1271117 - Can't create multiple accounts with same address, different server

Status: VERIFIED INVALID

(Thunderbird :: Account Manager, defect)

Description

[Buddy J.]

I can't create multiple accounts with the same e-mail address, but different servers. I am trying to move my e-mails to my new mail server.

Steps to reproduce:
1. Create an account and give it a name that's not the e-mail address
2. Create another account, with the same e-mail address, but different server

Actual results:
There are now two accounts with the same name and settings. Changing settings on one account changes the other. There are frequent warnings about two accounts with the same name.

Expected results:
Two accounts with same e-mail address, but different servers and names, behaving like two different accounts. This is the behavior I see in Thunderbird 38.4.0 on a different machine. (This allows me to drag and drop my e-mails between servers.)

Comment 1

[:aceman]

I can reproduce it like this:
1. toggle TB into offline mode
2. start account wizard, input [e-mail] as the email
3. click Continue
4. you can only toggle POP3 or IMAP here, the server name is predefined and can't be changed
5. click "Advanced config"
repeat steps 2.-5. again with the same email. In the advanced config (account manager), the user expects to be able to change the name and server on one of the accounts. But it does not work. The accounts are linked in some way, the settings are the same (as if using the same server object internally). But the server objects should not be the same, the prefs.js contain separate server* prefs and the accounts each point to a different server* id.

BenB, do you have an idea why this would happen? Why is there a function like checkIncomingServerAlreadyExists() which checks if we already have a matching server (by user/host/port which ARE the same in this scenario) and reuse it? When would we want to reuse a server for 2 accounts? I don't yet say this happened here, but if seems there may be intentions in code to do that.

Comment 2

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Do the steps of comment 1 still reproduce?

Comment 3

[Ben Bucksch (:BenB)]

Steps in comment 1 are invalid and bound to fail, because "Advanced config" button creates the account at that point when you click that button. Any changes you make later are changing the already-created account. Given that the steps in comment 1 create the same account twice, it's normal for Thunderbird to get confused.

The correct way is to not use "Advanced config", but follow the normal account creation steps. Preferably, you would do that only after the new server is up and running, and we'd automatically use the right config for the new server. Alternatively, you'd be able to adapt the config using "Manual config", which is different from "Advanced config", and presumably would work here.

There are no steps for reproduction in comment 0. The steps in comment 1 are invalid and are supposed to fail, because it indeed creates the same account twice.

-> INVALID

Comment 4

[Arthur K. (he/him)]

Do the steps of comment 1 still reproduce?

No, not in the same way as comment 1. Looks like things have changed a lot since comment 1 was posted.(In reply to Wayne Mery (:wsmwk) from comment #2)