Closed Bug 1361775 Opened 7 years ago Closed 6 years ago

Upgrading to 52.1.0 detaches Local Folders from POP3 account

Categories

(Thunderbird :: Account Manager, defect)

Product:
Thunderbird
Component:
Account Manager
Version:
52 Branch
Type:
defect
Priority:
Not set
Severity:
normal

Tracking

(Not tracked)

Status:
RESOLVED WORKSFORME

People

(Reporter: slama-h, Unassigned)

References

Details

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; WOW64; rv:53.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/53.0
Build ID: 20170413192749

Steps to reproduce:

Upgraded Thunderbird 45.8 to 52.1.0 by automatic update.


Actual results:

Main POP3 account which had been associated with Local Folders stopped downloading new messages (automatically & manually). Content of Local Folders was preserved, though.

Its account settings were changed by the update process. References to Local Folders in Message Storage / Advanced and Copies & Folders had been removed ("No available folders"). Manual corrections were impossible (drop-down menus not working).

IMAP accounts continued working as before the update; also POP3 accounts that didn't store to Local Folders. (Didn't test everything, just hurried back to version 45.8 :->)

Extra symptom: the Get Messages drop-down menu lost the entries for individual accounts. Get All New Messages worked for all other accounts.


Expected results:

Main POP3 account should have fetched new messages on startup, then regularly and upon request.

Its account settings should have been unaltered (IMHO no reason for a change).

Menus for getting new messages should show entries for each individual account (a dozen).
I'm not aware of any changes in this area, my POP accounts are still working, however, I don't use Local folders only as target for filtering.

So you have the "Global Inbox" selected in Account Settings, Server Settings, Advanced, Inbox for a different account: Global Inbox / Local Folders?

It's a bit surprising that Copies & Folders shows no available folders for Sent, Archives, Drafts and Templates?

Does this happen when you start TB with add-ons disabled, see Help menu?

Aceman, what can we do here?
Flags: needinfo?(acelists)
*** HOLD BACK COMMENTS PLS *** Quirks in profile detected - new test required ***

(In reply to Jorg K (GMT+2) from comment #1)

1. Global Inbox (Local Folders) is currently used *only* by the "main" POP3 account which collects mail from several automatically re-directing mail servers. In the past it was shared by 2 more POP3 accounts which couldn't (reliably) re-direct mail. The accounts are still there, now with individual folders, just for manually checking for missed re-directions.

2. Now I called the CONFIG EDITOR (should have done that in he first place:-<) and was in for a big SURPRISE:
All account settings point to folders using FULL PATH spec even when the folders reside inside the profile. In almost all paths the part above the profile directory name itself was WRONG. Great MIRACLE: this setup had WORKED for 2 years and survived all automatic updates to TB, except the last one. Two years ago I'd copied TB's profile from my old notebook to my new computer's %appdata%, which sports a *different* user name. It just worked. (FWIW, Firefox's profile contains no dependencies on the full path of the profile itself - it is relocatable.)

3. I'll correct all the bad path specs in the preferences file and re-try the update. I'll report back then.
(In reply to Heribert Slama from comment #2)
> 2. Now I called the CONFIG EDITOR (should have done that in he first
> place:-<) and was in for a big SURPRISE:
> All account settings point to folders using FULL PATH spec even when the
> folders reside inside the profile. In almost all paths the part above the
> profile directory name itself was WRONG. Great MIRACLE: this setup had
> WORKED for 2 years and survived all automatic updates to TB, except the last
> one. Two years ago I'd copied TB's profile from my old notebook to my new
> computer's %appdata%, which sports a *different* user name. It just worked.
> (FWIW, Firefox's profile contains no dependencies on the full path of the
> profile itself - it is relocatable.)
> 
> 3. I'll correct all the bad path specs in the preferences file and re-try
> the update. I'll report back then.

Are you looking at the "mail.server.server*.directory-rel" preferences? Are those also showing full path, in the form [ProfD]../../../full/path/to/profile/Mail/server" ?
Flags: needinfo?(acelists)
(In reply to :aceman from comment #3)
> (In reply to Heribert Slama from comment #2)
> > [...]
> 
> Are you looking at the "mail.server.server*.directory-rel" preferences? Are
> those also showing full path, in the form
> [ProfD]../../../full/path/to/profile/Mail/server" ?

I was looking at the "mail.server.server*.directory" preferences - most of them contain wrong paths (outdated specs), but TB 45.8 doesn't seem to care. Until now I didn't care about the inner workings of TB. So I'm busy now studying preferences for accounts, servers, identities, hosts, folders etc. to find out how they play together.

I checked the "mail.server.server*.directory-rel" prefs - they contain only specs relative to the profile directory such as "[ProfD]Mail/<hostname>", no absolute path spec. Every server has one, and they look correct to me (directories exist in profile).


The "main" POP3 account is internally account16/server16. Here are some of its preferences:

mail.server.server16.deferred_to_account=account2     refers to Local Folders!

mail.server.server16.directory=C:\Users\Lap2guy\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\jl02lo46.default\Mail\127.0.01
mail.server.server16.directory-rel=[ProfD]Mail/127.0.01
mail.server.server16.hostname=127.0.01
mail.server.server16.userName=pop.bluewin.ch/110/s...
mail.server.server16.realhostname=pop3s.bluewin.ch
mail.server.server16.realuserName=s...

Here even the absolute path is correct. These prefs show the account's history. It once fetched mail from a local proxy POP3 server ("K9") on Windows 2000 used for tagging spam. Server address was 127.0.0.1. Several accounts used it, so TB created variations of 127.0.0.1, server16 ending up with "127.0.01". userName told the proxy where to look for mail (server/port/user). Later on I had to ditch the proxy server (and TB looked after the spam). This introduced realhostname and realuserName. Later still I switched to Local Folders. "[ProfD]Mail/127.0.01" contains only old, obsolete files with one glorious exception: "popstate.dat" (today's date!). So the directory is still in use; can't be removed.

The prefs for Local Folders look quite good to me:
mail.accountmanager.localfoldersserver=server2
mail.server.server2.name=Local Folders
mail.server.server2.directory=C:\Users\Lap2guy\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\jl02lo46.default\Mail\Local Folders
mail.server.server2.directory-rel=[ProfD]Mail/Local Folders

But TB *52* somehow gets thrown off the track and says "No folders available" (for this account).

I still want to do a test with TB 52 to compare preferences, but I need to prepare it carefully. I don't want to lose mail on the servers by restoring the backed up profile.
(In reply to Heribert Slama from comment #4)
> I was looking at the "mail.server.server*.directory" preferences - most of
> them contain wrong paths (outdated specs), but TB 45.8 doesn't seem to care.
> Until now I didn't care about the inner workings of TB. So I'm busy now
> studying preferences for accounts, servers, identities, hosts, folders etc.
> to find out how they play together.
> 
> I checked the "mail.server.server*.directory-rel" prefs - they contain only
> specs relative to the profile directory such as "[ProfD]Mail/<hostname>", no
> absolute path spec. Every server has one, and they look correct to me
> (directories exist in profile).

This should be correct. TB SHOULD use the *.directory-rel prefs first and ignore the *.directory prefs. You could even delete the *.directory prefs to not annoy you. So if the relative ones are correct, all should be fine. But if you find a reason to think at some point TB uses the old *.directory prefs, that would be a bug.
 
> The "main" POP3 account is internally account16/server16. Here are some of
> its preferences:
> 
> mail.server.server16.deferred_to_account=account2     refers to Local
> Folders!
> 
> mail.server.server16.directory=C:
> \Users\Lap2guy\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\jl02lo46.
> default\Mail\127.0.01
> mail.server.server16.directory-rel=[ProfD]Mail/127.0.01
> mail.server.server16.hostname=127.0.01
> mail.server.server16.userName=pop.bluewin.ch/110/s...

You had slashes in the user name at the time of creating the account? Interesting :)

> mail.server.server16.realhostname=pop3s.bluewin.ch
> mail.server.server16.realuserName=s...
 
> Here even the absolute path is correct. These prefs show the account's
> history. It once fetched mail from a local proxy POP3 server ("K9") on
> Windows 2000 used for tagging spam. Server address was 127.0.0.1. Several
> accounts used it, so TB created variations of 127.0.0.1, server16 ending up
> with "127.0.01". userName told the proxy where to look for mail
> (server/port/user). Later on I had to ditch the proxy server (and TB looked
> after the spam). This introduced realhostname and realuserName. Later still
> I switched to Local Folders. "[ProfD]Mail/127.0.01" contains only old,
> obsolete files with one glorious exception: "popstate.dat" (today's date!).
> So the directory is still in use; can't be removed.

Yes, all this should be correct. The pop3 account checks mail and stores the state of which messages are downloaded in the popstate.dat file. But stores the real messages in the deferred account of Local folders.
 
> The prefs for Local Folders look quite good to me:
> mail.accountmanager.localfoldersserver=server2
> mail.server.server2.name=Local Folders
> mail.server.server2.directory=C:
> \Users\Lap2guy\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\jl02lo46.
> default\Mail\Local Folders
> mail.server.server2.directory-rel=[ProfD]Mail/Local Folders
> 
> But TB *52* somehow gets thrown off the track and says "No folders
> available" (for this account).

I can't see yet why would there be a problem.

> I still want to do a test with TB 52 to compare preferences, but I need to
> prepare it carefully. I don't want to lose mail on the servers by restoring
> the backed up profile.

Thanks for analysing it. You could also to remove the panacea.dat file which is some cache of folder attributes.
You could also send me your prefs.js file privately by email (only the mail.server.* and mail.account* lines) if you'd like me to analyse them.
In general it's good to clean up to clean out left-overs of account configurations which have build up over there years.

<off topic>
When you're done here, you could all head over to bug 1362885 and help out there where someone tries to clean up 27 (!!) accounts. In fact, that person uses a different nomenclature. He refers to an account with a mail provider as "account" and he refers to a TB account setup/configuration as "client", since according to him the TB setup is "client" of the account.

For example, you can have a POP "client" (setup) and an IMAP "client" (setup) accessing the same account. But TB resists some of this with the error: "Incoming server already exists".
</off topic>
Sorry for the off-topic SPAM: Another bug where someone is trying to figure out accounts: Bug 1359665. That person only has 10 accounts. Personally, I'm just surprised. I have six accounts configured in my main profile and that's already a lot.
(In reply to Jorg K (GMT+2) from comment #6)
> <off topic>
> For example, you can have a POP "client" (setup) and an IMAP "client"
> (setup) accessing the same account. But TB resists some of this with the
> error: "Incoming server already exists".
> </off topic>

I'd think this should be possible to setup in TB, when the account types are different. But it must be no fun for the server to allow concurrent access to the same account/mailbox via IMAP and POP at the same time :) The user may get random errors from IMAP if the mailbox is locked from a parallel POP access.
Component: Untriaged → Account Manager
I am experiencing similar issues in Thunderbird 52.1.1, like "Extra symptom: the Get Messages drop-down menu lost the entries for individual accounts. Get All New Messages worked for all other accounts."

Also, under Account Settings > Copies & Folders there are "No available folders" all over the place.

My Thunderbird profile was originally created in Windows XP 11 years ago, and moved to Ubuntu maybe 8 years ago. I use a Global Inbox.

From the Error Console:

Discovering folders for account failed with exception: [Exception... "Component returned failure code: 0x80550016 [nsIMsgFolder.subFolders]"  nsresult: "0x80550016 (<unknown>)"  location: "JS frame :: resource:///modules/MailUtils.js :: MailUtils_discoverFolders :: line 36"  data: no]

NS_ERROR_FAILURE: Component returned failure code: 0x80004005 (NS_ERROR_FAILURE) [nsIMsgFolder.server]

From my prefs.js -- I have exchanged my domain with example.com and user name with MY_USER_NAME:

user_pref("mail.server.server8.ageLimit", 30);
user_pref("mail.server.server8.applyToFlaggedMessages", false);
user_pref("mail.server.server8.cleanupBodies", false);
user_pref("mail.server.server8.daysToKeepBodies", 30);
user_pref("mail.server.server8.daysToKeepHdrs", 30);
user_pref("mail.server.server8.defer_get_new_mail", true);
user_pref("mail.server.server8.deferred_to_account", "account1");
user_pref("mail.server.server8.directory", "/arkiv/.thunderbird/wkqz4j6s.default/Mail/mail.example.com");
user_pref("mail.server.server8.directory-rel", "[ProfD]../../../../arkiv/.thunderbird/wkqz4j6s.default/Mail/mail.example.com");
user_pref("mail.server.server8.downloadByDate", false);
user_pref("mail.server.server8.downloadUnreadOnly", false);
user_pref("mail.server.server8.download_on_biff", true);
user_pref("mail.server.server8.hostname", "mail.example.com");
user_pref("mail.server.server8.keepUnreadOnly", false);
user_pref("mail.server.server8.leave_on_server", true);
user_pref("mail.server.server8.login_at_startup", true);
user_pref("mail.server.server8.name", "MY_USER_NAME");
user_pref("mail.server.server8.numHdrsToKeep", 30);
user_pref("mail.server.server8.port", 995);
user_pref("mail.server.server8.realhostname", "mail.MAILHOST.com");
user_pref("mail.server.server8.realuserName", "MY_USER_NAME@example.com");
user_pref("mail.server.server8.socketType", 3);
user_pref("mail.server.server8.spamActionTargetAccount", "mailbox://nobody@Local%20Folders");
user_pref("mail.server.server8.spamActionTargetFolder", "mailbox://nobody@Local%20Folders/Junk");
user_pref("mail.server.server8.storeContractID", "@mozilla.org/msgstore/berkeleystore;1");
user_pref("mail.server.server8.type", "pop3");
user_pref("mail.server.server8.userName", "MY_USER_NAME");
(In reply to resa from comment #9)
user_pref("mail.server.server8.directory", "/arkiv/.thunderbird/wkqz4j6s.default/Mail/mail.example.com");
user_pref("mail.server.server8.directory-rel", "[ProfD]../../../../arkiv/.thunderbird/wkqz4j6s.default/Mail/mail.example.com");

This looks a little questionable.

So the local folder data for this account is store in the absolute path:
/arkiv/.thunderbird/wkqz4j6s.default/Mail/mail.example.com ?
And relative from the profile, you need to go four directories up, and then down to /arkiv, etc. Hmm.
Where is the profile located?

Usually directory-rel has something like [ProfD]wkqz4j6s.default/Mail/... .

It's not impossible that your profile is at
/data/home/users/resa/ and the data is at
/arkiv/.thunderbird/wkqz4j6s.default/Mail/mail.example.com
but it's not the way it's supposed to be.

Maybe Aceman can comment further.
Flags: needinfo?(acelists)
Sorry, I forgot to mention that I have moved my entire .thunderbird folder from my home directory to my /arkiv folder and created a symbolic link from my home directory, like this: /home/MY_USER_NAME/.thunderbird -> /arkiv/.thunderbird
(In reply to Jorg K (GMT+2) from comment #10)
> (In reply to resa from comment #9)
> user_pref("mail.server.server8.directory",
> "/arkiv/.thunderbird/wkqz4j6s.default/Mail/mail.example.com");
> user_pref("mail.server.server8.directory-rel",
> "[ProfD]../../../../arkiv/.thunderbird/wkqz4j6s.default/Mail/mail.example.
> com");
> 
> This looks a little questionable.

(In reply to resa from comment #11)
> Sorry, I forgot to mention that I have moved my entire .thunderbird folder
> from my home directory to my /arkiv folder and created a symbolic link from
> my home directory, like this: /home/MY_USER_NAME/.thunderbird ->
> /arkiv/.thunderbird

So the paths seem fine then.
The profile is at /home/MY_USER_NAME/.thunderbird/wkqz4j6s.default

You need 4x ../ to get up to the root and then it goes into /arkiv .

(In reply to resa from comment #9)
> Discovering folders for account failed with exception: [Exception...
> "Component returned failure code: 0x80550016 [nsIMsgFolder.subFolders]" 
> nsresult: "0x80550016 (<unknown>)"  location: "JS frame ::
> resource:///modules/MailUtils.js :: MailUtils_discoverFolders :: line 36" 
> data: no]
>
> NS_ERROR_FAILURE: Component returned failure code: 0x80004005 (NS_ERROR_FAILURE) [nsIMsgFolder.server]

This seems to be error code NS_MSG_INVALID_OR_MISSING_SERVER, which is found several times in nsLocalMailFolder.cpp.
Possible culprit at:
https://dxr.mozilla.org/comm-central/rev/b7c66885ee8ba0ebeea9a2a241593bf9b28c3af7/mailnews/local/src/nsLocalMailFolder.cpp#218
Flags: needinfo?(acelists)
I'm not sure where this answer leaves us :-(

Yes, somehow the |server.rootFolder.subFolders;| failed at MailUtils.js:36 with 0x80550016 (apparently NS_MSG_INVALID_OR_MISSING_SERVER) generated in nsMsgLocalMailFolder::GetSubFolders().

What's wrong with the users "server8"?
Does the hostname or realhostname contain some special characters (see bug 466311 comment 35)?
Thanks for your efforts so far!

There is nothing wrong with "server8", I just included it to verify the paths look ok, which they seem to.

If only I could figure out which of my accounts is causing the below error message ... Is there a way for me to print the account name causing it, or insert a breakpoint to further debug? This is the full error message, I added "filter_getMail", and so on.

Discovering folders for account failed with exception: [Exception... "Component returned failure code: 0x80550016 [nsIMsgFolder.subFolders]"  nsresult: "0x80550016 (<unknown>)"  location: "JS frame :: resource:///modules/MailUtils.js :: MailUtils_discoverFolders :: line 36"  data: no]

NS_ERROR_FAILURE: Component returned failure code: 0x80004005 (NS_ERROR_FAILURE) [nsIMsgFolder.server]  folderWidgets.xml:120
  filter_getMail chrome://messenger/content/folderWidgets.xml:120:1
  filter self-hosted:301:17
  _build chrome://messenger/content/folderWidgets.xml:368:23
  _ensureInitialized chrome://messenger/content/folderWidgets.xml:332:11
  onxblpopupshowing chrome://messenger/content/folderWidgets.xml:825:9
Sorry, I forgot to answer: Neither hostname nor realhostname contain special characters. (Blank space doesn't count, I assume?)
This looks like an interesting approach. Would it be worth trying to add the debug script to the folderWidgets.xml file?
http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=1995653
If yes, where can I find it?
(In reply to resa from comment #16)
> Sorry, I forgot to answer: Neither hostname nor realhostname contain special
> characters. (Blank space doesn't count, I assume?)

Space IS a totally suspicious character. How can you have a space in server name?
(In reply to resa from comment #17)
> This looks like an interesting approach. Would it be worth trying to add the
> debug script to the folderWidgets.xml file?
> http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=1995653
> If yes, where can I find it?
What you need to do is to unpack omni.ja and then delete it. You can then edit folderWidgets.xml which you'd have to search for.
(In reply to :aceman from comment #18)
> Space IS a totally suspicious character. How can you have a space in server name?

There are two instances of hostname with spaces in them in prefs.js

user_pref("mail.server.server2.directory", "/arkiv/.thunderbird/wkqz4j6s.default/Mail/Local Folders");
user_pref("mail.server.server2.directory-rel", "[ProfD]../../../../arkiv/.thunderbird/wkqz4j6s.default/Mail/Local Folders");
user_pref("mail.server.server2.downloadByDate", false);
user_pref("mail.server.server2.downloadUnreadOnly", false);
user_pref("mail.server.server2.hostname", "Local Folders");

user_pref("mail.server.server5.directory", "/home/MY_USER_NAME/.thunderbird/wkqz4j6s.default/Mail/smart mailboxes");
user_pref("mail.server.server5.directory-rel", "[ProfD]Mail/smart mailboxes");
user_pref("mail.server.server5.hidden", true);
user_pref("mail.server.server5.hostname", "smart mailboxes");
user_pref("mail.server.server5.name", "Unified Folders");
user_pref("mail.server.server5.storeContractID", "@mozilla.org/msgstore/berkeleystore;1");

Looking at the path of "server5", Perhaps I need to update "directory" and "directory-rel" to match "server2", with all the ../../../arkiv ... ?

P.S.: here is another person experiencing the same issue: http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=3030116
(In reply to Jorg K (GMT+2) from comment #19)
> What you need to do is to unpack omni.ja and then delete it. You can then
> edit folderWidgets.xml which you'd have to search for.
Thanks Jorg K. I was hoping the file would be readily available ... I am afraid the process you describe is beyond my abilities. I am a novice wannabe-programmer :-)
(In reply to resa from comment #20)
OK, Local folders and "smart mailboxes" are internal ones, those are fine. I though a pop3 or imap4 server has spaces :)

>user_pref("mail.server.server5.directory", "/home/MY_USER_NAME/.thunderbird/wkqz4j6s.default/Mail/smart mailboxes");
>user_pref("mail.server.server5.directory-rel", "[ProfD]Mail/smart mailboxes");
> Looking at the path of "server5", Perhaps I need to update "directory" and
> "directory-rel" to match "server2", with all the ../../../arkiv ... ?

No, if you profile is at "/home/MY_USER_NAME/.thunderbird/wkqz4j6s.default" then the directory-rel link is fine. It is actually more correct than the other ones as the symlink wasn't resolved/dereferenced here. All your directories should look like this, but they are broken due to bug 760937. But they work unless you move the TB datafolders.
(In reply to resa from comment #21)
> Thanks Jorg K. I was hoping the file would be readily available ... I am
> afraid the process you describe is beyond my abilities. I am a novice
> wannabe-programmer :-)
The file is readily available, but you need to modify the copy your installation is executing.

I don't see what's hard about unpacking a ZIP file, then removing it, doing an dir /s folderWidgets.xml (assuming Windows) and then modifying that file to add some debug.
(In reply to :aceman from comment #22)
> OK, Local folders and "smart mailboxes" are internal ones, those are fine. I though a pop3 or imap4 server has spaces :)

Good :-)

> No, if you profile is at "/home/MY_USER_NAME/.thunderbird/wkqz4j6s.default"
> then the directory-rel link is fine. It is actually more correct than the
> other ones as the symlink wasn't resolved/dereferenced here. All your
> directories should look like this, but they are broken due to bug 760937.
> But they work unless you move the TB datafolders.

I se interesting issue bug 760937 ... Do you think it will work if I update the paths? And will it persist or get overwritten?

-- FROM --
user_pref("mail.server.server2.directory", "/arkiv/.thunderbird/wkqz4j6s.default/Mail/Local Folders");
user_pref("mail.server.server2.directory-rel", "[ProfD]../../../../arkiv/.thunderbird/wkqz4j6s.default/Mail/Local Folders");

-- TO --
user_pref("mail.server.server2.directory", "/home/MY_USER_NAME/.thunderbird/wkqz4j6s.default/Mail/Local Folders");
user_pref("mail.server.server2.directory-rel", "[ProfD]Mail/Local Folders");
(In reply to Jorg K (GMT+2) from comment #23)
> The file is readily available, but you need to modify the copy your
> installation is executing.
> 
> I don't see what's hard about unpacking a ZIP file, then removing it, doing
> an dir /s folderWidgets.xml (assuming Windows) and then modifying that file
> to add some debug.

I am using Ubuntu 16.04. But I am willing to try if you have the patience to guide me to the location of the file.
(In reply to resa from comment #24)
> I se interesting issue bug 760937 ... Do you think it will work if I update
> the paths? And will it persist or get overwritten?

Yes it will work, but will get overwritten. I'm not sure exactly when, but at the latest the moment you visit the Account settings.
The paths get converted to the absolute paths again, removing the link.
(In reply to :aceman from comment #26)
> Yes it will work, but will get overwritten. I'm not sure exactly when, but
> at the latest the moment you visit the Account settings.
> The paths get converted to the absolute paths again, removing the link.
Ok, I see ... I guess we haven't pinpointed that this is the actual problem, it might be something else. But the interesting thing is that my set up has worked fine for a year or so, and suddenly stopped working, maybe after a Thunderbird update?
I have decided to downgrade Thunderbird to version 38.6, the previous release for Ubuntu 16.04:

$ sudo apt-cache policy thunderbird
thunderbird:
  Installed: 1:52.1.1+build1-0ubuntu0.16.04.1
  Candidate: 1:52.1.1+build1-0ubuntu0.16.04.1
  Version table:
 *** 1:52.1.1+build1-0ubuntu0.16.04.1 500
        500 http://dk.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates/main amd64 Packages
        500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     1:38.6.0+build1-0ubuntu1 500
        500 http://dk.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial/main amd64 Packages

2017-05-16 19:53:16 UTC   Published   Xenial  security  main  web   1:52.1.1+build1-0ubuntu0.16.04.1
2016-03-07 18:58:46 UTC   Published   Xenial  release   main  web   1:38.6.0+build1-0ubuntu1
FROM: https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/thunderbird/+publishinghistory

The downgrade:
$ sudo apt-get install thunderbird=1:38.6.0+build1-0ubuntu1

Lock updates:
$ sudo apt-mark hold thunderbird

Remove lock, in the future
$ sudo apt-mark-unhold thunderbird

Do you think the patch in bug 1361775 might fix my issue? Can I get notified when it is rolled out, or is there some way to track its progress?
Subscribe to the bug, you mean bug 760937? That won't be fixed for a while. Going back to TB 38 is a mistake since TB 45 contains many bug fixes. We're currently rolling out TB 52. You should instead diagnose your problem.
(In reply to Jorg K (GMT+2) from comment #29)
> Subscribe to the bug, you mean bug 760937? That won't be fixed for a while.
> Going back to TB 38 is a mistake since TB 45 contains many bug fixes. We're
> currently rolling out TB 52. You should instead diagnose your problem.

Sorry, yes I meant bug 760937. It looks like version 45.8 was superseeded for Ubuntu 16.04 releases ...
https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/thunderbird/+publishinghistory

I would like to diagnose TB 52, but not really sure where to start...
No, we haven't yet determined your problem lies in the links so bug 760937 may not fix anything for you.
There is a very similar bug 1360836 which has the same errors produced. I could only produce those errors on my machine when the server hostname has special characters (like punycode encoding). That is why I ask about your hostnames.
Perhaps I should just start fresh? Move my thunderbird profile out of the way (rename it to .thunderbird_old), start thunderbird so it creates a fresh profile. Then copy my email from the "Local Folders" to the "Local Folders" of the new profile. I'll have to reconfigure my accounts, but perhaps a fresh start is what's needed? Something seems to have gone havoc in my old profile...
I ended up starting fresh, as I wrote above, and everything now works with version 52.1.1 (64-bit) of Thunderbird on Ubuntu 16.04, even with a symlinked profile folder.

So it might have been a borked prefs.js file, or something like that which was causing my problem. As I wrote, the profile was originally begun on Windows XP almost ten years ago, and moved to Linux a few years later, I might have tweaked the config at one point, etc. ... But thanks for you assistance nevertheless, I really appreciate it.
Do you have a copy of the old prefs.js so you could compare to the new version? You could determine the difference.
(In reply to :aceman from comment #34)
> Do you have a copy of the old prefs.js so you could compare to the new
> version? You could determine the difference.

Here is the prefs.js part for the same account. I notice that hostname and realhostname are different in the old profile:

OLD prefs.js
user_pref("mail.server.server8.ageLimit", 30);
user_pref("mail.server.server8.applyToFlaggedMessages", false);
user_pref("mail.server.server8.cleanupBodies", false);
user_pref("mail.server.server8.daysToKeepBodies", 30);
user_pref("mail.server.server8.daysToKeepHdrs", 30);
user_pref("mail.server.server8.defer_get_new_mail", true);
user_pref("mail.server.server8.deferred_to_account", "account1");
user_pref("mail.server.server8.directory", "/arkiv/.thunderbird/wkqz4j6s.default/Mail/mail.example.com");
user_pref("mail.server.server8.directory-rel", "[ProfD]../../../../arkiv/.thunderbird/wkqz4j6s.default/Mail/mail.example.com");
user_pref("mail.server.server8.downloadByDate", false);
user_pref("mail.server.server8.downloadUnreadOnly", false);
user_pref("mail.server.server8.download_on_biff", true);
user_pref("mail.server.server8.hostname", "mail.example.com");
user_pref("mail.server.server8.keepUnreadOnly", false);
user_pref("mail.server.server8.leave_on_server", true);
user_pref("mail.server.server8.login_at_startup", true);
user_pref("mail.server.server8.name", "MY_USER_NAME");
user_pref("mail.server.server8.numHdrsToKeep", 30);
user_pref("mail.server.server8.port", 995);
user_pref("mail.server.server8.realhostname", "mail.MAILHOST.com");
user_pref("mail.server.server8.realuserName", "MY_USER_NAME@example.com");
user_pref("mail.server.server8.socketType", 3);
user_pref("mail.server.server8.spamActionTargetAccount", "mailbox://nobody@Local%20Folders");
user_pref("mail.server.server8.spamActionTargetFolder", "mailbox://nobody@Local%20Folders/Junk");
user_pref("mail.server.server8.storeContractID", "@mozilla.org/msgstore/berkeleystore;1");
user_pref("mail.server.server8.type", "pop3");
user_pref("mail.server.server8.userName", "MY_USER_NAME");

NEW working prefs.js
user_pref("mail.server.server1.ageLimit", 30);
user_pref("mail.server.server1.applyToFlaggedMessages", false);
user_pref("mail.server.server1.check_new_mail", true);
user_pref("mail.server.server1.cleanupBodies", false);
user_pref("mail.server.server1.daysToKeepBodies", 30);
user_pref("mail.server.server1.daysToKeepHdrs", 30);
user_pref("mail.server.server1.defer_get_new_mail", true);
user_pref("mail.server.server1.deferred_to_account", "account2");
user_pref("mail.server.server1.delete_by_age_from_server", true);
user_pref("mail.server.server1.directory", "/arkiv/.thunderbird/i3dh21n1.default/Mail/mail.MAILHOST.com");
user_pref("mail.server.server1.directory-rel", "[ProfD]../../../../arkiv/.thunderbird/i3dh21n1.default/Mail/mail.MAILHOST.com");
user_pref("mail.server.server1.downloadByDate", false);
user_pref("mail.server.server1.downloadUnreadOnly", false);
user_pref("mail.server.server1.download_on_biff", true);
user_pref("mail.server.server1.hostname", "mail.MAILHOST.com");
user_pref("mail.server.server1.leave_on_server", true);
user_pref("mail.server.server1.login_at_startup", true);
user_pref("mail.server.server1.moveOnSpam", true);
user_pref("mail.server.server1.moveTargetMode", 1);
user_pref("mail.server.server1.name", "MY_USER_NAME");
user_pref("mail.server.server1.numHdrsToKeep", 2000);
user_pref("mail.server.server1.num_days_to_leave_on_server", 14);
user_pref("mail.server.server1.port", 995);
user_pref("mail.server.server1.socketType", 3);
user_pref("mail.server.server1.spamActionTargetAccount", "mailbox://nobody@Local%20Folders");
user_pref("mail.server.server1.spamActionTargetFolder", "mailbox://nobody@Local%20Folders/Junk");
user_pref("mail.server.server1.storeContractID", "@mozilla.org/msgstore/berkeleystore;1");
user_pref("mail.server.server1.type", "pop3");
user_pref("mail.server.server1.userName", "MY_USER_NAME@example.com");
See Also: → 1369343
(In reply to :aceman from comment #34)
> Do you have a copy of the old prefs.js so you could compare to the new
> version? You could determine the difference.

comment 35
Flags: needinfo?(acelists)
I do not see any obvious problem in the pasted prefs file samples.

(In reply to resa from comment #16)
> Sorry, I forgot to answer: Neither hostname nor realhostname contain special
> characters. (Blank space doesn't count, I assume?)

I mean also accents or other non-US-ASCII-7bit characters.

The old prefs mention a mail.example.com and also a new mail.MAILHOST.com. I assume those are different servers.
The new prefs file only mentions mail.MAILHOST.com. Could mail.example.com have any accented characters?
Flags: needinfo?(acelists)
@aceman: I almost forgot about this issue. Like I wrote I ended up starting fresh and everything has worked flawlessly since then. I am pretty sure there were no accented characters in any of the domain names, so for my part the problem was probably due to a conflicting prefs.js file.
Thanks for the update.
	
Shall we close this, and bug 1360836?   Or do you have a bug to which this should be duped?

(I already closed Bug 1369343 and Bug 1374948)
Flags: needinfo?(acelists)
I suppose the question is for aceman? But anyway I just want to thank you @Wayne Mery and @aceman, and everyone else working on improving Thunderbird.
We don't know if it is a dupe as the cause here is unknown :(
Status: UNCONFIRMED → RESOLVED
Closed: 6 years ago
Flags: needinfo?(acelists)
Resolution: --- → WORKSFORME
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