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)

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)
• Blocklisting will save us if we have a security issue. :)

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.
• 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?