Since 91.4.1 Thunderbird ignores rar file.

[ZamPo]

Since 91.4.1 Thunerbird doesn't open attached RAR files. Beta 96 has the same issue now. (Only RAR. Zip etc. works OK).
Why? Is it deliberate decision?

[DanRaisch]

Moving to Thunderbird Support as no specific bug has yet been identified here.

[ZamPo]

The new release 91.5.0 still does not open attached RAR files.
It's critical bug to me. Forcedly stay with 91.4.0.

[tanstaafl]

I would be surprised if it was a deliberate decision, especially since its not mentioned in the release notes. A bug is more likely.

Does it fail to launch the utility you meant to use?

[morat]

I can reproduce the issue with the text-test.rar file.

Unable to open attachments not in the list of known types directly from the message window
http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1747886
http://new.reddit.com/r/Thunderbird/comments/rkzmxd

Test files
https://www.maximumcompression.com/data/files/

Thunderbird 91.5.0
Windows 10 Pro 20H2 32-bit

[ZamPo]

I would be surprised if it was a deliberate decision, especially since its not mentioned in the release notes. A bug is more likely.

Does it fail to launch the utility you meant to use?

Nothing to occur with doble-click on attached file. RAR file has assotiated application WinRAR. In all versions before 91.4.1 it worked fine.

[ZamPo]

I see, that's deliberate decision.
Today's Thunderbird 91.5.1 keeps on ignore RAR attachment.
Obviously, TB developers have resistance to RAR archives.

[tanstaafl]

No, see https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1747360#c8

Its fixed in 97.0b3 (64-bit) though the solution is awkward since the attachment is still identified as "Content-Type: application/octet-stream". So none of the choices in the "open with" context menu work. However if I ignore the choices and just tell it to open it defaulted to 7-zip which worked.

https://www.thunderbird.net/en-US/#channel

[ZamPo]

New 91.6.0 is defective too. It's so pity. TB is disappearing probably...

[tanstaafl]

Changes in a beta don't necessarily make it into the next minor update to a production build.

[ZamPo]

Version 91.6.1: the error persists.

[tanstaafl]

Thunderbird 91.6.1 still has that problem on my Windows 11Pro system. Betterbird 91.6.1-bb27 (64-bit) doesn't, though it still has the bug about remembering what the utility is used to open the .rar file, so I have to use the pop-up window to browse to the 7-zip file manager each time.

Betterbird is a soft fork (backwards compatible) of Thunderbird that adds bug fixes and a few enhancements to Thunderbird, lead by a former Thunderbird developer. The Thunderbird project accepts some of its bug fixes/changes. https://www.betterbird.eu/#featuretable

[ZamPo]

91.6.2 - problem still here
"Stability displays mastery"

[tanstaafl]

The fix in the latest daily build (99.0a1 2022-03-06) also works. I think you need to wait until 91.7.0 is released for a fix in a production build. 91.7.0 was built 5 days ago by the release engineer so I'd assume it would be released soon.

[ZamPo]

Yes! 91.7.0 doesn't ignore RAR files. But now it still is not as perfectly as 91.4.0:

though it still has the bug about remembering what the utility is used to open the .rar file, so I have to use the pop-up window to browse to the 7-zip file manager each time