ChatZilla:Suiterunner

Note: this will most likely apply to any extensions that are shipped as part of SeaMonkey when SeaMonkey is a toolkit application, however the exception to this would be DOMI which currently isn't on AMO I believe --Standard8 08:41, 7 April 2007 (PDT)

Aims

• Make ChatZilla work on (currently experimental) Toolkit-based builds of trunk SeaMonkey ("Suiterunner").
• Don't confuse SeaMonkey users that don't use ChatZilla.
• Allow SeaMonkey users to update ChatZilla...
  • ...as part of new SeaMonkey releases.
  • ...as an extension in the same way they can in Firefox.
• Retain makexpi.sh for standalone XPI building requiring only mozilla/config.

Building as an extension

• Need to ifdef MOZ_XUL_APP in the main Makefile.
• Add variables like extensions/inspector/Makefile.in#51.
• Need to preprocess install.rdf (and static.js).
  • That, or update versions in multiple places whenever CZ or SM bumps.
  • chatzilla-version.txt?
• No effect on makexpi.sh builds, if we do it right.

appManaged

Note currently, the preferred option appears to be "off".--Standard8 08:41, 7 April 2007 (PDT)

• Used in install.rdf files, generated within the app.
• If it's on:
  • It prevents the EM doing update checks and showing incompatibility warnings.
  • Newer versions of ChatZilla can still be installed, they end up in the profile and override the app version.
• If it's off:
  • The EM will check for updates only if the app directory is writable. However, any accepted updates will go to the profile anyway.
    • We need to confirm that an extension in the app dir and the same one in a profile dir don't conflict --Standard8 08:41, 7 April 2007 (PDT)
    • This will mean that if someone installs a SM instance with an old ChatZilla they'll get an update prompt on first or second startup - probably not an issue, but may be a bit annoying --Standard8 08:41, 7 April 2007 (PDT)
  • The new add-on update notification may annoy users if they don't even use ChatZilla.
    • in which case they shouldn't have installed it, or they should disable it --Standard8 08:41, 7 April 2007 (PDT)
• Might we be able to spin releases when new CZ builds come out, and not really incrementing the version, just Build ID? Thus letting the newest CZ always be installed at install time, and allowing CZ to update correctly otherwise? (or is that too much releng work) --Justin Wood (Callek) 12:48, 20 May 2007 (PDT)

Should the setting be different for developer/release builds? --Standard8 08:43, 7 April 2007 (PDT)

locked

• In install.rdf, prevents an add-on from being uninstalled. Do not want.
  • If Chatzilla is installed as part of SeaMonkey (suiterunner), I highly suggest keeping this. If the App Directory is not writable, you can't uninstall CZ anyway. You can however, disable it. --Justin Wood (Callek) 21:54, 7 September 2006 (PDT)

Updates

• If a user has installed a ChatZilla update as described above, any new versions installed to the app directory as part of SeaMonkey won't be active.
  • see also my comments in appManaged --Standard8 08:41, 7 April 2007 (PDT)
  • In that case, "Uninstall" in the Add-ons Manager will remove only the version in the profile. This may be useful if the global version has been brought up-to-date, e.g. by upgrading SeaMonkey. -- Tonymec 12:33, 19 January 2008 (PST)
• Blocklisting will save us if we have a security issue. :)
• Current issues: see bug 300967 and bug 413153 -- Tonymec 12:38, 19 January 2008 (PST)

L10N

• How do we handle localizations - CZ doesn't currently ship locales, we could do the locale info in source control anyway and ship as part of the main SeaMonkey install - but what happens when an update occurs?
  • This is a problem we'll need to resolve nearer the time when/if we start shipping localized versions of SeaMonkey built from source. Not a problem for the short-term --Standard8 06:06, 12 April 2007 (PDT)

Stuff the EM could support

• Disable updates on appManaged extensions by default, but offer to enable them in the EM UI.
  • See "Current issues" under Updates above. -- Tonymec 12:42, 19 January 2008 (PST)
• Allow updates for a specific extension to be disabled from the updates window, so a user can get rid of the annoyance without uninstalling us.
• Keep appdir extensions enabled in safe mode. ChatZilla would revert to the SeaMonkey bundled version, which seems safe.
  • How do we (CZ) handle downgrading?