2.57 - Extensions and Themes

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Frank Lion
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2.57 - Extensions and Themes

Post by Frank Lion »

Will extensions (as we know them) install and work in 2,57?

I know themes will, at the moment, as I've installed them in the latest alpha (a1?) Will the internals of the final 2.57 remain the same, in this regard?

Any other relatable info would be welcome.
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frg
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Re: 2.57 - Extensions and Themes

Post by frg »

> Will extensions (as we know them) install and work in 2.57?

There are no plans to deprecate classic extensions/themes for 2.57. Plan is to add web extension support too. How far and fast this will go will be seen.

Mozilla did gut some apis for good but the TB addons guide covers it.
https://wiki.mozilla.org/Thunderbird/Add-ons_Guide_57

Stay away from rdf and you should be good if you don't use any of the removed apis. What works now should continue to work. Saying should is not mean't as doublespeak but more like 99%. We don't have any intent to break it further or intentionally remove working apis but if we need to backport something it might break some old behaviour. We might even back out some things because there are just plain stupid (like view source in a tab only or moz-border removal). 2.57 is not around the corner because of all the breakage. For 2.53 bookmarks, intl and downloads api changed already.

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Frank Lion
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Re: 2.57 - Extensions and Themes

Post by Frank Lion »

Got it, thanks.
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frg
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Re: 2.57 - Extensions and Themes

Post by frg »

We need to replace the rdf code in mail, sidebar and help. All three components are defunct now in 2.57 because of it. So theme changes might be needed
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Frank Lion
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Re: 2.57 - Extensions and Themes

Post by Frank Lion »

frg wrote:..So theme changes might be needed
Overlay themes (like mine) seem pretty much OK in 2.57. Replacement themes seem pretty wrecked. Both do exactly the same job as far as the user is concerned, but one breaks a lot and needs fixing a lot (like your 'Modern' theme, I notice in 2.57) and the other does not.

Guess which method I use. :)

I now have the SeaFox extension and my Tab Overflow Scrollbar extension installed in 2.57, which answers that question. My TOS works fine and SeaFox will 'need some adjustment', but that's to be expected.

Really, I just wanted to know if, as far as I'm concerned, there was life for SM after 2.53. and it seems there is.
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4td8s
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Re: 2.57 - Extensions and Themes

Post by 4td8s »

frg wrote:> Will extensions (as we know them) install and work in 2.57?

There are no plans to deprecate classic extensions/themes for 2.57. Plan is to add web extension support too. How far and fast this will go will be seen.
so far regarding web extension support for SM 2.57, progress "has not started" as stated in several Seamonkey status meeting notes like the recent one (which is disappointing to me) :(

when will web extension support actually be added on to SM 2.57, frg? what's taking so long?
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Re: 2.57 - Extensions and Themes

Post by TPR75 »

4td8s wrote:when will web extension support actually be added on to SM 2.57, frg? what's taking so long?
Are you kidding? Tell us your kidding! Or maybe you're that (in-)famous dev-team member lost in Amazon jungle...
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frg
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Re: 2.57 - Extensions and Themes

Post by frg »

> when will web extension support actually be added on to SM 2.57, frg? what's taking so long?

Because it is not an api you just add the definitions for and be done. The Implentation is all over current mozilla frontend and backend Gecko code. All handcrafted and fine tuned for Firefox. Basically IanN and I do the main development work right now and the day only has so many hours. And we both have a life outside the SeaMonkey world too :)

The plan is to bring 2.53 up in fuctionality and 2.57 with it. Then fix the remaining issues with 2.57 and then implement support. Some things like web extension dictionary support maybe earlier as time permits. Unless more devs show up putting there fingers in the dirty dirty source code jar this will take time.

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Frank Lion
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Re: 2.57 - Extensions and Themes

Post by Frank Lion »

4td8s wrote: (which is disappointing to me) :(
I'm sure the whole forum is disappointed about you being disappointed.
4td8s wrote: when will web extension support actually be added on to SM 2.57, frg? what's taking so long?
Which particular web extensions are you so keen to use, or was this a generic 'here's a stick I can beat them with' comment?
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4td8s
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Re: 2.57 - Extensions and Themes

Post by 4td8s »

Frank Lion wrote:
Which particular web extensions are you so keen to use, or was this a generic 'here's a stick I can beat them with' comment?
come on Frankie boy - you know some of the commonly used extensions like ABP (adblock plus), Noscript, uBlock origin as the web extension versions of these addons currently don't work in 2.57 and it's now two full years that web extension support hasn't been implemented in any of the SM 2.57 builds

and web extension support has already been officially included in recent versions of Thunderbird
LordOfTheBored
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Re: 2.57 - Extensions and Themes

Post by LordOfTheBored »

4td8s wrote:
Frank Lion wrote:
Which particular web extensions are you so keen to use, or was this a generic 'here's a stick I can beat them with' comment?
come on Frankie boy - you know some of the commonly used extensions like ABP (adblock plus), Noscript, uBlock origin as the web extension versions of these addons currently don't work in 2.57 and it's now two full years that web extension support hasn't been implemented in any of the SM 2.57 builds

and web extension support has already been officially included in recent versions of Thunderbird
This seems a bit like a bait & switch here, as you IMPLY these extensions aren't usable at all, when normal extension versions exist(I'm running the "legacy" version of uBlock Origin, and it was literally updated today)
hardys
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Re: 2.57 - Extensions and Themes

Post by hardys »

I am running about 20 Extensions in SM 2.53.2b1 without any problems, eg noscript, ublock origin, pdf viewer, sqlite manager and so on. 8-)
frg
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Re: 2.57 - Extensions and Themes

Post by frg »

> and web extension support has already been officially included in recent versions of Thunderbird

For uBlock a special version is needed fro TB. You can bet that nothing but dictionaries and maybe a few trivial ones work out of the box in TB.

For SeaMonkey it is just a matter of resource allocation. We can build up the browser thru 2.53 or work on 2.57 exclusively and get something out in a year or two or whenever. Currently my guess is 80% 2.53.1 (with the enhancements going into 2.57 too) 10% release and 10% 2.57. So don't expect fast support for web extensions.

FRG
4td8s
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Re: 2.57 - Extensions and Themes

Post by 4td8s »

frg wrote: Stay away from rdf and you should be good if you don't use any of the removed apis.
and what do you mean by this?
doesn't some classic extensions include an install.rdf file?
if so, how do you work around that, huh?
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Re: 2.57 - Extensions and Themes

Post by frg »

> doesn't some classic extensions include an install.rdf file?
> if so, how do you work around that, huh?

And that is about the only rdf they all use unless completely outdated.

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/doc ... ion_to_RDF

The part of rdf was only ripped out by mozilla much later. Don't expect us to follow here initially and even if you could still change it to the new manifest format manually. No signing. rdf datasources and other obsolete apis were ripped out by mozilla for 60. Still used in some SeaMonkey parts and this holds up 2.57 basically for now until fixed.

FRG
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