1136582 - Provider for Google Calendar suddenly asking me to access my account

Status: VERIFIED DUPLICATE of bug 1110881

(Calendar :: Provider: GData, defect)

Description

[ted939]

All of a sudden, when I boot up my ThunderBird 31.4.0, which has Lightning (3.3.3, I think) Add-On installed, I get a message that says, "The Provider for Google Calendar would like to access your account"..."to retrieve events and tasks. Credentials and calendaring data is only transfered between your computer and Google, no third party sites are involved."

I don't know what to make of this, so I close that dialogue box and it leaves one of my TB/Lightning calendars offline/not-communicating with the Google Calendar to which it is attached/synced.

I continue to log off of TB and re-boot and close the dialogue box, and one of the times I did so, it left everything working normal as it's been for years.

What do I do to get it working right again? I didn't do anything to instigate this (no updates/upgrades/new component installs). I just launched TB as I always do, entering my password into 2 different password request fields/boxes, and then this is what happened.

Thanks!
Ted

Comment 1

[Ian Neal]

Not a locale issue

Comment 2

[Philipp Kewisch [:Fallen][📱📆]]

You have upgraded the Provider for Google Calendar to version 1.0 or above. In this update I have switched to a newer version of the Google Calendar API, because they have shut down the old v1 API on November 17th. The new API mandates using OAuth, an authentication system where you need to give the application permission to manage your tasks and calendars.

Security is slightly better with this standard, since your password is no longer needed. Instead, an authentication token is saved locally. While the dialog might suggest that I will have access to your calendar, this is mostly because the OAuth standard was meant for websites that need this sort of access. The website would ask Google to present you with that dialog and send the access token to the website, with which the website would have access to your calendar. Since the Provider for Google Calendar is a client application, the token is not sent to the website, but remains in the password manager on your computer.

Version 1.0.4 include an additional note why this authentication is needed, I'd suggest to just allow the authentication to get access to your calendar.

Comment 3

[ted939]

Hi Phiipp and Ian, thanks for your replies.
I don't understand at all what you were saying, Philipp (due to my limited understanding of this topic). Was there as suggestion or instruction in there, as to what I should do to remedy the issue?

I do know that sometime between my original 2015/02/25 post on this thread, and now (likely some many many months ago), the situation resolved (I don't remember if something I did, or it just went away), and now, starting today (2016/04/19), it's back again!

I'm getting the same message upon TB launch as I was 14 months ago, which is "The Provider for Google Calendar would like to access your account"..."to retrieve events and tasks. Credentials and calendaring data is only transferred between your computer and Google, no third party sites are involved."

My TB is now 38.4.0, my Lightning is 4.0.4.1, and my Provider for Google is 1.0.4.

Any suggestions/instructions anyone?

Thanks!!
Ted

Comment 4

[ted939]

UPDATE to my post a few minutes ago.....

I just updated my TB to 45.0, my Lightning to 4.7 and my Provider for Google to 2.7.
RESULT: No improvement. Provider still asking me to log in to Google. Anyone know how to fix this?

Thanks,Ted


(In reply to ted939 from comment #3)
> Hi Phiipp and Ian, thanks for your replies.
> I don't understand at all what you were saying, Philipp (due to my limited
> understanding of this topic). Was there as suggestion or instruction in
> there, as to what I should do to remedy the issue?
> 
> I do know that sometime between my original 2015/02/25 post on this thread,
> and now (likely some many many months ago), the situation resolved (I don't
> remember if something I did, or it just went away), and now, starting today
> (2016/04/19), it's back again!
> 
> I'm getting the same message upon TB launch as I was 14 months ago, which is
> "The Provider for Google Calendar would like to access your account"..."to
> retrieve events and tasks. Credentials and calendaring data is only
> transferred between your computer and Google, no third party sites are
> involved."
> 
> My TB is now 38.4.0, my Lightning is 4.0.4.1, and my Provider for Google is
> 1.0.4.
> 
> Any suggestions/instructions anyone?
> 
> Thanks!!
> Ted

Comment 5

[trice]

go to your addons in Thunderbird and either disable Google Calendar or delete it.

Comment 6

[ted939]

(In reply to trice from comment #5)
> go to your addons in Thunderbird and either disable Google Calendar or
> delete it.

Hi, Trice - but if I disabled or deleted Google Calendar in TB, then I'd lose the calender-sync functionality between TB and Google Calendar, right?

Comment 7

[Philipp Kewisch [:Fallen][📱📆]]

Hi Ted. Just to clarify, did you end up entering your credentials when asked? If you get this on each startup, please try unsubscribing from all Google Calendars and then re-subscribing. Make sure to enter your email address when asked.

Comment 8

[ted939]

(In reply to Philipp Kewisch [:Fallen] from comment #7)
> Hi Ted. Just to clarify, did you end up entering your credentials when
> asked? If you get this on each startup, please try unsubscribing from all
> Google Calendars and then re-subscribing. Make sure to enter your email
> address when asked.

Hi Philipp. I don't remember if I ended up entering my credentials back then, but for whatever reason, I haven't been having any issue in quite a few weeks - maybe going back to just days after my original post.
Thanks!

Comment 9

[Philipp Kewisch [:Fallen][📱📆]]

Good to hear! If the credentials dialog shows up again, just enter them and this problem should go away.

Comment 10

[ted939]

(In reply to Philipp Kewisch [:Fallen] from comment #9)
> Good to hear! If the credentials dialog shows up again, just enter them and
> this problem should go away.

Thanks!