XULRunner

{{Short description|Standalone software package of Mozilla platform}}

{{Infobox software

|developer = Mozilla Foundation and community

| discontinued = yes

|released = February 2006

| latest_release_version = 41.0.2

| latest_release_date = {{Start date and age|2015|10|15}}

| latest_preview_version =

| latest_preview_date =

|programming language = C++, XUL, XBL, JavaScript

|operating system = Cross-platform

|genre = Runtime environment

|license = MPL

|website = {{URL|developer.mozilla.org/en/XULRunner}}

}}

XULRunner is a discontinued,[https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/xulrunner/nightly/latest-mozilla-aurora/Deprecation_notice.txt Deprecation Notice][https://groups.google.com/forum/?_escaped_fragment_=msg/mozilla.dev.platform/_rFMunG2Bgw/C-4PcHj9IgAJ#!msg/mozilla.dev.platform/_rFMunG2Bgw/C-4PcHj9IgAJ XULRunner future and ownership: Announcement to XULRunner dev group] packaged version of the Mozilla platform to enable standalone desktop application development using XUL, developed by Mozilla. It replaced the Gecko Runtime Environment, a stalled project with a similar purpose.{{cite web |url=https://developer.mozilla.org/en/GRE |title=GRE — Mozilla Developer Center |publisher=Developer.mozilla.org |access-date=2011-02-28 |archive-date=2012-07-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120714125450/https://developer.mozilla.org/en/GRE |url-status=dead }} The first stable developer preview of XULRunner was released in February 2006, based on the Mozilla 1.8 code base. Mozilla stopped supporting the development of XULrunner in July 2015.

XULRunner was a "technology experiment", not a shipped product,{{cite newsgroup|newsgroup=mozilla.dev.planning|message-id=mailman.909.1309204932.4544.dev-planning@lists.mozilla.org|title=Re: lifecycle policy for XULRunner apps?|author=Benjamin Smedberg|url=https://groups.google.com/group/mozilla.dev.planning/msg/773734e58af45bb2?dmode=source&output=gplain&noredirect}} meaning there were no official XULRunner releases, only stable builds based on the same code as a corresponding Firefox release.

Software architecture

XULRunner is a runtime that can be used to bootstrap multiple XUL + XPCOM applications that are equal in capabilities to Firefox and Thunderbird.

XULRunner stores a variety of configuration data (bookmarks, cookies, contacts etc.) in internally managed SQLite databases, and even offer an add-on to manage SQLite databases.

Uses

Mozilla Firefox, Mozilla Thunderbird, Nightingale, Songbird, Flickr Uploadr, SeaMonkey, Conkeror, Sunbird, Miro, Joost, and TomTom Home 2.0 ran on XULRunner. Starting with version 3.0, Mozilla Firefox uses a "private" XULRunner,{{cite web|url=https://wiki.mozilla.org/XULRunner:Roadmap |title=XULRunner:Roadmap - MozillaWiki |publisher=Wiki.mozilla.org |date=2009-12-01 |access-date=2011-02-28}} meaning the framework is installed locally in the application directory.

Kiwix, an offline browser for Wikipedia and Project Gutenberg, used XULRunner until 2017.

The Google AdWords Editor used XULRunner{{cite web|url=https://code.google.com/p/xulrunner-adwords-editor/|title=xulrunner-adwords-editor — Project Hosting on Google Code|access-date=2011-02-28}} until 2010,{{Cite web|url=https://code.google.com/archive/p/xulrunner-adwords-editor/source/default/commits|title=Google Code Archive - Long-term storage for Google Code Project Hosting.|website=code.google.com|language=en|access-date=2018-08-26}} as did Evergreen ILS, an open-source library automation system.

The fourth version of the video game series Simon the Sorcerer, Simon the Sorcerer 4: Chaos Happens, uses XULRunner.

In addition, the XULRunner package provided access to ActiveX Control functionality previously found in a (now defunct) third-party ActiveX Control built off the Mozilla source code. Applications using this application programming interface (API) may have function with XULRunner installed and registered.

Starting with Lotus Notes version 8.5.1, IBM deployed XULRunner to provide Notes client support for XPages applications.

XULJet was an open-source JavaScript framework for XULRunner.{{cite book |last=Williams |first=James L. |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Learning_HTML5_Game_Programming/WD9Qeojb1o8C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%2522xuljet%2522&pg=PR6&printsec=frontcover |title=Learning HTML5 Game Programming: A Hands-on Guide to Building Online Games Using Canvas, SVG, and WebGL |date=2012 |publisher=Addison-Wesley Professional |isbn=978-0-321-76736-3 |pages=46–47 |access-date=2025-04-15}}

Deprecation

In January 2014, dropping XULRunner support was discussed by Mozilla developers.[https://groups.google.com/forum/?_escaped_fragment_=searchin/mozilla.dev.platform/xulrunner/mozilla.dev.platform/o99wQZBjIJw/4eBoWbjEzjAJ#!searchin/mozilla.dev.platform/xulrunner/mozilla.dev.platform/o99wQZBjIJw/4eBoWbjEzjAJ Terminating xulrunner?] In July 2015, Mozilla stopped supporting the development of XULrunner, and the community page has been taken down.[https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Projects/XULRunner/Community Obsolete and defunct XULRunner community site] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151103235639/https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Projects/XULRunner/Community |date=November 3, 2015 }} As of the beginning of 2016, it had been dropped from the package database of most Linux distributions, including Gentoo,{{cite web|url=https://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=403415|title=403415 – (xulrunner) net-libs/xulrunner removal request}} Debian,[http://lists.alioth.debian.org/pipermail/pkg-mozilla-maintainers/2014-May/015812.html XULRunner decision on Debian][https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/xulrunner XULRunner on Debian] and Ubuntu.[https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xulrunner-1.9.2/+bug/816377 Ubuntu bug]{{Cite web |url=http://ubuntu.5.x6.nabble.com/XULRunner-in-12-04-td4693546.html |title=Ubuntu-devel discussion |access-date=2016-02-10 |archive-date=2021-05-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210507005223/http://ubuntu.5.x6.nabble.com/XULRunner-in-12-04-td4693546.html |url-status=dead }}

XULRunner can still be installed separately, and many XULRunner-dependent applications can be switched over fairly easily. Also developing and running XULRunner apps is still possible through Firefox as well as previous or custom builds of XULRunner.[http://hearsum.ca/blog/mozilla-will-stop-producing-automated-builds-of-xulrunner-after-the-410-cycle.html Mozilla will stop producing automated builds of XULRunner after the 41.0 cycle] However, its disappearance has caused some dependent packages to be removed from package databases.{{Cite web |url=http://www.kiwix.org/wiki/Debian |title=Kiwix not available on Debian |access-date=2016-02-10 |archive-date=2016-02-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160215104703/http://www.kiwix.org/wiki/Debian |url-status=dead }}

Despite this deprecation, the latest versions of Firefox and Thunderbird can still run XULRunner applications with the -app command line argument.

References

External links

[https://wiki.mozilla.org/XUL:Xul_Runner XULRunner wiki site]
[https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Projects/XULRunner XULRunner Documentation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160210143248/https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Projects/XULRunner |date=2016-02-10 }}
[https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Projects/XULRunner/Hall_of_Fame XULRunner Hall of Fame] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906080450/https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Projects/XULRunner/Hall_of_Fame |date=2015-09-06 }}
[http://benjamin.smedbergs.us/blog/2007-05-15/xulrunner-what-we-are-doing/ XULRunner: What we are doing] (Mozilla plans for the 1.9 timeframe)
[https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/xulrunner/ XULRunner source code]
[http://video.kiberpipa.org/media/SU_Harnessing_the_Mozilla_platform/play.html Brian King 2005 Media]
[http://brian.mozdev.org/presentations/cyberpipe2005/slides.html Brian King 2005 Presentations Slides] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727094735/http://brian.mozdev.org/presentations/cyberpipe2005/slides.html |date=2011-07-27 }}
https://web.archive.org/web/20160828115439/https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Archive/Mozilla/XULRunner

Category:Free software programmed in C++

Category:Free system software

Category:Mozilla

Category:Software that uses XUL

Category:Software using the Mozilla Public License

Category:Widget engines