May 2, 2024 at 11:05 AM Thunderbird's new beta fixes a 20-year-old bug and makes progress towards Exchange support
The Thunderbird team recently released its monthly development digest, revealing some updates about the ongoing evolution of the renowned email client, as it approaches the next Extended Support Release (ESR).
A notable highlight from the digest is the resolution of a 20-year-old bug. This fix allows users to control the display of recipients in the message list, and more effectively distinguish unknown addresses from those saved in the address book. The Thunderbird says that “This is one of the many examples of features that in the past were very complicated and tricky to implement, but that we were finally able to address thanks to the improvements of our architecture and being able to work with a more flexible and modular code.” They also mentioned their aim to address other longstanding requests when feasible.
The team is making daily improvements and additions to Exchange support. They are also considering the implementation of Rust builds by default, which would allow all users to access the Rust code from the next beta. To test Exchange, users would only need to modify a preference.
The Thunderbird team is rewriting the folder compaction code, due to the current code being difficult to manage and debug. The new code is expected to be implemented soon, with the team seeking community testing and feedback to ensure all issues are properly addressed.
In addition to these backend updates, efforts are being made to enhance user interface elements. The Thunderbird team is developing a new UI for the Cards View and a more sophisticated context menu for the message list.
For those interested in experiencing these changes and upcoming features of the next ESR, the latest beta version of Thunderbird is available for download and installation.
Awesome news! Thanks a lot!