Explanation of Locked in profiles.ini & installs.ini ?

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bazzaman
Posts: 7
Joined: November 30th, 2016, 3:25 am

Explanation of Locked in profiles.ini & installs.ini ?

Post by bazzaman »

I've been using Thunderbird (always with just a single profile) for many years and had no problem moving the profile location and moving between machines (all Windows OSs) and editing profiles.ini as necessary.

I've just installed 68.2.1 (x64) under Win10 on a new laptop. As I've generally done before I did the Thunderbird install, then edited the profiles.ini that had been created and put the profile in my desired location (on another partition). In doing so I notiiced a few changes to profiles.ini and also the new installs.ini.

Now the only thing I'm not clear on (and I cannot find any documentation on) is the Locked=1 that appears in profiles.ini and installs.ini. Please can some explain the purpose and usage of Locked?

Everything seems to work fine with or without Locked=1, I'd just like to fully understand the purpose of Locked.

Many thanks.
morat
Posts: 6421
Joined: February 3rd, 2009, 6:29 pm

Re: Explanation of Locked in profiles.ini & installs.ini ?

Post by morat »

Here is the file that sets the "Locked" string.

nsToolkitProfileService.cpp
http://searchfox.org/mozilla-release/so ... ervice.cpp

Read the comments.
bazzaman
Posts: 7
Joined: November 30th, 2016, 3:25 am

Re: Explanation of Locked in profiles.ini & installs.ini ?

Post by bazzaman »

Thanks for that.

What I'm getting from that is that as I only have a single profile and a single install of Thunderbird (and don't ever expect this to change), Locked makes no material difference. So I could either leave it out or include as Locked=1 (or even Locked=0 ?). Is that right (for both profiles.ini and installs.ini)?

I should also have asked about Version in profiles.ini. Although I can see this version is used in the insToolkitProfileService.cpp source code linked to, I am unable to deduce when and why this would be set. Any chance of a straightforward explanation please?
morat
Posts: 6421
Joined: February 3rd, 2009, 6:29 pm

Re: Explanation of Locked in profiles.ini & installs.ini ?

Post by morat »

There is a different init procedure for older versions.

Similar thead
http://support.mozilla.org/questions/1262122

Recovering important data from an old profile
http://support.mozilla.org/kb/recoverin ... ld-profile

Dedicated profiles per installation
http://support.mozilla.org/kb/dedicated ... stallation

Moving to a profile per install architecture
http://blog.nightly.mozilla.org/2019/01 ... hitecture/
bazzaman
Posts: 7
Joined: November 30th, 2016, 3:25 am

Re: Explanation of Locked in profiles.ini & installs.ini ?

Post by bazzaman »

Apologies for delay in reply - due to ill health!

Thanks for the further info.

This reconfirms what I said before: "as I only have a single profile and a single install of Thunderbird (and don't ever expect this to change), Locked makes no material difference". I.e. I don't need it locked to a particular install, as there is only one install.

I had a good search through the various links and (and onward links). But could not find any more information on "Version". Is there a description of this somewhere?

My profiles.ini has:

[InstallD78BF5DD33499EC2]
Default=D:\BazzaData\AppData\Thunderbird\Profiles\Bazza

[Profile0]
Name=Bazza
IsRelative=0
Path=D:\BazzaData\AppData\Thunderbird\Profiles\Bazza
Default=1

[General]
StartWithLastProfile=1
Version=2

Maybe http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profiles.ini_file could be updated and a further kb entry created for installs.ini ?
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LIMPET235
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Location: The South Coast of N.S.W. Oz.

Re: Explanation of Locked in profiles.ini & installs.ini ?

Post by LIMPET235 »

@bazzaman...
You mentioned, errr asked...
"Maybe http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profiles.ini_file could be updated and a further kb entry created for installs.ini ?"

Well sir, if you read this thread, you'll see why that just ain't possible ATM.
> http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic ... &t=3055133
Sorry.

Hopefully, things will get sorted out & these fora will continue on into the future.
[Ancient Amateur Astronomer.]
Win-10-H/64 bit/500G SSD/16 Gig Ram/450Watt PSU/350WattUPS/Firefox-115.0.2/T-bird-115.3.2./SnagIt-v10.0.1/MWP-7.12.125.

(Always choose the "Custom" Install.)
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