I run a dual boot WindowsXP / Linux system. I've been using firebird/thunderbird for ages on the windows system, now i want to run both on the linux side as well. The problem is, i want my mail to be in sync no matter which OS i login to on this machine.
I was wondering would it be possible to get thunderbird under linux to use the files on the windows partition and if so where are these files i need to reference? (docs and settings\app data\something or other?)
What would be the best way to reference these files, symlink to them from where thunderbird expects to keep all its files or some setting in the user.js or similar?
In this way it wont matter what system i check my mail from it will all end up in the one store, and i will be able to see all my mail from both platforms.
Off topic but any tips on getting firebird to share its bookmarks/settings etc. much appreciated!
Multiple Instances, same Mailbox storage files?!
-
onemanstudfarm
- Posts: 1
- Joined: February 6th, 2004, 6:56 am
- Location: Glasgow, Scotland
- Contact:
-
mozzmike
- Posts: 165
- Joined: December 7th, 2002, 1:54 pm
- Location: Sao Paulo, Brazil
- Contact:
If you're using Windows XP with NTFS, you'll have a problem since Linux can't write to NTFS partitions, only read (well, it can write if the new file is the exact same length, which isn't very useful). The way I did was to create a small (~100 MB) FAT32 partition, and put all my Thunderbird/Firebird stuff there.
Symlinking unfortunately doesnt work since only Linux understands it; what you'll have to do is migrate your profile over to the new FAT32 partition (start Thunderbird with the -p switch, create a new profile, and ask thunderbird to store it in the FAT32 partition) . . now copy over your emails and settings from the old profile (see http://www.texturizer.net/thunderbird to find where your profile is so you can copy over the files). Alright, now you should have a fully functioning Tbird profile on the Fat32 partition. Next, open up thunderbird under linux, also with the -p switch, and create a new profile, with the same location as the one you created under windows (though of course it will look like /mnt/hdaX/thunderbird instead of the windows way of doing things). now start up thunderbird and all should work. haven't tried this in a few months though.
Symlinking unfortunately doesnt work since only Linux understands it; what you'll have to do is migrate your profile over to the new FAT32 partition (start Thunderbird with the -p switch, create a new profile, and ask thunderbird to store it in the FAT32 partition) . . now copy over your emails and settings from the old profile (see http://www.texturizer.net/thunderbird to find where your profile is so you can copy over the files). Alright, now you should have a fully functioning Tbird profile on the Fat32 partition. Next, open up thunderbird under linux, also with the -p switch, and create a new profile, with the same location as the one you created under windows (though of course it will look like /mnt/hdaX/thunderbird instead of the windows way of doing things). now start up thunderbird and all should work. haven't tried this in a few months though.
-
tanstaafl
- Moderator
- Posts: 49647
- Joined: July 30th, 2003, 5:06 pm
>Symlinking unfortunately doesnt work since only Linux understands it
The version of NTFS used in win2k and XP supports 'reparse points' which allow you to dynamicly extend and enhance the file system. This includes symlinks. One variant of symlinks is a junction point, which is the name most people use to refer to this. See
http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/sourc ... l#junction http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=205524
http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/file/ntf ... rse-c.html
I'm not suggesting anyone use them, its FYI.
The version of NTFS used in win2k and XP supports 'reparse points' which allow you to dynamicly extend and enhance the file system. This includes symlinks. One variant of symlinks is a junction point, which is the name most people use to refer to this. See
http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/sourc ... l#junction http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=205524
http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/file/ntf ... rse-c.html
I'm not suggesting anyone use them, its FYI.
-
spud101
- Guest
I have this running with Thunderbird 0.4
What I did.
- Installed Thunderbird under Linux, mailboxes located on a ext3 partition
- Installed a windows tool (forgot the name, sorry), that enables you to mount linux partitions as native windows drives
- Installed Thunderbird under Windows XP (NTFS)
- Pointed Win Thunderbird to the mailboxes on ext3 partition
Issues:
- Windows version of Thunderbird does not have functinality to easily setup/import mailboxes into a directory you want to specify, it always generates a "random" folder name, So with some filedir hacking I eventually managed to get it to work (don't remember actual actions I took). The linux version gives a lot of more freedom in specifying the mailbox locations.
- The Linux mount drive tool from windows does screw up the file and dir ownerships under Linux. So you might end up running some chmod commands under Linux from time to time.
What I did.
- Installed Thunderbird under Linux, mailboxes located on a ext3 partition
- Installed a windows tool (forgot the name, sorry), that enables you to mount linux partitions as native windows drives
- Installed Thunderbird under Windows XP (NTFS)
- Pointed Win Thunderbird to the mailboxes on ext3 partition
Issues:
- Windows version of Thunderbird does not have functinality to easily setup/import mailboxes into a directory you want to specify, it always generates a "random" folder name, So with some filedir hacking I eventually managed to get it to work (don't remember actual actions I took). The linux version gives a lot of more freedom in specifying the mailbox locations.
- The Linux mount drive tool from windows does screw up the file and dir ownerships under Linux. So you might end up running some chmod commands under Linux from time to time.
-
PeterR
- Guest
Hmm, that tool to access ext3 from Windows sounds interesting. I'll have to see if I can find it. Compacting mailboxes on ext3 is so much faster than FAT. Plus, I trust ext2/ext3 more than flakey FAT32.
I've been thinking about sharing the mailboxes between Linux and Windows too but haven't gotten around to it yet. The thing I'm concerned about is compatibility of the profile data. Will there be any conflict between the settings of the Linux version of Thunderbird and the Windows one? Paths are not represented the same way.
To be safe, I would only share the subdirectories under Mail (i.e. the mailboxes) rather than point both profiles to the same location.
I've been thinking about sharing the mailboxes between Linux and Windows too but haven't gotten around to it yet. The thing I'm concerned about is compatibility of the profile data. Will there be any conflict between the settings of the Linux version of Thunderbird and the Windows one? Paths are not represented the same way.
To be safe, I would only share the subdirectories under Mail (i.e. the mailboxes) rather than point both profiles to the same location.
-
PeterR
- Guest
Perhaps the driver you're referring to is called EXT2IFS?
http://uranus.it.swin.edu.au/~jn/linux/ext2ifs.htm
http://uranus.it.swin.edu.au/~jn/linux/ext2ifs.htm
-
Guest
- Guest
I did a search and found the tool I use: http://www.mount-everything.com. This one isn't free. So if the above mentioned free tools also do the trick, you could of course use one of them 
-
dreamthi3f
- Guest
I just have both instances of thunderbird pointing to a folder on a 3rd fat32 partition, seemed easiest. The issue I have now is that extensions screw up because both windows and linux instances try to load the same extensions, and they're not compatible... I was thinking I could mount -bind another folder over the windows extensions under linux, but then i'd need root privs... so possibly include that in the startup scripts and have it chmod it to 777 or something. I haven't tried the latter tho