1670904 - Misleading error message when only proprietary protocols have been detected (should show the error message the add-on provided instead)

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Thunderbird :: Account Manager, defect)

Description

[[e-mail]]

For those servers that have support for both open and proprietary protocols detected, the initial autodetection may find both types of protocol, before it subsequently transpires that the open protocols have been disabled by the server's administrators. Bug 1642150 helps the user in such a case by advising them of this possibility.

However the conditions under which this message is displayed are insufficiently rigorous. In particular, the autodiscover protocol can return multiple variants of the same proprietary protocol. In this case the message from bug 1642150 still appears despite only one protocol being available.

Comment 1

[[e-mail]]

Attachment: Proposed patch

Comment 2

[Magnus Melin [:mkmelin]]

Is the idea that owl allows selecting between multiple exchange type protocols?

Comment 3

[Ben Bucksch (:BenB)]

The primary problem here is that Owl is able return very specific error messages to the end user. We can differentiate between:

• password wrong
• a problem with the login form
• the server being too old and unsupported
• a conflict with an existing account
• cookie settings preveting login

and many other errors. Some of the errors are recoverable. But for that, the user needs to see our error message.

We report a helpful error message, but Thunderbird is ignoring it and not showing it. The purpose of this patch is simply to show the error message.

Comment 4

[[e-mail]]

(In reply to Magnus Melin from comment #2)

Is the idea that owl allows selecting between multiple exchange type protocols?

The email wizard doesn't have that capability, so currently it only passes the first exchange type protocol to Owl, but the existence of multiple exchange type protocols then subsequently confuses it into displaying the alternative protocol message instead of Owl's message.

Comment 5

[Magnus Melin [:mkmelin]]

Comment on attachment 9181251 [details] [diff] [review]
Proposed patch

Review of attachment 9181251 [details] [diff] [review]:
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Ah, I see. r=mkmelin

Comment 6

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://hg.mozilla.org/comm-central/rev/c4b3ee76073d
fix Misleading error message when only proprietary protocols have been detected (should show the error message the add-on provided instead). r=mkmelin

Comment 7

[Ben Bucksch (:BenB)]

Comment on attachment 9181251 [details] [diff] [review]
Proposed patch

[Approval Request Comment]
Regression caused by (bug #): 1642150
User impact if declined:
User will not see the specific error message that can help the user to resolve the problem, leading to user frustration.
Testing completed (on c-c, etc.):
Risk to taking this patch (and alternatives if risky):
Very specific patch, very small risk.

Comment 8

[Ben Bucksch (:BenB)]

Thanks, Magnus!

Comment 9

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Comment on attachment 9181251 [details] [diff] [review]
Proposed patch

[Triage Comment]
Approved for esr78

Comment 10

[Rob Lemley [:rjl]]

Thunderbird 78.4.0:
https://hg.mozilla.org/releases/comm-esr78/rev/522ef961db0a