Rel. 11.4: Thunderbird Icon Jumping, stops jumping; Thunderbird does not start

jc_anker · March 15, 2011, 1:04pm

Hello,

I have installed 11.4, and it seems (seemed) to work OK so far. I installed Thunderbird via the opensuse “1 click install”. the installation ran smoothly, but now a click on the Thunderbird icon does not activate any mail client; the only success is that Thunderbird icon jumps joyfully and then disappears.

Could anybody kindly suggest what I should look for?

Thanks and best regards,
J C Anker

martin_helm · March 15, 2011, 1:42pm

Not sure why you installed thunderbird via 1-click? Which repository did you use?
The fact that it shows only a bouncing icon means of course it cannot start. Open a terminal (konsole or xterm or whatever you prefer) and start thunderbird from the command line. You probably will get error messages in the terminal window which tell us more about the problem.
Post the output here so we can have a look at it.

jc_anker · March 15, 2011, 2:10pm

Hello Martin,

here we go, the output is

a) Running as user: — (i.e. Nothing)
b) Running as root:

GLib-GIO:ERROR:gdbusconnection.c:2279:initable_init: assertion failed: (connection->initialization_error == NULL)

I did the one-click-installation from

software.opensuse.org: Search Results

An (automatic) error report has been submitted to Mozilla (after running as SU).

Thanks,
Jan Christian

martin_helm · March 15, 2011, 3:22pm

Oops, you never should start that as root. This can have nasty side effects for the access rights of some configuration files.
From your search results I guess you installed the thunderbird from the mozilla repository.

Ok so starting from command line as user told nothing (it simply returned to the prompt?).
Can you check in your home folder if there are directories .thunderbird and/or .mozilla-thunderbird (if you use nautilus or dolphin activate that hidden files are shown) and if they are there delete them just in case you have some old or invalid settings . Try again to start thunderbird after deleting the hidden directories.

Is that a completely fresh 11.4 install or an update from a previous version?

DenverD · March 15, 2011, 3:11pm

On 03/15/2011 02:36 PM, jc anker wrote:
>
> b) Running as root:

do not run it as su/root…

[as a general practice, do not run anything that can go out onto the
internet as root, like a mail client, or browser, IRC,
whatever…because if it picks up a root kit it will be more easily
installed)

to fix the TBird problem, i’d suggest you open YaST, go Software
Management, search on thunderbird and right click to uninstall…and
“Accept”…

then open Software Repository and disable all repos except one
instance of each of these four: oss, non-oss, update and packman

[“1-Click” installs add repos, and maybe users don’t know they should
almost always disable them after the install is complete, OR answer to
not keep them, when asked during the install…background: read the
paragraph here http://tinyurl.com/33qc9vu which begins with “IMPORTANT”…]

then, go back to Software Management, search on thunderbird and left
click to uninstall…and “Accept”…

doing that should clean out whatever is blocking your pathway to
happiness…

if so, great…if not, post the new output if run from a user terminal…

–
DenverD
CAVEAT: http://is.gd/bpoMD
[NNTP posted w/openSUSE 11.3, KDE4.5.5, Thunderbird3.1.8, nVidia
173.14.28 3D, Athlon 64 3000+]
“It is far easier to read, understand and follow the instructions than
to undo the problems caused by not.” DD 23 Jan 11

jc_anker · March 15, 2011, 4:29pm

Hello Martin,

you asked:

Ok so starting from command line as user told nothing (it simply returned to the prompt?).

Answer: Yes, that is correct.

No hidden directories having names starting with “.th” (or “./th”) are found.

You asked:

Is that a completely fresh 11.4 install or an update from a previous version?

Answer: Well, that may be true correct. 11.4 was installed as “new installation” without removing existing directories and files.
See the outcome of ls -l below

JCA@linux-5u5g:/usr/lib64/thunderbird> ls -l
total 21012
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1464 Mar 1 16:24 add-plugins.sh
-rw-r–r-- 1 root root 1991 Mar 1 16:23 application.ini
-rw-r–r-- 1 root root 1677 Mar 1 16:23 blocklist.xml
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Mar 15 14:44 chrome
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 12288 Mar 15 14:44 components
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 65192 Mar 1 16:25 crashreporter
-rw-r–r-- 1 root root 3803 Mar 1 16:23 crashreporter.ini
drwxr-xr-x 6 root root 4096 Mar 1 16:23 defaults
-rwxrwxrwx 1 root root 52 Jul 5 2010 dependentlibs.list
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Mar 1 16:24 dictionaries
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Mar 1 16:23 extensions
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Mar 15 14:44 greprefs
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Mar 15 14:44 isp
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 225848 Mar 1 16:25 libldap60.so
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 14464 Mar 1 16:25 libldif60.so
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1201984 Mar 1 16:25 libmozjs.so
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 23072 Mar 1 16:25 libprldap60.so
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 585808 Mar 1 16:25 libsqlite3.so
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 52008 Mar 1 16:25 libssldap60.so
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 807992 Mar 1 16:25 libxpcom_core.so
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 18904 Mar 1 16:25 libxpcom.so
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 Mar 15 14:44 modules
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 19128 Mar 1 16:25 mozilla-xremote-client
-rw-r–r-- 1 root root 46 Mar 1 16:23 platform.ini
-rw-r–r-- 1 root root 183 Mar 1 16:23 README.txt
drwxr-xr-x 6 root root 4096 Mar 15 14:44 res
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 10461 Mar 1 16:23 run-mozilla.sh
-rw-r–r-- 1 root root 825 Mar 1 16:23 Throbber-small.gif
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 18386320 Mar 1 16:26 thunderbird-bin
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 3980 Mar 1 16:24 thunderbird.sh
JCA@linux-5u5g:/usr/lib64/thunderbird>

As you see, there are some files left from previous installation (“Ueberbleibsel”). Should I delete them and install Thunderbird anew?

Thanks for you efforts,
Jan Christian

martin_helm · March 15, 2011, 5:14pm

jc anker wrote:

>
> As you see, there are some files left from previous installation
> (“Ueberbleibsel”). Should I delete them and install Thunderbird anew?

Ok that looks really like a problem. You have somehow now a mixture of files
from two versions.
Do what DenverD suggests first (uninstall with yast), then check that
thunderbird folder agin to see if there is still somthing there and delete
that by hand.
Afterwards install thunderbird with yast again and hopefully this solves the
problem.
(Maybe you should logout and login after the reinstall to stop running
processes)

DenverD · March 15, 2011, 5:34pm

On 03/15/2011 04:36 PM, jc anker wrote:
>
> You asked:
>> Is that a completely fresh 11.4 install or an update from a previous
>> version?
>
> Answer: … 11.4 was installed as “new
> installation” without removing existing directories and files.
> See the outcome of ls -l below

are you saying you used one of the update methods listed here:

http://en.opensuse.org/SDB:System_upgrade

or here:

http://doc.opensuse.org/products/opensuse/openSUSE/opensuse-reference/cha.update.html

or, are you saying you did a “new installation” but did not accept the
install scripts partitioning suggestion (which would have been to
format the root directory, at least)??

–
DenverD
CAVEAT: http://is.gd/bpoMD
[NNTP posted w/openSUSE 11.3, KDE4.5.5, Thunderbird3.1.8, nVidia
173.14.28 3D, Athlon 64 3000+]
“It is far easier to read, understand and follow the instructions than
to undo the problems caused by not.” DD 23 Jan 11

DenverD · March 15, 2011, 5:44pm

On 03/15/2011 05:14 PM, martin_helm wrote:
> Do what DenverD suggests first (uninstall with yast), then check that
> thunderbird folder agin to see if there is still somthing there and delete
> that by hand.

depending on how those ‘extra’ files got there (which i hope to learn
with my just posted question) i may well suggest a completely
different solution…

–
DenverD
CAVEAT: http://is.gd/bpoMD
[NNTP posted w/openSUSE 11.3, KDE4.5.5, Thunderbird3.1.8, nVidia
173.14.28 3D, Athlon 64 3000+]
“It is far easier to read, understand and follow the instructions than
to undo the problems caused by not.” DD 23 Jan 11

martin_helm · March 15, 2011, 6:01pm

DenverD wrote:
>
> depending on how those ‘extra’ files got there (which i hope to learn
> with my just posted question) i may well suggest a completely
> different solution…
>
I also have another clean solution in mind which is reinstall with formating
the root partition and leave the /home partition untouched. Since after
thinking about this I doubt that thunderbird is the only program which is
affected. Most likely the whole system is now a mixture of leftover files
from the previous version + some overwritten by the new 11.4 version files.

robin_listas · March 15, 2011, 6:03pm

On 2011-03-15 16:36, jc anker wrote:
> Answer: Well, that may be true correct. 11.4 was installed as “new
> installation” without removing existing directories and files.
> See the outcome of ls -l below
…
> As you see, there are some files left from previous installation
> (“Ueberbleibsel”). Should I delete them and install Thunderbird anew?

The procedure of installing over an existing install without formatting the
root partition is something for experts. The only reason for doing this
that I can think of, would be that there is no separate /home partition and
you want to spare it.

I would reinstall with format. If /home is not separate, then backup it to
another media. If there is other data you need, backup it.

If that is not possible, I would then completely erase the installation,
except /home, then reinstall.

I would certainly never risk running that install. If pushed, I could try
to clean it up without reinstallation - but then, I have about 12 years
linux experience.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 11.2 x86_64 “Emerald” at Telcontar)

DenverD · March 15, 2011, 6:39pm

On 03/15/2011 06:01 PM, martin_helm wrote:
> I also have another clean solution in mind which is reinstall with formating
> the root partition and leave the /home partition untouched. Since after
> thinking about this I doubt that thunderbird is the only program which is
> affected. Most likely the whole system is now a mixture of leftover files
> from the previous version + some overwritten by the new 11.4 version files.

agree…

apparently (waiting for an answer to my question to learn for sure) an
approved/supported upgrade path was not taken so the ONLY solution
which will result in a stable and reliable system is a format and
fresh install…

personally i would:

save all data to an off machine media
since even the state of /home must be suspect i’d do a complete
format of all Linux partitions
restore data
reinstall all needed apps
rebuild the desktop customizations…

it would have been easier to follow an approved upgrade path…
which happens to be in line with my sig’s tag line…

–
DenverD
CAVEAT: http://is.gd/bpoMD
[NNTP posted w/openSUSE 11.3, KDE4.5.5, Thunderbird3.1.8, nVidia
173.14.28 3D, Athlon 64 3000+]
“It is far easier to read, understand and follow the instructions than
to undo the problems caused by not.” DD 23 Jan 11

jc_anker · March 15, 2011, 7:10pm

Hello DenverD,

I have done as advised, Thunderbird does not start, run from a command window there is no output, and yast2.log crashes vim.

Any suggestions before I do a complete reinstall? I have a lot of “./name” (i.e. files and directory names starting with a period).

And -luckily- I have a backup of the 11.3 system on an external USB-drive!

Thanks for your efforts so far!

Jan Christian

DenverD · March 15, 2011, 8:00pm

On 03/15/2011 07:36 PM, jc anker wrote:
>
> Hello DenverD,
>
> I have done as advised, Thunderbird does not start, run from a command
> window there is no output, and yast2.log crashes vim.
>
> Any suggestions before I do a complete reinstall? I have a lot of
> “./name” (i.e. files and directory names starting with a period).
>
> And -luckily- I have a backup of the 11.3 system on an external
> USB-drive!
>
> Thanks for your efforts so far!
>
> Jan Christian
>
>
i don’t know much about your system…is it a rack mounted server
running a web server and an online retail business portal…or a
laptop with just you using it…

is if full of music, photos, letters to/from Aunt Tilley and your
income tax records for the last 27 years or what?

what i’m saying is, my previous note with five steps is what i would
do, in the order i would do it…

those /home/[yourID]/.[name] directories in your contain lots of
different things…like the one named .thunderbird is likely to
contain all of the email, email addresses and etc associated with your
11.3 thunderbird…and so it goes down the line…

if you wish you can TRY (with a good backup in hand, off machine) to
not format your /home, and, then maybe your system will be stable, but
who knows…

but wow i don’t even know if /home is on a different partition…why
don’t you please show us the terminal output from


df -h
sudo /sbin/fdisk -l
cat /proc/partitions
cat /etc/fstab
mount

copy/paste the output back to this thread using the instructions here:
http://goo.gl/i3wnr

–
DenverD
CAVEAT: http://is.gd/bpoMD
[NNTP posted w/openSUSE 11.3, KDE4.5.5, Thunderbird3.1.8, nVidia
173.14.28 3D, Athlon 64 3000+]
“It is far easier to read, understand and follow the instructions than
to undo the problems caused by not.” DD 23 Jan 11

gogalthorp · March 15, 2011, 8:15pm

If a log is too big it simply will not fit in an editor. Use the less command.

jc_anker · March 15, 2011, 8:42pm

Hello everybody,

since I have a complete backup of the system (with the exception of one file of some 4 KB text), I will follow your advice (given implicit and explicit) and do a clean install and reformat the disk (the PC is a laptop with a lot of data, the most important being e-mails).

We have to wait and see what kind of new problems I manage to generate when I try to get the Thunderbird 11.3 e-mails into 11.4!

Until then, thanks a lot!
Jan Christian

DenverD · March 15, 2011, 9:30pm

On 03/15/2011 09:06 PM, jc anker wrote:
>
> Until then, thanks a lot!

Held og lykke!!

–
DenverD
CAVEAT: http://is.gd/bpoMD
[NNTP posted w/openSUSE 11.3, KDE4.5.5, Thunderbird3.1.8, nVidia
173.14.28 3D, Athlon 64 3000+]
“It is far easier to read, understand and follow the instructions than
to undo the problems caused by not.” DD 23 Jan 11

jc_anker · March 17, 2011, 11:09am

Hello martin_helm, DenverD, gogalthorp, robin_listas !

I did a complete reformat etc(that is: I wiped out everything on the disk), and so far I have successfully installed Thunderbird.

Lessons learned:

Make a rescue disk (I had not)
Make regular backups (preferably of the whole disk; I had one)

Thanks to you all, this forum is truly great!

Thread closed (as far as I am concerned).

Jan Christian

robin_listas · March 17, 2011, 12:20pm

On 2011-03-17 11:36, jc anker wrote:
>
> Hello martin_helm, DenverD, gogalthorp, robin_listas !
>
> I did a complete reformat etc(that is: I wiped out everything on the
> disk), and so far I have successfully installed Thunderbird.

Good!

> Thanks to you all, this forum is truly great!

Welcome.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 11.2 x86_64 “Emerald” at Telcontar)

martin_helm · March 17, 2011, 2:35pm

jc anker wrote:

>
> Hello martin_helm, DenverD, gogalthorp, robin_listas !
>
> I did a complete reformat etc(that is: I wiped out everything on the
> disk), and so far I have successfully installed Thunderbird.
>
> Lessons learned:
> 1) Make a rescue disk (I had not)
> 2) Make regular backups (preferably of the whole disk; I had one)
>
> Thanks to you all, this forum is truly great!
>
> Thread closed (as far as I am concerned).
>
> Jan Christian
>
Glad to hear that you have now a clean system and welcome here.