Indistinguishable from Jesse

I built Mozilla Firebird for the first time yesterday! It took me 3 days to convert my Mozilla build setup to build Mozilla Firebird. I started with a working MSVC.Net Mozilla build and used Gemal's guide to building Mozilla Firebird [with gcc], thinking I would be able to skip the gcc-related steps since I already had a working build environment for Mozilla.

I switched from msvc.net to gcc twice (once accidentally, once intentionally), but ended up using msvc.net. Read more for a boring list of the problems I ran into, and a much shorter list of suggestions for changes to Gemal's page.

This Google search, in addition to finding my blog entry called Chrome URLs in Mozilla and Mozilla Firebird, displays the following ad (affiliate identifier removed):

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People often ask if I memorize bug numbers. I've only memorized a few bug numbers; my speed comes from having memorized parts of bug summaries and these searching tricks:

• I use Bugzilla QuickSearch for 99% of my searches. I only use query.cgi when I need "changed in n days" or things only available in boolean charts (such as bug history).
• I include resolved bugs in most of my searches (using "ALL") so I can follow links from duplicates.
• I restrict my searches to bugs with 2 or mote votes (using "votes:2") when I search for a bug I know is "popular". About 9% of open bugs have 2 or more votes.

I also change bugs so I can search for them more easily.

• I change summaries to make bugs show up in searches by adding words that I'm likely to search for.
• I change summaries to make them easy to understand in search results by making them more precise or shorter.
• I cross-reference bugs that are closely related by adding a comment to each bug pointing to the other bug.

If I know that two bugs are cross-referenced, I often use the "collect buglinks" bookmarklet instead of skimming comments for the link.

I started a blog, The Burning Edge, to help Mozilla Firebird fans decide which nightlies to use.

Every once in a while, someone asks how to open the JavaScript Console in a browser tab, or how to make a shortcut that opens the Bookmark Manager. Here are the chrome:// URLs you need.

To make a shortcut, use the -chrome switch, like this: firefox.exe -chrome chrome://browser/content/bookmarks/bookmarksManager.xul. If you leave out the -chrome switch, the Bookmark Manager (etc) will be inside a browser window.

To open one of these in a browser tab, just enter the URL into the address bar. Chrome URLs can be bookmarked like any other type of URL. Opening these chrome URLs in browser tabs is not supported, so don't be surprised if you encounter bugs.

Mozilla Firefox:

Mozilla Seamonkey (suite):

Update 2004-11-30: This entry is now duplicated at MozillaZine Knowledge Base: Chrome URLs. The Knowledge Base entry may be more up-to-date than this blog entry.