1439379 - Online calendars get silently disabled/switched off on network errors (DNS failure)

Status: NEW

(Calendar :: Provider: ICS/WebDAV, defect)

Description

[AK Jain]

In the case of my ICS calenders provided by outlook.live.com those get regularly disabled (although I already tried to enlarge the timeout time). This seems to be a bug since these calendars are definately available. There is even no warning that those calendars get disabled so one might easily miss important events.

Comment 1

[Magnus Melin [:mkmelin]]

When there are network errors, especially DNS lookup fail (like if your router disconnected) this happens. Quite annoying. :/

Comment 2

[Anje]

Not certain this is the same issue but there was a question in Support Forum which was resolved.
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1395564
'Network calendars no longer seem to be working after upgrade to Thunderbird 102.4.1.'

Person said:

For example, my previously working calendar to this Google vCal calendar no longer syncs. I also had working read/write network CalDAV calendars that are now broken. I tried deleting and recreating the calendars, but to no avail.

'Error Console' info provided for this case - but more extensive at the Support Forum link:

services.settings: Failed to load last_modified.json: TypeError: NetworkError when attempting to fetch resource. Utils.jsm:330
Successfully loaded OpenPGP library librnp.so version 0.16+git20220124.f06439f7.MZLA from /usr/lib/thunderbird/librnp.so RNPLib.jsm:100:15
Calendar: Error updating timezones: [Exception... "Component returned failure code: 0x8052000b (NS_ERROR_FILE_CORRUPTED) [mozIStorageStatement.executeStep]" nsresult: "0x8052000b (NS_ERROR_FILE_CORRUPTED)" location: "JS frame :: resource:///modules/calendar/calStorageUpgrade.jsm :: ensureUpdatedTimezones :: line 481" data: no]
DB Error database disk image is malformed calStorageUpgrade.jsm:493
Calendar: Can't create calendar for a492e639-69c4-4514-9de9-cc77d8e14adf (caldav, http://kolab.huott.org/ ...I HAVE REMOVED THE CAL LINK INFO): [Exception... "[JavaScript Error: "this.mOfflineStorage is null" {file: "resource:///modules/CalDavCalendar.jsm" line: 280}]'[JavaScript Error: "this.mOfflineStorage is null" {file: "resource:///modules/CalDavCalendar.jsm" line: 280}]' when calling method: [calIChangeLog::offlineStorage]" nsresult: "0x80570021 (NS_ERROR_XPC_JAVASCRIPT_ERROR_WITH_DETAILS)" location: "JS frame :: resource:///components/calCachedCalendar.js :: calCachedCalendar :: line 125" data: yes] CalCalendarManager.jsm:536
Calendar: Error updating timezones: [Exception... "Component returned failure code: 0x8052000b (NS_ERROR_FILE_CORRUPTED) [mozIStorageStatement.executeStep]" nsresult: "0x8052000b (NS_ERROR_FILE_CORRUPTED)" location: "JS frame :: resource:///modules/calendar/calStorageUpgrade.jsm :: ensureUpdatedTimezones :: line 481" data: no]
Calendar: [calICSService] Error in parser worker: [object Object] calICSService.js:588
Calendar: Error Parsing ICS: 2147500037 CalIcsParser.jsm:146
carddav.sync: Sync with server failed. CardDAVDirectory.jsm:645:11
TypeError: obj is null calCachedCalendar.js:921:9
TypeError: obj is null calCachedCalendar.js:921:9
Uncaught (in promise)
Exception { name: "NS_ERROR_XPC_JAVASCRIPT_ERROR_WITH_DETAILS", message: "[JavaScript Error: "obj is null" {file: "resource:///components/calCachedCalendar.js" line: 921}]'[JavaScript Error: "obj is null" {file: "resource:///components/calCachedCalendar.js" line: 921}]' when calling method: [calICalendar::getItems]", result: 2153185313, filename: "chrome://calendar/content/widgets/calendar-filter.js", lineNumber: 967, columnNumber: 0, data: XPCWrappedNative_NoHelper, stack: "getItems@chrome://calenda/content/widgets/calendar-filter.js:967:17\n#refreshCalendar@chrome://calendar/content/widgets/calendar-filter.js:1234:60\nonLoad@chrome://calendar/content/widgets/calendar-filter.js:1283:37\nnotify@resource:///modules/calendar/utils/calDataUtils.jsm:38:23\nnotifyCalendarObservers@resource:///modules/CalCalendarManager.jsm:619:29\nonLoad@resource:///modules/CalCalendarManager.jsm:657:24\nnotify@resource:///modules/calendar/utils/calDataUtils.jsm:38:23\nnotify@resource:///modules/calendar/utils/calDataUtils.jsm:65:18\nonLoad@resource:///components/calCachedCalendar.js:77:23\n", location: XPCWrappedNative_NoHelper } calendar-filter.js:967

Person tried the option of open 'calendar-data' and replace the 'local.sqlite' file with a file found in the 'backup' folder, but it dis not resolve issue.
However, they again Exited Thunderbird, accessed 'calendar-data' and this time deleted the 'cache.sqlite' file and restarted Thunderbird.

Reported Result : Success. Network calendars are syncing again.

Why the cache became a problem immedately after an update is unknown.
Whether, BOTH the replacing of the 'local.sqlite' file with a file from backup folder AND removal of the 'cache.sqlite' was required is unknown
OR whether this could have been fixed by only deleting the 'cache.sqlite' file is unknown.

REgardless I thought this information may help.

A K Jain .....
IF you are still experiencing any issue in version 102.4.1
Please post Error Console info.
Tools > Developer Tools > Error Console
Clear console
Restart Thunderbird
Open Error console and post image of contents.

Comment 3

[AK Jain]

I am not using newer versions of Thunderbird so I cannot test. From the description, however, it does not appear to me that this is the same problem (or cause), but I can be wrong.

Comment 4

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

https://www.reddit.com/r/Thunderbird/comments/yy4kan/stop_disabling_my_calendars/ cites "network problems"

Comment 5

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Thomas, is there a bug we could consider to be key/canonical in the maze of Calendar bugs (not necessarily a great list)?
Then we could ask Sean to look into it.

Comment 6

[Thomas D. (:thomas8)]

(In reply to Wayne Mery (:wsmwk) from comment #5)

Thomas, is there a bug we could consider to be key/canonical in the maze of Calendar bugs (not necessarily a great list)?

I understand we're looking for bugs about remote calendars getting disabled silently when there's a network problem, and not getting re-enabled automatically. In your list, and another search which I tried, I'm seeing only like 2 similar bugs which are already in See also here:

Bug 1769908 - remote calendar fails to load on startup (if network connection wasn't established) - involving one NAS which failed and a new NAS which made it work for reporter.
Bug 1080964 - Caldav calendars get disabled when behind an authenticating proxy

Then we could ask Sean to look into it.
I guess we could probably ask Sean to look at this bug 1439379 here.

I'm seeing some similarities between Anje's comment 2 here...

replacing of the 'local.sqlite' file with a file from backup folder AND removal of the 'cache.sqlite'"

...and Bug 1769908 comment 0

reinstall the remote calendar from my local back-up, synchronise and then all is good until the next time Windows is restarted. If Thunderbird is restarted all is good most times.

From an UX perspective, i find it disturbing that per comment 0,

there is even no warning that those calendars get disabled so one might easily miss important events.

I assume its TB code which actively disables the calendars in certain error scenarios, so we know those scenarios and we should emit a warning alert or at least add some clearly visible inline warning icon / hint / notification about such disabling. Then we could also explain why we disabled the calendar, so e.g. if it's a timeout / network fail, user will know. This may also help to understand future reports better.

Comment 7

[Richard Leger]

In no circumstances Thunderbird shall automatically disable a network calendar. That should remain entirely a user choice. Just issue warning/notification if there is a detected issue, but no auto-disabling required here. Way too invasive.

Comment 8

[samsam]

In the same way, calendars are disabled when the caldav server use Kerberos authentication and your kerberos ticket is outdated.

Comment 9

[haarp]

Still happening in Thunderbird 115. Network calendars keep getting disabled, probably due to network or server problems when trying to refresh the ICS file.

Comment 10

[chris.seiferth]

For me too (on both Windows and Linux), even in v115.10. As this is quite annoying and the calendar is an essential part of a mail programme, could the severity be increased by one level?

Comment 11

[Tim Gent]

Having this or a VERY similar problem syncing Titan calendar using a URL. Sets up nicely and I can see calendar events.
Then I come back later and the calendar has been disabled. In this case, I can't get it to reenable or show events.
I have to delete and re-do, and then it's OK again ... for a while.
It's making vieweing meetings pretty impossible, how can this be low priority?

Comment 12

[Tim Gent]

(In reply to Tim Gent from comment #11)
UPDATE: Have tried again and this time NOT renamed the calendar from the seven digit number Thunderbird assigned (no idea where that came from). This time it stayed available after restarting Thunderbird (so far).

Possibly the name is important somehow, not just a display thing. Does mean I have to remember which calendar the long number applies to, but OK so long as I only have one of those to manage!