1380040 - Folder option "When getting new messages for this account, always check this folder" causes severe UI breakage

Status: RESOLVED INVALID

(Thunderbird :: Mail Window Front End, defect)

Description

[Ronan Jouchet]

I like to check this option for a few more folders than just Inbox (the default). The option behaves as expected at home with my personal Gmail account.
But at work, on a Gmail account too, checking it on any folder (e.g. Gmail/Drafts, Gmail/All Mail, etc.) seriously breaks the UI at 80%-of-startups:

1. Folders pane (where accounts / feeds / local folders are listed):
   a. Folders blink at startup, then
   b. Favorite folders disappear (I have to View->Folders->All and View->Folders->Favorites to get them to display)

2. Messages pane (where email title/recipient/date are listed):
   a. Email metadata in email list becomes invisible on hover and unclickable (!), meaning Thunderbird is totally unusable at this point. I have to re-click the folder (e.g. "Inbox") to get the messages to re-display and become clickable.
   b. Folders column layout (selected columns & width) is reset to default.
   c. Quick Filter pops up, even if I disabled it.

"80%-of-startups" means Tb behaves this way approximately 4 times out of 5: sometimes Thunderbird starts up as expected and no UI breakage happens. But suppose I re-apply my desired UI state (columns layout, etc.), then
4 times out of 5 it will be borked at next restart.

Issue is 100% reproducible with a fresh profile on my work machine with my work Gmail account. Steps to reproduce for me are:

1. Empty ~/.thunderbird/ronj
2. Start Thunderbird
3. Use assistant to log in to my account
4. Right click e.g. "Gmail/Drafts" folder, go to folder "Properties" and check culprit option
5. Restart Thunderbird.

-> 80% of startups, the folder pane will blink unusually (as if something was wrong during refresh or some handle on the root folder was lost?), and the UI will be borked.

Any idea? Need more logs?

Issue has been happening for I think a few months (yeah, not sure why I waited that long before posting about it, better late than never I guess, but no it's definitely not a freshly-introduced bug). Currently I'm running Thunderbird 55.0b1 20170615051959 on Ubuntu 16.04.2LTS x86_64.

Comment 1

[Ronan Jouchet]

As requested on IRC, confirming here that the bug happens even in Safe Mode with addons disabled. And, again, it happens on a fresh new profile with sole user state a Gmail account and the option checked for a single folder.

Comment 2

[Jorg K (CEST = GMT+2)]

We had Gmail problems in TB 52.2.0, that's why we released TB 52.2.1:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/52.2.1/releasenotes/

The same problems still exist in TB 55 beta, which hasn't been released officially yet, where did you get it from? We're planning on fixing the problems in TB 55 beta before the official release.

Comment 3

[Ronan Jouchet]

(In reply to Jorg K (GMT+2) from comment #2)
> The same problems still exist in TB 55 beta, which hasn't been released
> officially yet, where did you get it from? We're planning on fixing the
> problems in TB 55 beta before the official release.

Sorry, should have said 55.0b1-candidate-build1, from
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/thunderbird/candidates/55.0b1-candidates/build1/linux-x86_64/en-US/thunderbird-55.0b1.tar.bz2

Is the fix supposed to be included in this build?

Comment 4

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

> Is the fix supposed to be included in this build?

no, that is the failing build. The fix will happen in b2, hopefully within a week - no guarantees

Comment 5

[Ronan Jouchet]

(In reply to Wayne Mery (:wsmwk, NI for questions) from comment #4)
> The fix will happen in b2, hopefully within a week - no guarantees

Thanks for the feedback! Fix confirmed in 55.0b2-candidate1 \o/
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/thunderbird/candidates/55.0b2-candidates/build1/linux-x86_64/en-US/