Bug: Cannot move a "maildir" msg folder tree to other folder

User Help for Mozilla Thunderbird
Post Reply
thoste
Posts: 317
Joined: June 7th, 2003, 12:45 am

Bug: Cannot move a "maildir" msg folder tree to other folder

Post by thoste »

In general I can move messages (in "maildir" format), message folders and message folder trees to other parent folders.

But for a certain folder node this does not work.

Even after exit+Restart or even reboot I cannot move the message folder tree (inside the same account).

There is no error (popup). TB does simply: Nothing
The bug is reproducable

The top folder to the folder tree contains approx 15 (sub(sub)) folders with 300 messages.
I can read all the messages. So there seems to be nothing corrupt.
I tried to "repair" the top folder from Properties. Still not working.
Other single folders can be moved to target parent folder.
So the target parent folder is valid.

So what can I do?

Maybe internal msg folder (or only the subset "maildir"?) procedures have (sometimes but not always) problems when a (bugger) message folder tree should be moved,

This seems to be a bug.

I am using the newest Thunderbird v91.4.1 (64bit) from Portable Apps on Windows.
User avatar
tanstaafl
Moderator
Posts: 49647
Joined: July 30th, 2003, 5:06 pm

Re: Bug: Cannot move a "maildir" msg folder tree to other fo

Post by tanstaafl »

How are you moving the message folder tree? Please be very specific.

Do you have a problem copying the same message folder tree?

Is this problem account specific?

POP or IMAP account?

If its IMAP what is "when I delete a message" set to in the accounts server settings?

Does the problem occur in safe mode (help -> troubleshoot mode)?

What is unique about the only folder tree that this occurs with?

Can you export the messages using the ImportExportTools NG add-on and then import them in the desired location?

Does deleting the panacea.dat file help? "Mail folder cache of recent folders and visited links. It is also used to store the move-to recent history. It can be safely deleted to resolve various issues. A corrupt version can cause messages in offline folders to be lost."
thoste
Posts: 317
Joined: June 7th, 2003, 12:45 am

Re: Bug: Cannot move a "maildir" msg folder tree to other fo

Post by thoste »

@tanstaafl:

Referring to your questions list in your previous posting:

I moved it by drag & drop inside TreeView pane on the left

How do I copy a folder (tree)? I know only how to move it.

Following your suggestion I copied folder tree at first to a folder in another account (successful) and then (in a second step) to the actual target parent folder back in the first account.
It worked. Superficially, this workaround solved my personal problem.
But this is still a general bug in TB

It seems to be a problem either with the direct "Move" operation or (more precisely) with the direct "move" operation INSIDE the same account.
Interesting

POP3 account

Yes, problem occurs in Troubleshoot mode too.

I can see no unique criteria. Its a folder tree with some messages inside.

Which of the export menus of ImportExportToolsNG do you suggest?
Export folder with subfolder (with structure)
or
Export folder with subfolders (simple)?

Exit TB, deleting panacea.dat file and restarting TB did not solve the problem.
No direct Move possible.

BTW: It cannot be "safely deleted". It destroyed in message pane my selected columns, their order, their column widths in all my message folders and all accounts
:-(
thoste
Posts: 317
Joined: June 7th, 2003, 12:45 am

Re: Bug: Cannot move a "maildir" msg folder tree to other fo

Post by thoste »

One more idea:

The physical path length of the target folder is 136 chars simplified to

D:\mail\Thunderbird\port\Data\profile\aaa@bbb.com\1................sbd\2................sbd\3................sbd\4..................sbd

When I rename and shorten the last, innermost message folder (in Thunderbird TreeView, not in FileExplorer) then the critical move of the folder tree works.

That leads me to the idea that the file name length limit of 256 chars in Windows plays somehow a role.

So I checked what would be the total overall length of the *.eml message files including leading path if I would move them to the target folder.

And voila: some (but not all) of the *.eml message filenames plus pathnames would have a length greater than the built-in Windows hard Limit of 256 chars.

This could be an explanation.

BUT:

1.) Thunderbird should give a warning popup about the reason of non-moving and not silently do nothing
2.) Thunderbird should offer at least the moving of all *.eml messages which would be shorter then the upper length limit
3.) It remains the question why the workaround with coyping the messages to another, second other account works.

Could you check this?

BTW: Replacing the good old 16char long maildir filenames by a lenghty "messages-ID" a couple of Thunderbird versions ago sucks.
User avatar
tanstaafl
Moderator
Posts: 49647
Joined: July 30th, 2003, 5:06 pm

Re: Bug: Cannot move a "maildir" msg folder tree to other fo

Post by tanstaafl »

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Limits_-_Thunderbird

"The depth of the folder hierarchy is limited by the string length of the path to last folder's header. That can't exceed the operating system's maximum path length (usually at least 255 characters). But the OS length is not the same as what you see in the Thunderbird folder pane. The OS length includes the path to the parent folder in the profile (which might be over 100 characters), and five additional characters (back slash plus .sbd) for each child folder. If you hit this limit you can display more folders by moving the profile or the accounts directory closer to the root directory of the drive, so that less of the total path length is wasted. There is additional overhead if any of the folders have non-ASCII characters. For example, if it is an IMAP account the server would send the string as modified UTF-7, which more than doubles the number of characters.

Bug 249807 prevents Thunderbird from displaying a child folder if the total length of the child folder's relative path exceeds 128 bytes. The relative path is the distance from the top (root) of the profile directory (not the total path length).

With local folders (POP accounts) you normally can't create a folder hierarchy that you can't fully use. However, that's not true for IMAP accounts since you can create it using webmail, and then not be able to download all of the headers due to it exceeding the maximum path length. This limit doesn't apply to a Subscribe window in a IMAP account since it just lists what folders exist on the mail server (it is not downloading headers).
"

Do any of the folders have 8-bit characters?

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=249807 is still open about "Folder pane does not display a sub-folder if the total length of the folder branch exceed 128 char "

I used Thunderbird 91.4.1 to create child folders in "Local Folders" (using mbox files) to C:\Users\Eric\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\feu8hx1l.default-release\Mail\Local Folders\Inbox.sbd\test.sbd\01234567890123456789012345678901234567890.sbd\abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789001234567890.sbd which is 212 characters. I was able to both copy and move a message to it.

When I tried adding a 0123456789 child folder it silently failed. So it currently appears to support more than 128 characters but doesn't appear to support 255 characters.
thoste
Posts: 317
Joined: June 7th, 2003, 12:45 am

Re: Bug: Cannot move a "maildir" msg folder tree to other fo

Post by thoste »

@tanstaafl:

Well, all you explained is about an issue which is not relevant for my problem.

Starting point is that ALL my message folders and messages ARE (successfully) displayed.

Now I try to move (by drag & drop in left TreeView) a certain message folder to a nested other sub sub sub folder.

Thunderbird rejects SILENTLY (!) to move at least one folder or message.

After that attempt all message folders and messages are still visible. So it has nothing to do with something not displayed
as in BugID 249807.

I accept that a move is not possible due to an overlong target path.

What is not acceptable is that this move is SILENTLY aborted. I expected a popup warning similar to "target path too long"

....and that it works anyway when using an intermediate second move to second account and back.
It cost me a couple of hours to find out what the reason is for not-moving.

I think I have to open an official Bug
User avatar
tanstaafl
Moderator
Posts: 49647
Joined: July 30th, 2003, 5:06 pm

Re: Bug: Cannot move a "maildir" msg folder tree to other fo

Post by tanstaafl »

I suggest you re-read my last post.
Post Reply