Error dialog for message with svn+ssh:// link

[era]

When displaying a particular message, I get this warning dialog:

  [ ] <- // sic, no window title
  An error occurred while loading or saving
  configuration information for thunderbird. Some
  of your configuration settings may not work
  properly.

  [Details]
  [OK]

Clicking on Details reveals a text box with the following:

  Bad key or directory name: "/desktop/gnome/url-handlers/svn+ssh/command": `+' is an invalid character in key/directory names
  Bad key or directory name: "/desktop/gnome/url-handlers/svn+ssh/command": `+' is an invalid character in key/directory names

See also bug #411358 which has a similar symptom but apparently not much else in common.

The problematic message contains the following text:

   Subject: Launchpad bug

   svn+ssh://path/to/somewhere

... and nothing else.

I would consider this a pretty serious problem, given that the error message text is alarmist and misleading for what is apparently a simple user interface glitch. I wonder what else could cause this message to appear, and/or something more sinister to happen just because of the contents of a message from a stranger. I hesitantly refrain from raising the security flag at this point, though.

vnix$ lsb_release -rd
Description: Ubuntu 10.04.4 LTS
Release: 10.04

vnix$ apt-cache policy thunderbird
thunderbird:
  Installed: 14.0+build1-0ubuntu0.10.04.1
  Candidate: 14.0+build1-0ubuntu0.10.04.1
  Version table:
 *** 14.0+build1-0ubuntu0.10.04.1 0
        500 http://mirrors.nic.funet.fi/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/main Packages
        500 http://mirrors.nic.funet.fi/ubuntu/ lucid-security/main Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     3.0.4+nobinonly-0ubuntu4 0
        500 http://mirrors.nic.funet.fi/ubuntu/ lucid/main Packages

[era (era)]

On closer examination, this is indeed exactly the same problem as bug #411358.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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