lockPref() in /etc/thunderbird/syspref.js is not working

[H.-Dirk Schmitt]

Via /etc/thunderbird/sysprefs.js is it possible to set system wide configuration settings.
lockPref() should ensure that the user can't change this setting.

The same mechanism is implemented for firefox (and working).

For thunderbird this is broken. The whole content of sysprefs.js is ignored.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: thunderbird 16.0.2+build1-0ubuntu0.12.04.1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.5.0-18.29~precise1-generic 3.5.7
Uname: Linux 3.5.0-18-generic x86_64
AddonCompatCheckDisabled: False
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.25.
ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu15
Architecture: amd64
ArecordDevices:
 **** Liste der Hardware-Geräte (CAPTURE) ****
 Karte 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], Gerät 0: STAC92xx Analog [STAC92xx Analog]
   Sub-Geräte: 2/2
   Sub-Gerät #0: subdevice #0
   Sub-Gerät #1: subdevice #1
AudioDevicesInUse:
 BEN. PID ZUGR. BEFEHL
 /dev/snd/controlC0: dschmi 7231 F.... pulseaudio
BuildID: 20121028144826
CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] Datei oder Verzeichnis nicht gefunden
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'PCH'/'HDA Intel PCH at 0xd4720000 irq 51'
   Mixer name : 'Intel CougarPoint HDMI'
   Components : 'HDA:111d7605,103c162a,00100105 HDA:80862805,80860101,00100000'
   Controls : 32
   Simple ctrls : 15
Channel: Unavailable
Date: Tue Nov 20 09:19:41 2012
Extensions: extensions.sqlite corrupt or missing
ForcedLayersAccel: False
IncompatibleExtensions: Unavailable (corrupt or non-existant compatibility.ini or extensions.sqlite)
IwConfig: Error: [Errno 2] Datei oder Verzeichnis nicht gefunden
Locales: extensions.sqlite corrupt or missing
MarkForUpload: True
PrefErrors: Unexpected character 'g' before pref name @ user.js:2
Profiles: Profile0 (Default) - LastVersion=16.0.2/20121028144826 (In use)
RfKill: Error: [Errno 2] Datei oder Verzeichnis nicht gefunden
RunningIncompatibleAddons: False
SourcePackage: thunderbird
Themes: extensions.sqlite corrupt or missing
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 10/24/2011
dmi.bios.vendor: Hewlett-Packard
dmi.bios.version: 68SOU Ver. F.20
dmi.board.name: 162A
dmi.board.vendor: Hewlett-Packard
dmi.board.version: KBC Version 05.35
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: Hewlett-Packard
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnHewlett-Packard:bvr68SOUVer.F.20:bd10/24/2011:svnHewlett-Packard:pnHPEliteBook2760p:pvrA0005F02:rvnHewlett-Packard:rn162A:rvrKBCVersion05.35:cvnHewlett-Packard:ct10:cvr:
dmi.product.name: HP EliteBook 2760p
dmi.product.version: A0005F02
dmi.sys.vendor: Hewlett-Packard
mtime.conffile..etc.thunderbird.syspref.js: 2012-10-16T21:34:22.126938

[H.-Dirk Schmitt (dirk-computer42)]

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64) AppleWebKit/535.19 (KHTML, like Gecko) Ubuntu/12.04 Chromium/18.0.1025.168 Chrome/18.0.1025.168 Safari/535.19

Steps to reproduce:

Extend /usr/lib/thunderbird/defaults/pref/syspref.js with:

lockPref("sample","test");

Actual results:

All Entries with lockPref() in my /usr/lib/thunderbird/defaults/pref/syspref.js are ignored.

[H.-Dirk Schmitt (dirk-computer42)]

In my opinion the bug has been shown up in firefox 15.
See https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=776490

[Acelists (acelists)]

Is this in Seamonkey too?

[Ludovic-mozilla (ludovic-mozilla)]

Dirk ?

[H.-Dirk Schmitt (dirk-computer42)]

Bug still in thunderbird 16.0.2 (ubuntu 12.04.1)

[H.-Dirk Schmitt (dirk-computer42)]

(In reply to :aceman from comment #2)
> Is this in Seamonkey too?

I have no seamonkey installation to test this.

[Acelists (acelists)]

Should the firefox fix from bug 776490 be ported to c-c od should it have been picked up automatically?

[Neil-httl (neil-httl)]

I would have thought it should have been picked up automatically.

[Standard8 (mbanner)]

This can't be bug 776490 because we pick that up by default - its shared code.

Dirk, have you tried reproducing this in Firefox? I think this might actually be the answer to the issue:

http://mike.kaply.com/2012/08/01/major-change-setting-default-preferences-for-firefox-14/

You need to place syspref.js into /usr/lib/thunderbird/defaults/preferences/ (not pref)

[H.-Dirk Schmitt (dirk-computer42)]

$ locate syspref.js
/etc/firefox/syspref.js
/etc/firefox/syspref.js.dpkg-new
/etc/thunderbird/syspref.js
/etc/thunderbird/syspref.js.dpkg-new
/usr/lib/firefox/defaults/preferences/syspref.js
/usr/lib/thunderbird/defaults/pref/syspref.js

O.k. - then it seems to be an ubuntu diversion that the "old" location is still used.

ll /usr/lib/thunderbird/defaults/pref/
total 8.0K
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 331 Oct 28 16:12 channel-prefs.js
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 27 Oct 28 16:15 syspref.js -> /etc/thunderbird/syspref.js
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3.9K Oct 28 15:31 vendor.js

But I ensured that modifying the /etc/thunderbird/sysprefs.js works by adding:
> pref("c42.version.syspref", "$Id: syspref.js 6971 2012-11-20 09:57:26Z root@heuler $");

Buf if I add a lockPref() statement, the whole file is ignored.
> lockPref("c42.test.bug2026","TEST");

[H.-Dirk Schmitt (dirk-computer42)]

I just retest the issue. It seems to be a thunderbird@ubuntu problem.

* I can still reproduce it in thunderbird 24 below ubuntu 13.04.
* I have also "backported" icedove from debian/jessie. Here the problem is not reproducible and the lockPref statement is working correct.

[H.-Dirk Schmitt (dirk-computer42)]

I just retest the issue. It seems to be a thunderbird@ubuntu problem.

* I can still reproduce it in thunderbird 24 below ubuntu 13.04.
* I have also "backported" icedove from debian/jessie. Here the problem is not reproducible and the lockPref statement is working correct.

The icedove backport is available via ppa:dirk-computer42/c42-backport

[Chris Coulson (chrisccoulson)]

lockPref is not valid syntax outside of mozilla.cfg in either the Mozilla version of Thunderbird or the Ubuntu one. Using it in any preference file will make the entire file invalid. It only works in Debian's Icedove due to this patch - http://patch-tracker.debian.org/patch/series/view/icedove/24.0~b3-2/fixes/Allow-.js-preference-files-to-set-locked-prefs-with-.patch

[Chris Coulson (chrisccoulson)]

lockPref is not valid syntax outside of mozilla.cfg in either the Mozilla version of Thunderbird or the Ubuntu one. Using it in any preference file will make the entire file invalid. It only works in Debian's Icedove due to this patch - http://patch-tracker.debian.org/patch/series/view/icedove/24.0~b3-2/fixes/Allow-.js-preference-files-to-set-locked-prefs-with-.patch

[H.-Dirk Schmitt (dirk-computer42)]

I would suggest to think about integrating the debian/icedove patch back to thunderbird.
The behaviour of thunderbird for lockPref is unexpectedly different from the firefox behaviour.

[Chris Coulson (chrisccoulson)]

The behaviour for Thunderbird and Firefox is the same (neither of them support using lockPref from preference files).

[Chris Coulson (chrisccoulson)]

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 440908 ***

[H.-Dirk Schmitt (dirk-computer42)]

@Chris Coulson: bug #776490 as noted in comment #1
lockPref is already possible in preference file for firefox

[Chris Coulson (chrisccoulson)]

No, it's not possible. It's possible in Ubuntu's Firefox and Debian's Iceweasel packages because of a patch which adds this support. In official Mozilla builds, lockPref only works in mozilla.cfg. See bug 440908.