The Chandler Project Blog

The Chandler Project is pleased to announce the 0.7.3 release of Chandler Desktop!

Download link, information on mailing lists, and how to get the sources available from the homepage.

The 0.7.3 release is the third in a series of quick, time-based releases since Chandler Preview 0.7.0 intended to respond to the feedback we received from 0.7.0 and continue to receive from these quick releases.

0.7.3 fixes over 50 bugs and includes some major improvements:

• Month View:Yes! Month View! This has been pretty much at the very top of everyone’s wish list so we decided to bite the bullet and just did it. Month View can be reached by simply clicking the month name in the top area of the calendar. Switch back to week view simply clicking on the week number on the left side. This fixes bugs:
  • Bug #5361: 30-day view? Variable multi-day view.
• Bundled Localizations: Chandler now comes bundled with localizations in French, Swedish and Finnish. If you’d like to join the localization effort in your own native language, we are looking for volunteers. This is a great way to get familiarized with Chandler ideas and its community. We fixed the following bugs along the way:
  • Bug #11197 Normalize dialog title capitalization
  • Bug #11199 Bogus message in MasterPassword
  • Bug #11201 Incorrect strings in GetPasswordDialog
  • Bug #11260 Export dialog text says ‘Exported’ not Dumped
  • Bug #11333 Reword Unpublish Confirmation dialog
  • Bug #11405 Need different strings for no encryption and no alarm (currently ‘None’)
  • Bug #11419 Fixed running with localed using ‘,’ instead of ‘.’ for decimal point (was : invalid literal for float() error when reloading a .chex)
  • Bug #11470 File > Sync manager… has mnemonic
  • Bug #11490 Reminders dialog missing mnemonics, default button
• Share Management: There’s a new feature under the File menu called Sync Manager. This allows users to view and choose which of the published collections on their Chandler Server need to be synced with the Chandler Desktop. Additionally, this dialog shows up automatically in some situation (like restoring settings). This helps the user to avoid “forgetting” collections on the server.
  • Bug #10971 Auto-restore published shares
  • Bug #11334 Sync Menu items
• Support and build for Mac OS X Leopard, Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon and Use System Libraries: Modern OSes are now catching up with Chandler’s use of cutting edge releases of Python. So the good news is that, for those systems, we don’t have to bundle all these, resulting in much smaller downloads. We now provide special downloads for those Systems.
  • Bug #11088 Use system python on Mac (Leopard), Ubuntu Feisty and forward
• Automate Upgrade Process: User now have the option to let Chandler export a .chex on quit. This is convenient for new users (small data base) with fast machines. For old timers with thousands of items, there’s an option to bypass this (don’t forget to export though _before_ upgrading to a new version of Chandler):
  • Bug #11139 Automate upgrade process

For a more complete list of bug fixes and known issues, please visit our Release Notes.

Thanks for your interest in Chandler Desktop!

A problem in the Reload Collection and Settings function limited to the Mac PPC build prompted us to release a 0.7.2.1 bug fix for that platform. For more details about this issue, see Bugzilla Bug #11305.

If you are using 0.7.2 for Mac PPC and had problems migrating your Chandler data from a previous version, please download the new 0.7.2.1.

The Chandler Project is pleased to announce the 0.7.2 release of Chandler Desktop!

Download links, information on mailing lists, and how to get the sources are available from the homepage.

The 0.7.2 release is the second in a series of quick, time-based releases since Chandler Preview 0.7.0.1 intended to respond to the feedback we received from 0.7.0.1 and continue to receive from these quick releases.

0.7.2 fixes over 80 bugs and includes some major improvements:

• Dashboard: Following up on users logged bugs and remarks, we improved the Dashboard display of the Who column and made it work more in sync with the other columns. We also changed how the triage status cycles. This fixes bugs:
  • Bug #10924 Chandler leaves the Who column blank when the user stamps an item but doesn’t address it
  • Bug #10925 Chandler displays ‘to’ if a message is neither fromMe nor toMe
  • Bug #10926 The order of Triage Status has been changed to NOW, LATER, DONE
  • Bug #10927 The ‘Edited/Updated by’ in the Who column is displayed only for unread messages
• Support for Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon: We’re now using wxPython 2.8.6.0 which fixes crashes reported by several users of Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon. This fixes Bug #10906.
• New version of PyLucene: Chandler’s PyLucene is not using gcj anymore, but rather our own home brew jcc. This fixes Bug #10803 among others.
• Auto fill for common email providers: Account settings now fill automatically for the most common email providers. Just type your email address and if the provider is recognized, most of the settings will be filled out automatically.
• Chandler-on-a-stick, a.k.a. “Portable Chandler”: Though not built automatically and available for download, it is now possible to build a relocatable distribution of Chandler that can be stored on, and run from a removable device such as a USB memory stick or an iPod.
• Getting ready for l10n (localization): Chandler Desktop 0.7.2 is not completely ready for localizers yet (still a handful of bugs to fix; this will happen in 0.7.3) but we solved a significant set of issues that will make the localization process much easier:
  • Bug #3740 Tests are now run on a Tinderbox using a non-ascii locale / charset for path
  • Bug #5658 Localized UI meta data stored in the Repository needs to be refreshable without altering User Data : There’s now a new language picker in the File menu making it easier to change language and test localization without having to throw the whole repository or use magic command line options
  • Bug #10132 Triage NOW, LATER, DONE images un-localizable : now those bitmaps are computed within Chandler using provided localized text. No more bitmaps to localize!
  • Bug #10136 Improving Chandler gettext tools
  • Bug #10139 Add context comments to Chandler Code. Extra L10N comments that display in po editors (like poedit) have been incorporated in the code to give context to localizers.
  • Bug #10140 Clean up the Python code to produce a more useable Chandler.pot : Chandler 0.7.2 does not use the English language translation file to correct inconsistency in the Python code so localization files can now be tested.
  • Bug #10957 Send button clips off screen when button label verbiage expanded
  • Bug #11061 Incorrect detection of country code on Mac OS X
  • Bug #11066 Can’t create events with international date formats
  • Bug #11073 The Application.restart method needs to shutdown all Chandler services
  • Bug #11106 Splash Screen needs to handle text expansion
  • Bug #11107 File Menu Item New ->New revisisted
  • Bug #11117 Rework the conflict resolution strings to be clearer to localizers
  • Bug #11135 Improve i18n of recurrence strings in emails
  • Bug #11162 Fix some missing mnemonics

For a more complete list of bug fixes and known issues, please visit our Release Notes.

Thanks for your interest in Chandler Desktop!

The Chandler Project is pleased to announce the 0.7.1 release of Chandler Desktop!

Download link, information on mailing lists, and how to get the sources available from the homepage.

The 0.7.1 release is the first in a series of quick, time-based releases since Chandler Preview 0.7.0.1 intended to respond to the feedback we received from 0.7.0.1 and continue to receive from these quick releases.

0.7.1 fixes over 30 bugs, including:

• Bug #8981 Bug in Twisted IMAP Capabilities Parsing
• Bug #9454 (Partial fix) Memory leaks in SSL code
• Bug #9920 AttributeError: ‘pem’ while syncing
• Bug #10308 Test sharing settings when there is an SSL error times out on first try
• Bug #10309 Canceling account creation still leaves password filled in
• Bug #10514 Changing triage status on newly created task crashes Chandler
• Bug #10543 Attribute Error dropping .eml into Chandler (AttributeError: ‘tuple’ object has no attribute ‘itsItem’)
• Bug #10702 changing back from “all day” event (recurring) puts event at midnight
• Bug #10726 (Partial fix) –undo command line arg change
• Bug #10728 Send button doesn’t change to update on adding an email address to the To field
• Bug #10788 Old DONE Message item popping back into NOW section
• Bug #10790 Unstamping taskness from an occurrence while another Chandler makes a change to same occurrence results in server error
• Bug #10794 Update root certificates
• Bug #10815 Subscribe error when no rrules or rrdates
• Bug #10817 invalid index in wxListBox::SetString on deleting the outgoing mail account in debug
• Bug #10821 iCal (private) import from Google calendar locks up in the same place each try.
• Bug #10824 Don’t prepopulate reload dialog with a non-existent file, it’s annoying
• Bug #10828 Work with Mac OSX 10.4 IMAP Server
• Bug #10829 Allow self-signed certificates (but show warning dialog)
• Bug #10853 Search doesn’t find matching notes
• Bug #10855 Traceback when publishing to Oracle Server
• Bug #10881 Orphans should have their icalUID deleted
• Bug #10882 Export of chex should dump masters before occurrences
• Bug #10913 AttributeError: ‘NoneType’ object has no attribute ’status’ when resubmitting an HTTP request
• Bug #10941 SSL certificate errors should not be hijacked by the generic sharing error dialog

Thanks for your interest in Chandler Desktop!

The Chandler Project is pleased to announce the 0.7.0.1 release of Chandler Desktop!

Chandler Desktop is an open source, standards-based personal information manager (PIM) built around small group collaboration and a core set of information management workflows modeled on Inbox usage patterns and David Allen’s GTD methodology.

Chandler Desktop 0.7.0.1 is currently available for download here and the source code is available from subversion there.

Send us feedback on our chandler-users open mailing list.
We look forward to hearing from you!

This release is a substantial improvement over Chandler Desktop 0.6.1 and is recommended for general usage. Changes in this release are summarized in the release notes.

The outline of changes is:

• New Triage workflow featuring the new Dashboard view
• Faster Sharing protocol
• Compatible with Chandler Server Web UI using a single Ticket URL mechanism
• Support for a OSAF hosted Chandler Hub free sharing service
• Support concurrent edit with merge and conflict management
• Support background auto Sync
• Improved Email capabilities with support for In and Out boxes, Reply/Forward
• New Edit/Update workflow allows Chandler data to be shared through email without using a server
• Support for special Chandler IMAP folders to automatize incoming email treatment and parsing
• Improved Calendar user interface: better visual, better Drag and Drop, new Preview area
• New Quick Entry widget allows easy entry of new data
• Improved Search
• Improved Security with support for encryption
• New Export/Reload version migration tool
• Many architectural improvements (performance, API, command line arguments, optional launch dialog, troubleshooting tools, etc…

A summary of known issues in this release is available.

Thanks for your interest in Chandler Desktop!

If you’ve been tracking our download page, you certainly noticed that we uploaded last week a brand new 0.7.0-rc1 to replace 0.6.1 as the default download. This is because we are very confident that this new release is already way better and more stable than the older version and, though we haven’t yet completed the whole suite of tests, we prefer having new users installing and using that newer version rather than the old one.

For one thing, this new version is fully exploiting the new capabilities of the newly released Chandler Server 0.7.0 now deployed on Chandler Hub (see Jared’s post). The new protocol (Morse Code) used by 0.7.0-rc1 is much faster than what we used before so sharing is really improved. Also the level of interoperability between the Desktop client and the new Web UI client is way better.

Second, having new users starting with the new Dashboard and Triage workflow is more in tune with what Chandler is all about now. It’s not your old “Calendar Application” anymore…

And last, the new version supports an “export/reload” feature so schema changes in the repository database do not become migration headaches and data loss is non existent. This is pretty important for users in general and new users in particular.

So, what’s separating us from a formal release announcement? Well, tests, tests and more tests. We’re currently getting through the complete list of test scenarios and test plans and we’re creating a new RC (Release Candidate) every other day or so. RC 2 is now up for download and we’re expecting another couple of RC to crop up between now and the final release, the one with the QA stamp of approval. When’s that? ETA is Monday September 10th. Considering the current rather low rate of bugs logged, we’re pretty confident we’ll make that date. After all, we’ve been in debug mode since 3 months now so super-scary-blow-up-the-house bugs are unlikely to crop up now. It’s more about corner scenarios and making sure we’re really complete in our assessment of the product quality before putting it in everyone’s hands.

In the meantime, if you’re daring enough and not afraid of a couple of bugs that could hide here and there, take a spin at the new Chandler Desktop 0.7.0-rc2 and help us make the wait even shorter by testing it in your own environment.

I’m approaching my first year anniversary at OSAF and I’m still amazed at how the Open Source process works. I’m saying “process” here because there’s more to Open Source than just code: specs, ideas and sheer energy, all of these are part and parcel of Open Source.

This point was recently driven home (for me at least) last week when I received an email from Bill Bumgarner himself (the PyObjC maintainer) kindly pointing to some inaccuracies in a doc I wrote some months ago.

Now, it’s a pretty simple and very Chandler centric doc and I was quite surprised to see how much exposure it got. In any other company, such a doc would have been maintained privately in some obscure project and no one outside the project, not even other people at the company, would have commented on it but since I posted it publicly (as everything we do at OSAF), I regularly receive questions and comments from people who read it. Most of them are folks who, like us, are developing an application and are shopping around for a cross platform UI framework. Some of those emails are from people like Bill who are commenting the document and, in the process make it better while teaching me a couple of things I didn’t know.

So here you see the Open Source process in all of its glory: you post something you thought very narrow in scope, it gets picked, you get feedback and comments from people interested in the same subject, you learn something and everyone has a better doc as a result. Iterate often and you get something actually useful.

I’m telling you: I’m glad I joined OSAF last year, really, I haven’t learnt as much since college. Thanks to all for your comments.

P.S.:

• I posted an updated framework doc but remember that this is a very centric Chandler view of the problem
• David wrote a more interesting doc on how to evaluate application frameworks that you should read if you are in the business of shopping around for one.
• There are other people commenting on cross platform frameworks that might be more adequate for your project. Jon Hoyle has a very interesting one for instance, commenting on Qt and wxWidgets from a Mac perspective. There are certainly others.

I mean it: I started to dogfood Chandler seriously since Friday September 23rd!

So far, I’m fairly happy with it though I ran through a couple of crashers that I carefully walk around in my daily usage.
I’m avoiding anything too adventurous with recurring events (like sharing or moving between collections…).
But despite the bugs, the great news is: Chandler is rapidly becoming usable, there’s nothing I was doing with iCal I found
myself not being able to do in Chandler. I can save my data (in .ics) and read them back with no loss.
This last aspect alone is paramount when dogfooding and I’m glad to report I haven’t lost anything so far (knocking on
wood…).

So, what does it mean to “dogfood” Chandler?

• Download Chandler of course: at that point,
  considering the rate of bug fix and that we’re not rearchitecturing anything, I recommend using the latest checkpoint
  (top link on the download page).
• Run Chandler exclusively: I know it’s hard to get rid of old habits but, if it’s hard for the enthusiasts, just think
  about how it will feel for others…
• Take notes of every behavior or issue you find when running Chandler: mild annoyances, UI defects that bug you,
  anything that make you want to leave Chandler and start iCal again… Those are things that are not necessarily bugs
  and that you may want to discuss with someone on the team. The
  design mailing list is a perfect place for that kind of
  discussion.
• Report bugs religiously: we have a great
  tracking system and we use it!
  Don’t just send an e-mail out and hope someone else will track the problem.

I’ve been logging quite a few bugs since Friday but I don’t feel bad about it: this is exactly where we should be right now.

I encourage everybody at OSAF to start dogfooding. This is important we get some mileage among ourselves and feel
confortable with the application before we roll it out to the World with fanfare.

After years of development it feels strange that people may actually use our stuff but this day is actually really
really close now… and it’s a pretty exciting place to be.

Having interns around always reminds me of those times were, as an intern myself, I had to write reports and how bad at it I could be. I had one strike of good luck though in the person of my mentor Georges Bronner who gave me a terrific 15 minutes primer on technical writing I will never forget (and that was 20 years ago folks…).

I won’t say I never sinned again and committed some terrible documents (have mercy…) but this short set of advice always worked wonder whenever I applied them diligently.

Talking about it with Katie, she encouraged me to write them down. So, for everyone’s enjoyment, here is Georges’ Sieve written down at last.

Thanks Georges!

Almost sounds like old news but worth noticing: we reached the milestone on 06/02 (code wise) and it got the QA rubber stamp yesterday.
You can download a build and read the report card.
Special thanks to the members of the Apps team who all had deliveries with dead line for that milestone and worked over time to deliver the goods.
(NB: this post is also my first OSAF Blog post…)