SeaMonkey Project Blog

Hi again,

In my previous post, I mentioned aus2-community.mozilla.org’s update domain will be decommissioned.   Why?  Because while the system running as aus2-community.mozilla.org is under our control,  the domain itself is Mozilla’s.  It’s a Mozilla management/security concern that an external system is using their domain.  That’s understandable.  So this domain will eventually retire.  ;/

This means that all versions that point to that domain will be calling /dev/null. IOW, you won’t get any response.

Will there be a patch so that all versions point to the newer updates.seamonkey-project.org?   Unfortunately, no.

While it is possible to point old versions to the new update domain, there’s little point in doing so as mentioned in the previous post.  No updates.

Incidentally, while I’m at it (and can remember), the Mozilla crash-stats server will no longer be accepting crash-stats from SeaMonkey post 2nd Quarter (I think it was July).  This means that until we’ve set up a new crash-stats server (2nd in priority behind the updates server),  future crashes will be ignored by Mozilla’s crash-stats server.

Why is this happening?  Lessens the burden of Mozilla’s crash-stats system and maintenance.  That’s the gist of it.  Since this has already been decided, I’m not going to dwell on it.  It’s just another added priority for us.

Best Regards,

:ewong

Hi everyone,

I’m putting this post up to better clarify the situation with the updates.  I’m hoping to switch the updates.seamonkey-project.org to using the new update system.  aus2-community.mozilla.org will be left as is (mainly because one of these days, that domain will be decomissioned (since it is Mozilla’s))[will post an addendum.]

tl;dr:  SeaMonkey 2.53.* (and newer) are the only versions that will have updates.

Long form:

My original intention was to allow any version upgrade to any other greater version (barring operating system restrictions etc..).  Like, if you had installed 1.x, you’d be able to upgrade to 2.53.7.1.  *That* was my intention.

As in with intentions mixed in with life, things aren’t that simple.  I had posted this concern on the lists and probably here as well; but I’m just going to repeat myself.

The SeaMonkey Project will only be supporting the 2.53.* (Gecko 56) family.  Any other previous versions are no longer supported in terms of updates.  As of this writing, I’m not entirely sure the 2.49.* family will ever be updated (but you’ll never know).  The 2.49.1 – 2.49.4 to 2.49.5 update is a special case as the 2.49.5 update files had changed and we missed the opportunity to create a set of transitional update files for that.

Big corporations, like Microsoft, no longer support old operating systems.  Win 1 to (recently) Win7 are no longer supported.  Ditto with the Windows Servers (NT, to 2008).  If big corporations can’t/won’t support old operating systems; what hope do we (as a small group of volunteers) have?  Is this a justification to leave old software high and dry?  No; but it is not realistic to expect a small group of volunteers to support software that no longer build on any system.   Furthermore, even websites are now finicky as to which browser can view them, which further adds to the frustrations of using old SeaMonkey versions.

Is it possible to set up a VM to build old software?   Possibly; but is it worth the time and resources?    Unfortunately, the answer here is no.   This is the unfortunate by-product of technological progression.   Does this mean the old versions can’t be  used?  No.  It’s just that using it on an actual system could potentially harm the system.

I realize this may sound like an excuse for ignoring old software; but there really only so much we can do; particularly when the engine is changing so rapidly that we’re trying to keep track of the *latest* stuff coming out from Mozilla.

The benefit of the SeaMonkey project sticking with only 2.53.x + updates is that these updates will work on systems being updated.   All other versions polling for updates will not get any.   (Still, a part of me is reserving the right to modify the system to allow updates from 2.49.x to 2.49.5 at least.  As mentioned earlier in a post on the support mailing list,  only versions > 2.33 (iirc) can be updated due to certificates not being recognized and that  can’t be helped.))

So the final conclusion, as mentioned above, is that only 2.53.x + will get updates.

I do apologize for the long windedness and the decision to only update 2.53.x. It doesn’t give me pleasure to state it outright; but it’s always the resources issue.

Yours sincerely,

:ewong

Hi All,

With the decommissioning of the mozilla newsgroup/mailing list, we’ve migrated to Googlegroups at:

1. Dev App : https://groups.google.com/a/lists.mozilla.org/g/dev-apps-seamonkey/
2. Support: https://groups.google.com/a/lists.mozilla.org/g/support-seamonkey/

Having just posted on both lists,  I’m going to have to figure a better way of posting it on both lists simultaneously.

:ewong

Hi all,

The SeaMonkey project would like to announce the official release of SeaMonkey 2.53.7.1.  As this is a security release, please update if you can.

:ewong

PS: Has the project ever announced an unofficial release?.. hrm..

Hi All,

Just want to (albeit belatedly) announce that SeaMonkey 2.53.7 has been released…  Yesterday…  In the afternoon…

Yes.  I hardly call this news then.  Well… what can I say.

Absolutely nothing…   [Doesn’t this trigger you thinking about Edwin Starr’s song “War (What is it good for)”? ]  Hm.  I think this is going to be stuck in my brain for the rest of the day.   Oh yay.

I digress.

Kudos to those involved.  You know who you are.  *wink* *wink* *nudge* *nudge* Say no more! Say No More!

Back to your regularly scheduled program..

:ewong

Hi All,

The SeaMonkey Project is happy to announce the release of SeaMonkey 2.53.7b1.

Please try it out.

Best Regards, keep safe and healthy!

:ewong

Hi Everyone,

Just a quick note to announce that SeaMonkey 2.53.6 has been released!

Thanks to everyone involved!

:ewong