new thunderbird installation (Linux)

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drufus2002
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Joined: January 17th, 2007, 5:07 pm

new thunderbird installation (Linux)

Post by drufus2002 »

I am running with ubuntu 20.04.4 and thunderbird 99.

In the past, when I wanted to install a new copy of thunderbird I was able to simply goto the default-release file being used, copy it to a memory stick, take it to the new system and copy it into the .thunderbird folder and change the installs to the new file. This got me all my saved mail, info, passwords, etc. Then startup thunderbird and it was all there. I just tried that and found all that did is completely screw up the program. First it didn't want to copy all the files, I had to skip several (about 9 or 10 out of 90 something).

So, what do I do now? I started reading about this and there were a lot of folks messing with this but .....

Thoughts?
Last edited by DanRaisch on May 5th, 2022, 4:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: linux
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tanstaafl
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Re: new thunderbird installation

Post by tanstaafl »

Version 99 is a old beta. The current beta is 101.0b1. The current released version is 91.9.0.

Its not clear what you meant by "change the installs to the new file" because I thought you were using Portable Thunderbird but it sounds like you're both moving a profile and changing the version used. Please elaborate.

Version 68 added a annoying "dedicated profile per installation" feature where it stores a hash code of the location of the programs installation directory in a Lock statement for the profile in profiles.ini. If it doesn't match it complains you're using the wrong version of Thunderbird. If you automatically update Thunderbird or install a new version in the same location its happy as the hash code still matches.

If you're using Portable Thunderbird I assume you're using a different launcher that ignores profiles.ini and expects to find the profile in Data\profile directory
drufus2002
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Re: new thunderbird installation (Linux)

Post by drufus2002 »

thank you for the reply!

running with ubuntu 20.04.4

I screwed up. I am actually running with 91.8.1 (on both machines) What I tried to do is to just copy the good default-release to another system and change the file name in the installs.ini file. That has always worked in the past. Not this time. That being said now I need to know what I can copy from the working system to this new install on this system.
Running with Ubuntu 22.04.3 (Linux)
drufus2002
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Joined: January 17th, 2007, 5:07 pm

Re: new thunderbird installation (Linux)

Post by drufus2002 »

I tried using https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/mo ... w-computer to move my profie I copied my file from another computer onto a memory stick and put that stick into my machine. I then went to my file on the stick and pressed copy. then I followed this: "Click the menu button Fx57Menu, then click Help and select Troubleshooting Information."
#
Up popped:
Profile: default-release-1 (default Profile yes)
/home/greg/.thunderbird/8ctlz18y.default-release-1
/home/greg/.cache/thunderbird/8ctlz18y.default-release-1

Profile: default (not the default profile)
/home/greg/.thunderbird/ahdimi7a.default
/home/greg/.cache/thunderbird/ahdimi7a.default

Profile: default-release (not the default profile)
/home/greg/.cache/thunderbird/hgjkbl9g.default-release
/home/greg/.thunderbird/ahdimi7a.default
#

the above are in reverse order (too lazy to fix that)

Anyway, when I saw this I just stopped. I think I got a little problem. This comes from my changing to the hgjkbl9g.default-release. I suspect I should probably delete this and then install a new thunderbird but thought I had better ask.
Running with Ubuntu 22.04.3 (Linux)
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tanstaafl
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Re: new thunderbird installation (Linux)

Post by tanstaafl »

Click on the about:profiles link in help -> more troubleshooting information. That will let you select the default profile by clicking on the "set as default profile" button underneath the desired profile.
drufus2002
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Joined: January 17th, 2007, 5:07 pm

Re: new thunderbird installation (Linux)

Post by drufus2002 »

now using thunderbird 91.8.1

I have now deleted and installed a new thunderbird. I am trying to follow the directions at https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/mo ... w-computer. On my memory stick I now have another .thunderbird folder with 6 items in it:
crash reports
hgjkbl9g.default-release
nkkvlzbz.defaujlt
pending pings
installs.ini
profiles.ini

hgjkbl9g.default-release now has 24 items. On the source machine that folder has 104 items in it (thought that might be interesting0
I have over 100 addresses alone on the other thunderbird and also holds hundreds of messages (which I can do without but woulld prefer not to)
Anyway, I then shut down the source machine and put the memory stick into this machine and followed the directions. I closed thunderbird and pasted the new .thunderbird (from the source machine) into the new .thunderbird program.
there were confusions. One was the direction to right click on the new .thunderbird and paste inside the folder. I wasn't sure what that meant but I clicked on the new .thunderbird and pasted into that. Then I re-started thunderbird and there was absolutely no change in that. I then went back and checked what happened. What happened was that the old/source .thunderbird was just laying inside the top of the new .thunderbird and completely ignored by thunderbird.

Basically I have wasted close to 2 hours with nothing to show for it. What have I done wrong? I would really like to fix this thing!
Running with Ubuntu 22.04.3 (Linux)
drufus2002
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Re: new thunderbird installation (Linux)

Post by drufus2002 »

I messed a bit to see what would happen.
Its my understanding that first I goto the machine that has a good thunderbird, goto .thunderbird folder, and copy it (put the copy at the top of the clipboard). Now goto the memory stick and paste that copy to the memory stick (a new .thunderbird folder when its done) Then goto .thunderbird folder on other computer, and paste the transferred .thunderbird folder the the existing new .thunderbird folder.

When I did the last paste there were a lot of problems which I got a pile of options for stuff that was transferring. Basically merge or skip or perform a replacement. there were a lot of these.

When it was done I ran thunderbird and it still wanted to go through the entire setup yet again.

I think I am missing something?
Running with Ubuntu 22.04.3 (Linux)
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tanstaafl
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Re: new thunderbird installation (Linux)

Post by tanstaafl »

"Basically I have wasted close to 2 hours with nothing to show for it. What have I done wrong? I would really like to fix this thing!"

What you did wrong was you ignored the suggestions in my last post . You appeared to be okay, except you just needed to tell it to use the moved profile. I tried to tell you how to do that in my prior post.

Different approach. Delete profiles.ini and the profiles on the PC. Run Thunderbird. It will bring up the new account wizard and create a new profile and profiles.ini. Abort the new account wizard (don't enter any data). Press the Open Folder button in help -> more troubleshooting information that is next to "Profile folder". That will open your Linux equivalent of windows explorer at the current profile.

Exit Thunderbird. Copy the contents of the profile from the memory stick over the contents of the current profile. DO NOT copy the actual profile directory. i.e. if your old profile was in a xyz child directory on the memory stick there should not be a xyz child directory in the profile on the computer.

Start Thunderbird again. It should automatically use the copied profile. This approach relies upon Thunderbird automatically creating a new profile and a new profiles.ini when it can't find them. You don't need to fill in the information the new account wizard requests as it has already created a profile (with generic information) and you're going to over write all of its files.
drufus2002
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Joined: January 17th, 2007, 5:07 pm

Re: new thunderbird installation (Linux)

Post by drufus2002 »

Thank you for the reply.

I did do the "clicking on the "set as default profile" button"

I currently have two default-release files and two plain default files. I am assuming you want me to erase all 4 of these files with thunderbird shut down.
the file from the other machine is called ".thunderbird" and it holds the following folders:
Crash reports
hgikbl9g.default-release (23 items)
nkkvizbz.default
pending pings
installs.ini
profiles.ini

Oh, you wondered what I did with installs.ini. I did that when I was simply moving the main profile from the other machine and then replacing the old installs with the one from the other machine (this has been working for me for a very long time but no more). Installs.ini holds the name of the main profile so I changed it to hgikbl9g.default-release name (I also renamed the old main profile)

I want to make sure about what you want me to do. first, you tell me that I have the old profile on the memory stick. what I have on the memory stick is a folder called ".Thunderbird" mentioned above along with the files inside that folder. What, exactly do you want me to transfer to the newly created .thunderbird? Oh, I also can get a copy of the main machine (hgjkbl9g.default-release which holds 102 items) I actually have a copy of the real profile from the other machine which is hgjkbl9g.default-release with 102 items. I have no idea what an 'xyz' child directory is.

Oh one last. When I said I had 2 default releases and 2 plain defaults. I got that information from thunderbird trouble shoot. Under the current .thunderbird however there is another, hgjkbl9g.default-release, but with only 55 items. There is also the problem with the current thunderbird as, I suspect, I need to remove and re-install before I do what you want. I am trying!

Oh, whilst working on this it seems that the powerlines, going into my house, caught themselves on fire. So I had to deal with about 20 firemen, 5 guys from city power, wife, daughter, son, renter, dog, etc. Just thought I would throw that in.
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tanstaafl
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Re: new thunderbird installation (Linux)

Post by tanstaafl »

Sorry to hear about the fire. Hope there was little damage to your house.

I'm confused due to your providing too much information. Is Thunderbird now working with the desired profile and you're just trying to figure out how to safely get rid of the extra, unwanted profiles? If so, use the about:profiles link in help -> more troubleshooting information to delete the unwanted profiles. That will update profiles.ini appropriately as a side effect.
drufus2002
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Re: new thunderbird installation (Linux)

Post by drufus2002 »

Nope What I have, right now, is a thunderbird that doesn't work from my last attempt at getting it to. This is why I think my best course is to remove and re-install. My confusion is what, exactly you want me to use the old profile (102 items) or the new .thunderbird created in previous attempt. My old system was to simply move the functional profile to the new system .thunderbird and then update the installs.ini with the name of the functional profile from the other machine.

Now, I think, you want me to install a new thunderbird, go to thunderbird, goto the trouble shooting place and replace the profile with the one from the memory stick (the real one not the one created with previous). Then get out of thunderbird and move the profile from the memory stick into the new .thunderbird. In theory thats it?

Oh, the fire. What caught on fire were the power lines going into the house. It was very strange, they showed me where it caught fire after they shut off the power and cut out all the hot spots and replaced everything. So, no fire on the house itself. We only knew that there was fire and they sent three fire trucks and a pile of people and they called the city who fixed the problem. then I was told to get an electrician and have him test all my boxes. Then my daughter brought out her camera and took pictures of everybody and the dog got stepped on. This fixed an ongong problem we could never figure out - losing power and then having it fix itself. It was actually still sending electricity into the house when it was on fire! Anyway, everything worked out and made for an interesting afternoon. Oh, one last. The city light folks hit the post that supplies the power and all the lines were really moving. My son said that somebody hit the pole and went to look and found the city light guys laughing and admitting they made a slight mis-calculation. Pointed out it was a strong pole and went away. This all, I think, comes under the hading of "shit happens" (and get over it) One last - the power lines, into the house, were at least 50 years old! (and I'm a bit older than that <G>)
Running with Ubuntu 22.04.3 (Linux)
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tanstaafl
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Re: new thunderbird installation (Linux)

Post by tanstaafl »

"Now, I think, you want me to install a new thunderbird, go to thunderbird, goto the trouble shooting place and replace the profile with the one from the memory stick (the real one not the one created with previous). Then get out of thunderbird and move the profile from the memory stick into the new .thunderbird. In theory thats it?"

That description has you replace the profile twice.

1. Delete profiles.ini and installs.ini and any stored profiles on the destination PC (for Thunderbird, not Firefox).
2. Run Thunderbird. Abort/exit the new account wizard.
3. Find where it created a new profile.
4. Exit Thunderbird.
5. Copy the contents of the profile from the memory stick over the contents of the current profile. Be careful not to copy the actual directory, you just want its contents.
6. Run Thunderbird. It should use the profile you got from the memory stick.

I've never paid any attention to installs.ini in the past, just profiles.ini. I found

"In other words, when FF starts, it looks for the name/number of its current default installation in the “installs.ini” file then looks for the default profile for that installation in the profiles.ini file. So, I firmly believe that I’ll need BOTH .ini files to successfully launch FF."

However, if I delete installs.ini on my system Thunderbird seems to work fine, I have no problem switching to any of the profiles listed in profiles.ini and it doesn't create a replacement installs.ini file. So I suspect installs.ini is a obsolete file.
drufus2002
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Re: new thunderbird installation (Linux)

Post by drufus2002 »

Thanks for the response!

OK, I will make a run at this one. I didn't delete and re-install Thunderbird. Figured, after I delete all the files, it won't make any difference. Then I tried to copy the stuff inside of the default-release to the newly created profile. Nautilus wouldn't let me copy the contents. The memory stick was owned by root and I had to put a new partition on it with gparted. I am now copying the contents of the default-release file to the memory stick (It holds a lot of stuff!) After I get that done I will try and insert all that stuff into the new profile. I think I will just keep this open and send anything else that happens before I send it. While transferring the files (473) it had a problem with "lock" so I skipped that one (that happens whenever I transfer that file).

Now, when I goto the transferred items I get when I try and open the memory-stick:
"Error when one getting information for file (address) /-minidumps, and News input/-output error" Now I have to figure out how to delete that and try again. Deleted minidumps (there was nothing in it) . When I first try to copy the profile to the memory stick there is a problem with "lock" so I skip that one. Then when I copy the process from the memory stick I get a lot of input/output errors, Here are most of them:
hgjkbl9g.default-release/ImapMail/imap.gmail-3.com.sbd
hgjkbl9g.default-release/ImapMail/imap.gmail-3.com/[Gmail].sbd/Trash.sbd
hgjkbl9g.default-release/ImapMail/imap.gmail-3.com/[Gmail].sbd/Trash.sbd
hgjkbl9g.default-release/ImapMail/imap.mail.yahoo-1.com
hgjkbl9g.default-release/ImapMail/imap.mail.yahoo-1.com
hgjkbl9g.default-release/Mail”: Input/output error
hgjkbl9g.default-release/calendar-data”: Input/output error
hgjkbl9g.default-release/crashes”: Input/output error
hgjkbl9g.default-release/datareporting
hgjkbl9g.default-release/extensions
hgjkbl9g.default-release/saved-telemetry-pings
hgjkbl9g.default-release/saved-telemetry-pings
/hgjkbl9g.default-release/storage

then I run thunderbird and I get the setup account. Exit that and I also have no email, address book, etc.
I have now done this a couple of times with the same results. I start out with a profile that has 94 items in it. When I skip the first one (lock) the file is reduced by 10 items. by the time the entire transfer is done, and all the rest of the input/output errors occur the profile adds something like 6 out of 84 items and all the rest is skipped.

I have no idea what the problem is but I am trying but about ready to give up and move on but will have to abandon thunderbird which I have been using for, literally, years.
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tanstaafl
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Re: new thunderbird installation (Linux)

Post by tanstaafl »

A) Try using a terminal window instead of nautilus if you're comfortable using pwd, cd, cp -r etc.

B) If all of your email is in IMAP accounts you could just export your personal address book as a .csv file on the first PC, create a new profile on the second PC where you add the IMAP accounts using the new account wizard, and then use tools -> import to import the .csv file for the address book. Then install whatever add-ons you want etc. If you have a calendar export it on the other machine and then import it on the second machine after the profile is created.

That avoids having to copy the profile. You could send yourself a message with the address book .csv file as an attachment if you can't copy that file.
drufus2002
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Re: new thunderbird installation (Linux)

Post by drufus2002 »

Yep, good thought, I have exported my address book and think I will try to delete and re-install thunderbird and then import the address and setup my accounts. I have spent waaay too much time messing with this. I wonder why they changed this program which, for me, basically stopped being able to move installs from one computer to another. I think I read where they are working on being able to sync thunderbird. That would solve a LOT of the problems. Firefox sync has helped a lot and it would be even better if they also included gnome extensions. Other than that its a dandy.

Thanks for all the help - I just failed. Been messing with this stuff for over 45 years and just getting too old to do it all anymore.
Running with Ubuntu 22.04.3 (Linux)
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