How to Downgrade from 60.3? Update is Disappointing

[zlaer]

The latest update 60.3 is completely ridiculous. Some addons dont work. The dark theme, custom font and font sizes look ugly. Different font sizes are out of wack. After the update, TB looks like something out of 1995. How do I downgrade from 60.3?

[tanstaafl]

See http://kb.mozillazine.org/Go_back_to_an ... hunderbird . Before you do that take a look at https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/th ... izemybird/ and try setting extensions.strictCompatibility false using the config editor (to let you install some add-ons that haven't been updated for 60.*)

[zlaer]

try setting extensions.strictCompatibility false using the config editor (to let you install some add-ons that haven't been updated for 60.*)

Sadly doing so wont enable features on an addon I used on the previous build which was Theme Font & Size Changer.

Also, how do I set google as default search engine in TB? My addon for that isnt compatible with 60.3.

Another beautiful work of art by mozilla... making a broken mail client.

[emaharg]

it seems if you inadvertently get onto the "release channel" whatever that means, updates automatically download. I would like to turn that off. Any clues?

[wsmwk]

(substituting out the word sword) One who lives by the add-on can expect to die by the add-on. The Thunderbird release team can only do so much to accommodate add-on authors - version 64 beta was issued more than half a year ago, and the interim is plenty of time for others to get things working. Place blame at the source.

I haven't tested it, but read that you can download the extension and then reinstall it in the older Thunderbird.

[tanstaafl]

Sadly doing so wont enable features on an addon I used on the previous build which was Theme Font & Size Changer. Also, how do I set google as default search engine in TB? My addon for that isnt compatible with 60.3

Try the theme and font size changer (fixed) add-on. It works with 60.3. I ran into some side effects (it deleted the current theme) when I tried it, but it does work.

google search for Thunderbird doesn't work with version 60 or later (it's not just a matter of getting it to install). You also can no longer add a search provider (such as DuckDuckGo) by just adding a XML file to the searchplugins directory in the profile.

The comments at the bottom of https://techdows.com/2018/08/thunderbir ... ngine.html describes a workaround based on using https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefo ... zlz4-edit/ (a firefox add-on) to edit the search.json.mozlz4 file in the Thunderbird profile. I haven't tried that yet.

[zlaer]

The comments at the bottom of https://techdows.com/2018/08/thunderbir ... ngine.html describes a workaround based on using https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefo ... zlz4-edit/ (a firefox add-on) to edit the search.json.mozlz4 file in the Thunderbird profile. I haven't tried that yet.

I'll try that workaround. But Mozilla should seriously stop being paid by bing to get it to remove google from TB.

[tanstaafl]

Thunderbird stopped being developed by Mozilla about 3 years ago, its now a independent community lead project. The project just uses it as a legal / fiscal home. It uses its own infrastructure. The reason for no google search support is because Thunderbird still uses the Mozilla toolkit, whose design/features are driven by Firefox's needs. That's also the reason for so many add-ons not working with version 60.*.

[zlaer]

Thunderbird stopped being developed by Mozilla about 3 years ago, its now a independent community lead project. The project just uses it as a legal / fiscal home. It uses its own infrastructure. The reason for no google search support is because Thunderbird still uses the Mozilla toolkit, whose design/features are driven by Firefox's needs. That's also the reason for so many add-ons not working with version 60.*.

No offense but I dont believe that. Theres no legal hurdle to using google as opposed to bing. There was no issue using an addon that used google in the previous version. Theres a corporate hand in this. So I cant believe it.

[tanstaafl]

Mozilla gets paid for setting the default search provider in Firefox. Thunderbird inherits some limitations due to using software provided by Mozilla (the Mozilla toolkit) that is Firefox-centric. AFAIK all of Thunderbird's funds are from donations.

The Create our own, or Clone Firefox's , user interface to allow users to modify open search providers bug report has somebody working on it, who has submitted a preliminary patch. No idea when it will be ready or what release it would be included in.

[Hey Man]

Thunderbird stopped being developed by Mozilla about 3 years ago, its now a independent community lead project. The project just uses it as a legal / fiscal home. It uses its own infrastructure. The reason for no google search support is because Thunderbird still uses the Mozilla toolkit, whose design/features are driven by Firefox's needs. That's also the reason for so many add-ons not working with version 60.*.

But doesn't the independent community lead project realize that they are pissing off a lot of people? People don't like change - unless it's an improvement on something they ALREADY love, which is why so many people are wanting to go back to the old version of TB for numerous reasons.

Nobody uses Bing in the grand scheme of things. In fact, Bing is often mocked for even trying to compete with Google, so it makes no sense that this update removes Google, when it was just fine in the previous version and quite frankly, Google blows Bing away.

[tanstaafl]

The decision to always use the latest version of the Mozilla toolkit is the biggest source of disruption. The developers/council rejected the idea of freezing the version of the Mozilla toolkit or working with other projects to maintain a forked version of it. So we're stuck with the Thunderbird developers having to react to more and more changes made by the Firefox developers, while working on a long term plan to reduce their dependence upon the Mozilla toolkit.

[Hey Man]

The decision to always use the latest version of the Mozilla toolkit is the biggest source of disruption. The developers/council rejected the idea of freezing the version of the Mozilla toolkit or working with other projects to maintain a forked version of it. So we're stuck with the Thunderbird developers having to react to more and more changes made by the Firefox developers, while working on a long term plan to reduce their dependence upon the Mozilla toolkit.

If they are going to bother launching a new version at all - why not just get feedback from a majority of TB users through surveys, etc over a year let's say and launch a new email service featuring all the best aspects of TB without the crap that have endlessly frustrated people. Stop relying on Mozilla immediately. Rebrand and give people what they want.

[wsmwk]

But Mozilla should seriously stop being paid by bing to get it to remove google from TB.

Mozilla gets paid for it's Firefox Bing deal. Thunderbird does not.

[tanstaafl]

If they are going to bother launching a new version at all - why not just get feedback from a majority of TB users through surveys, etc over a year let's say and launch a new email service featuring all the best aspects of TB without the crap that have endlessly frustrated people. Stop relying on Mozilla immediately. Rebrand and give people what they want.

Not creating a new major version (after Mozilla stopped funding development) would have eventually killed the project. Look at Eudora for example. Even its support forums are gone. Funding was also a big issue for a long time. Initially the Thunderbird Council didn't get much money from donations.

They rejected the idea of creating a Thunderbird Foundation. Instead they looked at creating a legal/fiscal home with either the Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC), the Document Foundation (TDF), or making a new deal with the Mozilla Foundation. They chose the later because it would supposedly make it easier to deal with certain pain points such as build/release, localization, and divergent plans with respect to add-ons. I wish they had chosen differently.

They argued for over two years about creating a new version of Thunderbird that used different technologies, while still remaining "Thunderbird". They never reached a decision or a consensus. There has also been several changes in leadership, which didn't help. They hired a technical manager in August. Hopefully that will eventually improve things.