Development Blog

getfirebug.com has Firebug 1.8.1b1, also available on AMO beta channel.

Firebug 1.8.1b1 fixes 8 issues.

We have got great feedback for Firebug 1.8.0 (thanks!) and focused on the most important problems in this release.

There was also a lot of question about where is the Firebug icon so, if you are interested read detailed explanation, why it isn’t in Firefox status bar.

Let’s highlight what should be fixed in this version.

• Open in New Tab and Copy Location broken (issue 4688)
• Firebug opens, when i click Clear Activation List (issue 4684)
• Wrong font-size in main panel under Windows (issue 4489)
• SeaMonkey AMO compatibility (related to issue 4430)
• Firefox “new window” not working well with firebug 1.8 (issue 4699) – we didn’t have a reproducible test case for this one so, feedback is appreciated.

In case we are having positive feedback on this beta release, we might release Firebug 1.8.1 next week, so please let us know how it works for you.

Special thanks to Sebastian Zartner and Harutyun Amirjanyan for the help!

Please post feedback in the newsgroup, thanks!

Jan Honza Odvarko

Firebug Working Group (FWG) is proud to announce the final Firebug 1.8 release!

Firebug 1.8 has been also uploaded to AMO, but it can take some time to appear.

Firebug 1.8 is based on Firebug 1.8b7 (12 issues fixed) that has been uploaded to AMO to update also the beta channel. We have also started Firebug 1.9a0 alpha.

Compatibility

First of all, check out the following compatibility table:

• Firefox 3.6 with Firebug 1.7.3
• Firefox 4.0 with Firebug 1.7.3
• Firefox 5.0 with Firebug 1.8 (and also Firebug 1.7.3)
• Firefox 6.0 with Firebug 1.9a0 (and Firebug 1.8 as soon as 6.0 is out)
• Firefox 7.0 with Firebug 1.9a0
• Firefox 8.0 with Firebug 1.9a0

Feature Enhancements

We have been mainly focusing on stability and performance, but there are also some feature enhancements implemented along the way.

• New console.timeStamp() method
• IP Address displayed in the Net Panel
• HTML Preview Reloaded
• Improved Script Location List
• Command Line Content Persistence across page reloads
• New DOM Panel Options
• CSS Panel Color Tooltips
• Shortcuts for Changing CSS values
• Better Support for External Editors
• Box Sizing Exposed

Check out detailed description of all enhancements with screen-shots. There are also releases notes with links to proper issue reports available on Firebug Wiki.

Internal Architecture Improved

Firebug internal architecture has been significantly improved. We started using asynchronous modules (see more about AMD). This will help us to isolate individual parts of Firebug (no more 5-10 thousands lines of source code in a single file), avoid global dependencies and make code sharing simpler. Firebug is using a module loader that is based on RequireJS.

You can also see description of all existing Firebug modules. If you are a Firebug extension developer you could also be interested in API Changes.

Firebug 1.8 still supports existing extensions based on XUL Overlays and we are also working on AMD module support API for extensions that should be finalized in Firebug 1.9

Using asynchronous modules is great change and moves Firebug much closer towards following goals:

• Better Firebug code-base organization and dependencies.
• Sharing modules (and UI!) with Firebug Lite that is running inside a web page.
• Support for restart-less Firebug installation.
• Delayed Firebug load so, it doesn’t slow down Firefox startup time.
• Better infrastructure for upcoming Firefox Electrolysis (separate processes) and remote debugging.

We are working hard to bring the best developer experience to the web and we have a lot of ideas about what to do to reach that goal, so stay tuned!

Please post feedback in the newsgroup, thanks!

Honza

getfirebug.com has Firebug 1.8b6, also available on AMO beta channel.

Firebug 1.8b6 fixes 7 issues.

John J. Barton has announced a new chapter in his life as he leaves Firebug team and joins Google to work on next gen Web dev tools.

John’s tremendous involvement and activity when leading the development effort on Firebug has always been significant part of Firebug success. It has also been great to work with John and no doubt he is one of the most talented leaders and developers!

Of course, the entire Firebug team continues working hard on having Firebug the best developer tool possible and we are also being supported by Firefox developer tools team that has significantly grown in the past year.

Firebug 1.8 is approaching it’s final release and we are also running full steam ahead towards remote debugging that should be introduced in Firebug 1.9 so, stay tuned!

Finally, Firebug 1.8 is compatible with:

• Firefox 5.0
• Firefox 6.0
• Firefox 7.0 (Aurora)
• Firefox 8.0 (Nightly)

Post feedback in the newsgroup, thanks.

Honza

getfirebug.com has Firebug 1.8b5, also available on AMO in beta channel.

Firebug 1.8b5 fixes 23 issues.

Compatibility, use following configurations:

• Firefox 3.6 with Firebug 1.7.3
• Firefox 4.0 with Firebug 1.7.3
• Firefox 5.0 with Firebug 1.7.3
• Firefox 6.0 (Aurora) with Firebug 1.8b5
• Firefox 7.0 (Nightly) with Firebug 1.8b5

Post feedback in the newsgroup, thanks!

Honza

getfirebug.com has Firebug 1.7.3 + Firebug 1.8b4

Also uploaded on AMO

These releases fix a security issue and so, update is recommended. Of course, users who installed Firebug from AMO or getfirebug.com will be prompted for update automatically by Firefox.

Firebug 1.8b4 fixes 3 issues.

You can also post feedback in the newsgroup, thanks!

Honza

getfirebug.com has Firebug 1.8b3

Also uploaded on AMO beta channel

We have fixed 11 issues in this version.

Firebug 1.8 targets: Firefox 4 and 5.

This release also introduces new console API: console.timeStamp();

The method produces time event displayed on Net panel’s timeline. This feature can be used to compare Javascript execution time with HTTP traffic timing, which is useful especially in cases where the page dynamically downloads Javascript files and you need to know when a piece of code is executed.

See detailed description of this feature + examples.

You can also post feedback in the newsgroup, thanks!

Honza

getfirebug.com has Firebug 1.8b2

Also uploaded on AMO beta channel

Firebug 1.8 beta 2 fixes 18 issues.

We are in beta phase and running full steam ahead to have final 1.8 release around the same time as Firefox 5 release (June 21).

Firebug 1.8 final targets: Firefox 4 and 5.

Do you want Firebug 1.8 to be the best? Help us and become a beta tester by installing beta 2. In any case, switching back to the release channel is as easy as clicking the Add to Firefox button on AMO.

Our automated testing framework has almost 200 tests that cover most of Firebug features, but still not every single one so, having feedback from you is always very valuable for us.

We are focusing on fixing bugs now and every report is having our attention. If you have any problems, file a new issue.

For developers: if you need Firebug Tracing Console for debugging Firebug itself install FBTrace 1.8b8.

You can also post feedback in the newsgroup, thanks!

Honza

getfirebug.com has Firebug 1.8b1

Also uploaded on AMO beta channel.

We reached beta phase, which is also a signal for Firebug extension developers to start compatibility testing. We don’t plan any radical changes in 1.8 branch and from now on the work will be related only to bug or compatibility fixes.

This version fixes 5 issues and is tested on following configurations (all our tests pass):
Firebug 1.8 + Firefox 5
Firebug 1.8 + Firefox Aurora

We are also running with Firefox Nightly builds in order to catch any problems as soon as possible and so, Firebug 1.8 is enabled for it now. However, final 1.8 doesn’t have to be set as compatible with Firefox 7.

Finally, one new feature. The Net panel displays remote & local IP address + port number for each request, see the following screenshot.

(you can open the context menu by right clicking on the Net panel header)

Please post feedback in the newsgroup, thanks.

Honza

getfirebug.com has Firebug 1.7.2 + Chromebug 1.7.2

Of course, this release is also uploaded on AMO (but it can take some time to get through the review process and caches).

This release fixes several issues and is tested with (all automated tests pass):
Firefox 3.6
Firefox 4.0
Firefox 5.0

Here is a summary of fixed issues:

• Support for debugging Dojo (you need Firefox 3.6+Firebug 1.7.2 or Firefox 5.0 + Firebug 1.8, Issue 4289)
• Tooltips for function arguments in the Watch side panel (Issue 4428)
• API fixed for Firebug extension developers (Issue 4435)
• Better support for JSON responses in the Net panel (Issue 4439)
• Keyboard shortcut for the Inspector fixed (Issue 4452)

Please post feedback in the newsgroup, thanks.

Honza

getfirebug.com has Firebug 1.8a3 – compatible with Firefox 5.
(note: you can also use Firebug 1.7.1 from AMO with Firefox 5)

This release fixes 17 issues and all our tests pass.

We are currently focusing mainly on improving the internal Firebug architecture and as part of this work we have converted (almost) all firebug source files into AMD modules. There are many new modules and you can check the list to see the current structure. Note that Firebug is using RequireJS as the module loader and we also want to share some modules between Firebug and Firebug Lite to avoid copying code and make our work more effective and faster.

We have also created a documentation that should help Firebug extension developers with the transition to Firebug 1.8. There are some API changes that could affect existing extensions.

We are eagerly awaiting for any feedback from extension developers that could help us to make the transition as smooth as possible and so, if you have any troubles or questions, please let us know!

Some highlights from this version:

• Support for pseudo elements like “:first-letter”, “:first-line”, “:before”, etc. (issue 537)
• New shortcuts for changing CSS values (numbers) Ctrl+Up/Down now increases/decreases by 0.1, Shift+Up/Down increases/decreases by 10. (issue 1338).
• New option for those who don’t like the old Firebug status icon: extensions.firebug.showStatusIcon (issue 4089)
• Tooltips for CSS colors improved, now appearing also for RGBA, HSL and HSLA values (issue 4411).

Please post feedback in the newsgroup, thanks.

Honza