The Final Kiss-Off, starring Google Code

So, we expected this. Starting in August 2015, all Google Code projects (that includes TenFourFox and Classilla) will become read-only, and then inaccessible except in archival format in January 2016 (and completely gone by 2017). We'd already moved downloads to SourceForge because Google Code wouldn't up our downloads quota, so now it's time to finish the transition.

Google Code was a free service and we never paid, so I can't be too angry about it, but it's yet another lesson to never depend on Google for anything you want to last. I would like to take issue with them on one thing, though: in their blog post they claim that "[a]fter profiling non-abusive activity on Google Code, it has become clear to us that the service simply isn’t needed anymore." Well, you morons, what did you think would happen after you stopped allowing new downloads? Did you expect that to cause more people to host with you? Sheesh.

The prior plan will now continue with a target of TenFourFox 38, with a couple changes. We will still be reviewing issues on Google Code to determine their likelihood of completion, and transferring them to SourceForge tickets as appropriate; the rest will be closed. Similarly, only current wikidocs will move -- I won't be moving the entire release notes corpus; that's just ludicrous. However, I'll probably maintain parallel release notes on SourceForge for the remainder of 31 to facilitate the process, and I'll also select a couple historical releases for archiving on SourceForge as well (definitely the first Minefield beta, probably 4.0.3 because it was the last non-XUL build, and probably 17.0.11 because it was the last gcc 4.0.1 build). Everything else will be available while they last, and on July 31st I'll log in and write a juvenile and petty message for the Google admins to see. If you want a specific version or a specific changeset pack, now's the time to archive them.

Classilla will also be making a similar transition, but we have a specific problem in that systems that aren't already running Classilla can't bootstrap or update (i.e., some older browsers can't handle SourceForge, and can't download a copy of the browser). The current solution (short of using another computer) is to get a copy from Google Code, which offers a direct download instead of reflecting through a mirror, but that won't be an option in not too much longer. Instead, I will host an archival copy of Classilla on the Floodgap gopher server -- gopher, of course, because any classic Mac can access it with pretty much any classic Mac browser -- and you can use that to download the newest Classilla from there if you don't have any other option. 9.3.4 will hopefully come out as soon as I'm done with TenFourFox 38. (If you're using Firefox or TenFourFox to read this and you want to explore Gopherspace, install OverbiteFF, also written and maintained by yours truly.)

So, so long, Google Code. You were cool while you lasted, and then Google killed you, because Google is a bunch of poopiepants.

On the IonPower side, we're about 2/3rds passing the test suite, though I'm dealing with a really nasty snarled crash in debug toggled calls that I can't unwind yet (PPCBC passes this test, of course, so it's something about IonPower I haven't figured out). But we're making progress!