Mossop Status Update: 2012-04-13

Done:
Updated most Jetpack feature pages with reality
Additional Jetpack triage
Work week planning
Interviews
Fixed XULRunner universal builds
Working on pdf.js add-on blocking problem

Done:

  • Updated most Jetpack feature pages with reality
  • Additional Jetpack triage
  • Work week planning
  • Interviews
  • Fixed XULRunner universal builds
  • Working on pdf.js add-on blocking problem

Mossop Status Update: 2012-03-02

Done:
Phonescreens for new hires
Working on how to prioritise bugs for Jetpack
Fixing XULRunner stub dependencies (bug 706186)

Coordination: Trying to get back on the horse of posting t…

Done:

  • Phonescreens for new hires
  • Working on how to prioritise bugs for Jetpack
  • Fixing XULRunner stub dependencies (bug 706186)

Coordination:

Trying to get back on the horse of posting this every week

Mossop Status Update: 2012-01-13

Done:
Finalized the Add-ons SDK goals for Q1
Add-ons SDK work week planning
Finalized the new Toolkit module peer structure
Working on testing the new hotfix feature
Building test hotfix add-ons to ship out to beta users…

Done:

  • Finalized the Add-ons SDK goals for Q1
  • Add-ons SDK work week planning
  • Finalized the new Toolkit module peer structure
  • Working on testing the new hotfix feature
  • Building test hotfix add-ons to ship out to beta users

Next:

  • Post to the newsgroup about the Toolkit module peer changes
  • Find owners for all the Add-ons SDK goals
  • Write up the draft schedule for the Add-ons SDK work week

How Crashplan breaks xpcshell tests on Windows

I recently switched to a Windows laptop and have been going through the usual teething pains related. One thing that confused me though was that when I was running xpcshell tests on my new machine they would frequently fail with access denied errors. I’ve seen this sort of thing before so I know some service was monitoring files and opening them after they had changed, when this happens they can’t be deleted or edited until the service closes them again and often tests open, close and delete files so fast that there isn’t time for that to happen.

It took me a little while to remember that I can just use Process Monitor to track down the offending service. Just fire it up, set a filter to only include results to a particular directory (the temp directory in this case) and go create a file there and see what shows up. I was quite surprised to see Crashplan, the backup software I (and probably many people in Mozilla) use. Surprised because Crashplan isn’t set to backup my temp directory and really I shudder to think what the performance cost is of something continually accessing every file that changes in the temp directory.

Turns out you can turn it off though. Hidden in the depths of Crashplan’s advanced backup settings is an option to disable real-time filesystem watching. From what I can see online the downside to this is that files will only be backed up once a day, but that’s a pretty fine tradeoff to  having functioning xpcshell tests for me. There is also an option to put crashplan to sleep for an hour or so, that seems to work too but I don’t know exactly what that does.

It confuses me a little why Crashplan monitors files it never intends to backup (even when the backup server isn’t connected and backups aren’t in progress) and it is quite a lot of file accesses it does too. Seems likely to be a bug to me but at least I can workaround it for now.

Mossop Status Update: 2011-10-29

Done:
Implemented a number of performance fixes for mobile (bug 696141 and dependents)
Reviewed more of the default to compatible work
Basic implementation for add-on hotfix (bug 694068)
Landed the final third-party add-…

Done:

  • Implemented a number of performance fixes for mobile (bug 696141 and dependents)
  • Reviewed more of the default to compatible work
  • Basic implementation for add-on hotfix (bug 694068)
  • Landed the final third-party add-on patches on aurora and beta
  • Product planning meeting for Firefoxes 8, 9 and 10

Next:

  • Finish the add-on hotfix work
  • Various HR stuff
  • Start planning Jetpack work week

Mossop Status Update: 2011-10-14

Done:
7.0.1 Post Mortem
Hotfix planning work
Understanding the new mobile architecture
Problems with third party add-ons in Firefox 8
Default to compatible planning
Final draft of Q4 goals

Done:

  • 7.0.1 Post Mortem
  • Hotfix planning work
  • Understanding the new mobile architecture
  • Problems with third party add-ons in Firefox 8
  • Default to compatible planning
  • Final draft of Q4 goals

Next:

  • Update module description for the Jetpack module
  • Fix third-party add-on detection problems

Mossop Status Update: 2011-10-07

Done:
Worked with the team to fix the version number problems with the last repacks
Security reviews for embedded add-on preferences and showing performance information to users
Working on Q4 goals for the team

Done:

  • Worked with the team to fix the version number problems with the last repacks
  • Security reviews for embedded add-on preferences and showing performance information to users
  • Working on Q4 goals for the team

Next:

  • Finalize Q4 goals
  • Update module description for the Jetpack module

Mossop Status Update: 2011-09-02

Done:
Worked with the Jetpack drivers to come up with a new way to prioritise bugs
Talked over issues with add-on compatibility and version upgrades
Helped prepare a test plan for SDK repacks
Killed most of my review que…

Done:

  • Worked with the Jetpack drivers to come up with a new way to prioritise bugs
  • Talked over issues with add-on compatibility and version upgrades
  • Helped prepare a test plan for SDK repacks
  • Killed most of my review queue

Next:

  • Try to clear anything that is blocked on me before my vacation