Weekly Status Report, W18/2009

Here's a summary of SeaMonkey/Mozilla-related work I've done in week 18/2009 (April 27 - May 3, 2009):

• Download Manager:
  I updated the tests for the new UI for the review comments, everything is ready for checkin there now, only waiting for the backend.
  I also worked out another approach to making toolkit UI test not fail when our UI patch is in, and reacted to review comments on progress dialogs - I need some more clarifications there before continuing work on them.
• Automated Tests:
  The random browser test orange we had in SeaMonkey should be fixed now - the problem was us relying too fast on focus() being successful, the solution to use setTimeout() to just let the focus settle. Yes, this is one of the few cases where setTimeout() makes the test more reliable when usually it's the other way round.
  When a new places test broke in SeaMonkey, I found out the problem and fixed it. I'm starting to get tired of the tests stuff though, doing it is too little fun - and that's a bad sign as tests are quite helpful overall.
• Build Infrastructure:
  Slowly, I hear that the new SeaMonkey buildbot machines are becoming a reality, unfortunately the Linux refplatform image doesn't convert as nicely to the new host infrastructure as the Window image does.
  Without those machines, it's not that easy for me to test the WIP for mozilla dir abstraction in buildbot factories, but I started this to get the ball rolling - maybe we have a chance to get as far as being able to try release automation with Beta 1.
  The patch for automatically inserting the Windows version in our .exe files should also be nearing checkin, which should ease release generation no matter what way it's being done.
• Geolocation:
  Recently, the Firefox geolocation support got a big overhaul and a network-based geolocation provider was integrated into toolkit. I hacked up a first patch for getting this all to work in SeaMonkey, but it needs a bit more work from how I read the review comments (though I don't fully understand them yet).
• SeaMonkey L10n:
  After stalling some time for review, the patch for making profiles easier to localize could make it into the tree, and though the landing was somewhat bumpy, we now should be at a state where localizers have less work to get the default profile files localized and we have more of a guarantee of what is actually in the default profile in all localizations.
• German L10n:
  I fixed a long-standing password management bug in the German localization of toolkit and mostly kept up with German SeaMonkey localization (except for stuff landed over the weekend).
• Various Discussions:
  Solaris and aus2-community, error console, EV cert UI, test failures, mail account autoconfig work, SeaMonkey statistics, Mac theme rework, etc.

Theoretically, we would already have or be about to freeze for SeaMonkey 2.0 Beta 1 right now. While this is being pushed out a bit due to our friends from Thunderbird not being ready to freeze for the next beta themselves, and us still missing the two larger features of download manager and tabmail, things start to feel more and more like being in beta phase. The feed integration suite is feature complete with having detection, preview and an internal reader for feeds now. Some minor polish might still be in order before final, but that part is surely beta-worthy now. I hope we get the last missing features as well as the better Mac theme in very soon so we can officially designate SeaMonkey 2.0 to be in beta and feature-complete, which will be a quite important milestone. Stay tuned here for more news on that and where where we're heading after that step!