RBTools 0.6.2 is released

Christian Hammond

This evening’s release of RBTools 0.6.2 fixes several bugs throughout rbt post and rbt patch.

Mercurial users will find that rbt patch now behaves as expected especially for Git diffs. No need to manually fetch and patch by hand anymore.

We’ve fixed some breakages that users hit with error messages coming from Review Board under certain conditions, and some compatibility issues with Perforce, ClearCase, and Git.

You can upgrade to RBTools 0.6.1 by typing:

    $ sudo easy_install -U RBTools

(If you’re on Windows, you shouldn’t need to type “sudo.”)

See the release notes for the full list of changes.

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RBTools 0.6.1 is released

Christian Hammond

We have just released RBTools 0.6.1. This release improves upon April’s release of RBTools 0.6, fixing numerous bugs that have been reported to us over the past two months.

These fixes cover compatibility issues with different types of repositories, misleading or useless error messages, crashes in certain edge cases, and issues running on different operating systems.

You can upgrade to RBTools 0.6.1 by typing:

    $ sudo easy_install -U RBTools

(If you’re on Windows, you shouldn’t need to type “sudo.”)

If you’re running an older version, now’s a great time to upgrade! We outlined the major improvements in our RBTools 0.6 announcement.

See the release notes for the full list of changes in 0.6.1.

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RBCommons and the Heartbleed SSL Vulnerability

Christian Hammond

On April 7th, the world became aware of a critical vulnerability in the versions of OpenSSL powering much of the Internet. These were very serious problems that could allow attackers to gain access to certain confidential data on the server. This vulnerability is known as Heartbleed.

The vulnerability was, fortunately, found by security researchers, and companies like Red Hat and Amazon were quick to put out patched builds.

We take security very seriously, and rushed to update and replace our SSL certificates, ensuring our users would be safe in the off chance that anybody had decided to target us. We are not aware of any attempts on RBCommons, and want to keep it that way.

Even though we don’t believe anyone has targeted RBCommons, we still have a couple recommendations for you.

  1. Reset your password, just to be safe. It might be a good time to evaluate whether you’re using a strong enough password, as well.
  2. Turn on two-factor authentication. This will help keep your account secure, requiring a token code sent to your mobile phone in order to log in.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us.

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RBTools 0.6 is released

Christian Hammond

RBTools 0.6 has just been released, and it’s a big one. We spent a lot of time simplifying the process for posting and updating review requests, and we think it’s going to make life a lot easier for just about everyone.

Posting using Git or Mercurial used to require dealing with --parent and --revision-range, along with our custom revision syntax. Now all you have to do is pass native revisions or revision ranges to rbt post, like so:

$ rbt post HEAD
$ rbt post main-branch..feature-branch
$ rbt post 123:126

Compare this to the old way of doing things:

$ rbt post --parent=HEAD^
$ rbt post --revision-range=main-branch:feature-branch
$ rbt post --revision-range=123:126

We’ve also improved how “guessing” descriptions and summaries from commits work. In previous versions, you needed to run rbt post -g to enable guessing, but in 0.6, it’s now automatic for new review requests. This means less typing and less work to do.

That behavior can also be changed through new GUESS_FIELDS settings in .reviewboardrc. This is covered more in the documentation.

A few other goodies:

  • Feature and performance improvements for Mercurial
  • Git repository hook scripts for auto-closing review requests and requiring approval for pushes
  • Many new configuration options

And more.

A couple important notes. We’ve removed support for the old post-review tool. Running post-review will now tell you to use rbt post instead.

We’ve also removed support for Python 2.4. You will now need 2.5 or higher. We strongly recommend that everybody upgrades to Python 2.7.

See the release notes for the complete list of changes.

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Two-factor authentication is now available!

Christian Hammond

For the past month, we’ve been testing support for two-factor authentication for user accounts, and are happy to announce that it’s ready!

Two-factor authentication adds a layer of security to your accounts by requiring that you have your mobile device (cell phone or tablet) with you when logging in. Any time you log into RBCommons, a temporary token code will be sent to your device over text message, or generated by a token generator app.

This token code will be required alongside your username and password. If a malicious hacker tries to log into your account, they’ll need your mobile device or they’ll be out of luck. So keep that safe!

 

Enabling two-factor authentication

It only takes a minute to enable two-factor authentication on your account. Simply:

  1. Go to your My Account page and click “Authentication” on the left.
  2. Click “Enable two-factor authentication” on the right.
  3. Choose whether to use a token generator app, like Google Authenticator (recommended), or to receive text messages on your cell number (carrier rates may apply).
  4. Depending on your choice, you’ll receive a simple set of instructions for getting set up.

You’ll receive your first generated token, which will be used to verify that everything was set up correctly.

After you enable two-factor authentication, you’ll have the opportunity to set a secondary phone number to use in case you lose your primary mobile device or app settings. We highly recommend that you do this, especially if you’re using a token generator app.

 

Download your backup tokens!

If you’re ever locked out of your account due to a lost or broken phone or tablet, you’ll need a backup token to get back in. These are a pre-generated set of token codes that you can use when logging in.

After you enable two-factor authentication, click “View Backup Tokens.” You may have to verify your password and auth token the first time. Then, follow the instructions to generate your set of backup tokens.

Make sure you save these somewhere safe!

 

Upgrade RBTools

You’ll need a modern version of RBTools.

If you’re running 0.5.3 or higher, you’re fine, and will receive an authentication token the next time you have to log in through RBTools.

If you’re running an older version, it’s time to upgrade! We’re continually making improvements to RBTools. Speaking of that, watch this space for a new, major RBTools release announcement, coming soon!

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RBTools 0.5.5 is released

Christian Hammond

We just put out a release of RBTools 0.5.5. This fixes a handful of problems reported to us for rbt patch, Subversion, and Git.

rbt patch, one of our new tools introduced in 0.5.3, has had several bug fixes for applying commits to Git, and for properly handling Unicode characters in commit messages.

We fixed an issue with looking up repositories using Subversion. Some of you using the suggested RBTools configuration for your Subversion repositories have reported problems, which we’ve addressed in this release. Please let us know if you still encounter any issues.

When using rbt post with --revision-range revision1:revision2, RBTools 0.5.3 would fail to parse the revisions. While it allowed '..'-separated revisions, support for ':' was prematurely removed. We’ve restored this compatibility for now, but there are big changes coming in RBTools 0.6.

To upgrade your copy of RBTools, run:

    sudo easy_install -U RBTools

See the release notes for more information.

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RBTools 0.5.3 is released

Christian Hammond

We have a great RBTools release for you today, with some new features and a whole lot of bug fixes.

rbt post has a new -u option that attempts to update an existing review request, instead of posting a new one. Previously, you would have to pass -r <review_request_id>. Now, when using -u, RBTools will look up possible matches and present them. We think this will be a major time-saver.

A new rbt setup-repo command makes setting up your repository much easier. Instead of writing a new .reviewboardrc file by hand, just run rbt setup-repo. It will prompt for your RBCommons team’s URL (for example, https://rbcommons.com/s/my-team/, try to locate the right repository entry, and then write the configuration file for you.

rbt patch has two new options for working with patches. --print will print the patch to the terminal instead of applying it. --commit (Git only for now) will commit the patch with the author’s name and review request’s description.

rbt diff doesn’t crash anymore! Huzzah!

Along with this, we have fixes and improvements for using third-party commands, Git, Bazaar, Mercurial, and Subversion.

See the release notes for the full list of changes.

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Happy New Year from RBCommons

Christian Hammond

We hope you had a great 2013. We sure did, and 2014 looks to be even better. We have a number of new things coming in the next several months that we’re sure you’ll love.

 

First, let’s talk newsletters.

Up until now, all our announcements have taken place on our blog and on Twitter, but that’s not always the best way to keep you up-to-date.

We’ve just made it easier to keep current on the latest updates to RBCommons and to RBTools. You’ll now find an E-Mail Announcements section on your My Account page where you can easily subscribe or unsubscribe to our newsletters. These cover RBCommons and RBTools updates, as well as code review tips and tricks.

You’ll only hear from us when we have something that’s worth your time.

We are also not subscribing anyone by default. If you don’t choose to subscribe, you won’t receive any more e-mails from us unless it is truly important.

 

What’s coming in 2014

Over the next couple of months, we’ll be introducing support for two-factor authentication and PDF document review.

Two-factor authentication will help keep your account secure by making use of your mobile devices to verify that it’s actually you logging into your account.

PDF document review works much like code or image review. If you upload a PDF onto a review request, your team will be able to flip through the pages and make comments on sections of the document. Useful for specifications, manuals, or anything else.

We’re also working on a large update to our Review Board software, which RBCommons is based on. Among other things, this release will provide:

  • Markdown support for review requests and comments
  • Easy posting of review requests for changes already pushed to your repository
  • An improved diff viewer with better move detection, better interdiff support, an improved revision selector, and a fresher design
  • Faster loads and fewer reloads
  • Batch operations in the dashboard (useful when you want to close several review requests at once)
  • Full-text search of all your review requests and reviews
  • New API additions for matching review requests and commits
  • Much more. You can see our beta 1 announcement for some details, and keep watching for a beta 2 announcement.

We’re aiming to bring this to you by Summer this year. Sooner, if all goes well. We’ll keep you informed on our blog and newsletters.

Thanks for reading, and have a great year!

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GitHub two-factor auth, and a new My Account page

Christian Hammond

Tonight’s update introduces support for GitHub accounts protected with two-factor authentication, and a whole new My Account page.

GitHub’s two-factor authentication is a great way to protect your account, and we highly recommend it, especially since there have been a number of attempts made on GitHub accounts in recent weeks. Previously, administrators had to disable two-factor authentication before linking an account for the first time (when configuring a repository), but no longer. The first time you link an account, you’ll be prompted for your two-factor auth token.

If you already have a GitHub account linked for your repositories, you won’t have to do anything. If you’re not an administrator, same. You’re good.

We also rewrote the My Account page. The old page was a holdover from the early days, and was long overdue for a rewrite. You should find it a lot more organized, and we’ll be adding to it over the coming months.

Along with all that, some nice bug fixes and performance improvements. Enjoy!

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Tonight’s round of improvements for teams

Christian Hammond

We deployed an update tonight that makes some small but very useful changes throughout the site.

Your account menu at the top of every page has been tweaked to show your username, instead of your first name. We found that people sometimes forgot which username they registered with, which this should help a lot with. Inside the menu, you’ll see a little card showing your gravatar, name, and e-mail address, along with the usual menu items for changing your account profile and logging out.

Next to your account menu is your new Team menu. Here you’ll see your team and a menu item for creating new teams. If you’re an administrator, you’ll also be able to get to your Team Administration page from here. If you’re a member of more than one team on RBCommons, it also offers an easy way to switch between them.

This menu also gave us the opportunity to make another change. When you visit RBCommons.com, you’ll now be taken directly to your dashboard, skipping the old and shabby “home” screen altogether.

One last thing, for administrators. The interface for adding or editing review groups in the Team Administration page was not up to par. We’ve revamped this, and it’s much nicer, particularly for user selection.

And that’s it! Enjoy, and keep the great feedback coming.

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