Thunderbird 78 support

[alfajulietsierra]

Hello, I love the addon, but currently is not compatible with thunderbird 78. Do you consider the new version supporting the 78?

[foxpluto]

Unfortunately the developer seems disappeared !!! That's really a pity ! The add-on is something I would pay for!

Regards, S.

[alfajulietsierra]

I would pay for it too…

[alfajulietsierra]

Actually, we can donate the dev here: https://markdown-here.com/about.html

[foxpluto]

Yes, we can donate but the developer disappeared. If I "donate" 50 bucks could I have the plugin compiled for the latest version of Thunderbird ?

Regards, S.

[Wheest]

A community fork might be needed here, I'm sorely missing the tool in Thunderbird. Unfortunately I know nothing about Thunderbird add-on development, or JS.

I someone makes a fork that ports the existing Thunderbird add-on to the new Thunderbird framework, you've got a hundred bucks from me.

[Warrior-Elite]

Someone did make an updated fork, but, he hasn't commented on our last request to support for v78. He may be our Obi-Wan, our only hope.

[Kristinita]

@alfajulietsierra, @foxpluto, @Wheest, if you are really willing to pay for this feature, pay attention to services as IssueHunt and BountySource.

Thanks.

[Wheest]

Good shout, hadn't encountered these services before. From some poking around, it seems I can't put up any cash unless a repo owner enables it.

[neilmayhew]

Someone did make an updated fork, but, he hasn't commented on our last request to support for v78. He may be our Obi-Wan, our only hope.

Sorry, no. The fork was simply a place to collect and make available the patches that had been posted to issues in the upstream project. I wasn't planning to do any development myself.

[capac]

Well, if a critical mass of donors started contributing to Adam, I think that he could be motivated enough to update and maintain the plugin. After all the Markdown Here website is still up and running two years after the last update, so I think not all hope is lost. From Adam's About page:

Markdown Here is free to users, but it costs me a lot of time (hundreds of hours, so far) and effort to maintain it and make it better. If you love Markdown Here (or when you grow to love it), you can let me know with a donation.

Markdown Here donate page – About Markdown Here

Start donating, people!

[vqsk]

Hi, maybe some of us can look into code and try to figure what can cause problem with incompatibility. I fixed error in TB (change values in manifest.json) which allow me right now to look into options, but nowhere text transforming is working.

[briangoetz]

I reached out to adamp, using the e-mail address on his website, asking what his thoughts were on the future of MDH, where there was anything the community could do to help, or whether he's simply moved on, but I got no response. His last activity on GitHub was in July.

[jfx2006]

I had reached out to adamp as well, and have not heard back. I've since made a fork and added Thunderbird 78 support there. PR #647. https://github.com/jfx2006/markdown-here/releases/tag/v2.13.4_mailext if anyone wants to try it. I've been using it in various forms for the past couple of days.

[foxpluto]

Thanks !!!!

I am testing it with Thunderbird 78.6 on Mac and seems to work !

• here is a list
• in markdown
• thanks for your build !!!

Regards, Stefano

On 31/12/20 05:54, Rob Lemley wrote:

I had reached out to adamp as well, and have not heard back. I've since made a fork and added Thunderbird 78 support there. PR #647 https://github.com/adam-p/markdown-here/pull/647. https://github.com/jfx2006/markdown-here/releases/tag/v2.13.4_mailext https://github.com/jfx2006/markdown-here/releases/tag/v2.13.4_mailext if anyone wants to try it. I've been using it in various forms for the past couple of days.

— You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/adam-p/markdown-here/issues/644#issuecomment-752843270, or unsubscribe https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AGICJRIZIPNOTVYQ4KXPSATSXP7Y7ANCNFSM4UBNDPEQ.

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[alfajulietsierra]

I had reached out to adamp as well, and have not heard back. I've since made a fork and added Thunderbird 78 support there. PR #647. https://github.com/jfx2006/markdown-here/releases/tag/v2.13.4_mailext if anyone wants to try it. I've been using it in various forms for the past couple of days.

thanks a lot!

[Wheest]

I had reached out to adamp as well, and have not heard back. I've since made a fork and added Thunderbird 78 support there. PR #647. https://github.com/jfx2006/markdown-here/releases/tag/v2.13.4_mailext if anyone wants to try it. I've been using it in various forms for the past couple of days.

Had a look through the 3 commits you did, and am not seeing any obvious evil code, though my experience as a security auditor is very slim. Will build and try it out, thanks!

[neilmayhew]

I've since made a fork and added Thunderbird 78 support there. PR #647.

Fantastic! Thanks SOOO much for doing this, @jfx2006. I built my own copy and tried it out and it's working perfectly.

[neilmayhew]

I think it's very unlikely we'll ever hear anything from @adam-p so I think it's time to fork the project and not just the repo. Until now, that wasn't really an option since there wasn't a working version. However, there are various issues surrounding that, including the existence of the web site (https://markdown-here.com/). Maybe we should open a new issue to discuss all of that.

It's possible that @adam-p is deceased. There have been commits on GitHub in his name, but they're all very basic (eg content updates to his employer's web site) and it's possible that those are being done by someone else, or by a bot.

[foxpluto]

Hi,

I agree that this plugin deserve a new project!

On 31/12/20 18:15, Neil Mayhew wrote:

I think it's very unlikely we'll ever hear anything from @adam-p https://github.com/adam-p so I think it's time to fork the project and not just the repo. Until now, that wasn't really an option since there wasn't a working version. However, there are various issues surrounding that, including the existence of the web site (https://markdown-here.com/ https://markdown-here.com/). Maybe we should open a new issue to discuss all of that.

It's possible that @adam-p https://github.com/adam-p is deceased. There have been commits on GitHub in his name, but they're all very basic (eg content updates to his employer's web site) and it's possible that those are being done by someone else, or by a bot.

— You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/adam-p/markdown-here/issues/644#issuecomment-753008782, or unsubscribe https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AGICJRO6G3BQQDMHJGOQU43SXSWUVANCNFSM4UBNDPEQ.

[briangoetz]

However, there are various issues surrounding that, including the existence of the web site (https://markdown-here.com/). Maybe we should open a new issue to discuss all of that.

ICANN lookup says that the registration on markdown-here.com expires 2022-02-04, just over a year from now. The ICANN process says that 25 days after expiration, expired domains are put up for a 15 day auction period. Which means that someone would have to bid on it. (My guess is that such auctions almost always receive automated bids from spammers, hoping to draw traffic.) You can also put in backorders, but they only come into play if there are no auction bidders.

Bottom line is that getting the domain will cost money, so funds would have to be raised.

[neilmayhew]

getting the domain will cost money, so funds would have to be raised.

I would be prepared to donate $10 to a fund. I wonder if a proper crowdfunding project could be started for this. Looking at the long list of issues for MDH, I think this could become a decent part-time job for someone. I'm not sure how funding would work, but perhaps GitHub bug bounties could be leveraged.

[jfx2006]

Oh wow, I didn't expect such a reaction. (Full disclosure, I'm part of the Thunderbird core development team and paid staff.)

I'm still hoping that adam-p will be able to tell us what he would like, as personally I'm not all that interested in taking on the work involved in maintaining a fork long term. Though now that the web extension APIs are pretty solid and the mail extension APIs are coming along nicely, maybe it won't be as much work as it has been in the past.

I can work on getting my fork listed on ATN. It might take some time since this addon has not been through the process in a while. As for the browser version, someone else would need to take that on.

[briangoetz]

Oh wow, I didn't expect such a reaction.

People who like MDH really, really like it. I was seriously considering switching to PostBox solely because MDH almost works on that....

I'm still hoping that adam-p will be able to tell us what he would like

I agree with Neil that this seems pretty unlikely at this point; it's been a long time since he's been heard from, and several have reached out gently to see if he just wants us all to buzz off, but no response.

[ljakab]

I had reached out to adamp as well, and have not heard back. I've since made a fork and added Thunderbird 78 support there. PR #647. https://github.com/jfx2006/markdown-here/releases/tag/v2.13.4_mailext if anyone wants to try it. I've been using it in various forms for the past couple of days.

Has anyone else tried this on macOS? I suppose this should be OS independent, but I tried the pre-built extension from the link above, and while I was able to install it and I got the Markdown button in the compose window, it doesn't convert the text... Any ideas? I did restart Thundebird, although I wasn't prompted to do so. TB version is 78.6.0.

When I click the Markdown button all text in the compose window gets selected even if I didn't select it (good!) but nothing happens to the text (bad!).

[foxpluto]

I have tried and I have Big Sour on MAC and the exact Thunderbird version you mention, and it works.

Here an example

• item 1
• item 2

|Block of code |

Regards, S.

On 03/01/21 22:22, Lori Jakab wrote:

I had reached out to adamp as well, and have not heard back. I've
since made a fork and added Thunderbird 78 support there. PR #647
<https://github.com/adam-p/markdown-here/pull/647>.
https://github.com/jfx2006/markdown-here/releases/tag/v2.13.4_mailext
<https://github.com/jfx2006/markdown-here/releases/tag/v2.13.4_mailext>
if anyone wants to try it. I've been using it in various forms for
the past couple of days.

Has anyone else tried this on macOS? I suppose this should be OS independent, but I tried the pre-built extension from the link above, and while I was able to install it and I got the Markdown button in the compose window, it doesn't convert the text... Any ideas? I did restart Thundebird, although I wasn't prompted to do so. TB version is 78.6.0.

When I click the Markdown button all text in the compose window gets selected even if I didn't select it (good!) but nothing happens to the text (bad!).

— You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/adam-p/markdown-here/issues/644#issuecomment-753678076, or unsubscribe https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AGICJRJIUCAHYB2LHDY3GMTSYDNZHANCNFSM4UBNDPEQ.

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[ljakab]

I just tried it on my Linux laptop too, and I get the same result. I used this .xpi file: https://github.com/jfx2006/markdown-here/releases/download/v2.13.4_mailext/markdown-here-2.13.4_mailext.xpi I get the toggle icon, but not the right-click menu entry (not sure if it matters), but my text doesn't change when clicking it. Is there anything in the Thunderbird settings that could interfere with its functionality? I'll try with a clean install to see if that helps...

[etnguyen03]

I tried on Thunderbird on Arch (78.6.0) and text changes for me? (Although, I'm new to using this extension, so I'm not sure what other options existed other than just the button)

became

[ljakab]

Thank you @foxpluto and @etnguyen03 for confirmation. I tried installing the add-on in a new profile, and it works there. Then I looked at the differences between the global, account specific and identity specific composition settings between the new and existing profiles, and the only difference was "Use Paragraph format instead of Body Text by default" setting (unchecked in the existing profile). After checking that option, it still didn't work. Not sure what else I should look at, but I'll keep debugging.

[shermandickman]

The older version of Markdown generally works okay in Postbox, but it has a few rough edges. If anyone would like to work on improving this version, please contact sherman at postbox dash inc dot com and we would be happy to compensate you for your efforts.

Sherman Dickman Founder - Postbox @shermandickman

[Wheest]

RE the project trajectory, we could just have the fork focus on Thunderbird, and if the new add-on framework is as stable as claimed then it shouldn't be too much work to maintain once we get some teething problems out of the way.

markdown-here for other platforms (e.g. browsers) seem to be stable for now. They can be supported by their users if that changes.

As for the name and URL, we needn't be tied to Markdown-here (though I admit it I have familiarity bias with it). It could be anything, like markdown-there, markdown-morph, or markdown-thunder.

[ernstki]

As for the name and URL, we needn't be tied to Markdown-here (though I admit it I have familiarity bias with it). It could be anything, like markdown-there, markdown-morph, or markdown-thunder.

Or go with the obvious "thunderdown," which a quick web search shows isn't used for anything significant.

[rnc]

It would be nice to get it working with Thunderbird Conversations again! :-)

[ljakab]

Thank you @foxpluto and @etnguyen03 for confirmation. I tried installing the add-on in a new profile, and it works there. Then I looked at the differences between the global, account specific and identity specific composition settings between the new and existing profiles, and the only difference was "Use Paragraph format instead of Body Text by default" setting (unchecked in the existing profile). After checking that option, it still didn't work. Not sure what else I should look at, but I'll keep debugging.

After a lot of hair-pulling I finally managed to figure this out. Due to privacy reasons I manually set the general.useragent.override config to the empty string. This was present in my old profiles for a very long time. Since AFAIK Thunderbird 78 doesn't allow adding new config values, just toggling existing ones, I added this setting by editing prefs.js. The Markdown Here extension somehow conflicts with this setting, even if it is set to a non-empty string.

Can anyone think of any reason why that is, and if there is a way to make them co-exist?

[neilmayhew]

I manually set the general.useragent.override config to the empty string. The Markdown Here extension somehow conflicts with this setting, even if it is set to a non-empty string. Can anyone think of any reason why that is, and if there is a way to make them co-exist?

The extension needs to be able to figure out which program it's extending, and I assume changing the user agent causes it to get confused. You can see it being checked in the code here.

[neilmayhew]

Due to privacy reasons I manually set the general.useragent.override config to the empty string.

I'm not sure you need this in a mail program, unless you also use Thunderbird as a browser. In addition, if you really want privacy, it's best to blend in by using an agent string that matches the largest number of clients in the wild, which would be some version of Chrome on Windows. (You can find out which from various stats sites on the web.)

[ljakab]

Thanks @neilmayhew for pointing out the code. Looking at it a making some tests, it seems that it needs to have the string "Thunderbird" in it, because there is some specific code for email, it won't work with Chrome for example. So I ended up just setting it to "Thunderbird" and leave it at that.

[neilmayhew]

RE the project trajectory, we could just have the fork focus on Thunderbird, and if the new add-on framework is as stable as claimed then it shouldn't be too much work to maintain once we get some teething problems out of the way.

markdown-here for other platforms (e.g. browsers) seem to be stable for now. They can be supported by their users if that changes.

I think that may not be helpful. There's been a significant amount of synergy in the past between browser and Thunderbird versions, and by making a TB-only fork we would be losing the benefit of fixes and additions made by the browser community. (And, let's face it, far more people use webmail nowadays than standalone mail clients.) A large proportion of the code is common between TB and browser, so most of the time changes will benefit both. It's also unwise to think the code won't need to be touched in the future. Code goes stale very quickly, especially when it's connected to the world of web programming in any way.

[jfx2006]

I agree. I'd prefer to contribute Thunderbird support to a project that can encompass everything rather than maintain a separate fork.

RE the project trajectory, we could just have the fork focus on Thunderbird, and if the new add-on framework is as stable as claimed then it shouldn't be too much work to maintain once we get some teething problems out of the way. markdown-here for other platforms (e.g. browsers) seem to be stable for now. They can be supported by their users if that changes.

I think that may not be helpful. There's been a significant amount of synergy in the past between browser and Thunderbird versions, and by making a TB-only fork we would be losing the benefit of fixes and additions made by the browser community. (And, let's face it, far more people use webmail nowadays than standalone mail clients.) A large proportion of the code is common between TB and browser, so most of the time changes will benefit both. It's also unwise to think the code won't need to be touched in the future. Code goes stale very quickly, especially when it's connected to the world of web programming in any way.

[jfx2006]

Markdown Here Revival is now on the Thunderbird addons site. I've listed it with the experimental flag for now as a couple of regressions showed up when I updated marked.js.

Development and issue tracking are on GitLab. I've added issues for a couple of things and I will add more this weekend.

[neilmayhew]

This is wonderful news! Thank you so much for doing this! And thank you to your employer for allowing you the time to work on it.

I think it's time I made another financial donation to Thunderbird.

[foxpluto]

Wow!

Thanks a lot!

S.

Il ven 5 feb 2021, 19:32 Rob Lemley notifications@github.com ha scritto:

Markdown Here Revival https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/addon/markdown-here-revival/ is now on the Thunderbird addons site. I've listed it with the experimental flag for now as a couple of regressions showed up when I updated marked.js.

Development and issue tracking are on GitLab https://gitlab.com/jfx2006/markdown-here-revival. I've added issues for a couple of things and I will add more this weekend.

— You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/adam-p/markdown-here/issues/644#issuecomment-774209783, or unsubscribe https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AGICJRP4KNY2MPXIDRLCL3TS5Q2URANCNFSM4UBNDPEQ .

[IGLOU-EU]

Markdown Here Revival is now on the Thunderbird addons site. I've listed it with the experimental flag for now as a couple of regressions showed up when I updated marked.js.

Development and issue tracking are on GitLab. I've added issues for a couple of things and I will add more this weekend.

Please make a mirror from GitLab to your GitHub account. OpenSource Git-repository manager, don't have syndication ... yet ... So, follow a project on GitHub is more easy.

And a bigbigbig Thanks BTW :tada:

[StuntsPT]

@IGLOU-EU, here is the RSS feed for the gitlab repository: https://gitlab.com/jfx2006/markdown-here-revival/-/commits/mail_ext?feed_token=q7JQcPCiH18HNhe-r-j-&format=atom That's for commits. If you prefer releases, this is the URL: https://gitlab.com/jfx2006/markdown-here-revival/-/tags?feed_token=q7JQcPCiH18HNhe-r-j-&format=atom Was this what you were looking for?

[neilmayhew]

Surprisingly, there was a recent response (Dec 2021) from @adam-p in #678.

[neilmayhew]

Also, markdown-here.com was renewed for another year on 2022-02-03.