Thunderbird Bug Fix Lab

Overview

This lab is designed to give you first-hand experience working through a real bug, from confirming to fixing to submitting a patch. You will also get experience building and working with Thunderbird, which shares much of the same code with Firefox.

Introduction

A friend has told you about something they don't like in Mozilla Thunderbird. "I got an email today, and it made a hyperlink out of some text that shouldn't have been underlined."

Here is the text of the email:

Does Wednesday aft. work for you?
I'll tentatively schedule for 3:30 on Wednesday.
We'll come to S@Y...where should we meet?

which is being displayed as follows in Thunderbird:

Does Wednesday aft. work for you?
I'll tentatively schedule 3:30 on Wednesday.
We'll come to S@Y...where should we meet?

You rightly identify this as a bug to your friend, and offer to try and fix it.

Instructions

1. File a dummy bug using Mozilla's test bugzilla. NOTE: use Unclassified and dump unwanted bugs here.
2. Do a debug build of Thunderbird. NOTE: you can obtain a build from your professor if something goes wrong.
3. Confirm the existence of this bug. TIP: try creating a message with the text above, saving it to Drafts, then open in Drafts to see how it gets rendered.
4. Fix the bug. If you need a hint to figure out where to begin working, look here.
5. Create a patch
6. Attach your patch to the dummy bug you filed in step 1
7. Get your patch reviewed by a classmate or your professor
8. Put your patch and review comments on your personal wiki page
9. Blog about the experience and include a link to wiki page

List of Valid/Invalid Email Address

Valid Addresses

• a@a.com
• a.a@a.a
• a.a@a.a.com

Invalid Addresses

• a@.
• a@..
• a@..f
• a@....f
• @.
• @.com
• @a.com
• @a
• @a.
• @a..
• @a...com
• a@a.a..a

Resources

• Creating a patch for Mozilla
• Pre-built trees:
  • Linux http://tel2096.proximity.on.ca/mozilla/
  • Win32 http://cdot.senecac.on.ca/tbird-debug-win32-041107.tgz
  • Mac http://cdot.senecac.on.ca/tbird-debug-mac-041107.tgz
• Regular expression tester: http://zenit.senecac.on.ca/~chris.tyler/regexp/