The roads I take...

My stability tracking role at Mozilla recently has been slightly modified to be more tied in with release management, which brought some additional item onto my plate, a lot of that being some sorts of bug triage.

That also required me to rethink some other things I'm doing, and for that, I saw I couldn't make the time to do a weekly status update blog post any more. Also, the original incentive to start hose posts was that I considered myself funded by the community in the model I had some years ago and felt I need to report to the community what I'm doing for that - for almost two years now, I have been funded by Mozilla instead, and I'm accountable to my manager anyhow, and as we're restructuring how contractors are managed, I probably will have some more formalities there as well. All in all, the original incentives aren't there any more and the report have become pretty dull for some time anyhow, so I'm stopping them now.

I will do small posts more often on interesting things I work on and other thoughts I have - and I hope I even get to a larger post every now and then, but my time for stuff like that is very limited nowadays.

Of course, I'll also keep posting interesting snippets to Disapora*.

Here's a short summary of Mozilla-related work I've done in week 44/2012 (October 29 - November 4, 2012):

• CSI:Mozilla / CrashKill:
  Filed a bug on sending an identifier with app crashes in B2G.
  Also filed a Flash beta crash.
  Discussed release channels for B2G and Socorro requirements.
  And we needed another Socorro data backfill, unfortunately.
  Added highlighting of the latest minor version of every Flash branch to the Flash hang overview reports.
  Also adjusted the limit values for the "Are We Stable Yet?" dashboard and converted some style attributes to classes in my reports.
  Had a long discussion with bjacob on getting new fields into Socorro data. We should find a way to make it easy to get new fields added in a way that (at least custom) reports can be generated against them, without using the mess that "App Notes" are right now.
  Followed the recent Flash crash spike.
  Did more monitoring of tracking+ crash bugs for 17.
  As usual, watched new/rising crashes, caring that bugs are filed where needed, and made sure my custom reports keep working well.
• Web Apps:
  Fixed some glitches in the improvements to the Mandelbrot app, but there seems to still be an issue with appCache - on my otoro device, I don't see the main index.html getting refreshed and so the app stops working.
  I also did quite a few updates to Lantea Maps, but now the map tiles seem to not load when appCache is active. Somehow I have a feeling that our techniques for offline apps are not working as well as they should.
• Various Discussions/Topics:
  B2G testing, Marketplace URL and branding strategies, etc.

Due to my traveling to London for MozFest, I completely missed making this report public even though I had finished it up before. Will follow up with a report for last week soon.

Here's a short summary of Mozilla-related work I've done in week 43/2012 (October 22 - 28, 2012):

• CSI:Mozilla / CrashKill:
  Filed a bug on an extreme spike in Flash crashes this week, apparently related to Zynga games.
  Also filed another bug on another aggregation data backfill needed in Socorro due to another late metrics data push.
  Monitored tracking+ crash bugs for 17, so we get the best stability we can in this release.
  Kept following the developments in B2G crash reporting, things seem to be moving forward nicely now.
  Did some maintenance on my custom reports.
  As usual, watched new/rising crashes, caring that bugs are filed where needed, and made sure my custom reports keep working well.
• German L10ns:
  Reviewed Firefox mobile and desktop localizations for the 18 cycle, and more Firefox OS strings.
  Tried fixing a hard to understand phrase in German SeaMonkey and fixed another small bug there as well.
  Checked in the sandstone theme for planet.mozilla.de - thanks to Jan for putting it together!
• Themes:
  Put some more finishing touches on the 2.14 version of my themes, esp. LCARStrek adaptiations for Social API support in Firefox.
• Web Apps:
  Worked on some improvements esp. for the Mandelbrot app, so it can save prefs (still need to figure out loading them in a quasi-sync mode) and have more of the settings the add-on version also has. Also started off the DB I'll need for bookmarks, even if there's no implementation of bookmarks yet.
• Various Discussions/Topics:
  B2G testing, B2G geolocation, platform meeting format, etc.

When working on the Mandelbrot app for a bit on Sunday, I found again that appCache is tricky to use when it comes to updating. On my mobile devices, I apparently ended up with the app only being partially updated to the new version. I guess I need to dig deeper on how to make this work smoothly...

Here's a short summary of Mozilla-related work I've done in week 42/2012 (October 15 - 21, 2012):

• CSI:Mozilla / CrashKill:
  Went through all the tracking+ crash bugs for 17, 18 and 19 that are not fixed in those "trains" right now, and cared that they are updated and patches get uplifted where possible.
  Kept tracking B2G crash reporting, the things we need are all moving forward right now.
  Tested reporting of content crashes from B2G phones.
  Did some small patches to keep my custom reports working well.
  Had some discussions on possible Socorro improvements.
  Filed a bug on better signatures for aborts.
  As usual, watched new/rising crashes, caring that bugs are filed where needed, and made sure my custom reports keep working well.
• Various Discussions/Topics:
  B2G testing, Italy workshop, plugin crashes and URLs, Linux OMTC, click-to-play blocklisting, web app submissions, B2G L10n, etc.

I spent this weekend in Torino, Italy, for a workshop with students, and held a session there on how we go for measuring stability and investigating crashes. I wonder how many such sessions it takes to get more people to help us there. It's not hard to get in, but monitoring reports might sound tedious - but when you find a problem and it actually gets solved because of that before it hits too many users, it's a good feeling that you saved people out there from problems!

Here's a short summary of Mozilla-related work I've done in week 41/2012 (October 8 - 14, 2012):

• CSI:Mozilla / CrashKill:
  I created another patch for updating correlation versions and pushed for getting it shipped in the same week to fit the Firefox code uplifts.
  Filed a bug for backfilling Socorro data once again after a late ADU push.
  Again more talk and driving to move B2G crash reporting forward on multiple fronts, a number of pieces did, completing what we need for v1 is now underway.
  Added display and linking of tracking bugs to the arewestableyet.com dashboard.
  Made my report somewhat more robust against errors.
  As usual, watched new/rising crashes, caring that bugs are filed where needed, and made sure my custom reports keep working well.
• German L10n:
  Synched Nightly and Aurora for the 18 channel.
• Various Discussions/Topics:
  OMTC for Linux, All kinds of B2G testing, Italy workshop, etc.

My status reports will probably be pretty short in the next weeks, if I am even able to do them. There's a lot on my plate right now, and taking care of stability of our products is quite time-consuming, even more so now that we are getting ready to introducing yet another product with Firefox OS.

Here's a short summary of Mozilla-related work I've done in week 40/2012 (October 1 - 7, 2012):

• CSI:Mozilla / CrashKill:
  More talk and driving to move B2G crash reporting forward on multiple fronts: crash annotations, content crash reporting, UX implementation, about:crashes.
  Started following bugs on making B2G use less memory, which reduces the probability of out-of-memory crashes.
  Tracking stability of Firefox 16 for desktop and Android in preparation of the release.
  Following the progress and fix to the large crash issue we had on CyanogenMod 10.
  Tried to push for a fix for wrong daily crash numbers for Android on Socorro.
  Switched arewestableyet.com dashboard to displaying Flash crashes and hangs per 100 ADU.
  As usual, watched new/rising crashes, caring that bugs are filed where needed, and made sure my custom reports keep working well.
• German L10n:
  Reviewed Firefox for Android 17 L10n, some fixes for de as well as a first German Firefox OS L10n.
  Updated suite and core L10n on trunk in preparation of the uplift to Aurora.
  Updated the German dictionary add-ons to be installable without a Firefox restart and incorporate the newest upstream dictionary files.
• Web Apps:
  Added OpenGeoServer Aerial layer to Lantea Maps, corrected the copyright notices for multiple layers, and added DOM full screen support to that app.
• Themes:
  Put some finishing touches on the 2.13 versions of EarlyBlue and LCARStrek, matching the Mozilla 16 train, and uploaded those. They're waiting for AMO approval now.
• Various Discussions/Topics:
  OMTC for Linux, icon sizes on Gaia, Flash stability, Vidyo stability, Italy workshop, etc.

It's probably quite visible in my updates that B2G / Firefox OS has become a much larger focus in my work recently, as it's moving from a feature work into a performance improvement and stabilization phase. The crash reporting UX is probably right at the borderline of that, as it's technically feature work, but needed as a large help for improving stability. I'm also testing the system a lot, with the default apps including the browser as well as my own apps, most importantly Lantea Maps, where it find it most annoying that I currently cannot save anything from the app to a file on the phone, so though I can record GPS tracks, I need to throw them away afterwards. I'll need to find a solution there.
That said, the system is shaping up nicely for a first edition geared towards a low-end smartphone market. I hope it will be successful in that setting, as it will only show its full power once we have that step behind us and can move to devices with more resources in addition to the low-end ones.

Here's a short summary of Mozilla-related work I've done in week 39/2012 (September 24 - 30, 2012):

• CSI:Mozilla / CrashKill:
  Sending Gecko crashes on B2G now works in a first stage! I submitted a few crashes myself in testing the system.
  I continued to talk with people about getting further steps (see tracking bug), including a discussion with dbolter, who is helping with driving this.
  Had some discussions on wireframes for the B2G crash reporting UI.
  Discussed crash annotations for B2G with Hub.
  Filed a bug on missing Socorro data one day.
  Also filed bugs on enablid "by build date" reports for Android and about missing aggregated data on recent Nightly crashes for Android in some views.
  Removed some outdated versions from my reports, including most of Fennec XUL.
  Also created some commandline overrides so I can regenerate data for reports more easily.
  As usual, watched new/rising crashes, caring that bugs are filed where needed, and made sure my custom reports keep working well.
• German L10n:
  Done some reviews for German L10n work.
  Synched core, suite and Chatzilla L10n with trunk.
• Web Apps:
  Added a TODO for Lantea Maps so both myself and potential contributors know what needs to be worked on.
• Various Discussions/Topics:
  B2G Geolocation problems (now solved), B2G crashes when setting wallpaper, etc.

A lot of my time right now goes into various B2G discussions as well as testing the system on my device. That takes away time from e.g. writing those weekly updates, but OTOH help making Firefox OS much better once we ship it - and even if we're scrambling to make our deadlines, I think it's shaping up nicely and the final product will rock!

Here's a short summary of Mozilla-related work I've done in week 38/2012 (September 17 - 23, 2012):

• CSI:Mozilla / CrashKill:
  More testing of Firefox OS on my otoro and trying poking people so we get crash reporting working.
  That work on B2G crash reporting included a conference with UX and privacy teams on what the flow of crash reporting should be for users in a way that we respect their privacy (i.e. enable a really informed opt-out).
  Followed how the Socorro team fixed two bugs in their recent release and deployed those fixes fast, also helped testing that those worked.
  Filed a bug on getting more resilient against late ADU pushes again.
  Had some discussions on crashes with CyanogenMod.
  Added bug IDs to my topcrasher reports for ARMv6, Win8 and Mountain Lion.
  Watched data for the new Flash release coming up that week.
  As usual, watched new/rising crashes, caring that bugs are filed where needed, and made sure my custom reports keep working well.
• German L10n:
  Done some reviews for German L10n work.
  Synched core, suite and Chatzilla L10n with trunk.
• Web Apps:
  Made Lantea Maps available on GitHub, updated its screen shots on the Mozilla Marketplace, and did a blog post inviting contributions.
• Various Discussions/Topics:
  UA strings and hardware tokens, B2G wallpaper customization, Mozilla Dino head, etc.

Things are busy again, esp. due to deadlines coming up in the B2G project and the general pace of Firefox OS work picking up. I have we finally are on the breakthrough to also get crash reporting in this system in the right direction so we can more efficiently help to make this a damn stable experience for our users!

Here's a short summary of Mozilla-related work I've done in week 37/2012 (September 10 - 16, 2012):

• CSI:Mozilla / CrashKill:
  I continued testing Firefox OS on my otoro and tried poking people so we get crash reporting working.
  Checked how crash reporting works after breakpad was turned on in device images - and found that they are generated but not sent as online detection had been backed out again.
  Had some conversations on further build-side steps to make B2G vcrash reporting useful.
  Tested the new "mobeta" release of Socorro on stage, watched it being deployed on production, and tested there again.
  Filed a bug on missing data after that deployment, and another one on incorrect daily numbers which I missed in stage testing and only discovered in production testing.
  Discussed adding Metro Firefox to Socorro.
  Commented on about:crashes for Firefox OS.
  As usual, watched new/rising crashes, caring that bugs are filed where needed, and made sure my custom reports keep working well.
• Various Discussions/Topics:
  MozCamp Warsaw, etc.

That week was a bit short as I only came back late from Warsaw on Monday, then needed to catch up with work and get rested again, and on Thursday I took most of the day off (except for some meetings) because it was my birthday. The report on the week comes quite late, though as this week was more intense again - but more about that in the next report.

Here's a short summary of Mozilla-related work I've done in week 36/2012 (September 3 - 9, 2012):

• CSI:Mozilla / CrashKill:
  Did some testing of Firefox OS on my otoro device, saw that it has some crash issues right now but reports are not sent atm, went on to figure out what we need to do to get them working. I posted a summary of the current state and road forward to the stability list and Dietrich.
  Followed Socorro getting ready for the "mobeta" push to production.
  Also followed their next big step - rewriting the UI in django.
  Did some preparation for the MozCamp session I did with bsmedberg, and attended the event, of course.
  As usual, watched new/rising crashes, caring that bugs are filed where needed, and made sure my custom reports keep working well.
• Web Apps:
  Did some style improvements in both apps for really small screens, like the otoro one. Also tested the apps on Firefox OS, and was surprised how smoothly Lantea Maps works there already.
• Various Discussions/Topics:
  Trying to figure out how to get builds onto the otoro, mobilizing Mozilla at MozCamp Warsaw, etc.

This was a week where most things I did outside of my routine were either preparation for MozCamp or of course attending it. Once again, this was a great event, energizing and mobilizing while at the same time quite straining due to short nights and the need of a lot of concentration in meetings. I demoed Firefox OS to a number of people, had a few conversations about its (upcoming) crash reporting story, stability work in general, as well as L10n and a few other topics I'm interested in. Of course, I also hosted a session on stability together with Benjamin Smedberg, and I think that was a good overview on what's being done there, which issues we're facing and where we need help. All in all, a lot for me has been circling around Firefox OS for sure, as I really want to help making that system a great success. And I hope there's a lot of other people willing to help there!