SeaMonkey 2.49.4

Automatic upgrades from previous versions are, for most configurations, disabled for this release. Please download the full installer from the downloads section and install SeaMonkey 2.49.4 manually over the previous version.

The Mozilla backend code SeaMonkey is based on, now usually incorporates breaking changes in every release. This is especially true for the Mozilla Gecko add-ons code and the JavaScript interpreter. Consequently, some older extensions may no longer function properly. If you experience any problems please refer to the troubleshooting section first. Especially try to disable extensions first and check if this makes a difference.
We advise you to back up your profile before upgrading in case you want to go back to a previous version of SeaMonkey.

For SeaMonkey 2.49.4, the following extensions are removed and are not included in the distribution (due to repack issues).

Unless stated otherwise they can be obtained from the SeaMonkey Add-Ons website.

These release notes describe system requirements, installation instructions, and known issues for SeaMonkey 2.49.4 up to/including SeaMonkey 2.49.4. These notes are updated when we receive feedback, so please check back for new information.

What's New in SeaMonkey 2.49.4

SeaMonkey 2.49.4 contains (among other changes) the following major changes relative to SeaMonkey 2.49.3:

SeaMonkey 2.49.4 uses the same backend as Firefox and contains the relevant Firefox 52.9.0 ESR security fixes.

SeaMonkey 2.49.4 shares most parts of the mail and news code with Thunderbird. Please read the Thunderbird 52.9.1 release notes for specific changes and security fixes in this release.

SeaMonkey-specific changes

  • Among the general platform and mail fixes this release contains backported fixes from Thunderbird for the EFAIL security vulnerability.
  • SeaMonkey now uses gtk3 on Linux. If you experience a problem because of this please file a bug and link it to Switch Linux builds to GTK3 with SeaMonkey 2.49. Pleae try another OS theme first. Some of them are buggy and cause problems with SeaMonkey, Thunderbird and Firefox.

Downloading

The SeaMonkey project provides official versions of SeaMonkey 2.49.4 for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X in US English and experimental language packs for a small variety of other languages. Community volunteers are also contributing builds for other platforms. You can download SeaMonkey 2.49.4 here.

System Requirements, Installation and Uninstallation

Before installing, make sure your computer meets the system requirements. SeaMonkey 2.49.4 will no longer offer to migrate your data from SeaMonkey 1.x or Mozilla 1.x at the first start after installation (bug 689437). In order to upgrade from such an old version, install the last SeaMonkey 2.0 release first, do the one-time profile upgrade, uninstall SeaMonkey 2.0 and then install your target release (e.g. this one).
You can find more details about installation, profile data and uninstallation in our install and uninstall document.

Extensions (Add-ons) and Themes

Extensions installed under SeaMonkey 1.x are not migrated to SeaMonkey 2, and may not be compatible for reinstalling in this version due to major changes in our architecture. Please report any issues to the maintainer of the extension. Extensions and Themes for SeaMonkey 2.49.4 can be installed from the SeaMonkey Add-Ons website or the "Get Add-Ons" section in the Add-ons Manager.

Extensions with binary components such as Lightning, Enigmail and HTML Validator only work on certain platforms (e.g. Windows). Furthermore they need to be adjusted for each new SeaMonkey release, which also means that an old version of such an add-on can break SeaMonkey if you disabled compatibility checking (which e.g. happens when you install the Add-on Compatibility Reporter add-on).

SeaMonkey 2.29 dropped support for the legacy JavaScript Debugger interface (JSD1). Hence add-ons that relied on it, like the JavaScript Debugger (Venkman) that came bundled with SeaMonkey, or Firebug 1.x, have stopped working. While Venkman has been discontinued, Firebug can simply be upgraded to a more recent version (2.x) which supports the new JSD2 interface. If you are searching for a Venkman replacement (especially for debugging SeaMonkey itself or add-ons), have a look at the Tiny JavaScript Debugger add-on.

SeaMonkey 2.46 is the first version which bundled the Firefox developer tools as a replacement.

Known Issues

This list covers some of the known problems with SeaMonkey 2.49.4. Please read this before reporting any new bugs.
  • SeaMonkey will not start under Linux if you downloaded the wrong package.
    Currently we are only providing x86 versions of SeaMonkey for Linux. For newer distributions you probably need the Linux x64 version from the contrib section on the download page. We are aware that Linux x86 is becoming obsolete fast and will provide localized x64 versions for a future release.
  • Unable to connect to secure sites and a certificate errors is shown.
    In 99% of all cases this issue is caused by the same problem. Your antivirus software or custom firewall acts as a man in the middle and intercepts secure https traffic. In order to intercept and scan this encrypted network traffic it normally uses a vendor specific certificate which is not installed by default in SeaMonkey by the third party software installer. If you want to keep this feature working you need to install one or more certificate(s) from the antivirus software in SeaMonkey. You need to ask your antivirus software vendor where they are located. Consult the SeaMonkey online help how you can import and manage certificates.
  • If you experience a hang and/or get a message box that a script is busy when opening the Data Manager try deleting the webappsstore.* files from your profile folder when SeaMonkey is not running. These files contain data stored by web sites and will be recreated during the next start. If you are unsure if the information is needed please back up the files before deleting them. The problem is tracked in bug 1305624 but so far no coding error has been found. This problem is been reported frequently when trying to manage passwords. But the problem will generally happen just after you open the Data Manager, because this component is also used for managing cookies, site preferences permissions and other settings.
  • If your are running Windows 7 or lower "Send to > Mail recipient" might not work. The problem was originally reported against Thunderbird 52 and is tracked in bug 1356902. As a workaround install the Microsoft Visual Studio 2015 or 2017 redistributable runtime library. Official SeaMonkey builds are compiled for x86 so you only need this version VS2017 x86 runtime. The runtime can be installed on any Windows version starting with Windows XP SP3. If you already have a VS2015 runtime installed you do not need to upgrade it to a later version.
  • If you experience a delay showing the first page after start, please delete the Safebrowsing folder in your profile. Bad Safebrowsing data may delay showing the first page for up to 30 seconds. The problem is tracked in bug 1432274. This can occur even if you are not using Safebrowsing because the lists are always fetched.
  • SeaMonkey does not currently support the WebExtensions add-on api. Some popular add-ons like NoScript are no longer shown because of this on the SeaMonkey add-ons website. You can usually get them from the manufacturers site if you can't find them on AMO. This will be addressed when the SeaMonkey and Thunderbird add-ons move to their own site. WebExtensions support is also a planned feature but will likely not appear in 2018.
  • The SSL 3.0 encryption protocol is no longer supported due to security concerns (bug 1106470). Legacy websites may still rely on it and will not work with the newer TLS 1.x protocols. Contact the website administrator to update their server to resolve the issue at the source.
  • The Remember Passwords add-on breaks password handling. Please disable or uninstall this add-on using the Add-ons Manager.
  • You cannot set up a new Sync account or pair a device anymore (bug 998807).
  • Data loss warning: If you use a profile with this or any later version and then try to go back to SeaMonkey 2.40 or earlier, SeaMonkey will rename your history file to places.sqlite.corrupt and create a new places.sqlite file, effectively resetting your browsing history. This is because the internal format changed and the upgrade process only works in one direction. Additionally, running MailNews with local folders and POP3 mail filters may produce summary files that are not correctly read by previous versions of SeaMonkey. If you decide to go back to a previous version of SeaMonkey, you should delete the .msf files for your local folders and POP3 accounts or repair the folders using the folder properties dialog in order to avoid potential data loss.
  • After creating a news account through clicking a news URL, the MailNews account wizard may be broken (the account type will always be News). To work around the problem, set the mail.server.serverX.valid pref (where X is the internal number of the corresponding news account) to true in about:config, or delete the invalid news account (bug 521861).
  • WebRTC has been disabled by default. It needs an add-on to enable it per site. See the webrtc-permissions-ui-toggle add-on.
  • Web pages may appear differently in the MailNews feed reader than in the browser (bug 662907). Workaround: Add a "noscript {display:none}" rule to your userContent.css (note that the Stylish add-on cannot be used here since it does not integrate with the MailNews feed reader).
  • Lightning keyboard shortcuts for accessing the calendar tab from within the MailNews window or from the main menu (Ctrl+Shift+C/D) do not work. (bug 514512).
  • If you try to start SeaMonkey using a locked profile, it will crash (see bug 573369).
  • Mac OS X and Windows: Citrix Receiver no longer works. As a workaround, mark the plugin as Always Enable in the Add-ons Manager (see bug 1025627).
  • Windows:
    • Norton/Symantec anti-virus scanners may report that some parts of SeaMonkey (e.g. the file freebl3.dll) are suspicious. If you downloaded SeaMonkey from one of the official download sites, this is a false alarm. You might experience problems with secure websites when this happens. To fix the issue, instruct your anti-virus software to ignore these files (and move them out of quarantine) and/or switch to another anti-virus software and reinstall SeaMonkey.
  • Mac:
    • When hardware acceleration is off, background colors in the UI (toolbar, status bar etc.) might not update correctly when you switch focus from/to a window. Users running Macs with certain older hardware will experience this even if they haven't turned off hardware acceleration in Preferences (Appearance/Content) (bug 626096).

Troubleshooting

  • Some questions are asked more frequently than others. Have a look at the SeaMonkey FAQ. Maybe your particular problem has already been solved.
  • Some anti-virus software keeps detecting our installers as containing a "Trojan" or "Downloader". This is a false positive and is some wrong detection mechanism in the anti-virus software. The code in question is actually from 7-Zip and decompresses the installer so that its contents can run and install SeaMonkey. That technology is widely used and probably can be used to compress bad as well as good software, but the 7-Zip code itself is perfectly safe. Mozilla scans all our files routinely when putting them on the FTP server and we assure you that our installers are as clean as the official Firefox downloads that are scanned by the same mechanisms.
  • For security, parts of bug 1035091 were ported in bug 1411708. This might cause problems with add-ons like Stylish which use moz-document. Set the preference "layout.css.moz-document.content.enabled" to "true" to overcome this but be aware that this disables the added security fix.
  • Poorly designed or incompatible extensions can cause problems with SeaMonkey, including make it crash, slow down page display, etc. If you encounter strange problems relating to parts of SeaMonkey no longer working, the browser not starting, windows with strange or distorted appearance, degraded performance, etc, you may be suffering from Extension or Theme trouble. Restart SeaMonkey in Safe Mode. On Windows, start using the "Safe Mode" shortcut created in your Start menu or by running seamonkey.exe -safe-mode. On Linux, start with /path-to-seamonkey/seamonkey -safe-mode or first change to the SeaMonkey installation directory and start with ./seamonkey -safe-mode, and on Mac OS X, run:

    cd /Applications/SeaMonkey.app/Contents/MacOS/
    ./seamonkey-bin -safe-mode

    When started in Safe Mode all extensions are disabled and the Default theme is used. Disable the Extension/Theme that is causing trouble and then start normally.
  • If you uninstall an extension that is installed with your user profile (i.e. you installed it from a Web page) and then wish to install it for all user profiles using the -install-global-extension command line flag, you must restart SeaMonkey once to cleanse the profile extensions datasource of traces of that extension before installing with the switch. If you do not do this you may end up with a jammed entry in the Extensions list and will be unable to install the extension globally.
  • If you encounter strange problems relating to bookmarks, downloads, window placement, toolbars, history, or other settings, it is recommended that you try creating a new profile and attempting to reproduce the problem before filing bugs. Create a new profile by running SeaMonkey with the -P command line argument, choose the "Manage Profiles" button and then choose "Create Profile...". Migrate your settings files (Bookmarks, Saved Passwords, etc) over one by one, checking each time to see if the problems resurface. If you do find a particular profile data file is causing a problem, file a bug and attach the file.

Frequently Asked Questions

What can I do to help?
We need help from developers and the testing community to provide as much feedback as possible to make SeaMonkey even better. Please read these notes and the bug filing instructions before reporting any bugs to Bugzilla.
Why haven't you responded to the mail I sent you?
Use the newsgroup. The SeaMonkey team reads it regularly, and your email may have gotten lost.
Where can I get extensions and themes (add-ons)?
Extensions and Themes can be downloaded from SeaMonkey Add-ons.
Who makes SeaMonkey?
Lots of people. See Help->About SeaMonkey, contributors for a list of some of the people who have contributed to Mozilla and SeaMonkey.
Where's the SeaMonkey 2.49.4 source code?
A tarball of the SeaMonkey 2.49.4 source code is available at the download page. The latest development code can be obtained from the source repository. SeaMonkey-specific source is in the "suite" directory. Please follow the build instructions.
Can I remove the tool- and menubar grippies?
You can remove the tool- and menubar grippies by setting the preference "browser.toolbars.grippyhidden" to "true".

Other Resources and Links

The following resources contain useful information about SeaMonkey 2.49.4: