Why half-baked "pillification" was introduced in 78 - release/ESR branch?
A "pillification" features was introduced into the release/ESR branch of Thunderbird - 78.
This feature is evidently under-cooked and under-tested: you can easily find a bunch of Bug reports (e.g. https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1696765 , https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1699254 , https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1694502 ), and I am sure yet more bugs will be reported. And, from the comments I've read in those bugs, it sounds this entire "pillifcation" feature implementation was strongly debated among the developers.
With the bugs not being critical, but just a huge inconvenience, the fixes are not planned to be back-ported. With the "Target Milestone: --- → 88 Branch", which is scheduled for release in April 20, 2021, it means that even the bugs that are fixed will continue being such an annoyance for "release" users (majority of users) for more than a month, and ESR users for 4-6 months (until 91 becomes ESR). [Source: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Release_Management/Calendar ]
So, the obvious question is why such a controversial feature has been added to the major release before being fully tested and debugged? Sorry to say, but this sounds like someone has rushed it just to make the point, while disregarding the end-users' inconvenience this created.
All Replies (5)
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1696765 personally affects you frequently?
Wayne Mery said
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1696765 personally affects you frequently?
I cannot say for sure, but I might not have seen it personally (I am on 78.8.0 now). So, the answer to your question is "Not frequently, probably not at all." But the other two bugs referenced - do affect me all the time.
(I am not sure how your question answers mine.)
re :the obvious question is why such a controversial feature has been added to the major release before being fully tested and debugged
The beta versions are used by various people to help to test changes to code. I would not advise a novice to use the beta versions as it would be expected to have issues that may need fixing. So feedback is obviously helpful when testing a product. However, not everyone uses the product in the same way, so not every scenario gets picked up and fixed before it is released. What they do like to be sure of is that there are no/few bugs in the current code. Additional functionality due to the various needs and methods of how people would use the product is often acquired when a wider range of the public get access. Hence why you get more requests for various additions to functionality when more people get a chance to use a new design.
The purpose of this Support Forum is to try to offer fixes for issues that people are experiencing or find workarounds whilst issues are being fixed or if it is believed to be a bug or in need of enhancement; to put that forward for the developers consideration.
You mention that one bug does not effect you, the other bugs are being developed as urgent and indeed one has already been fixed in recent days, so is ready for the testing stage. That is good news.
I believe you created a bug report for the remaining issue, See : https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1699254 which was a duplcate of a bug created a year ago see bug See : https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1699254 whcih you can see is being worked on but as there is a work around it is not been given the same level of urgency.
It mentions the problems of selecting several email addresses and moving them eg: from TO to Cc, you should have recently received an email that advises there is more than one way to perform a current workaround whilst the issue is improved, but if not then the information is located in the bug report you posted. So that issue has a workaround solution using keyboard.
If you have another particular problem with Thunderbird that needs help please create a new question for that issue.
> (I am not sure how your question answers mine.)
It was an opening question, since you remarked about something without providing context of your personal experience with the cited problem.
Some would disagree with your premise that the feature is controversial, perhaps you don't like it, or disagree with the premise that it was wanted by users?
The bug reports show it was a highly sought feature amongst users. And now at approximately 7 million users on version 78, a) the volume of bug and support requests has not been unusual for a major change, and b) at 7 months after release has only 2-3 open bug reports - which is quite low.
Only one of the three bug reports you have cited has a statement of not being fixed in version 78?
My apologies: I overreacted.
I was (and I am still) disappointed by one huge problem with Firefox - inability to print various webpages that are properly rendered on the screen but scrambled on the paper -- the problem that has existed for many years, and still continues to pop up its ugly head, seemingly more often than before. That disappointment was [incorrectly] extrapolated onto Thunderbird.
As an aside, I would like to point out that the number of reports is not always representative for judging the relative desirability or lack of such of certain features. That can yield some not-quite-correct conclusions. But that's a different topic.
Thank you for your quick and balanced responses back in March!