[LibX] LibX Version 1.1

[LibX Project]

Dear LibXers,

it is now time to prepare for the upgrade to LibX Version 1.1. In this
email, I will describe the reasons for this upgrade and what action
you need to take.

The reasons for this upgrade are twofold.

First, the current version of LibX will automatically disable itself
if a user upgrades to Firefox 2.0.  FF 2.0 is approaching rapidly - we
would like the transition to be as smooth as possible. A smooth
transition can be accomplished in two ways: either the user installs
(via FF automatic update mechanism) a LibX version that is already
compatible with FF2.0, while the user is still  using FF 1.5. In this
scenario, LibX will not be disabled when the user upgrades to FF2.0.

Or, when the user upgrades to FF2.0, FF will say "The following
extensions (or add-ons, as they're called in FF.20) are not compatible
with FF2.0, would you like to check for updates now?"  Then the user
needs to click yes - but for that to work, an updated version of your
LibX edition must be ready on libx.org in the live directory.

Second, we would like to upgrade to make sure that all live editions
pick up the many improvements and bug fixes that have accumulated
since the 1.0.2 release in February. Editions built since February
have already picked up some of these fixes and improvements, depending
on when they were built.

With LibX 1.1, specific editions will gain the ability to have
edition-specific versioning. This will allow each edition to upgrade
their versions independently of other editions, allowing a specific
edition to push updates to your users which the users will then pick
up via the automatic update mechanism. All editions will start out at
1.1, however, from then on, you're free to increase to 1.1.1, 1.1.2,
1.1.3, etc., whenever you like your users to see
changes/improvements/updates - on an edition-specific basis. So one
edition could be a 1.1, while another edition could be at 1.1.5.
Recall that an increase in version number is a necessary prerequisite
for the automatic update mechanism to kick in.

What action should you take now?

If you have a live edition:
----------------------------------
Note that the live edition has not been upgraded as of yet. Only your
test edition has been upgraded. Find your test edition at
http://libx.org/editionsintesting.php?sortby=name
Install that edition and test it. When testing it, pay particular
attention to specific features you requested, such as specific search
options, labels, etc. etc.. We took great care in not breaking things,
but LibX is software, and software needs testing - there's always the
potential for bugs.
Please let us know about anything that's broken or doesn't work the
way it worked before.
Once you're satisfied with the edition, we can then push the update so
that your users will pick up the new version.  Note that this is not
the time to request new features. It is okay, however, if you'd like
to make changes to the config file - that is, new/different labels,
options, etc.

You can test this edition with FF2.0b1, but you don't have to. From
our experience, the Firefox developers were very conservative in what
changes they allowed to go into 2.0, which is a "security and
stability" release. As such, we believe that testing with FF 1.5.0.4
might suffice, and LibX will work just the same in 2.0. If you do test
with FF2.0b1, be aware that not all extensions you're using are FF2.0
compatible, so you may wish to keep FF1.5.0.4 on your machine and use
a different profile for your testing.

If we don't hear from you by the time FF2.0 comes around, we will
assume that your updated edition works and push it so that users will
see the update when they upgrade to FF2.0.

If you don't have a live edition:
-----------------------------------------

Essentially, the same instructions apply, except that come FF2.0, the
extension will be disabled unless you've made it live by then. Note
that if you test your LibX 1.1 version, and then make it live, users
who have the old 1.0.2 test edition installed will see LibX 1.1 as an
automatic update, because the test edition is already configured to
check for updates in the "live" location.

We realize that some of you are in the middle of testing, and that
this is the only reason why you haven't gone "live". This update will
introduce a slight inconvenience for you, because your testers will
have to install the new build. Still, we felt that now is the best
time to introduce this inconvenience (given the academic schedule,
given that the LibX Team will be gone for two weeks in August, and
given that at any given time there will always be editions in
testing.) Also, we believe that simply verifying that nothing's broken
in an edition can be done relatively quickly. (Exception may be the UC
Libraries edition with its 8 or 9 catalogs...)

Please send your questions and comments.
If they are related to your specific edition, send them to
libx.org at gmail.com. If they are of general nature, send them to
libx at mozdev.org

 - The LibX Team.