Re: Looking for Thunderbird/Icedove

[Mark H Weaver]

Hi Björn,

Björn Höfling <address@hidden> writes:
> One of my key customers needs a new GNU/Linux installation and they are
> willing to give GuixSD a try if Thunderbird is available.
>
> I thought that's no problem and was surprised to not find anything
> like Icedove in the guix repository.

I looked into this a bit more, and the way forward now seems clear:
Parabola GNU/Linux has an Icedove package, based on Debian's Icedove but
with some additional fixes for FSDG and privacy issues.  It seems to be
well-maintained and up-to-date with Mozilla ESR 52:

  https://git.parabola.nu/abslibre.git/tree/libre/icedove

Icedove 52.x is based on the same upstream code as IceCat 52.x, so our
Icedove package should be based on our IceCat package, and possibly even
inheriting from it.  Thanks to Nils for posting his preliminary patch,
but I don't think it will be useful to us.

No promises, but I'll try to find time in the next few days to make an
attempt at an Icedove package.  As de-facto maintainer of the IceCat
package in Guix, I suppose that I'm well-positioned to work on this, and
I certainly agree that Guix should include Icedove.

     Regards,
       Mark