thunderbird does not load profile correctly

**fperal** · 03-Dec-2017, 17:07

After a update of some 160 packages today (I don't know if thunderbird was one of them) when I have opened thunderbird it seems it has a blank profile.
I have looked if my profile was there and it is (.thunderbird folder is 22GB).
and lauching thunderbird with thunderbird -profilemanager recognices the profile but it is as if it where empty.
I have tried t downgrade thunerbird and change the repo from update to mozilla, but same result.

when launching from console I have this warning:

Code:

fernando@andromeda:~> thunderbird -profilemanager
1512345685885   addons.xpi      WARN    Add-on emailcrawler@torge.kummerow is not compatible with application version.
[calBackendLoader] Using Thunderbird's builtin libical backend
fernando@andromeda:~>

Is it possible this warning is causing the trouble?

regards

**fperal** · 04-Dec-2017, 00:32

This is not the problem. I removed the extensions folder in the profile folder and thunderbir is launched from konsole without errors neither warnings, but with no configuration altough is using my profile, but it seems it can't read the information in it.

**fperal** · 04-Dec-2017, 00:42

Creating a new profile and copying all the files in the old profile to the new one does not work, so I should find what is going on bad

**I_A** · 04-Dec-2017, 00:44

did you maybe install tunderbird beta afaik it's based on quantum code and may not support old style xpcom extensions
another issue might be the 22GiB of email's wow I mean wow for a single user to get so much mail
removing the extensions folder should work but take care what you delete as you might remove your emails
I'd suggest you go thru them and clean house and if you are certain that everything is fine do some compacting because TB does not delete email messages it just removes their headers so the data is still there taking up space
but instead of removing the extensions folder (I'd say put it back) start Thunderbird in safe mode and disable the offending extension (also see if the accounts are fine)
to start TB in safe mode just hold the Shift key while you pres the launcher or start it from a terminal by running

Code:

thunderbird -safe-mode

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb...de-thunderbird

**fperal** · 04-Dec-2017, 03:01

Originally Posted by I_A

did you maybe install tunderbird beta afaik it's based on quantum code and may not support old style xpcom extensions

I'm using regular thunderbird.

Code:

fernando@andromeda:~> thunderbird --version
 Thunderbird 52.5.0
fernando@andromeda:~>

another issue might be the 22GiB of email's wow I mean wow for a single user to get so much mail

Well, I have all the mail archived since I begun to use email (1997) so yes, it is a bit of space but I have never had problems with it. 22GB is not such lot of space in a TB HD.

removing the extensions folder should work but take care what you delete as you might remove your emails

It didn't. I change the name to the extensions folder and TB start with no warning but still with a "void" profile

I'd suggest you go thru them and clean house and if you are certain that everything is fine do some compacting because TB does not delete email messages it just removes their headers so the data is still there taking up space
but instead of removing the extensions folder (I'd say put it back) start Thunderbird in safe mode and disable the offending extension (also see if the accounts are fine)
to start TB in safe mode just hold the Shift key while you pres the launcher or start it from a terminal by running

Code:

thunderbird -safe-mode

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb...de-thunderbird

It didn't work either.

regards

**I_A** · 04-Dec-2017, 03:13

Originally Posted by fperal

I'm using regular thunderbird.

Code:

fernando@andromeda:~> thunderbird --version
 Thunderbird 52.5.0
fernando@andromeda:~>

Well, I have all the mail archived since I begun to use email (1997) so yes, it is a bit of space but I have never had problems with it. 22GB is not such lot of space in a TB HD.

It didn't. I change the name to the extensions folder and TB start with no warning but still with a "void" profile

It didn't work either.

regards

I'd suggest you try a fresh user account without a tb profile

**fperal** · 04-Dec-2017, 04:15

Fortunately I make regular backups of my home directory, so I have a backup of the profile dated two days ago.
I created a new TB profile, I deleted all the files in the new profile folder, leaving the folder absolutely empty. I recovered the profile from my backup and copied all the files of the backed up profile in the empty folder.
I booted with the new profile and TB boot OK, and everything works fine.

So it is not a problem of TB but something with the profile.
I'm going to try some things with the faulty profile to see if I can find what is the problem and document it here.

regards