Updating to Thunderbird 78 (Windows 10)

[Mike109]

Every so often I would read a negative comment about TB 78 and therefore never updated to it. I was on 68.10.1 and TB kept wanting me to update to 68.12.1, not vers 78. Then I read TB 78 was not an update & had to downloaded & installed because it was a major revision. I presume by now any problems & issues have been worked out.

Recently I did the update to 68.12.1. Now I notice it wants to update to 78.13.0. Does that mean they've done away with download & install process? If I do a normal update will it keep all my old settings?

Everything I read says to backup your profile when updating to vers 78. I don't have a problem with that, but is TB changing where the profile is located?

[WaltS48]

Updates from 68.12.1 were enabled with the release of 78.2.2.

You don't have to download and install it.

You may want to read all the 78 Release Notes before updating.

[Mike109]

Thanks -
I looked at all the release notes. I don't use any addons, extensions or PGP, therefore a lot of changes don't appear they would affect me.

I'm satisfied the way vers 68.12.1 works. I don't need any more features but am concerned about not getting security updates.

I'm using ATT/Yahoo mail and noticed that vers 78.4.0 said "Yahoo and AOL mail users using password authentication will be migrated to OAuth2". I recently stopped my ATT service but can still use their email. Is that change going to shut me out?

[tanstaafl]

I suspect the issue is what domain your email address uses. If its a yahoo.com address you should be able to continue using it if you switch authentication to OAuth2. You do not need to create a new account to do that as yahoo suggested in the past, just change the setting.

The OAuth2 issue is due to yahoo wanting to force users to use a different authentication method (or use a yahoo app instead of a third party email client), not due to upgrading Thunderbird. If Thunderbird 68.12.1 supports OAuth2 you can keep using it. I forget what version they added OAuth2 support for Yahoo.

[Mike109]

Currently my mail servers are inbound.att.net and outbound.att.net. At one time it was att.yahoo.com. But several months ago ATT had me get a "Secure Mail Key" for each address, and this replaced the normal password that was used. The email addresses are still the old sbcglobal.net versions. I recently changed providers but don't want to delete the sbcglobal addresses yet in order to make sure every one got notified of the change.

I'm ready to move everything to a new PC am wondering if I should install 68.12.1 or 78.13.0.

[tanstaafl]

If you still have your AT&T account in Thunderbird I suggest you modify the reply-to-address settings in the accounts settings (same pane where you set the email address) to use your new email providers email address.

"I'm ready to move everything to a new PC am wondering if I should install 68.12.1 or 78.13.0".
Version 68 breaks most add-ons that use the legacy API so you might as well use 78.13.0 (uses WebExtension API only).

[DN123ABC]

78.13.0 is SO April. The newest Thunderbird now being offered for download is 91.0.2.

see:
http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic ... &t=3078585

[WaltS48]

Version 78.14.0 should be out around or shortly after 2021-09-07, then 78.15.0 2021-10-05, and updates enabled to 91.3 on or after 2021-11-02.

With probably some chem spill release in between, because 91.0 is already up to 91.0.3.

[DN123ABC]

Version 78.14.0 should be out around or shortly after 2021-09-07, then 78.15.0 2021-10-05, and updates enabled to 91.3 on or after 2021-11-02.

With probably some chem spill release in between, because 91.0 is already up to 91.0.3.

Not sure what "chem spill release" means, but yes, it is now 91.0.3 as the current shipping released version.

[WaltS48]

That is a release to fix security vulnerabilities and/or critical bugs, or it really wasn't ready, so we have to chase our tails as you can see by the release notes.

[Mike109]

I'm still not certain about updating. I recently changed to Comcast & have email with them & also with AT&T / SBCglobal. With Comcast I had to check a box that I was using third party software but that was it.

I've always updated TB but read some comments that some people wanted to roll back to vers 60 or 68.

Is there any real reason not to update to the latest version?

[wsmwk]

That is a release to fix security vulnerabilities and/or critical bugs, or it really wasn't ready, so we have to chase our tails as you can see by the release notes.

Actually, most Thunderbird point releases tend to be garden variety fix deliveries, not chemspill releases. (And perhaps not even most Firefox point releases.)

"In a "chemspill" situation we release on whichever channels necessary, with only the necessary patch(es), as fast as possible. This is usually reserved for situations where a critical security exploit is public." https://wiki.mozilla.org/Release_Manage ... Definition

A chemspill is shipped quickly because users are at a higher than normal risk of being hacked.

Most Thunderbird point releases tend to have non-security fixes - minor and major bug fixes, stability fixes, and non-exploitable security fixes. (Firefox point releases tend to be only for stability, and "normal" security fixes.)

[DN123ABC]

Silly question: Is 91.0.3 a "point release"?

Don't know, since I'm unclear about what "point release" means.

Thanks.

[tanstaafl]

Yes. Point release and dot release both refer to minor releases meant to mainly fix some bugs or do small cleanup rather than add many features and/or change the architecture. Its a question of emphasis/focus. You can get a new small feature in a point release for example.

[DN123ABC]

Now there are two "release" paths for Thunderbird. See:

http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic ... 5&start=15