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David Ascher: Thunderbird 2.0.0.14 and SSL certificates

Posted about 12 hours ago by david

Thunderbird 2.0.0.14 was recently released to the world: yet another security release for Thunderbird. Yay, and thanks to all involved! All was well, until news came in through a bug report that one of those included updates is problematic for some ... [More] users.

Specifically, as part of making Firefox 2.0.0.14, we made a change in how the underlying platform handles SSL certificates. That change was made to increase the privacy of people visiting certain web pages, as documented in this advisory.

The problem is that the switch (asking users to confirm that they want to identify themselves with a certificate) makes sense for web pages, but it doesn’t make sense as implemented for email transactions. There’s a lot more detail in the relevant bug.

Luckily, this problem likely doesn’t affect the vast majority of Thunderbird users. It only affects users who are issued a certificate to secure the communication with the mail server, rather than relying on passwords. With the 2.0.0.14 release, those users end up being asked to confirm the use of the certificate on every connection, which gets to be annoying.

Most of the users affected are likely in large organizations, as they are the ones who tend to issue their own certificates. Luckily, those organizations also often do their own QA before a deployment, so in all likelihood few people will be exposed to the bug.

Getting a fixed Thunderbird 2.0.0.15 out is planned, but we’re trying to figure out how to prioritize this release relative to the other releases.

In the meantime, there is a simple workaround that can be applied per user (revert a preference setting), or, for those deployments using autoconfig, by tweaking the central configuration file.

We could also release a XPI add-on to fix the preference, but that may or many not be easier — feedback welcome.

I’d love to hear from administrators of large Thunderbird installations in particular, as this bug highlighted for me several of the challenges we have in making sure that our processes are aligned with those of large deployments.

I’m also thinking that we need to setup better communication channels with people deploying large installations of Thunderbird (email lists, different blogs, etc.). If you’re involved in large-scale deployments of Thunderbird, email me and let me know your thoughts. [Less]

Rumbling Edge - Thunderbird: Shredder Alpha 1 QA sign-off completed

Posted about 14 hours ago

Following in the footsteps of John Resig, I also have a sort-of-reverse birthday present for Thunderbird fans:

Shredder (Thunderbird 3) Alpha 1's QA signoff has been completed, with no significant blockers discovered, the release should come ... [More] out in the next couple of days. Please note that the release is not recommended for production use and may eat / burn / lose your messages / mail / computer / cat.

A list of almost-everything-that-has-gone-into-Shredder Alpha 1 can be found here.

(On a sidenote, not everyone can proclaim a QA signoff of alpha-quality software on their birthdays. :) ) [Less]

Rumbling Edge - Thunderbird: Shredder Alpha 1 (not yet) Released

Posted about 14 hours ago

Changelogs
for other Thunderbird releases

Released on xx May 08, and this changelog was last updated on 12 May 08.

Shredder Alpha 1 (also known as Thunderbird 3 Alpha 1) has (not yet) been released. Release notes are (not yet) ... [More] available. This post lists the improvements in Shredder Alpha 1 over Thunderbird 2 releases. This list encompasses almost every single known fix that went into this release, and also excludes certain build / Thunderbird 2 bugs. Do check out the known issues as well.

Some half/fully-finished features can be found here. The list is too long to fit to one post, so the corresponding Bugzilla query is used instead.

Changes in
Shredder Alpha 1:
(850)

Thunderbird-specific: (422)

http://tinyurl.com/5ccxh2

MailNews and other related categories: (428)

http://tinyurl.com/6lj9xp

Official
Windows installer

Official
Linux (i686)

Official
Mac (Universal binary) [Less]

Justin Scott: AMO Developer Tools Revamp, Part 5: Manage Versions and Files

Posted about 15 hours ago by Justin Scott (fligtar)

The next area of AMO Developer Tools being revamped is managing add-on versions and files. Here are some screenshots of the new look:

Listing of all versions:

Editing a specific version:

Changes/new ... [More] features:

Ability to delete “empty” versions that have no files
Ability to add files to a specific version, not just the latest version
Ability to add and remove target applications, where previously you could only change the minVersion and maxVersions of existing target applications.
Documentation explaining what all the fields do
Cleaner/better interface, allowing for future enhancements around versions and files

Feedback/Comments/Suggestions? Comment on this post or in the bug.

Previous post: Edit Add-on Properties [Less]

QMO: Testday 5/16 - Firefox 3 RC1 Testday (Part 1)

Posted about 15 hours ago by tchung

Start: 2008-05-16 07:00
Timezone: Etc/GMT-7
Greetings Testers!

The moment has arrived! We are welcoming all testers to help with Firefox 3 RC1 Testday (Part 1). This will be the biggest testday of the year, and we need your help. ... [More]

What: Firefox 3 Release Candidate 1 Testday (Part 1)
When: Friday, May 16, 2008 from 7am - 5pm PDT
Where: IRC on irc.mozilla.org, channel #testday

How you can help

Install the RC1 build candidate at: ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/nightly/3.0rc1-candidates/...
read more [Less]

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