1954663 - Thunderbird flatpak version on flathub.org/ is not the latest (v136) - it uses esr version

Status: NEW

(Thunderbird :: Build Config, enhancement)

Description

[smi]

Steps to reproduce:

https://flathub.org/apps/org.mozilla.Thunderbird
download Thunderbird from flathub

Actual results:

got version 128

Expected results:

get version 136

Comment 1

[mvdan]

Thunderbird has started nagging me to "Upgrade to release", linking to https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/thunderbird-release.

Which I cannot do, as I'm already on the latest Flatpak version, which is currently ESR.

Comment 2

[Youssef]

Is there a technical issue that is making this transition difficult? It makes no sense for Thunderbird to be pushing people to use the monthly release while their official Flatpak is still the ESR. I'd be happy to help if I can.

Comment 3

[Corey Bryant]

(In reply to Youssef from comment #2)

Is there a technical issue that is making this transition difficult? It makes no sense for Thunderbird to be pushing people to use the monthly release while their official Flatpak is still the ESR. I'd be happy to help if I can.

Yes. Some add-ons don't support the release channel, and our current approach is opt-in to the release channel. Once we are at a point we're comfortable with switching add-on users to the release channel, we'll update the flatpak.

For now, if you'd like to install from thunderbird.net you can get the release channel from there.

Also, worth noting, we've disabled the "Upgrade to release" in-app notification for Linux to avoid confusion.

Comment 4

[Jakob Probst]

There are branches for flatpaks. I am not sure if I interpret them correctly, but if so the current branch stable could be renamed to esr (if this is possible) and a new stable branch could be added which follows the monthly releases. This way installations would not automatically switch, but one can select the monthly releases if they accept the possibility that some plug-ins would not work.

Comment 5

[Youssef]

(In reply to Jakob Probst from comment #4)

There are branches for flatpaks. I am not sure if I interpret them correctly, but if so the current branch stable could be renamed to esr (if this is possible) and a new stable branch could be added which follows the monthly releases. This way installations would not automatically switch, but one can select the monthly releases if they accept the possibility that some plug-ins would not work.

This seems like the best solution. There will need to be a flatpak for both anyway.

Comment 6

[mvdan]

With 140 finally out, now I see:

For Linux users running Thunderbird from the snap or flatpak, 140 will be available within the next few weeks.

Please provide flatpak users with a way to opt into the new version as soon as possible. We have been stuck with a version that will become a year old next week. Flatpak is an official release channel; it's silly to have to completely switch away from it to be able to download the recommended version on the website.

As Jakob Probst mentions in comment #4, you can still offer ESR as the default branch, and the release/stable version as a second branch for flatpak users to opt into.

Waiting a few weeks is not a huge problem right now. But I don't want to be stuck on old versions again and again with upcoming releases as well.

Comment 7

[Wyatt Childers]

This is really strange to me currently because the flatpak is lagging behind even the current ESR (version 140).

The flatpak is still stuck on 128.
Fedora (my distro) is still shipping 128.

I've been looking forward to at least having things bumped to 140 following reading about it's various improvements here:
https://www.phoronix.com/news/Thunderbird-140-ESR-Release

Flatpak and Fedora both are typically tracking near latest software (not ESR like Debian or RHEL would typical prefer). So, this packaging decision is especially jarring (unless there's something seriously wrong with every version of Thunderbird released after 128).

Comment 8

[Corey Bryant]

We have intentionally not updated flatpak users to 140esr yet, because once we do, there is no turning back. For users who have installed 128esr from thunderbird.net, we're currently phasing the rollout. We're currently updating 20% of active daily users. This is intentional to gauge quality. If all goes well, we plan to reach 100% by mid-late August, at which point we will update snap and flatpak to 140esr.

Comment 9

[Corey Bryant]

(In reply to Jakob Probst from comment #4)

There are branches for flatpaks. I am not sure if I interpret them correctly, but if so the current branch stable could be renamed to esr (if this is possible) and a new stable branch could be added which follows the monthly releases. This way installations would not automatically switch, but one can select the monthly releases if they accept the possibility that some plug-ins would not work.

Thanks for the suggestion. There is a similar plan for the snap to create a new track for monthly releases, so there will be an esr and monthly track available. We'll look into this for flatpak.