Win98SE build 2001091508 New mail notification sound no longer plays in this and previous builds over the last week or so including the 0.9.4 release. I have the following lines in prefs.js user_pref("mail.biff.play_sound",true); user_pref("mail.biff.use_default_sound", false); user_pref("mail.biff.sound_file", "C:\\windows\\media\\gotmail.wav"); The first line is default if the "play sound" box is ticked.

Forgot to mention that I'm running 6.1 also and sharing the same profile as I have been doing for quite some time now. The mail sound plays in 6.1 but not in Mozilla, however it used to play in BOTH spplications until recently. One of the noted problems with sharing profiles is the ticking/unticking of some preference boxes. This isn't the case here as the "play sound" box is ticked in both apps after switching from one to the other. For complete diagnostic purposes I UNinstalled both Mozilla and 6.1 "completely" and re-installed Mozilla "only". Still no mail notification sound. So that rules out the 6.1 possible conflict.

there are some comment about this in bug 64475 - seems it stopped working around the end of August.

nominating nsbranch since it includes the 0.9.4 release. tempted to mark P1/blocker but don't want to mess with sspitzer's bug list.

Well, nominating for mozilla0.9.5 and changing severity to major (a UI control does not work - this is a highly visible [if not audible] bug). I hope nominating is not messing with sspitzer's bug list ;-)

There aren't any comments on this bug since the 17th of Sept. Can QA regess against the Netscape commercial builds and determine if this is still a valid bug? If so, and we can get fixes/reviews in the next day or two, please mark as nsbranch+ which will get this on the PDT radar. Also, can someone comment in the bug how serious you think this is? PDT is only accepting "stop ship" bugs such as data loss and loss of major functionality. From reading the comments this would seem pretty major loss of functionality.

As this problem happened just before August 30 (see coments on bug 64475), the prime suspect is the check-in for bug 86021 ("enable -turbo for multiple profile cases") which happened on August 29 at about 7:01. This check-in made changes in some biff related files, or at least one: mozilla/mailnews/base/src/nsMsgAccountManager.cpp And, yes: I do believe it is a severe loss of functionality. This is presently my #1 Mozilla bug (as a user, not Central European Evangelist).

Using today's branch build on win98(2001-09-24-05) biff sound is working. I hear the ring when the message is received on both pop and imap account. I will check this on mac and linux and will update the bug for the other 2 platforms. For now this is working on win98.

Sheela: It works if you have the default settings. You do hear the default "ping". The problem is when you have a non-default mail sound settings, like in my case: user_pref("mail.biff.play_sound",true); user_pref("mail.biff.use_default_sound", false); user_pref("mail.biff.sound_file", "c:\\windows\\media\\music~12.wav"); or user_pref("mail.biff.default_sound_url", "file:///C|/windows/media/Musica%20Open.wav"); I hear nothing with this settings since the regression occured. Please, take note that this is also the case of the original reporter. I believe this bug is wrongly named. I add "with non-default sound chosen" to the summary. Mozilla just eats up the following two settings on every exit: user_pref("mail.biff.play_sound",true); user_pref("mail.biff.use_default_sound", false); The third stays but somehow makes Mozilla biff dumb. Tested with build 2001092409 (and many earlier September builds) on WindiwsME.

reassign to bhuvan.

As I said earlier, this is working with the default sound on both mac and linux on today's branch build. But if you select a non default account the biff sound does not play when the new message arrives confirming that too. However, I don't think this is very critical since the default sound is working on all platforms.

It's not critical but if it's not fixed before mozilla0.9.5, it should be IMHO relnoted, so that people who changed they default sound know why they hear nothing. Marking so in the whitespace (not keyword yet, as this may be a little controversial to relnote a hidden pref that does not work).

I found another problem while testing for this bug and the bug number is bug 101430. If anybody is interested in that bug can go add themselves to the cc list. The bug is regarding the biff sound does not play on pop accounts if the initial biff flags are not cleared the first time you log in and download the messages. This is with the default mail sound settings.

If this does not get fixed then I will inculde this in rel notes. But I think this might get fixed by then, hopefully.

Default sound doesn't play here in 2001092403 after editing out the non-default pref entries.

That's strange (behavior Jay reported). Sheela, can you try editing those prefs and restoring them and see if you are running into the problem Jay has reported. Playing non-default sound may not make it to the nsbranch. But I will be able to get back to this once my XP integration work is done (in next few days). Leave mozilla095 milestone in there. But do not mark it as a blocker.

Jay: Are you sure you edit out the biff preferences with Mozilla off. If Mozilla is running, it will override your changes when you quit it.

There may another problem here. I have 6.1 installed and my custom sound file plays ok with new mail notification. After editing the prefs file back to defaults, the default sound doesn't play in 6.1 either. I may be missing the default sound file. What is the filename and location?

Jacek: See my "another problem" reply, however to directly answer your question, yes, Mozilla was terminated.

Bhuvan, What Jay is seeing is what I saw too. I edited the pref.js and restored it to default perferences. Now I cannot play the default sound.

Sheela: I took this a step further by renaming the prefs.js file so that the default pref file would load. Still no sound in today's nightly.

Bugzilla seems to play tricks on me. Adding the dependency oce more :-(

what are the chances of getting this fixed for the 0.9.4 branch?

What is the behavior if you've never messed with this sound setting? Does it always work in that case?

Selmer: It doesn't work with a freshly installed build on a machine that has NEVER had Mozilla or 6.x loaded on it.

Answering Steve's question. On an existing profile or a newly created profile if the pref file is not touched then we do play the default sound. It is only after editing to play someother sound and changing it back to default settings is when it stops working. According to Jay in his recent comments, I have not checked the scenario he now mentions that on a machine that has never had any netscape version before that the sound does not play.

The workaround in case of returning to the default settings (mentioned by Sheela) is to delete all biff sound related lines from the prefs.js file. The originale pristine state of prefs.js has no biff related lines. I wonder what is the status of Jay's prefs.js.

The only biff entry other than the sound prefs is: user_pref("mail.server.server2.download_on_biff", true);

> The only biff entry *other than* the sound prefs [I highighted "other then"- JP] That's the problem. You should have *no* mail.biff entries in prefs.js on a pristine profile. From the use of "other then" I understand that you have some. IMHO you must have maniputated the settings somehow. Delete all "mail.biff" refs (while Mozilla is turned off) and try again. The "mail.server" pref is OK.

what are the chances of this making the 0.9.4 branch?

Jacek: Ok let me make this clear once again. This does NOT work, the default sound does not work in a pristine setup/installation of the latest build 2001092803 with no mods to the prefs.js file and the "play sound" box ticked. The sound card works and the volume is turned up as well. ;-)

fwiw, I started a new profile, see no lines in my prefs.js with biff in them, and have "play sound" checked and I am hearing the beep when I receive new mail. Granted, it's annoying to not have it play a custom sound, but at least it plays something. Makes me wonder where the pref is stored, but I don't care as long as it keeps working.

Using both trunk as well as branch I created a brand new profile. Perf.js file untouched the default system beep is played when the mail message is received. The default pref.js that has been created when the profile is created does not include any perfs regarding biff or biff sound. I guess this is not as critical as intially thought. We do play the default system sound when mail is downloaded builds: 2001-09-28-05 branch and trunk on win98

an unfortunate bug but not a show stopper given our current point in the ship cycle. We'll fix custom sounds in .9.6.

these prefs are definitely broken now, because I landed #64462. those prefs will never work for windows and mac, because those platforms have ways the OS can specify the sound. (internet config, or control panel). [note, mac doesn't work yet, I hope to finish #64462 on the mac tomorrow] but since linux doesn't have anything like that, I'll probably add support for that code back to the linux implementation of nsSound. this is now a linux only bug.

It was so nice (while it lasted) to have a different mail sound that my wife (who uses Netscape 4.78). It seems Seth says "You shall not have a different mail sound for Mozilla". I wonder what is the reasoning behind this deliberate regression? Once more: the OS pref does not let me to differentiate the sound of different mail clients that may be switched on at the same time.

I believe what Seth is saying is that the default beep will not change but still have the ability for a custom sound file.

Seth: It seems we have a problem understanding your comment. Does "these prefs are definitely broken now" mean that we can forget about the existence of the prefs quoted below? user_pref("mail.biff.play_sound",true); user_pref("mail.biff.use_default_sound", false); user_pref("mail.biff.sound_file", "C:\\windows\\media\\your_favorite_sound.wav");

Let me try this again a little more clear. The DEFAULT beep sound file that is included with the installation of Mozilla will not change but you will STILL be able to configure a custom sound file using the additions to the prefs.js file as you included. As of this nightly build 2001101003 the custom sound file that I added to prefs.js works once again as it did before it got broken.

Jay, If you change the custom file sound back to the default do we play the default sound again for the same profile? Because a part of the problem was also that once you changed the default settings, we not only failed to play the custom sound but also when changing it back to default, failed to play the default sound. So if you are able to switch between custom sound and default in that profile and able to play the sound then this bug is probably fixed. So it has been working for you in the latest build right?

Sheela: Getting more interesting. I'm on a box with a clean install of 2001101003 under Win98SE and no matter how I configure the prefs.js file the default Windows New Mail Notification file plays. Just to make sure of a clean prefs.js file I deleted it and booted Mozilla to create the default prefs file. Same thing, the Windows default mail notification plays. Even if I add the custom sound file prefs the Windows mail sound plays in spite of it. Even more intesting: On another box with 6.1 / Mozilla 2001101003 sharing the same profile, 6.1 plays the custom file from the same prefs file that Moz wants to play the Windows mail notification file. Strange !!

Jay: Nothing strange in that. 6.1 comes from the golden period when you could change your mail sound. It was later broken and today in early morning fixed by Seth (sspitzer) but in a way that makes the default sound the only allowed sound. So this bug will probably soon become a WONTFIX one :-( The better alternative is to make it a dup of bug 64462 which it nows depends on.

moving to future milestone.

dup of #64462, which is wontfix. *** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of 64462 ***

vrfy as dup