Open sound and video files from Thunderbird to VLC

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bass_man
Posts: 5
Joined: January 23rd, 2022, 3:45 am

Open sound and video files from Thunderbird to VLC

Post by bass_man »

Hi everybody,
when I receive an attached file (mp3, mp4, wav, etc...) by mail in Thunderbird, I can't open it directly. I have first to save it in a folder (or desktop) before open it with VLC.
If I want to open the attached file from the mail, VLC start, but I obtain the following message :

VCL can't open "file:///tmp/mozilla_user0/name-file.wav" (for example). Verify log messages for more details.

I can't understand why......... even if I have rights on this temporary folder.
And I don't know where are the VLC logs..........

System : Ubuntu 20.04.3 LTS 64 bits
Gnome : 3.36.8
VLC : 3.0.16 Vetinari, installed from snap
All access are allowed.
Thunderbird : 91.5.0 64 bits (and even previous)

How and where is it possible to set temporary files folder in Thunderbird ?

Any idea and help are welcom :)
Thank you.
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tanstaafl
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Posts: 49647
Joined: July 30th, 2003, 5:06 pm

Re: Open sound and video files from Thunderbird to VLC

Post by tanstaafl »

I can open a .wav file attachment using windows media player from Thunderbird 91.5.0 under Windows 10. It used the C:\Users\Eric\AppData\Local\Temp temporary files directory. That is what both "%temp%" and the environmental variable TEMP also resolves to.

It doesn't seem to use a MozillaMailnews child directory in the systems temporary file directory anymore.

On your Linux system I don't know if it would use /tmp or /var/tmp but I assume it would use whatever your system uses. See what the environment variable TMPDIR is set to. If you can't figure that out try opening a .pdf file attachment and then search for where a copy of it is stored. It should be in your systems temporary files directory.
bass_man
Posts: 5
Joined: January 23rd, 2022, 3:45 am

Re: Open sound and video files from Thunderbird to VLC

Post by bass_man »

Of course. But the answer is in my message : the temporary folder is /tmp/mozilla_user0/
I can open a pdf file attached, and many others ; but no sound or video ones... :(

I saw something interesting : since 91.5.0 update version, the temporary folder is /tmp/ for all attached files.
PDF, txt and many others can be open, but no mp3, mp4, wav... files...
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tanstaafl
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Joined: July 30th, 2003, 5:06 pm

Re: Open sound and video files from Thunderbird to VLC

Post by tanstaafl »

I can play a .mp3 file attachment with TB 91.5.0 under Windows 10 using windows media player. It uses the same temporary file directory that it uses for everything else. It does not create a child directory.
bass_man
Posts: 5
Joined: January 23rd, 2022, 3:45 am

Re: Open sound and video files from Thunderbird to VLC

Post by bass_man »

The question is for Ubuntu...
and the problem occurs on different machines.
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tanstaafl
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Joined: July 30th, 2003, 5:06 pm

Re: Open sound and video files from Thunderbird to VLC

Post by tanstaafl »

I know. But Thunderbird generally tries to avoid doing operating system specific stuff. So data about a working configuration on another operating system might be useful. I also couldn't find similar threads on this forum or the official support forum which makes me suspect you're running into some sort of configuration error, not a Linux specific bug in Thunderbird.

I stumbled across your thread at https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?f=13&p=524301

https://forum.manjaro.org/t/thunderbird ... gs/81905/7 talks about the problem with it not remembering what utility to call being worked around by deleting handlers.json. Wouldn't hurt to try that just to rule out a corrupt file.
bass_man
Posts: 5
Joined: January 23rd, 2022, 3:45 am

Re: Open sound and video files from Thunderbird to VLC

Post by bass_man »

Well... good idea, may be...
I think I won't try to do this. But...
I use the same profile since........... long years.......... across the different versions.
So, I will try a complete new and clean profile, and I'll tell you... tomorrow ;)
bass_man
Posts: 5
Joined: January 23rd, 2022, 3:45 am

Re: Open sound and video files from Thunderbird to VLC

Post by bass_man »

Well...
I created a complete new and clean profile (virgin) ; but... the problem still remains... :(
So, I will try with the handler.json file, but... I'm not very optimistic...
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WaltS48
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Joined: May 7th, 2010, 9:38 am
Location: Pennsylvania, USA

Re: Open sound and video files from Thunderbird to VLC

Post by WaltS48 »

I have no clue where a /tmp file would be on my Fedora 35 Workstation, Gnome 41 desktop.

Having installed VLC yesterday from the RPM Fusion repo, tried opening a .wav and .wmv with it and had no problem.
Linux Desktop - AMD Athlon(tm) II X3 455 3.3GHz | 8.0GB RAM | GeForce GT 630
Windows Notebook - AMD A8 7410 2.2GHz | 6.0GB RAM | AMD Radeon R5
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