SeaMonkey:suiterunner

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Description

"suiterunner" is an internal code-name for the future version of SeaMonkey based on the "new toolkit", i.e. the same backend code already used by Firefox, Sunbird and for the most part also Thunderbird. The name is intentionally derived from "XULRunner", as the long-term goal of this project is to make SeaMonkey a XULRunner-based application.

Important changes

Compared to xpfe-based "conventional" SeaMonkey (1.0.x and 1.1.x), suiterunner will feature some quite important changes:

Incorporation of the same Add-On Management as Firefox, including uninstalling Add-Ons, automatic extension updates, etc.
Making Firefox and Thunderbird extensions compatible with suiterunner is easier than with "conventional" SeaMonkey (not all will work out-of-the-box though)
Profiles will be kept in a new directory, old profiles will need to be migrated (addition of a profile migrator opens doors to enable easier settings importing from other apps though)
New Windows installer will be based on NSIS, just like current Firefox installer

Why are we doing this?

Some of this has already been touched on above:

Using toolkit means we share more core files with Firefox, Sunbird, Thunderbird etc, this means we benefit from their fixes to the core code, and they benefit from ours.
It will be easier for extensions that work with Firefox/Thunderbird to be compatible with SeaMonkey.

Current development

Summary

For the moment, building SeaMonkey trunk in the "suiterunner" configuration is working on all platforms, but it currently ties some parts of xpfe and toolkit together in a temporary mix, still excluding some parts of toolkit from the build that we haven't yet figured out how to include without causing incompatibilities. Look for comments like "# XXX Suite doesn't want these just yet" in toolkit build files.

Bug state

The main tracking bug for suiterunner is bug suiterunner

Real blockers:

bug 329744 Write migrator for moving to Toolkit-based profiles
bug 338461 Get file -> new navigator window working in suiterunner
bug 348386 Download manager doesn't display on suiterunner builds
bug 350221 Make suiterunner tabbrowser build on toolkit browser
bug 351917 Create NSIS installer for SeaMonkey (suiterunner)

Possible blockers:

bug 335154 Get SeaMonkey's themes registering and switching with Theme Manager (in suiterunner)
- removes old theme options
bug 349309 toolkit's extensions.js/OpenURL is app specific (GetMoreThemes/Extensions)
bug 361159 Grippies missing on toolbars for Classic theme in suiterunner
bug 361191 In suiterunner preferences once Mail & Newsgroups -> Tags pane is selected you can't get of it.
bug 363700 Software Installation (pref-smartupdate.xul) prefs page is designed for xpfe SM not suiterunner.

Regression which would be caused by the switch, but no need to block:

bug 329742 Port SeaMonkey's splash screen code to work with Toolkit
~~bug 361161 Reporter doesn't work for suiterunner (MOZ_XUL_APP=1) builds~~
~~bug 361193 In suiterunner preferences, advanced -> Mousewheel pane doesn't display~~
~~bug 361203 Suiterunner: More Information button doesn't work on Smart Browsing pane.~~
bug 361303 Showing about as a dialog doesn't work in suiterunner.
bug 361682 Turbo mode won't work with suiterunner builds
~~bug 361683 Help buttons missing for mailnews items in suiterunner builds~~
~~^{1 2}bug 339720 show warning page before showing about:config~~
¹bug 346604 Two "Using help" documents in suiterunner
^{1 2}bug 346605 Make openHelp() calls call suiterunner help correctly
- This stops help working in various places (typically code from /extensions) but can't be fixed until after we stop building xpfe suite.
¹bug 360109 make suiterunner help use SeaMonkey theme icons
bug 361903 Personal Toolbar expands when items are hovered
~~bug 364141 toolkitify composer's startup handler~~
bug 364168 Winhooks commandline options won't work in suiterunner
bug 348437 Remove/fix nsKillAll.js for builds with MOZ_XUL_APP=1 set
bug 365181 loadHelpRDF with help window in SuiteRunner
bug 366367 SeaMonkey link on mailnews start page is incorrect in suiterunner
bug 366901 Edit->Copy doesn't work in the SuiteRunner Error Console

¹ not currently blocking bug suiterunner ² doesn't need to block bug suiterunner

No need to block:

bug 255807 Migrate Seamonkey UI from XPFE to New Toolkit
bug 336874 Make suiterunner use the same toolkit.jar as XULRunner
bug 342087 migrate SeaMonkey preferences to use an extended Toolkit Prefwindow
bug 366673 Remove remaning contents.rdf from Suiterunner (stop using installed-chrome.txt)

Need to decide on:

bug 329021 Get non-static builds of mailnews working when MOZ_XUL_APP set
bug 332203 Ensure the installers work with MOZ_XUL_APP set on SeaMonkey
- Works apart from DOMI
~~bug 334478 Get suiterunner to actually run (start up a somewhat usable browser window)~~
~~bug 351152 Make SeaMonkey's Release Notes URL compatible with toolkit's version~~

Related Wiki Pages

Some pref window work is being tracked at SeaMonkey:Toolkit Transition:PrefwindowPanes
Transition of Chatzilla to fit the new model is being discussed at ChatZilla:Suiterunner
The old main page of various discussions about the toolkit transition at SeaMonkey:Toolkit Transition
The SeaMonkey:New for 1.5 page for the trunk builds - includes some items which are in suiterunner and hopefully will be in the next release.

Builds

There are some experimental tinderboxes listed on the SeaMonkey-Ports tinderbox page, the phlox (mac) and tpol (win32) ones also upload suiterunner packages into the seamonkey/tinderbox-builds directory of ftp.mozilla.org

For building yourself, just add the lines

MOZ_XUL_APP=1
ac_add_options --enable-static-mail

to your SeaMonkey trunk .mozconfig file.