09-09-2012, 09:16 AM
So, I'm currently at Poland this weekend for the MozCamp
https://wiki.mozilla.org/MozCampEU2012
After seeing the schedule, talking about Nightingale seemed a bit off-topic.
I don't think it's today we will attract more Mozilla contributors to help us upgrade the core of Nightingale.
There are several reasons :
* We are using a outdated version of XULRunner (matching Firefox 3.6 which is now outdated)
* Our XULRunner have a lot of custom patches from Songbird
* Mozilla is moving their code from XUL to HTML
At this point, only ilikenwf and Mook worked on the new core update but it seems like development has stalled.
Without Mozilla help, the road to up-to-date XULRunner could be long and I think we should focus on something new, writing from scratch.
From scratch ? Not totally.
I was thinking of starting from latest XULRunner or developing a Web app instead. Mozilla is currently writing a Music app for their Firefox OS (phones). https://github.com/mozilla-b2g/gaia/tree...apps/music
What if we fork it and make it also a desktop/tablet application ?
Working along with Mozilla could be really effective, while working with Songbird proved they are not even looking at
our patches.
We could even have an hybrid app : XULRunner + webapp...
POTI decisions are quite obscure now, if you have followed latest you certainly saw that they have launched a "Social" app working on Facebook. Other than this, they didn't update the core of Songbird at all, and I doubt they will in the near future.
Some cases of moving out of XUL :
- TomTom were using a XUL app for Navigation GPS, they have moved to a browser plugin instead.
- Flickr had a XUL app too to import photo, they finally upgrade their import photos webpage.
Forking Songbird was a lot of challenge and there is still a lot to do, mostly fixing bugs from the platform itself but also replace
stuff that POTI didn't provide such as real add-ons and translate platform.
Should we continue the long way of forking the current Songbird, or should we jump in the future ?
I'm not totally objective since I'm also a Mozilla contributor and Mozilla Reps, so I want to know what do you think about it.
I want to add that my current skills and time doesn't allow me to work on the XULRunner "upgrade", I would rather help on feathers, add-ons, l10n and patches.
https://wiki.mozilla.org/MozCampEU2012
After seeing the schedule, talking about Nightingale seemed a bit off-topic.
I don't think it's today we will attract more Mozilla contributors to help us upgrade the core of Nightingale.
There are several reasons :
* We are using a outdated version of XULRunner (matching Firefox 3.6 which is now outdated)
* Our XULRunner have a lot of custom patches from Songbird
* Mozilla is moving their code from XUL to HTML
At this point, only ilikenwf and Mook worked on the new core update but it seems like development has stalled.
Without Mozilla help, the road to up-to-date XULRunner could be long and I think we should focus on something new, writing from scratch.
From scratch ? Not totally.
I was thinking of starting from latest XULRunner or developing a Web app instead. Mozilla is currently writing a Music app for their Firefox OS (phones). https://github.com/mozilla-b2g/gaia/tree...apps/music
What if we fork it and make it also a desktop/tablet application ?
Working along with Mozilla could be really effective, while working with Songbird proved they are not even looking at
our patches.
We could even have an hybrid app : XULRunner + webapp...
POTI decisions are quite obscure now, if you have followed latest you certainly saw that they have launched a "Social" app working on Facebook. Other than this, they didn't update the core of Songbird at all, and I doubt they will in the near future.
Some cases of moving out of XUL :
- TomTom were using a XUL app for Navigation GPS, they have moved to a browser plugin instead.
- Flickr had a XUL app too to import photo, they finally upgrade their import photos webpage.
Forking Songbird was a lot of challenge and there is still a lot to do, mostly fixing bugs from the platform itself but also replace
stuff that POTI didn't provide such as real add-ons and translate platform.
Should we continue the long way of forking the current Songbird, or should we jump in the future ?
I'm not totally objective since I'm also a Mozilla contributor and Mozilla Reps, so I want to know what do you think about it.
I want to add that my current skills and time doesn't allow me to work on the XULRunner "upgrade", I would rather help on feathers, add-ons, l10n and patches.
Former Songbird contributor
Nightingale Community developer
Mozilla Reps
Nightingale Community developer
Mozilla Reps