Flawed Release Forces Firefox Update

Just days after the release of Firefox 1.0.5, Mozilla engineers were busy working to complete version 1.0.6 after API changes were found to have broken third-party extensions. Localized versions of the browser were also put on hold due to the impending update, which angered translators.

Firefox and Mozilla's Thunderbird e-mail client will move to 1.0.6, and the Mozilla Suite will be updated to 1.7.10.

"There is a very real chance that some of the general security improvements may impact a number of extensions that worked with 1.0.4 and earlier, and we want to identify and address as many of these as possible before we release 1.0.6," developers wrote in a Web log posting.

Plans to quickly release 1.0.6 meant work on localized versions were halted, leaving some upset with the news.

"Tens of millions of users are still using 1.0.4 while critical security bugs are already published after [the] en-US 1.0.5 release. I want to say that this seems to be absolutely ignored by [the] Mozilla Foundation," wrote Polish translator Zbigniew Braniecki.

The Mozilla Foundation today issued candidate builds of version 1.0.6 in preparation for a final release.

"Mail handling extensions such as Enigmail for Thunderbird and the Mozilla Suite should also be tested heavily. Any other extensions should be tested normally to ensure that they continue to operate without issues," developers said.