

Unread post by therube » 2018-07-10, 20:36

And one is to be gleeful at the defeat of another?

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Re: Thunderbird Council launched a new site for Thunderbird and SeaMonkey add-ons

Unread post by Night Wing » 2018-07-10, 20:39

I've heard through the grapevine SeaMonkey version 2.57 might be the last and final version for SeaMonkey.
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Re: Thunderbird Council launched a new site for Thunderbird and SeaMonkey add-ons

Unread post by SpockFan02 » 2018-07-10, 20:54

Is 57 a cursed number or something?

Anyway, months ago I remember the SeaMonkey people blogging about how if only one of their team left, the project would become "unmaintainable," and they thought they would eventually be forced to rewrite everything in HTML instead of XUL, which they were not looking forward to.

It really is unfortunate.

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Re: Thunderbird Council launched a new site for Thunderbird and SeaMonkey add-ons

Unread post by mrnhmath » 2018-07-10, 20:55

therube wrote:And one is to be gleeful at the defeat of another?
Refusing to cooperate with the PM team was their choice, now comm-central shall bear the consequences. It's the sad truth.

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Re: Thunderbird Council launched a new site for Thunderbird and SeaMonkey add-ons

Unread post by Isengrim » 2018-07-10, 21:18

Moonchild wrote:The XUL tree widget was specifically designed FOR Thunderbird back in the day.
Wow, I did not know this. That explains why I was having so much "fun" recently trying to understand its complexities. :think:
mrnhmath wrote:Refusing to cooperate with the PM team was their choice, now comm-central shall bear the consequences. It's the sad truth.
Just because we do not like that choice does not mean we should treat them with such petty contempt. Instead, we should continue focusing on our own project and showing by example that XUL is not as dead as they say it is, and that we are serious about this browser and platform.
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Re: Thunderbird Council launched a new site for Thunderbird and SeaMonkey add-ons

Unread post by doofy » 2018-07-11, 02:15

JustOff wrote:As announced at... etc
How will this affect CAA?

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Re: Thunderbird Council launched a new site for Thunderbird and SeaMonkey add-ons

Unread post by Moonchild » 2018-07-11, 06:03

Maybe someone needs to fork Thunderbird at an acceptable point for UXP and rebrand it. The Thunderbird team believes, according to a comment on that BZ bug, that "The Mozilla Platform is a lot more than just XUL, and the dependencies Thunderbird has are too deep to bail at the moment." -- prove them wrong!

(or maybe when UXP has settled I should revive FossaMail)
Last edited by Moonchild on 2018-07-11, 07:30, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Thunderbird Council launched a new site for Thunderbird and SeaMonkey add-ons

Unread post by Isengrim » 2018-07-11, 10:10

Moonchild wrote:Maybe someone needs to fork Thunderbird at an acceptable point for UXP and rebrand it.
Moonchild wrote:(or maybe when UXP has settled I should revive FossaMail)
If it were me, I'd start with FossaMail (a known good state!) and work my way up to UXP support. If it can be done for Pale Moon and Borealis, it can be done for anything.
What would constitue an "acceptible point for UXP" to fork from? TB 52?
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JustOff

Re: Thunderbird Council launched a new site for Thunderbird and SeaMonkey add-ons

Unread post by JustOff » 2018-07-11, 14:53

Isengrim wrote:
mrnhmath wrote:Refusing to cooperate with the PM team was their choice, now comm-central shall bear the consequences. It's the sad truth.
Just because we do not like that choice does not mean we should treat them with such petty contempt. Instead, we should continue focusing on our own project and showing by example that XUL is not as dead as they say it is, and that we are serious about this browser and platform.
Yep, that's the only right way to move on :thumbup:
doofy wrote:
JustOff wrote:As announced at... etc
How will this affect CAA?
This has nothing to do with it.

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Re: Thunderbird Council launched a new site for Thunderbird and SeaMonkey add-ons

Unread post by SpockFan02 » 2018-07-16, 22:17

Moonchild wrote:Maybe someone needs to fork Thunderbird at an acceptable point for UXP and rebrand it.
It sounds like Hyperbola is working on it.

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Re: Thunderbird Council launched a new site for Thunderbird and SeaMonkey add-ons

Unread post by zapper » 2018-07-17, 01:44

SpockFan02 wrote:
Moonchild wrote:Maybe someone needs to fork Thunderbird at an acceptable point for UXP and rebrand it.
It sounds like Hyperbola is working on it.
They are indeed.

they probably will have an addon page for those too in addition to these:

https://wiki.hyperbola.info/doku.php?id ... uxp_addons

Iceweasel is basically Basilisk without webext of course.
Last edited by zapper on 2018-07-17, 01:45, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: Thunderbird Council launched a new site for Thunderbird and SeaMonkey add-ons

Unread post by Moonchild » 2018-07-17, 12:29

We're actually working with hyperbola on giving people something better to point to than a wiki which leaves extension users without any way to properly update. The only major issue that requires extra work is the fact that the FSF doesn't want to allow the use of a site that has potentially non-free (non-purist) extensions listed, even if the license will be clearly stated along with each extension; this requires a special filter and operating mode for the hyperbola applications.
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