> had the impression that [XULRunner] had slipped into such disrepair that it was no longer practical to ship products based on it
It's not! Zotero has a novel build system where instead of using XULRunner, which is no longer available, the build scripts download a release version of Firefox and then replace the browser-specific modules and other assets with Zotero's bundle.
And as bad as it sounds, it's not worse than most other build systems[3][4] (including Firefox's own build system[5], or anything based on Electron[6]).
…holy cow. I also thought you were joking. When I read the headline and that Z6 is the "biggest upgrade in Zotero's history," I was absolutely looking forward to it ditching XULRunner and friends.
This isn't a very nice comment. It reads like the equivalent of someone trying to use high school bully tactics to make someone else feel bad by convincing them that if they don't stop being weird then no one will like them. No actual criticism—just straight up "look at the weirdo"-tier sniping.
Looks like you failed to absorb the point of the previous comment: No actual criticism—just straight up "look at the weirdo". Instead of addressing that, you just embraced it:
> I mean, that is weird
So? The purpose of my comment wasn't to dispute that it was weird. Want to stipulate that it's weird? Fine, granted. Pointing out that something is weird, however, is not a sufficient substitute for substance.
Trying to appeal to the argument that everyone _knows_ you're a weirdo—as, once again, a substitute for articulating any sort of actual criticism—is for losers.
You don't want everyone to think you're a loser, do you?
It's not! Zotero has a novel build system where instead of using XULRunner, which is no longer available, the build scripts download a release version of Firefox and then replace the browser-specific modules and other assets with Zotero's bundle.