1240609 - Tracking bug for TB 45.0 release notes

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Thunderbird :: General, defect)

Description

[Kent James (:rkent)]

Although the relnote keyword is the correct way to flag for needed relnotes in Thunderbird bugs, some notes are needed that start as FF bugs. I'll link to those here.

Comment 1

[Kent James (:rkent)]

See https://www.palemoon.org/releasenotes.shtml which has this:

Fixed potential information disclosure vulnerabilities through the NTLM authentication mechanism. .. the workstation name is set to WORKSTATION by default (configurable with a preference for environments where identification of workstations is done by actual reported machine name). This avoids issues like CVE-2015-4515.

See (hidden) Bug 1046421

Comment 2

[aleth [:aleth]]

Does the relnote keyword get picked up from Chat Core as well, or should relnote-worthy bugs from there be linked here?

Comment 3

[Kent James (:rkent)]

At the moment, there is no organized way to collect release notes from anywhere, including mailnews. So currently "the relnote keyword get picked up" is not actually happening anywhere. In theory relnote (or whatever it is) is the right thing to do, but because this is not enforced any reviews, it does not actually work, and I have not been checking it.

What I had planned to do for TB45 was to look over all of the relnotes that we did for the betas, as well as ask people what is needed (which would include chat). Obviously this is all far from ideal, and is ripe for someone to try to organize it and enforce some discipline.

Comment 4

[Jorg K (CEST = GMT+2)]

(In reply to Kent James (:rkent) from comment #0)
> Although the relnote keyword is the correct way to flag for needed relnotes
> in Thunderbird bugs, some notes are needed that start as FF bugs. I'll link
> to those here.
Do you have a BMO search for the bugs with the right milestones, etc. and the relnote keyword?

Should I go and add "relnote" where I think we should have it, for example the bugs that made up the Asian crisis. I've also got a document which shows bugs visible in the UI, so surely they should go into the release notes.

Comment 5

[Jorg K (CEST = GMT+2)]

Visible changes to the user interface in Thunderbird 45:
Bug 1148790: Font indicator shows used and uninstalled fonts
Bug 368915: Dictionary selection always available and language indicator
Bug 769604: Font size button for quick access
Bug 1209910: Remote content exceptions
Bug 117236: Allow address book export as UTF-8
Bug 327621: Copy the name and e-mail address in the message pane
Bug 36489: Correspondents Column
Bug 136502: option to switch off auto-downgrade
Bug 87987: Editable From
Bug 330891: Allow user to enter <p> in paragraph format

Comment 6

[Kent James (:rkent)]

The relnote flag is fine for bugs in the Thunderbird or mailnews product, rather than adding them here. If you want discuss relnote issues, this would be a good place to do that.

Comment 7

[Jorg K (CEST = GMT+2)]

Sorry, bug 232021 instead of bug 327621.
Right now there are two new bugs with "relnote" in the keywords.
OK, I'll go and add some ... actually, I won't since I get this error:
  The keyword value 'relnote' is not active.

Comment 8

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

(In reply to Jorg K (GMT+1) from comment #7)
> Sorry, bug 232021 instead of bug 327621.
> Right now there are two new bugs with "relnote" in the keywords.
> OK, I'll go and add some ... actually, I won't since I get this error:
>   The keyword value 'relnote' is not active.

indeed. We lost it due to bug 1190357. But did not get a relnote-thunderbird flag to make up for it, like relnote-firefox got in bug 1136611

Comment 9

[Kent James (:rkent)]

(In reply to Jorg K (GMT+1) from comment #7)
> Sorry, bug 232021 instead of bug 327621.
> Right now there are two new bugs with "relnote" in the keywords.
> OK, I'll go and add some ... actually, I won't since I get this error:
>   The keyword value 'relnote' is not active.

Answered by Wayne.

Comment 10

[Jorg K (CEST = GMT+2)]

Umm, can you *please* be a little more helpful. In comment #0 and later you said that you wanted the "relnote" keyword to be set. So since it can't be set, what now? Apply for relnote-thunderbird to be added?

Comment 11

[Kent James (:rkent)]

(In reply to Jorg K (GMT+1) from comment #10)
> Umm, can you *please* be a little more helpful.

Your NI did not actually have a question, so I was not sure what you were asking. You should really ask a specific question in a NI.

What I tried to say in comment 6 is that you can do the relnote flag or add them to this bug, we'll look at both sources when it is time to do relnotes. If the flag is not working, then I suppose the only choice is to add them here. If someone could fix the flag, that would be great, it sounds like Wayne is the most familiar with the issues there.

Not sure if we should just list the bugs here, or use a dependency list.

Comment 12

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

My suggestion for quick fix, is make a running list in "User Story".  Like
? bug nnnn - xxxxxxxxxx
+ bug mmmm - yyyyyyyyyy
- bug oooo - zzzzzzzzz

for nominated, approved, not approved respectively

Comment 13

[Jorg K (CEST = GMT+2)]

OK, I let you and Wayne sort this out. Either apply for the keyword "relnote-thunderbird" to be added (I wouldn't know how) or list the bugs here.

BMO dependencies are messy since they generate a lot of unnecessary e-mail. You don't want to make this bug dependent on 20-50 others which should be included in the release notes. The editing of the "Depends on:" field alone would be a nightmare.

Wayne, can you please point the way forward. How was this done before, it's not the first time release notes are created.

Comment 14

[Jorg K (CEST = GMT+2)]

Wires crossed. I happy with that.

Comment 15

[Jorg K (CEST = GMT+2)]

BTW, how do you solve access conflicts on the field?

Comment 16

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

(In reply to Jorg K (GMT+1) from comment #15)
> BTW, how do you solve access conflicts on the field?

guns.

but seriously, there's no need to decide immediately. So my suggestion is if there is not a clear case to approve a bug, just leave it "?" and after some short comments we decide what to do just before release, or some dictator can bang the hammer

Comment 17

[Jorg K (CEST = GMT+2)]

I was talking about concurrent edits to the field causing people to overwrite the work of others.

BTW, I'm restricting this to the editbugs group assuming that those members are more responsible.

Comment 18

[Jorg K (CEST = GMT+2)]

Added bug 1202165. I hope to get this in during the beta period. It fits nicely with the "don't destroy the chosen format" improvements.

Comment 19

[aleth [:aleth]]

Should the huge number of theming improvements by Paenglab be mentioned in the release notes somehow? Or are they "obvious"?

Comment 20

[Kent James (:rkent)]

(In reply to aleth [:aleth] from comment #19)
> Should the huge number of theming improvements by Paenglab be mentioned in
> the release notes somehow? Or are they "obvious"?

I cannot think of a good reason why the user would need to be aware of that, so I would not include that. Although we appreciate those changes, I don't think that recognition is the proper criteria for a release note. A long list of release notes is confusing. Getting long already.

Comment 21

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

To clarify ... This bug is about the final release, not the beta. It should be limited to ~25-30 items.  https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/38.0.1/releasenotes/ and http://website-archive.mozilla.org/www.mozilla.org/thunderbird_releasenotes/en-US/thunderbird/24.0/releasenotes/ are useful guides.  The list is not about showing exactly what we have fixed - it's more about giving a selective representation, a taste. And yes, describing in terms a user can understand is appropriate. If it can't be described in such terms, perhaps it is not a good candidate for being cited in the list.

The release notes at https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/45.0beta/releasenotes/ are for the BETA, NOT the final release of 45.  https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/45.0beta/releasenotes/ is not what the general public is going to see when we release, and are "good enough" for now for people testing beta - though we might revise it in the coming betas.

Comment 22

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

We should also remember to create https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/new-thunderbird-45 along the lines of https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/new-thunderbird-38

Comment 23

[Jorg K (CEST = GMT+2)]

I'm happy to put some content into https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/new-thunderbird-45 if someone creates it.

Here is another *important* item for the release notes:
====
Bug 1193200: The internal format for storing remote content exceptions has changed. Old format: web sites like www.example.com and e-mail addresses, new format: Origins like http://www.example.com and e-mail addresses. An automatic migration will migrate web sites to origins (inserting both http: and https: origins). E-mail addresses are NOT migrated and therefore lost.
====
Note: What was previously stored, www.example.com, doesn't not have a technically correct name. It's not a URL.

IMHO me *must* include this so all the bugs which will say "Can't see images in e-mail when I could see them before" can be referred there.

Comment 24

[Matt]

Created https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/new-thunderbird-45/edit

Comment 25

[Jorg K (CEST = GMT+2)]

This this new in TB 45 as opposed to TB 38 or TB 44?

What about the release notes: Are they going to be more comprehensive than the TB 45 *beta* notes since these supposedly only contained the differences to TB 44?

Comment 26

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

(In reply to Jorg K (GMT+1) from comment #25)
> What about the release notes: Are they going to be more comprehensive than
> the TB 45 *beta* notes since these supposedly only contained the differences
> to TB 44?

As I stated in comment 21, this bug is about the final release notes for 45.0, which is a summary of differences between 38 and 45, excluding things that got uplifted to 38.*. TO be put into https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/45.0/releasenotes/ which does not yet exist


> This this new in TB 45 as opposed to TB 38 or TB 44?

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/new-thunderbird-45/ is about the same thing.  Nothing in this bug is about the betas.

Comment 27

[Jorg K (CEST = GMT+2)]

Made a start:
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/new-thunderbird-45/edit#preview
Who reviews this?

Comment 28

[Matt]

I could do it Jorg, although I have CC'ed Micheal Buluma and Tonnes as the other Thunderbird reviewers.  Either of which is probably better to do it than me.

At the end of the day I get an email every time you edit or submit it for review.  So I will monitor that it gets approved.

Comment 29

[Jorg K (CEST = GMT+2)]

The TB development team needs to decide whether the words I added are acceptable. Of course I focussed on the areas I know best, so the text is biased. Someone from the dev team should take a look first.

Comment 30

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

There are plenty of non-developers capable of assessing content who also know many of the bugs involved, as we have done in for past release notes. Rsx11m for example.  That's one reason this bug exists, to get multiple eyes and perspectives on it.

Comment 31

[michael]

I find it okay from my end. I've made a slight modification though. Tonnes and Jorg, could you please review this?

Comment 32

[Jorg K (CEST = GMT+2)]

Sure, thanks, s/not/now/ - a common mistake. All good.

Comment 33

[Ton [:Tonnes]]

(In reply to michael from comment #31)

Thanks for the ni. I’ve made some slight changes to include the release notes if this will be 45.0 (needs change if not at release day / final approval), use OS dependant navigation items, exclude uncommon wordings and apply some nits. I left out "fixes" for capitalization in proper nouns only (i.e. Mail Composition, Mail Delivery Format, Address Book Export and Remote Content Exceptions are none IMO) since that may lead to discussion and opinions may vary.

Comment 34

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

"idle" should be mentioned. 
One of our beta useres picked up on it https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1115907

Comment 35

[rsx11m]

(In reply to Wayne Mery (:wsmwk, use Needinfo for questions) from comment #34)
> "idle" should be mentioned. 

Bug 449021, for reference.

Comment 36

[Kent James (:rkent)]

I have a draft of release notes available at https://www.mozilla.com/en-US/thunderbird/45.0/releasenotes/  I would appreciate comments.

I have not included any of the chat notes. I cannot really evaluate which are most important, and the list of 16 issues in the user story is too long. Could I have a shorter list of suggested release notes for chat?

Comment 37

[Magnus Melin [:mkmelin]]

"Remote content exceptions: Add option "Allow remote content in this message" - not sure what this refers to. That functionality is not new, it was only slightly changed in this release.

Comment 38

[Jorg K (CEST = GMT+2)]

In principle all that was on https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/45.0beta/releasenotes/ should go on the TB 45 release notes as well.

You're missing:
- Allow printing of individual contacts from context menu
- AB quick search and contacts side bar will search nicknames
Perhaps you didn't deem them important.

One item got listed twice:
- Allow copying the name and e-mail address in the message pane.
- Allow copying of Name and Address from an email displayed from header menu.

Here the wording was changed for the worse:
Beta:
- Implement option to always use HTML formatting to prevent unexpected format loss when converting messages to plain text.
ESR:
- Add option to always use HTML email format even when text format should suffice.

No idea that this is about:
- Properly preserve formatting blocks in message replies.
Is this referring to bug 772796? Then it should read:
- Properly preserve pre-formatted blocks in message replies.

Magnus (comment #37) is right, the remote content exception handling was improved. So perhaps:
New/Changed: Remote content exceptions: Improved options to add exceptions.
We should mention that when people upgrade from TB 38 to TB 45 they will *lose* all exceptions of the form [e-mail].

I have a few more:
- Fixed: External images not displayed in reply/forward (Bug 1251408).
- Fixed: When saving a draft that is edited as new message, original draft was overwritten.
  (Bug 321355, that was deemed critical and had a bunch of votes).
- Fixed: Spell checker checked spelling in invisible HTML parts of the message.
  (Bug 1219928, that cause a lot of hassle for people using the manual spell checker
  when checking replies to e-mail that came from MS Outlook. People added Calibri and MsoNormal
  to their personal dictionaries to avoid these problems).
- Fixed: HTML was not correctly pasted from other applications into the composition window
  (Bug 1050566, in fact bug 586587).

We should also mention that Outlook and Eudora import are still broken in TB 45.

Comment 39

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Please add topcrash: Fixed Bug 610465 crash chunking message body

Comment 40

[Kent James (:rkent)]

Edited with suggested changes.

Comment 41

[aleth [:aleth]]

(In reply to Kent James (:rkent) from comment #36)
> I have not included any of the chat notes. I cannot really evaluate which
> are most important, and the list of 16 issues in the user story is too long.
> Could I have a shorter list of suggested release notes for chat?

The intention wasn't to list all of those bugs, but to group them and have the bug numbers available if needed.

"Much better support for XMPP chatrooms and commands." (not sure if 'slash command' would be clearer? This is a mixture of "Fixed" and "New", take your pick)

and maybe

"Fixed: XMPP connection problems for users with large rosters".

Let's drop the UI improvements as those are discoverable and the relnote list is too long already.

@clokep: agreed?

Comment 42

[Kent James (:rkent)]

I'm not sure what you mean by "group them and have the bug numbers available if needed". If there is a url that could be linked to, we could do something like "Selected chat fixes".

Comment 43

[aleth [:aleth]]

(In reply to Kent James (:rkent) from comment #42)
> I'm not sure what you mean by "group them and have the bug numbers available
> if needed". If there is a url that could be linked to, we could do something
> like "Selected chat fixes".

I just meant that the bugs are listed here in this bug in case anyone ever wants them for reference. I don't think relnotes contain links to individual bugs, right?

By "grouping" I meant that for relnote purposes whole classes of bugs can be covered in a single item.

Comment 44

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

(In reply to Kent James (:rkent) from comment #42)
> I'm not sure what you mean by "group them and have the bug numbers available
> if needed". If there is a url that could be linked to, we could do something
> like "Selected chat fixes".

just order the "complete list of changes" bug query list by component

Comment 45

[aleth [:aleth]]

(In reply to Kent James (:rkent) from comment #42)
> If there is a url that could be linked to, we could do something
> like "Selected chat fixes".

I don't think that's needed. The one or two entries in comment 41 would be my suggestion.

Comment 46

[Jorg K (CEST = GMT+2)]

(In reply to Kent James (:rkent) from comment #40)
> Edited with suggested changes.
Not all of them ;-(

Anyway, can we fix this horrible English:
Allow copying of Name and Address from an email displayed from header menu.
I suggest:
Allow copying of name and email address from the header menu of an email.
I guess people will know that the "header menu" is.
(Despite being a few lines of code, this is proving quite useful in daily usage.)

Comment 47

[Jorg K (CEST = GMT+2)]

(In reply to Jorg K (GMT+2) from comment #46)
> Allow copying of name and email address from the header menu of an email.
Or should it be "message header"?

Also please review https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/new-thunderbird-45 and add more stuff there as appropriate.

Comment 48

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

(In reply to Jorg K (GMT+2) from comment #47)
> (In reply to Jorg K (GMT+2) from comment #46)
> > Allow copying of name and email address from the header menu of an email.
> Or should it be "message header"?
> 
> Also please review https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/new-thunderbird-45
> and add more stuff there as appropriate.

Matt and others can make sure this happens after the release notes are better solidified. 

There is a suggestion from someone in https://public.etherpad-mozilla.org/p/thunderbird45-support-issues to "include the capability of editing account passwords in the release notes".  As discussed on IRC this is a tad complicated and my suggestion is that it only be put in "what's new" with either a pointer to a support article or a short explaination of how to actually edit passwords - because it's not terribly obvious.

Comment 49

[Kent James (:rkent)]

Edited again with suggested changes. Takes a few minutes to get updated on the website, though.

Comment 50

[Jorg K (CEST = GMT+2)]

How about bug 308148? - that's a real bonus for everyone with a mobile device.

Comment 51

[Kent James (:rkent)]

(In reply to Jorg K (GMT+2) from comment #50)
> How about bug 308148? - that's a real bonus for everyone with a mobile
> device.

Although I agree this is an important issue (hence the last-minute rush to land it), I am reluctant to add a release note for an experimental, hidden feature. Anyone else want to promote this bug for release notes?

Comment 52

[Matt]

(In reply to Kent James (:rkent) from comment #51)
> (In reply to Jorg K (GMT+2) from comment #50)
> > How about bug 308148? - that's a real bonus for everyone with a mobile
> > device.
> 
> Although I agree this is an important issue (hence the last-minute rush to
> land it), I am reluctant to add a release note for an experimental, hidden
> feature. Anyone else want to promote this bug for release notes?

I think it would be a better candidate for inclusion in a planet mozilla blog posting.  Those with the technical skill to implement, or even want really, will also be the ones reading blog posts and actively searching.

Once it gets a user interface and we can call it something other that "experimental" I think release notes is the place for it.

Comment 53

[Patrick Cloke [:clokep]]

(In reply to aleth [:aleth] from comment #41)
> (In reply to Kent James (:rkent) from comment #36)
> > I have not included any of the chat notes. I cannot really evaluate which
> > are most important, and the list of 16 issues in the user story is too long.
> > Could I have a shorter list of suggested release notes for chat?
> 
> The intention wasn't to list all of those bugs, but to group them and have
> the bug numbers available if needed.
> 
> "Much better support for XMPP chatrooms and commands." (not sure if 'slash
> command' would be clearer? This is a mixture of "Fixed" and "New", take your
> pick)
> 
> and maybe
> 
> "Fixed: XMPP connection problems for users with large rosters".
> 
> Let's drop the UI improvements as those are discoverable and the relnote
> list is too long already.
> 
> @clokep: agreed?

I think our backend XMPP were the biggest fixes, yes. I mean there were a variety of bugs fixed, but nothing terribly notable.

Comment 54

[Kent James (:rkent)]

File new requests or just email me if changes are still needed.