Thunderbird Snap migration loses user profile

[Michael Neuffer]

TL;DR: Snap implementation is FUBAR, how do I get back to a non-SNAP version?

I consider this bug to be Grave since it not only affects thunderbid, but also a huge number of depending other services, bug-reporting amongst it.

Thunderbird Snap migration loses user profile

With the migration from normal deb to snap all and any settings, addons, accounts, etc got lost.
This is a big no-no.

Architecture: amd64
Version: 1:115.8.1+build1+snap2

No LSB modules are available.
Description: Ubuntu Noble Numbat (development branch)
Release: 24.04

root@kyle:/opt/DATA/media/incoming/tmp# apt-cache policy thunderbird
thunderbird:
  Installed: 1:115.8.1+build1+snap2
  Candidate: 1:115.8.1+build1+snap2
  Version table:
 *** 1:115.8.1+build1+snap2 500
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     1:115.8.1+build1-0ubuntu0.23.10.1 500
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu mantic-updates/main amd64 Packages
        500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu mantic-security/main amd64 Packages
     1:115.3.1+build1-0ubuntu1 500
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu mantic/main amd64 Packages

neuffer@kyle:~$ ls -la ~/.thunderbird/
total 28
drwx------ 5 neuffer neuffer 4096 Okt 7 2019 .
drwxr-x--- 26 neuffer neuffer 4096 Mär 10 11:09 ..
drwx------ 17 neuffer neuffer 4096 Mär 5 17:50 8ru3o2xn.default
drwx------ 4 neuffer neuffer 4096 Mär 5 15:58 'Crash Reports'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 neuffer neuffer 45 Okt 7 2019 installs.ini
drwx------ 2 neuffer neuffer 4096 Apr 2 2019 'Pending Pings'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 neuffer neuffer 166 Okt 7 2019 profiles.ini
neuffer@kyle:~$

neuffer@kyle:~$ thunderbird --ProfileManager
_IceTransSocketINETConnect() no usable address for kyle:44955
[GFX1-]: glxtest: libpci missing
ATTENTION: default value of option mesa_glthread overridden by environment.
ATTENTION: default value of option mesa_glthread overridden by environment.
ATTENTION: default value of option mesa_glthread overridden by environment.
[Parent 27516, Main Thread] WARNING: Failed to mkdir /home/neuffer/snap/thunderbird/450/.config/ibus/bus: Not a directory: 'glib warning', file /build/thunderbird/parts/thunderbird/build/toolkit/xre/nsSigHandlers.cpp:167

(thunderbird:27516): IBUS-WARNING **: 11:14:30.844: Failed to mkdir /home/neuffer/snap/thunderbird/450/.config/ibus/bus: Not a directory
JavaScript error: resource://gre/modules/XULStore.sys.mjs, line 60: Error: Can't find profile directory.
JavaScript error: resource://gre/modules/XULStore.sys.mjs, line 60: Error: Can't find profile directory.
JavaScript error: resource://gre/modules/XULStore.sys.mjs, line 60: Error: Can't find profile directory.
JavaScript error: resource://gre/modules/XULStore.sys.mjs, line 60: Error: Can't find profile directory.
console.error: (new UnknownError("IndexedDB: thunderbird/url-classifier-skip-urls getLastModified() IndexedDB: The operation failed for reasons unrelated to the database itself and not covered by any other error code.", "resource://services-settings/IDBHelpers.jsm", 18))
_IceTransSocketINETConnect() no usable address for kyle:44955
[ImapModuleLoader] Using nsImapService.cpp
[Parent 27516, Main Thread] WARNING: Failed to mkdir /home/neuffer/snap/thunderbird/450/.config/ibus/bus: Not a directory: 'glib warning', file /build/thunderbird/parts/thunderbird/build/toolkit/xre/nsSigHandlers.cpp:167

(thunderbird:27516): IBUS-WARNING **: 11:15:38.811: Failed to mkdir /home/neuffer/snap/thunderbird/450/.config/ibus/bus: Not a directory
[GFX1-]: glxtest: libpci missing
ATTENTION: default value of option mesa_glthread overridden by environment.
ATTENTION: default value of option mesa_glthread overridden by environment.
ATTENTION: default value of option mesa_glthread overridden by environment.
console.debug: "Found 0 public keys and 0 secret keys (0 protected, 0 unprotected)"
console.error: ({})
JavaScript error: chrome://messenger/content/aboutMessage.js, line 119: NS_ERROR_ILLEGAL_VALUE: Component returned failure code: 0x80070057 (NS_ERROR_ILLEGAL_VALUE) [nsIWebProgress.addProgressListener]
console.error: (new TypeError("NetworkError: Network request failed", "resource://services-settings/Utils.sys.mjs", 229))

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Skia (hyask)]

Here is how I worked around this:
* close thunderbird, make sure it's not running in the background
* `rsync -raxPHAX ~/.thunderbird/ ~/snap/thunderbird/common/.thunderbird/`
* edit `~/snap/thunderbird/common/.thunderbird/profiles.ini` to make sure the only profile listed here is the one with the data (the biggest folder in `~/snap/thunderbird/common/.thunderbird/`)
* run thunderbird

So far, everything seems to be in order, including contacts, calendars on multiple accounts, sieve filter and message redirect plugins.

[Michael Neuffer (neuffer)]

On 3/11/24 10:30, Skia wrote:
> Here is how I worked around this:
> * close thunderbird, make sure it's not running in the background
> * `rsync -raxPHAX ~/.thunderbird/ ~/snap/thunderbird/common/.thunderbird/`
> * edit `~/snap/thunderbird/common/.thunderbird/profiles.ini` to make sure the only profile listed here is the one with the data (the biggest folder in `~/snap/thunderbird/common/.thunderbird/`)
> * run thunderbird
>
> So far, everything seems to be in order, including contacts, calendars
> on multiple accounts, sieve filter and message redirect plugins.
>
Unfortunately this has not worked for me.

Before I had also tried moving the whole ~/.thunderbird folder to
~/snap/thunderbird/common/ (which does essentially the same thing as
your rsync)

I just get the error message that you can see in the attached screenshot.

When I move back the empty profile I get what you'd expect: An empty
profile with no settings etc.

[Patrik Lundquist (patrik-lundquist)]

I just moved ~/.thunderbird to ~/snap/thunderbird/common/ and it's working fine.

[Michael Neuffer (neuffer)]

@Patrik Lunquist Unfortunately this solution doesn't work for me.
As already shown in my previous post.

In the screenshot attached there you can see the "messenger window" that opens up when starting thunderbird after moving the .thunderbird directory.

[Pablo Angulo (pablo-angulo)]

Hello:

I started with the same proble.

By following that advice:

`ln -s /home/pang/.thunderbird /home/pang/snap/thunderbird/common/`

my profile does appear in the list when I run `thunderbird -P`, but then

 1. I get the following output
```
[GFX1-]: glxtest: libpci missing
ATTENTION: default value of option mesa_glthread overridden by environment.
ATTENTION: default value of option mesa_glthread overridden by environment.
ATTENTION: default value of option mesa_glthread overridden by environment.
JavaScript error: resource://gre/modules/XULStore.sys.mjs, line 60: Error: Can't find profile directory.
JavaScript error: resource://gre/modules/XULStore.sys.mjs, line 60: Error: Can't find profile directory.
JavaScript error: resource://gre/modules/XULStore.sys.mjs, line 60: Error: Can't find profile directory.
JavaScript error: resource://gre/modules/XULStore.sys.mjs, line 60: Error: Can't find profile directory.
console.error: (new UnknownError("IndexedDB: thunderbird/url-classifier-skip-urls getLastModified() IndexedDB: The operation failed for reasons unrelated to the database itself and not covered by any other error code.", "resource://services-settings/IDBHelpers.jsm", 18))
[GFX1-]: glxtest: libpci missing
ATTENTION: default value of option mesa_glthread overridden by environment.
ATTENTION: default value of option mesa_glthread overridden by environment.
ATTENTION: default value of option mesa_glthread overridden by environment.
JavaScript error: resource://gre/modules/XULStore.sys.mjs, line 60: Error: Can't find profile directory.
JavaScript error: resource://gre/modules/XULStore.sys.mjs, line 60: Error: Can't find profile directory.
JavaScript error: resource://gre/modules/XULStore.sys.mjs, line 60: Error: Can't find profile directory.
JavaScript error: resource://gre/modules/XULStore.sys.mjs, line 60: Error: Can't find profile directory.
JavaScript error: resource://gre/modules/XULStore.sys.mjs, line 60: Error: Can't find profile directory.
```
 2. then a popup window appear with the text
```Thunderbird is already running, but is not responding. To use Thunderbird, you must first close the existing Thunderbird process, restart your device, or use a different profile.```, and an "ok" button

 3. When I click the ok button, the window closes, and thunderbird does not raise.

Is this the same bug?