Feedhouse readers might’ve missed the announcements. The SeaMonkey project has launched two blogs, one for general announcements, one for QA. SeaMonkey blog SeaMonkey QA blog

Also, release candidates for SeaMonkey 1.0 alpha are available

. The blogs above didn’t give checkout instructions for the source, so here’s the commands you need to get the 1.0a client.mk file:

cvs -d :pserver:anonymous@cvs-mirror.mozilla.org:/cvsroot co -r SEAMONKEY_1_0a_RELEASE mozilla/client.mk

Also copy the following as mozilla/.mozconfig (generated from the Mozilla Build Configurator)

#
# See http://www.mozilla.org/build/ for build instructions.
#
# Options for client.mk.
mk_add_options MOZ_CO_PROJECT=suite
mk_add_options MOZ_OBJDIR=@TOPSRCDIR@/obj-@CONFIG_GUESS@
# Options for 'configure' (same as command-line options).
ac_add_options --enable-application=suite
ac_add_options --enable-svg

Or you can use CTho’s .mozconfig file.

UPDATE: Revised to include the SeaMonkey 1.0a branch tag.

I’m not the person you should be talking to.

I get roughly one e-mail a week from people wanting this feature to be in SeaMonkey 1.0, or that person wanting to contribute. I hate to say it, guys, but you’re really talking to the wrong person. I care a great deal about SeaMonkey, but I don’t speak for the project. I’m not on the SeaMonkey Council, and I probably should not be.

If you see a feature you want in SeaMonkey 1.0, your first stop should not be to write me an e-mail. Yes, I typically forward these e-mails to a Council member. But that’s zero guarantee they will be acted on. Instead, you should use Bugzilla

. If the bug’s already filed, set a blocking-seamonkey1.0a or 1.0b flag to “?”. DO NOT SET IT TO “+”. That right is reserved strictly for the project drivers, I believe. If you can’t find the bug after a careful search under both the Core and the Mozilla Application Suite products, then you should probably file a bug. (Note that bugs for extensions such as ChatZilla, DOM Inspector and Venkman usually exist under Other Applications, so search there too.) Please don’t file bugs about extensions that live outside the Mozilla codebase.

So what do I do for SeaMonkey? Not a whole lot. I hang out in the #seamonkey channel on irc.mozilla.org often as WeirdAl; if I’m there, I can usually answer questions, but mainly to point you in the right direction. It’s rare that I have the ultimate answer to your question. I try to track SeaMonkey progress for two reasons: one, my employer is considering SeaMonkey as a future codebase, and two, I want Verbosio (my personal project for editing XML) to work on it. Beyond that, the SeaMonkey project is just something I think of fondly.

I also try to organize the occasional “Town Hall” meetings, when I or members of the community feel there’s a need for one. That hasn’t been too often. The simple fact is, I’m not aware of any major changes that the community needs to be aware of.

Finally, I write about SeaMonkey in my blog when I feel there’s news. Again, this hasn’t happened often. Because there’s no SeaMonkey-specific blog, I might be perceived as the only public voice you see for the SeaMonkey Council. Let me repeat it once again: I don’t represent them. My views are strictly that: my own.

If you really want to help, the #seamonkey channel on irc.mozilla.org is always open. It might take a while to get a response. Also keep an eye on the SeaMonkey Project Home Page.

Ladies and gentlemen, I’m scheduling a “Town Hall” meeting for 3 PM in UTC time. In San Francisco, that will be 8:00 am local time (Wednesday). Tokyo, Thursday at midnight. Paris, 5 pm Wednesday.
The location is #seamonkey

.
Please e-mail me with any agenda items.

http://www.mozilla.org/projects/seamonkey/news.html
The newsgroup announcement
It’s official, ladies and gentlemen. Start your compilers, and crank up the QA!
I’ll schedule a meeting in #seamonkey soon. July 5 might be a bit too soon, though (right after a major holiday here in the USA). I’ll give everyone at least a day’s notice — or watch the topic in #seamonkey for a scheduled date

.
Please e-mail me with suggested agenda items!

Henrik Gemal has reported prematurely that the Mozilla Application Suite spinoff project will be renamed SeaMonkey.
Although this is one name submitted for use, the Mozilla Foundation has not yet confirmed that this name nor any other name is clear of trademark issues

. We all remember the Firebird debacle, and would really like to avoid that in the future.
I’m going to quote Robert Kaiser, one of the drivers for this new project:

You might have noticed that there’s no official announcement anywhere, there’s just an attachment to a bug report (and not even the main rebranding one). Sure, someone of the SeaMonkey Council has attached it, so you can guess where we’re going. But as long as there is no announcement by the SeaMonkey Council (and a reworked project page, which we have drafted already) you can’t take this naming as official.
We don’t have a trademark yet, but as you might know, we’ve already used that name quite some 🙂
Please wait for an announcement and the real rebranding patch before taking it for granted 🙂

Robert (aka KaiRo) also says:

“as long as noone of the SeaMonkey Council or a mozilla.org-hosted (non-blog, non-wiki) page announces it, it’s not official”

This proposal is now official.
A fair number of the people interested in the milestone releases based on the Mozilla Application Suite are in either Europe or the United States of America. I believe that we should have semi-regularly scheduled “all-hands” meetings of the core team members at times which are convenient to people’s schedules.
That said, I’m proposing the first meeting take place on Tuesday, March 15, 2005 at 16:00 UTC. That puts it at 8:00 a.m. in San Francisco, and 5:00 p.m. in Paris. The location will be irc://irc.mozilla.org/seamonkey .
All are invited, but based on traffic the channel operators may change the rules on who may post at their discretion. Consider the channel moderated, please.
Items on the agenda:
* Determine drivers, modules, module owners, a who’s who list, etc. Basically, to figure out who we want doing what. Some of the roles may include a Quality Assurance Czar, a Mozilla Foundation liaison, spokespersons, documentation organizers, and core team members.
Items specifically NOT on the agenda:
* Product name and versioning. Don’t even try. We’re only getting started, and there are certain legal/logistic issues that have to be worked out first. Before we can work those out, we have to work out some basic manpower issues.
After we figure out key responsibilities and owners, we should probably schedule our next meeting. The goal for this first meeting is to keep it short — namely, to end the meeting by 17:00 UTC

.
You might be wondering, “What’s ‘MASS’?” Simple: Mozilla Application Suite Supporters. Join the MASSes… 😉

Five years ago, I asked Netscape if they had any JavaScript 1.5 documentation. The answer I received was, “No, but would you like to write it?” I said no, I’m not qualified.
Eight months later, I realized I was wrong: I could write their reference and guide. Alas, it was too late, and the contract had already gone to someone else. This is all right, though, since I got something even better: a book deal with Sams Publishing.
Today, we Mozilla enthusiasts face a similar problem. There appear to be no plans for Mozilla 1.8 final. Well, a few good hackers don’t like that idea! There’s only one problem: they are few.
Before you tell yourself, “there’s no way I can help get a Mozilla 1.8 release out,” you should understand that it doesn’t necessarily require you to know how to code. There’s bug triage, QA, release notes (probably what I should contribute), and tons of testing!
A lot of it is dirty and underappreciated work… but it can be done. We just need help!
More than one person fears I want to fork Seamonkey or encourage people going their own separate ways. Not so! We can rally together and open new frontiers for the future of Mozilla… but only if we gather around and push towards a release we can call 1.8.
Who’s with us? Mozilla hacking experience not required, as I said before — at the worst, Mozilla use experience! Which means anyone… and I mean anyone who has an opinion and can use a web browser can help.
All bugs are shallow… but only if you give us your eyeballs

. Come on in, the water’s fine!
UPDATE: I should clarify that not all hope for a 1.8 final is lost yet. The Mozilla Foundation has made no official statement one way or the other, and may obsolete this whole thread and effort. I sincerely hope they do.