[Ext] userChromeJS [2019]

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jikamens
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Joined: December 7th, 2011, 8:34 am

[Ext] userChromeJS [2019]

Post by jikamens »

FYI, I'm working on reviving userChromeJS for Thunderbird 68+. First, minimally working add-on can be found at https://addons.thunderbird.net/thunderb ... hromejs-2/. Code and a bit more details can be found at https://github.com/jikamens/userChromeJS.
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DanRaisch
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Re: [Ext] userChromeJS [2019]

Post by DanRaisch »

I split your post from it's original location and changed the subject of the this thread. It is not appropriate to simply modify an extension and use the same name, without the authorization of the original author. As that individual has advised me that you do not have that authorization, please tweak the name of your "revived" version to make it clear it is not the 2015 code.
jikamens
Posts: 25
Joined: December 7th, 2011, 8:34 am

Re: [Ext] userChromeJS [2019]

Post by jikamens »

I'm sorry, but who do you think you are to tell me what is "appropriate"?

I have been maintaining Thunderbird add-ons for seven years. I wrote or help maintain eleven different Thunderbird add-ons.

I went through exactly this situation with another add-on, ToggleReplied, which had been abandoned by its authors. After consulting with the moderators of addons.thunderbird.net, they informed me that it was fine to reuse an add-on name if the previous maintainer had abandoned the add-on, to make it easier for users to find the new, supported version of the add-on.

The old userChromeJS add-on has not been updated since before Thunderbird 60, has not been compatible with Thunderbird since before Thunderbird 60, and has not been compatible with Firefox for even longer. Furthermore, it is my understanding that one of the maintainers of Thunderbird has communicated directly with the author of the old add-on who said that they did not have any plans to update it.

Perhaps I would have communicated about this with the author of the old add-on if they had put contact information on its home page (http://userchromejs.mozdev.org/), but they apparently didn't consider people being able to communicate with them to be important.

I will change the name of my add-on if the author intends to upgrade the add-on. Otherwise I believe that reusing the name is entirely appropriate, and the maintainers of Thunderbird have told me as much.
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DanRaisch
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Re: [Ext] userChromeJS [2019]

Post by DanRaisch »

I believe that reusing the name is entirely appropriate, and the maintainers of Thunderbird have told me as much.
But this forum is not "addons.thunderbird.net" and that site is not the official Thunderbird site,so the opinion you cite is not authoritative here.
jikamens
Posts: 25
Joined: December 7th, 2011, 8:34 am

Re: [Ext] userChromeJS [2019]

Post by jikamens »

1) I don't give a flying fig what my add-on is called here. I have no intention of using this site as a support channel for my add-on, because that's a terrible way to support an add-on. The only reason I posted a comment about my add-on on the original thread about userChromeJS was to let people who had previously used userChromeJS and were disappointed that it has not been compatible with Thunderbird for several years know that there is now a solution to that problem that someone actually intends to maintain and support. By moving my comment to a new thread you've made it harder for people who want to keep doing what userChromeJS supports in Thunderbird find that out, i.e., you've done a disservice to end users, which is all that we should actually care about. This isn't about egos or possessiveness, it's about supporting what end users want to do with software.

2) Addons.thunderbird.net is, in fact, the "official Thunderbird site." It is the official distribution mechanism for Thunderbird add-ons, and the people who moderate addons.thunderbird.net are the official arbiters -- unlike you -- of what is and isn't "appropriate" with regards to naming Thunderbird add-ons. The fact that you're apparently unaware that the official distribution point for Thunderbird add-ons was moved from addons.mozilla.org to addons.thunderbird.net almost nine months ago makes it all the more clear that you are in no position to be an arbiter of what is or is not "appropriate" with regards to naming Thunderbird add-ons.

Again: if the previous maintainer of the add-on intends on upgrading it to be compatible with either the current version of Firefox or the current version of Thunderbird, then I will happily rename my add-on, or for that matter get rid of it entirely since if the original maintainer were still publishing a working version, I wouldn't need to maintain one. However, the fact that the older MozillaZine thread was locked "at the request of the original poster" would seem to make it clear that they have no intention of upgrading their add-on for compatibility with current application versions.

TL;DR get over yourself.
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