May 27th, 2008
Mozilla: Firefox 3 is not buggy but RC2 may be necessary
The Firefox 3 team is considering releasing a Release Candidate 2 but says the current browser code is not “buggy” as some claim.
Responding to a report about bugs identified in the recently released Firefox 3, one Firefox developer said a number of ”significant” bugs have popped up that may affect select users but overall the code is stable and almost ready to go. The team is now deciding whether a Release Candidate 2 is necessary and if not, the fixes for these issues will be made available after the new web browser ships.
As first reported here, Firefox 3 is due to ship in June. Mozilla reports that there are now 1.6 million daily users of Firefox 3.
“We’ve been gathering feedback during the RC1 phase, and have identified some bugs which, while not things that will affect the majority of users, may have significant impact on a subset of our overall audience,” said Mike Beltzner, in an e-mail to this blogger. “No firm decision has been made yet on whether or not an RC2 will be required, but in the case that it is, we want to ensure that we have fixes in hand which have baked, which is to say they’ve been built into nightly builds that are used by 20,000 or so people, these builds really are for testers only, as they can be unstable for a few days so that we can move quickly once we know what we’re doing.”
“If we decide not to do an RC2, then these fixes will be part of the first security and stability release which is scheduled for 6-8 weeks after the ship of Firefox 3.0,” Beltzner added.
He noted that reports about the browser being buggy are unfounded since all change requests, including feature requests, debates over expected functionality or problems with the code are filed as bugs. The report was based on a post by Firefox lead and Mozilla vice president of engineering Mike Schroepfer filed over the weekend.
“If you’re asking if I think Firefox 3 is buggy in the sense of being unstable, or unworthy for general use, then the answer is an unequivocal ‘No’, Beltzner said. “And 1.6 million daily users would agree with me.”
Paula Rooney is a Boston-based writer who has followed the tech industry for almost two decades. See her full profile and disclosure of her industry affiliations.
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