Thunderbird munges new email that arrives while downloading old emails

[Robert Schroll]

I use IMAP to access my Gmail account, which has a fair number of emails in it. When I set up Thunderbird on a new computer, it takes a while to download all of those emails (presumably for its full-text search). If a new email arrives during that time, there's a 50% chance it will get munged up with an old email. That is, the text that Thunderbird thinks is the email contains fragments of two emails. This text may not start with an email header, so the display is typically rather messed up.

There is apparently no way to force Thunderbird to re-download the email, short of archiving it, letting Thunderbird notice that it's gone, and then adding it back to the inbox. Of course, now you have to download it again, and there's that chance that it'll get screwed up again. (This also destroys the order of emails in the inbox, if you like to use sort by order instead of by (alleged) time.)

Note that this seems to only be an issue with the full text. I think the headers are downloaded separately, so the email shows up fine in the list of emails. It's just the display that's broken.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: thunderbird 13.0.1+build1-0ubuntu0.12.04.1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-25.40-generic 3.2.18
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-25-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: fglrx
AddonCompatCheckDisabled: False
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.24.
ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu8
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: rschroll 2180 F.... pulseaudio
BuildID: 20120615181619
CRDA: Error: command ['iw', 'reg', 'get'] failed with exit code 1: nl80211 not found.
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'PCH'/'HDA Intel PCH at 0xfbf20000 irq 72'
   Mixer name : 'Realtek ALC898'
   Components : 'HDA:10ec0899,1458a132,00100003'
   Controls : 46
   Simple ctrls : 22
Channel: release
Date: Thu Jun 28 10:51:37 2012
ForcedLayersAccel: False
IfupdownConfig:
 auto lo
 iface lo inet loopback
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Release amd64 (20120425)
IpRoute:
 default via 158.170.160.1 dev eth0 proto static
 158.170.160.0/22 dev eth0 proto kernel scope link src 158.170.162.172 metric 1
IwConfig:
 lo no wireless extensions.

 eth0 no wireless extensions.
PrefSources:
 /etc/thunderbird/syspref.js
 prefs.js
 user.js
Prefs:
 places.database.lastMaintenance: 1340753850 (prefs.js)
 extensions.lastAppVersion: "13.0.1" (prefs.js)
 network.cookie.prefsMigrated: true (prefs.js)
 places.history.expiration.transient_current_max_pages: 104858 (prefs.js)
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
Profiles: Profile0 (Default) - LastVersion=13.0.1/20120615181619 (In use)
RelatedPackageVersions:
 gnome-shell 3.4.1-0ubuntu2
 icedtea-6-plugin 1.2-2ubuntu1
 rhythmbox-mozilla 2.96-0ubuntu4
 totem-mozilla 3.0.1-0ubuntu21
RfKill:

RunningIncompatibleAddons: False
SourcePackage: thunderbird
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 12/26/2011
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: F7
dmi.board.asset.tag: To be filled by O.E.M.
dmi.board.name: X79-UD3
dmi.board.vendor: Gigabyte Tecohnology Co., Ltd.
dmi.board.version: x.x
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: Gigabyte Tecohnology Co., Ltd.
dmi.chassis.version: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvrF7:bd12/26/2011:svnGigabyteTecohnologyCo.,Ltd.:pnX79-UD3:pvrTobefilledbyO.E.M.:rvnGigabyteTecohnologyCo.,Ltd.:rnX79-UD3:rvrx.x:cvnGigabyteTecohnologyCo.,Ltd.:ct3:cvrToBeFilledByO.E.M.:
dmi.product.name: X79-UD3
dmi.product.version: To be filled by O.E.M.
dmi.sys.vendor: Gigabyte Tecohnology Co., Ltd.

[Robert Schroll (rschroll)]

Here's an example of the problem. The first part is the body of a new email; the second is part of the headers of an old one. I've XXXed out addresses (both real and e-), but these were undamaged in the original.

[gf (gf-interlinks-deactivatedaccount)]

Hello Robert,
Thank you for submitting this bug and reporting a problem with Thunderbird.

You made this bug report in 2012 and there have been several versions of Ubuntu and Thunderbird since then.

Could you confirm that this is no longer a problem and that we can close the ticket?
Or, if it is still a problem, could you run the following (only once):
apport-collect BUGNUMBER

and upload the updated logs and and any other logs that are relevant for this particular issue.

Thank you again for helping make Ubuntu and Thunderbird better.

G

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for thunderbird (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]