*EDIT: A friend discovered that to experience Google’s new image search results pages you have to access it from http://images.google.com (rather than searching from Google and then clicking “Images”) plus you have to be logged into your Google Account.

The problem is that Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx) ships with Thunderbird 3.0.x. Normally this isn’t an issue because the newest version of something as big as a Mozilla project is usually in a PPA within a few days of the release .

The Personal Package Archive (PPA)

Personal Package Archives are a service Canonical (the creators and custodians of Ubuntu) provide via their Launchpad website. Basically it allows Ubuntu users that know what they’re doing to upload packages (such as applications like Thunderbird or Firefox) which can then be relatively easily installed by other Ubuntu users.

No PPA package for Thunderbird 3.1 existed within the first few days of launch and the “official” Ubuntu Mozilla Daily Build Team PPA hadn’t received a new version of Thunderbird since February.

Ubuntuzilla

People running 32bit versions of Ubuntu can use Ubuntuzilla, which usually has Ubuntu/Debian packaged versions of the latest official binary releases of Firefox, Thunderbird and Seamonkey.

They also have their own repository that you can point your package manager at so you don’t have to manually check for updates. It’s no PPA, but Ubuntuzilla probably has Ubuntu/Debian-compatible packages up before anyone else can (since they don’t try to compile the apps from sources but rather just repackage the binaries Mozilla themselves release).

Without a convenient PPA or being able to use Ubuntuzilla, I decided to try and figure out how to build my own Thunderbird package for Ubuntu which I could then provide to others in my position via Launchpad.

Building Thunderbird from source

If you don’t know anything about compiling software on Linux, don’t worry… Mozilla does things completely differently from the average Linux application.

Two guides that cropped up on forums while searching for information was the Debian New Maintainers’ Guide and the Ubuntu Packaging Guide. I can’t recommend the Debian guide for anyone trying to get anything done on any kind of deadline. It seemed to provide a totally different set of instructions from the Ubuntu Packaging Guide. Another useful guide is Mozilla’s Thunderbird Build Instructions.

First order of business is to grab the Thunderbird 3.1 source and extract it somewhere. You should get a comm-1.9.2 directory from the tarball (archive).

Before you can actually build Thunderbird you need to build the sources from which you’ll build Thunderbird. It sounds complicated, but it’s just one relatively simple extra step.

Before you can do any compiling, however, you’ll need to install the build pre-requisites as laid out in the Ubuntu Packaging and Simple Thunderbird Build Guides.

It should be as simple as running two apt commands on Ubuntu:
$ sudo apt-get build-dep thunderbird
$ sudo apt-get install mercurial libasound2-dev libcurl4-openssl-dev libnotify-dev libiw-dev autoconf2.13

From here you need to set up a mozconfig file before you can generate the source files necessary to build Thunderbird. For a detailed explanation of how to set up a mozconfig file, see the Configuring Build Options guide. There are a number of places mozconfig can be created. I chose the root of the comm-1.9.2 directory as it seemed the most straightforward. The contents of my mozconfig file were as follows:
mk_add_options MOZ_OBJDIR=@TOPSRCDIR@/thunderbird-3.1
ac_add_options --enable-application=mail
mk_add_options MOZ_CO_PROJECT=mail
ac_add_options --enable-optimize
ac_add_options --enable-static
ac_add_options --disable-tests

Once you’ve configured the build options you’re ready to Build an Install, for which Mozilla also have a guide. It boils down to a single command:
@ make -f client.mk build

This will produce a Thunderbird build in the subdirectory specified in the first line of the ‘mozconfig’ example given above.

From here you could do a make install, but that isn’t recommended. Mozilla has a tarball package generation feature built into their make system, so after changing into the subdirectory (./thunderbird-3.1 in the example here) you can simply run:
$ make package

This will produce a self-contained package you can extract anywhere and run.

An alternative option I used to test my build came from a thread on the Ubuntu forums which suggested (thanks cYbercOsmOnauT) you run
$ make -j4
$ sudo checkinstall -D --install=no --pkgname='thunderbird' --pkgversion='3.1'
instead of ‘make package’.

Checkinstall is capable of generating binary packages in Debian (.deb), Red Hat (.rpm), or Slackware (.tar.gz) format. In the single test I ran, however, it seemed to produce a sub-optimal package which installed files all over the filesystem (including the root, for some reason).

Trying for the Right Way™

What I really wanted, however, was to make a package I could upload to a PPA for others to use. Following both the Debian and Ubuntu packaging guides, this means the creation of a ‘debian’ directory somewhere which must contain the information necessary to build an Ubuntu package.

This post has grown too long already, however. Suffice it to say that at the time of writing I hadn’t yet succeeded in creating a package I could upload to a PPA yet, but I haven’t hit a wall either.

Expect a post in the near future about using `debuild` to compile a Mozilla application (Thunderbird in this case) for Ubuntu.

Even though I could cop out at this point and just grab Thunderbird 3.1 off Eugene San’s PPA .

But what seemed to have made all the difference in this case is that the man murdered was Eugène Terre’Blanche.

White South Africans in particular may find themselves paralyzed, or worse, making wild generalised statements out of fear. Not because they share ET’s far-right wing ideologies, but because of a conflation of unfortunate events.

Our local court jester, Julius Sello Malema, led a gathering in the singing of Idubula Ibhunu (“Shoot the Boer”) at the University of Johannesburg on 9 March 2010 (source, accessed on 4 April 2010). This led to a backlash throughout the month that eventually saw the song as being declared hate speech, but had the ruling party (the African National Congress) respond by appealing the decision. Naturally, many white South Africans saw this as the government supporting the hatred of whites (and minorities in general) Malema seems to be preaching, rather than seeing it as them attempting to defend their right to sing any song they pleased, anywhere they liked.

The South African constitution doesn’t allow that amount of freedom of speech, however (from my limited knowledge of consititional law). You (whether black or white) aren’t allowed to sing a song with the lyrics “Shoot/kill the Boer” anymore than you’re allowed to sing  a song with the hypothetical lyrics “Burn the Black” or “Run over the Indian with an 18-wheeler.”

So because we let our government and our government’s sock puppets keep us in racially charged fear we might be tempted to see this attack for more than it is.

All indications currently point to a wage dispute. Both News24 and The Post have reported that the SAPS have stated that their current theory for motive is that ET didn’t pay his murderers for work they did for him. It is most likely that it had nothing to do with the infernal song that is at the foremost part of our collective psyche. It is even highly possible that the murder had nothing to do with Terre’blanche’s prior sins.

Occam’s razor pointing to the likelihood of a more conventional money-based motive rather than a racial one shouldn’t be that comforting, though. At the risk of being overly speculative I think this is a unique opportunity to get depressingly analytical about the state of the nation.

Hundreds of farm attacks occur every year and yet there’s rarely as quick and definitive a response as has been to ET’s. Within hours two young men were arrested and charged with his murder. Most farmers that are attacked like this don’t have the privelege of such swift justice. It’s ridiculous how differently you’re treated by the police when you have a known face, or when the media is watching a case. It’s unacceptable, in fact.

Let’s say the murder was financially motivated. More specifically, revenge for money not received because with the employer dead the employees obviously won’t be able to get their pay. How much could Terre’blanche have owed them? Let’s overestimate and say just shy of R10 000 each. That’s well above the average monthly wage for a skilled worker. It’s likely that these two young men were labourers and not skilled workers (reducing that estimate to R3000 each) but we don’t know that for sure yet.

R20k… Is that what a life is worth?

Maybe that’s too utilitarian a view. Maybe this was about the principle of the thing and not just the money. One man promised two young men compensation for work and then didn’t hold up his side of the bargain. Revenge for broken trust, not just unpaid wages. Not impossible, but completely unlikely.

The experts agree on gun control

I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Bheki Cele and heard him speak informally about the state of crime in South Africa. I don’t know how much of the conversations in private meetings like that are appropriate to disclose, but suffice it to say the man’s impromptu speech gave me hope for this country.

There seem to be a number of issues where the commissioner and I don’t see eye-to-eye, however. There was his emotional reaction to seeing a small replica of “Die Prinsevlag” on a woman’s desk, and then there’s todays news where he’s quoted as saying that only law enforcers should need guns. This is one of the advertisement taglines of Beeld today as well, probably because it’s a topic that’s close to home for the majority of the Afrikaans demographic who are a bit like Texans when it comes to issues of gun control.

Now there’s a good chance that what Cele said is being taken horribly out of context (by me and the media), but considering the ANC’s history with gun control matters, I think it’s fair to assume that it was meant as we interpret it. It also makes sense for governments to not want their civillians armed, or otherwise capable of defending themselves, because it means they can bully or strongarm them into doing whatever they want.

I think it’s important for me to state at this point that I think our current firearm legislation is good. The focus of the law is on preserving the sanctity of life. That is why you aren’t allowed to shoot a fleeing perpetrator, or fire upon people for trespassing on your property. You may only attempt to kill someone who is threatening your, or someone else’s life. That’s a good principle, if practically a little insensible. Generally by the time a robbery gets to the point where someone’s life is threatened it’s almost too late to do something about it (and live).

Our current legislation requires people to prove that they are competent enough to own a firearm. You need to pass an easy test and learn something about the law and firearms you’re applying for in the process. You’re legally allowed a combination of four firearms (neatly outlined at GunFactsSA), none of which may be automatic (unless you are a collector). That is cause for some concern, but for the average citizen that wants to protect themselves, a semi-automatic handgun or pump-action shotgun are good enough.

That said, the statements/threats of disarmament made by the people in government that seem to get to make unilateral decisions about these things, are troubling. They seem to be generally discontent with the level of protection the current law offers us.

If only the law enforcers and military have guns, how will the citizens protect themselves from a corrupt government? The truth is that governments are afraid of their citizens rising up when they’ve had enough, so they want to make sure their citizens have as little power to affect such change as possible. The fact is that despite our modern ‘civilised’ age might still makes right. If a government decides to oppress a people, or decides to wipe them off the planet, kick them out the coutry, or blame them for all their woes then their ability to execute that decision is proportional to the ability those citizens have to protect themselves.

In the words of V (from the film, probably not from the book): “People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.”

Or from a less fictional source: “The [balance of power] would be preserved were all the world destitute of arms, for all would be alike; but since some will not others dare not lay them aside. And while a single nation refuses to lay them down, it is proper that all should keep them up. Horrid mischief would ensue were one half the world deprived of the use of them; for while avarice and ambition have a place in the heart of man, the weak will become a prey to the strong.” –Anonymous: Attributed to Thomas Paine, Thoughts on Defensive War, July, 1775 [source]

While Paine was referring to war on the scale of nation against nation, I believe the philosophy can, and must be applied on a smaller scale.

When it comes to gun control, I’m with Chris Rock.

In his latest video entitled "Something Worth Fighting For: Video Games and Controversy," Daniel Floyd touches on something profound. He goes beyond all the "murder simulator," Hot Coffee, Modern Warfare 2 in DC, and Mass Effect "sex simulator" scandals and challenges everyone in the gaming industry to defend those projects that stand poised to push the medium from "making toys" to an artform at the cost causing discomfort and offence.

The game at the heart of his lecture/talk/presentation is Six Days in Fallujah, which we  discussed at some length before when Konami pulled out of the game earlier this year.

Rather than providing a synopsis of an 8 minute video, I would just like to highlight a quote from James Portnow (previously from Activision, now running his own studio called Divide By Zero) as delivered by Floyd:

This will take real courage from within our industry. It will take the bravery to face critique and the fortitude to weather outcry. It will ask that we expose ourselves to short-term financial risk and that we don't back down from early losses, firm in the knowledge that we are doing right. We will have to be steadfast under the scrutiny of the world and resolute when we're asked to justify ourselves in the court of public opinion. It will ask that, for the moment, we give up ease. But if we can do this, we can do good, real good with our medium. If we do this we can expand the industry and bring whole new genres within the purview of games. If we do this we can turn a greater profit while providing more meaningful experiences and reach audiences hitherto unthinkable. If we do this we can perhaps elevate some small portion of our labour to an art. But if we do this we will no longer be able to pretend as if what we do doesn't matter. If we do this we can never go back to the way it was before.

I posted this here because I wanted to discuss that quote but YouTube's commenting system sucks, and I'd  much rather discuss it with Hellforge than with YouTube.

As someone who draws pictures is differentiated from artist, as an average novelist is to an author that creates literature; shall there be games that blur the line between entertainment and art as opposed to games that exist for entertainment alone? Is it possible? Is it worth it?

Bernadine Kruger

Last week (Thursday, 10 September 2009) Percyval Matji was found guilty of the murder of Bernadine Kruger. Today, a week later he was sentenced to 12 years in prison

For those who don’t know what this is about, Percyval Matji had driven into the back of Bernadine’s scooter while she was on her way to school in Garsfontein. When she fell the taxi drove over her and she was killed.

This case has been plagued with accusations of incompetence as the police on the scene let Matji leave without taking him into custody. Fortunately nothing came of the slip up and Matji was arrested when the murder charges were brought against him. Of course, then the judge posted a R1000 bail on the condition that Matji disclosed the full details of his other address in Mpumalanga and reported to the police station every day. Patterson increased the bail to R5000 when the prosecution protested that the convicted murderer needed to be placed in custody

Finally, in what is probably the fastest conviction I’ve seen, Matji was convicted of murder and sentenced to 12 years in prison. When Magistrate Edmund Patterson handed down judgment he was quoted as saying, “It was not a mistake. It was not negligence.” In context he was saying that Matji’s actions were deliberate – an obvious  pre-requisite for a murder conviction. On top of the prison sentence Matji was declared unfit to own a firearm and his license and permit to drive were revoked.

Percyval Matji

No justice, no sentence will bring Bernadine back, but I for one hope that this ruling sends out a strong message to taxi drivers everywhere.

You can’t endanger the lives of other road users or the lives of your passengers and get away with it.

With the introduction of competing services in Johannesburg like BRT you no longer hold a monopoly over affordable transportation. You now have to treat your customers like customers and not cattle if you want to keep them.

If you endanger the lives of the people that share the road with you there will be hell to pay. If you continue to treat your customers like dirt, or endanger their lives then you will be minus your livelihood.