Portable32.dll

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lenny2
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Portable32.dll

Post by lenny2 »

BuddhaNature wrote:You can get a portable implementation of Thunderbird from here:
I have been using Thunderbird Portable (native) for a long time, there are no problems with it, but in the "official" portable version from the developer I would like to see a very simple folder structure, like in Betterbird.
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tanstaafl
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Re: Betterbird clone

Post by tanstaafl »

I'm confused. BetterBird uses the same folder structure as Thunderbird. It basically just has more bug fixes (and a few small enhancements that you don't seem to be using). Why are you using Portable Thunderbird (instead of the normal Thunderbird) if you are not a roving user?

Perhaps I misunderstand what "a very simple folder structure" refers to.
lenny2
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Re: Betterbird clone

Post by lenny2 »

Thunderbird Portable has been in use for a long time, from version to version. Here's how the paths to the profile folder differ
\Betterbird Portable\
\core\
\profile\

\Thunderbird Portable\
\core\
\Profiles\AppData\Thunderbird\Profiles\m12dfb9i.default-release\
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tanstaafl
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Re: Betterbird clone

Post by tanstaafl »

Last time I checked Portable Thunderbird only supported one profile, which it expects to find in the Data\profile child directory within the Thunderbird Portable directory. It doesn't use profiles.ini as its meant for roaming users that take a usb/flash drive from PC to PC, though its possible to install it on a hard disk.

I spent a lot of time helping somebody yesterday who said he was using Portable Thunderbird, but wasn't. He just thought of it as portable because he extracted new versions into the same directory. The initial clue was that it used profiles.ini. Then I found out where he got it from.

I've also run across people who used a so-called portable version of Thunderbird by using a -profile "full path to profile" command line argument to specify the profiles location (ignores profiles.ini), using the normal Mozilla Thunderbird.

Are you using "Mozilla Thunderbird, Portable Edition" from https://portableapps.com/apps/internet/ ... d_portable ?

https://www.trishtech.com/2018/02/how-t ... underbird/
https://portableapps.com/node/10987
lenny2
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Re: Betterbird clone

Post by lenny2 »

From portableapps do not use, maybe because the profile folder in it is located inside the folder core, not next to it, in general I can not remember.
I create portable using portable32.dll. New profile is created from about:profiles as usual, profiles folders will be placed next to each other. Works from HDD and flash drive.
Runs with the thunderbird.exe shortcut.
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tanstaafl
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Re: Betterbird clone

Post by tanstaafl »

Never heard of portable32.dll before. Where did you get it? Why are you using it with a 64 bit operating system?

I found https://sourceforge.net/projects/libportable/ but that is just for a legacy version of Firefox. It has both a portable32.dll and a portable64.dll.
lenny2
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Re: Betterbird clone

Post by lenny2 »

Yes, these are those libraries. For older versions of software tmemutil.dll was used. The bitness of the dll must match the bitness of the program, I use Thunderbird 32-bit and portable32.dll with 64-bit OS.
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tanstaafl
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Re: Betterbird clone

Post by tanstaafl »

Please explain how you create a portable version of Thunderbird using that. All I found was stuff for Firefox (Linux based) and IceWeasel (Win64 based).

One reason I ask is I'd like to update http://kb.mozillazine.org/Email_clients ... hunderbird . I'm also trying to understand what is the difference between it and Portable Thunderbird from the portableapps web site.
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smsmith
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Re: Betterbird clone

Post by smsmith »

All this portable Thunderbird stuff really should be split to its own thread.
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lenny2
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Re: Betterbird clone

Post by lenny2 »

tanstaafl wrote:Please explain how you create a portable version of Thunderbird using that. All I found was stuff for Firefox (Linux based) and IceWeasel (Win64 based).
The steps are the same as for Firefox. Unpack the Thunderbird 32-bit installer in 7-Zip, we need only the /core/ folder from the archive.
Copy the files portable.ini and portable32.dll to the /core/ folder.
Open the dependentlibs.list file in Notepad++ and insert the library name at the beginning of the file as the first line
portable32.dll
api-ms-win-crt-runtime-l1-1-0.dll
api-ms-win-crt-stdio-l1-1-0.dll
etc.
Running thunderbird.exe, a profile folder is created. The folder tree looks like this
\Thunderbird Portable\
\core\
\Profiles\AppData\Thunderbird\Profiles\m12dfb9i.default-release\
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tanstaafl
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Re: Portable32.dll

Post by tanstaafl »

Interesting. Thanks.
lenny2
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Re: Portable32.dll

Post by lenny2 »

It seems that the correct topic title would be "Make Portable with portableXX.dll"
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BuddhaNature
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Re: Betterbird clone

Post by BuddhaNature »

tanstaafl wrote:Last time I checked Portable Thunderbird only supported one profile, which it expects to find in the Data\profile child directory within the Thunderbird Portable directory.
According to PortableApps website Thunderbird Portable can be easily setup to use more than one profile. Details are here: https://portableapps.com/support/thunde ... nd_profile (They've had that notice up for years.)

I've never tried that myself so can't comment but thought to just throw that into the mix of this thread in case anyone wants to give it a try.

P.S. The same type of thing is true of PortableApps Firefox https://portableapps.com/support/firefo ... nd_profile
OS: Windows 10 Pro. x64
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tanstaafl
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Re: Portable32.dll

Post by tanstaafl »

lenny2 wrote:It seems that the correct topic title would be "Make Portable with portableXX.dll"
How portable is it? The web site just says it has "portable mode" "enhance stability" "bosskey support" features and "The dynamic link portable{arch}.dll,make firefox portable for windows.". At first glance it appears the main reason to use portable32.dll is if you want to create a standalone executable that doesn't have to be installed, and you don't want to use one from the PortableApps web site. What does it do to enhance stability?

How did you find out about portable32.dll?

The Portable Apps version of Portable Thunderbird has a different launcher to avoid installing anything on the PC (or modifying the windows registry) if you run it from a usb flash drive . Its designed to store both the executable and the profile on the usb flash drive to make "Every PC feels like yours" (roving users) though you can also use it from your hard disk.

Browsing the portable32.dll code I saw it parsing the contents of profiles.ini and modifying the windows registry, which I did not expect in a portable version of an app. However, there are multiple definitions of portable.
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