Mozilla Tests Firefox, Thunderbird Updates

Mozilla Foundation developers on Thursday asked for volunteers to test a long-awaited part of the next editions of Firefox and Thunderbird, a software update mechanism that will eliminate the need to download large files to replace outdated versions of the browser and e-mail client.

"We are now ready to do some testing of software update for both Firefox and Thunderbird," an entry on the Mozilla Quality blog read Thursday. "To that end, we have a page up on our new QA Community wiki that explains how to test the software update feature."

Testers don't need to register, but can simply follow the directions on the wiki site, which details 26 different test scenarios.

Mozilla's goal is to add software updates to the next edition of Firefox, 1.5, which as of late July, was scheduled to appear in September.

An update tool would make it possible for Firefox and Thunderbird users to update their software -- apply security patches, for instance -- without having to download an entire new version and re-install the program.