I have been using Thunderbird for many years now and now I am interested in developing some of my own extensions. I looked ove开发者_如何学运维r the documentation on their official website but found little support for getting started at this. I have some experience with python, perl, php and would like if you can recommend me some getting started materials, a "hello world" for this would be great.

Update 2020

As of 2020, here is the current documentation:
https://developer.thunderbird.net/add-ons/about-add-ons

To build a simple Thunderbird extension in ten minutes look at this tutorial:
https://developer.mozilla.org/en/Extensions/Thunderbird/Building_a_Thunderbird_extension

However, the really good tutorial that focuses on creating Mozilla extensions (both Firefox and Thunderbird) is here:
https://developer.mozilla.org/en/XUL_School

Advanced topics about Thunderbird extensions:
https://developer.mozilla.org/en/Extensions/Thunderbird/HowTos

Some additional info:
https://developer.mozilla.org/en/Extensions/Thunderbird

The extension development forums at Mozilla are a great resource.

Update: Thunderbird 78

Since version 78 Thunderbird uses new MailExtensions format, legacy extensions
are no longer supported, most of links posted here before late 2020 are dead.

Current Mozilla guide to Thunderbird extensions is here:
https://developer.thunderbird.net/add-ons/mailextensions