Thunderbird/Release Driving
Thunderbird Drivers
Thunderbird-driving is intended to be a low-overhead process to make sure that as Thunderbird converges on releases that have the important bugs fixed and high-impact features implemented. We may or may not achieve this initially; if you have suggestions about how we can do better, please let us know.
Most relevant discussion will happen publicly, typically in mozilla.dev.apps.thunderbird and/or mozilla.dev.planning. People who have concerns that affect driving that they're not comfortable discussing publicly should email them to thunderbird-drivers@mozilla.org.
Currently Active Drivers
- David Ascher (davida)
- Mark Banner (Standard8)
- David Bienvenu (bienvenu)
- Bryan Clark (clarkbw)
- Magnus Melin (mkmelin)
- Dan Mosedale (dmose)
- Phil Ringnalda (philor)
Flags
The main tool of thunderbird-drivers is a rough prioritization of bugs done with a couple of flags:
- Blocking
- a bug that, if it were the last unfixed bug, we would hold a release for, rather than ship without. Note that this implies that fixing the bug is worth the time-value of not having the rest of the release in hands of users for that much longer.
- Wanted
- a restricted set of things that thunderbird-drivers think would be nice to have, but that we would be willing to ship without. Note that wanted- doesn't mean that we wouldn't accept a patch; it means that we're not actively devoting energy to driving this into Thunderbird 3.
Note that as new information appears and time passes, the bugs that are considered blocking+ and wanted+ are likely to change somewhat.
Attachment Flags
When we are locked down in a restricted phase in the lead up to a release we will restrict checkins to the tree to be approvals-only.
The currently available flag is approval-thunderbird3. You only need to request approval when the tree status (as shown on the tinderbox page) or other notices states that you must. If in doubt, ask.
To request approval:
- Go to the attachment page of the patch you want to request approvals for (click the details link).
- On that page:
- Set 'approval-thunderbird3' to '?'.
- In the comments field enter reasons why this should be accepted for the next release.
- Include an assessment of risk.
- Mention other significant things such as performance improvements.
Patches which are tidy up only or high risk are unlikely to be accepted. For other patches it depends on the level of risk, the particular release the freeze is for and the time remaining until the release/freeze.
Target Milestones & Priorities
These two fields will be used in combination with blocking & wanted to help organize what work happens when. The intent is that the ownership of these fields is shared between thunderbird-drivers and the developer who is working on the bug. All parties should feel free to set the field as appropriate, but at the same time being prepared for possible polite dialog when disagreements occur.
How to use flags
To nominate a bug for blocking or wanted status, set the appropriate flag to ? in Bugzilla. The drivers will then approve or deny the nomination. To check the current blocking and wanted bugs:
Note: the above links are only unfortunately only viewable for Bugzilla users who are logged in and have 'canconfirm' privileges. This is a Bugzilla implementation issue.
Note: If you want quick access to these links, you can edit your saved searches preferences in bugzilla and check them - then they'll be at the bottom of all bugzilla pages.
Triage
Each Bugzilla component in the Mail/News Core and Thunderbird products has a driver (see the list of component drivers) in charge of triaging that component from time to time.
Drivers are encouraged to try and give a one or two sentence explanation when we mark a nomination as + or -; this will allow everyone to detect mistakes and renominate with an explanation.
Fundamental Fact: Scarcity
Keep in mind that there are orders of magnitude more bug fixes & features than can possibly be shipped in any given release. A particular bug not making the cut for this next release doesn't necessarily mean it's not important, but it _does_ mean that thunderbird-drivers feels that there other are bugs that are even more important.