324584 - Request to distribute a mobile version of Thunderbird 1.5.

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Marketing :: Trademark Permissions, task)

Description

[Shane M. Coughlan]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8) Gecko/20051111 Firefox/1.5
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8) Gecko/20051111 Firefox/1.5

I represent the Mobility Project (http://mobility.shaneland.co.uk),
which is a group of people mainly from the security side of open source
working to make secure, mobile communication distributions.  We already
package and distribute a mobile version of Gaim with encrypted messaging
preloaded.

Can we distribute Thunderbird 1.5 with the Enigmail OpenPGP extension
preloaded?  We'd like to use a simplified version of the Portable
Thunderbird launcher (www.portableapps.com) and distribute a package
using TB 1.5 along with the latest Enigmail and GPG builds.  It would be
our intention to target this distribution specifically at the security
field, especially in Europe.

Reproducible: Always

Comment 1

[Mike Shaver (:shaver emeritus)]

What would make this a "mobile version" of Thunderbird 1.5?  Does this mean "portable from location to location", or "suitable for use on mobile devices like phones and PDAs"?

(I'm looking into the Enigmail extension question -- what version of the extension would you be looking to distribute?)

Comment 2

[Benjamin Smedberg]

Note also unresolved issues with portable ffox/tbird including pluginreg.dat saved on the system instead of on the USB key and other issues, that could be resolved for ff2 if people were willing to spend a little time on them.

Comment 3

[Shane M. Coughlan]

(In reply to comment #1)
> What would make this a "mobile version" of Thunderbird 1.5?  Does this mean
> "portable from location to location", or "suitable for use on mobile devices
> like phones and PDAs"?
> 
> (I'm looking into the Enigmail extension question -- what version of the
> extension would you be looking to distribute?)
> 

Hi Mike

A "mobile version" would be a portable version of Thunderbird, suitable for relocation and use from a USB key without needing to be installed on a computer.  This can be done by rewriting chrome before starting the application.  This has previously been done by John Haller et al at www.portableapps.com, and we'd be using a simplified version of his GPL launcher to accomplish the same.  The idea would be that you don't have to install the application and take it anywhere with you.

As regards Enigmail, we'd be looking at shipping with Enigmail 0.94 (current version) or Enigmail 0.95 (which should be out in around a month).  These versions of icons to fit with the default Thunderbird skin.  Enigmail is powered by GPG.  We'd be planning to include GPG 1.4.2, which is proven to be stable with the Enigmail 0.9x series of extensions.  

Comment 4

[Shane M. Coughlan]

Hi Mike.  I was just wondering what the timescale on obtaining permission will be?  The Mobility Project initially contacted Mozilla.org regarding distribution permission around the 6th of December.  We'd really like to be able to release the technology shortly.  Thanks for your help in this matter. 

Comment 5

[Kev Needham [:kev]]

Closing this bug out, assuming it is stale.

The Mobility Project currently distributes a self-branded build based on Thunderbird 1.5.0.8 at http://www.mobilityemail.net/downloads.html

Shane, if there is any interest in updating/incorporating Thunderbird moving forward, please contact the Mozilla Messaging team through partners at mozillamessaging.com