1712980 - Mail Window unresponsive after startup with primary/master password (dialog) enabled (macOS)

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

(Thunderbird :: General, defect)

Description

[Dave Miller [:justdave]]

Attachment: image.png

I haven't been able to use Thunderbird at all since 89b2, and I apologize for taking so long to file this, I'd been trying to troubleshoot in the support channel on Matrix but nobody ever replies to me.

This started with 89b3 and has been behaving this way ever since.
I can interact with the menus, but I can't change folders or switch tabs in the main window. Opening it in Troubleshooting mode does not change the behavior.

The Window menu shows those two Password Required windows (see screenshot), but picking them from the menu does nothing, and I can't find them anywhere. Presumably it's waiting for those password dialogs to close, but since I can't get to them....

Opening the error console and typing window.alert("hi") made one of them show up after I hit OK on the alert, I typed the password and it went away. But that same trick didn't work to make the second one show up, and everything is still locked up waiting for it.

Can reproduce this at will on every startup. If I open other windows (such as the address book or the error console) I can interact with those just fine. But the main mail front end window is totally locked up.

Comment 1

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

I've had a couple startup issues, but reported 7 and one months ago respectively
bug 1674811
bug 1705152

Comment 2

[Dave Miller [:justdave]]

I found a workaround. If I background the app immediately after launching it (click on a window belonging to some other app to bring it to the front), then the Master Password prompts show up as individual dialog windows instead of dialog sheets attached to the main window. Then I can enter the password in each of the three and dismiss them, and then it all works. (why I'm still getting three password prompts at launch? I thought that was fixed a while ago).

If I leave it in the foreground while it launches, then I get a single dialog sheet prompting for the Master Password, and then everything hangs after it's dismissed.

Comment 3

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

bug 476541 ?

Comment 4

[Dave Miller [:justdave]]

(In reply to Wayne Mery (:wsmwk) from comment #3)

bug 476541 ?

According that bug, it only affects non-e10s, and e10s is enabled by default now. How do I tell if I have it disabled?
Also, that bug has been around for a number of years, and I didn't start running into it until 89b3.

Comment 5

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Try disabling the Mac address book. bug 1662759 comment 28.
Failing that, https://mzl.la/3xgw3Qx lists other Mac hangs

Comment 6

[Dave Miller [:justdave]]

None of those seem related. I tried disabling the local address book just for grins, but it didn't change anything, it still hangs if you have TB in the foreground while it launches. The "backgrounding it before it finishes starting up" workaround still works to get it up and running.

Comment 7

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Then perhaps Bug 1612456 - About & Preferences windows don't appear (on Mac) when there's a master password and security.prompt_for_master_password_on_startup is set to true

Or if it's really a recent regression, use https://mozilla.github.io/mozregression/

Comment 8

[Dave Miller [:justdave]]

(In reply to Wayne Mery (:wsmwk) from comment #7)

Or if it's really a recent regression, use https://mozilla.github.io/mozregression/

I ran mozregression, and it tells me this push is at fault:
https://hg.mozilla.org/comm-central/pushloghtml?fromchange=b5009973dfb0e04c91dd1cfa7260506f64d88e98&tochange=b4662538ede6e2a9e9686f10806138ca84a3b3e7

Comment 9

[Dave Miller [:justdave]]

Based on the content of that push I'm guessing it has something to do with switching to using the Mac OS X 10.12 SDK to build against.

In my mozregression run, the profile I set up to use for it had master password enabled and was a copy of a profile that hadn't been used in a long time, so it was prompting to compact the folders immediately after launching. The compact folders dialog would show up, then would disappear and the master password dialog would show up. After entering the master password (on the builds that worked) the compact folders dialog would come back after the master password had been entered. On the broken builds, the compact folders dialog did not come back, but the window menu showed that it was still open, I just couldn't see it, and the Mail Window UI was non-responsive (but the menus and other windows worked fine).

Comment 10

[Magnus Melin [:mkmelin]]

For mozilla-central, that would include https://treeherder.mozilla.org/jobs?repo=mozilla-central&revision=877be9f91d38f4166c9a7363cd176f387456916b - bug 1715772 perhaps?

Comment 11

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Things just keep getting worse for Mac.
We still have bug 1703068

Comment 12

[Dave Miller [:justdave]]

Yep that's a dupe, that's exactly what this is. I'll copy done of the details from here into it when I get my laptop back online later this afternoon.

Comment 13

[Dave Miller [:justdave]]

Going to dupe this the other direction

Comment 15

[Dave Miller [:justdave]]

bug 1703068 comment 5 has a movie file demonstrating this.

Comment 16

[Albert Scheiner [:alberts]]

Attachment: tb-91_ppw-hang 1.mp4

Similar video to James' linked above, just wanted to show how my TB main window briefly closes and animates back in with the rogue PPW prompt behind it (second 4/5) - here after cancelling the second "normal" PPW, but happens as well when filling in the first PPW prompt.
Dragging the rogue ppw drags the main window, too. "Quit" via the icon context menu does not work, only via the OS top menu.

Comment 17

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

(In reply to Magnus Melin [:mkmelin] from comment #10)

For mozilla-central, that would include https://treeherder.mozilla.org/jobs?repo=mozilla-central&revision=877be9f91d38f4166c9a7363cd176f387456916b - bug 1715772 perhaps?

I'm guessing not Bug 1715772 - Upgrade Firefox 91 to use NSS 3.68:

• NSS recent fixes https://mzl.la/2W0NxDj (maybe larger than the actual list for 3.68)
• NSPR 4.31 4.32 https://mzl.la/3yUaO8b

Comment 18

[Albert Scheiner [:alberts]]

This is kinda a show stopper on macOS, especially since without the workaround above you can't even disable Primary Password in order to escape that bug.
Would adding a (high) severity & priority help finding someone to assign it to?

Comment 20

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Changing severity to S2 because of hang.

Comment 21

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

(In reply to Magnus Melin [:mkmelin] from comment #10)

For mozilla-central, that would include https://treeherder.mozilla.org/jobs?repo=mozilla-central&revision=877be9f91d38f4166c9a7363cd176f387456916b - bug 1715772 perhaps?

That should mean that Thunderbird daily 2021-07-11 works, and 2021-07-12 fails.

Albert, can you test that?

Comment 22

[Albert Scheiner [:alberts]]

I tried testing daily 2021-07-11, but it didn't let me enter a PP. After installing and setting everything I tried to activate the PP, which pops up a password box of the account. Entering the password several times and even simplifying and retrying it always rejected it (shacking password dialog box).

Comment 24

[BP]

Is there anything we can help to fix this issue? It still remains as a bug in TB 91.2.1 (MacOS) and it becomes annoying...

Maybe a stupid (and slightly off-topic question): Is there a discussion on when TB asks for the primary password at all? Right now, it basically looks like TB uses the same approach as Firefox (i.e. ask for the PP whenever the first stored password shall be used on any website). This seems appropriate for Firefox since passwords usually prevent people from signing in to a website and where it needs to be ensured that only an authorized user can enter the website, where the protected content is otherwise not accessible.
However, with TB I do not see that this might be the best solution:

• Even without entering the primary password, anyone starting TB can see all messages that had arrived until TB was closed the last time. Assuming that the amount of new mails is relatively low compared to mails that already exist locally (both for IMAP and POP3), the added security is rather limited as only access to messages that have not yet been retrieved from the server is blocked.

So overall, I could imagine different levels of password protection (with obviously some changes in how passwords are stored):

• no (primary) password: After start-up, no popup appears (to ask for the primary password). TB can access all mail boxes and the user can reveal stored passwords without any primary password.
• Primary password to protect clear-text display of stored passwords: After start-up, no popup appears (to ask for the primary password). Nevertheless, TB can access all mail boxes right away and send e-mails. Only when the user wants to reveal a stored password or store a new password, (s)he needs to enter the primary password.
• (current solution): Primary password is required whenever TB needs to use a PW the first time after start-up (to connect to other servers), as well as for displaying stored passwords in plain text.
• Primary password is required to start TB: Only after having entered the primary password, existing message will be shown and messages are transferred from / to the devices. (Ideally: even use an encrypted local storage). This is almost the solution described in https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/protect-your-thunderbird-passwords-master-password, except for encrypted storage.

Comment 25

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

You should find this is resolved with 91.3.0

Comment 27

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

(In reply to BP from comment #24)

Is there anything we can help to fix this issue? It still remains as a bug in TB 91.2.1 (MacOS) and it becomes annoying...

BP,
Better with 91.3.0 ?

Although, I had forgotten that pre-version 91/8x, Mac still has an issue with primary password - Bug 1685877 - Still getting dual password requests in MacOS after "fix" in 85.0b3

Comment 28

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Albert, better with 91.3.0?

Comment 29

[bzb]

I had the same issue and was able to resolve it by switching all accounts to IMAP.
Before when some accounts were POP and some IMAP I was only able to reach the password prompt by minimizing the window. But every time I switched to another program and then back to Thunderbird, I had to invoke an action like create a new email in order to see the mailbox list window again.
All this no longer occurs after switching all accounts to IMAP.

Comment 30

[Albert Scheiner [:alberts]]

(In reply to Wayne Mery (:wsmwk) from comment #28)

Albert, better with 91.3.0?

Works as expected again. Good work!

Comment 31

[Dave Miller [:justdave]]

As the reporter, just confirming that it's working for me now, too. Thanks!

Comment 32

[Albert Scheiner [:alberts]]

Sorry to report, but it is broken for me today. Not sure if it is after the update to 91.3.1 or if my two quick tests I did very flawed as in

I found a workaround. If I background the app immediately after launching it [...]

I think, I checked that it wasn't in the background, but now I can't say for sure.

Comment 33

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

(In reply to Albert Scheiner [:alberts] from comment #32)

Sorry to report, but it is broken for me today. Not sure if it is after the update to 91.3.1

Yes, late yesterday we learned that is broken and stopped updates to 91.3.1. The fix will come in 91.3.2

Comment 34

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

WFM per comment 31

Comment 35

[BP]

(In reply to Wayne Mery (:wsmwk) from comment #27)

(In reply to BP from comment #24)

Is there anything we can help to fix this issue? It still remains as a bug in TB 91.2.1 (MacOS) and it becomes annoying...

BP,
Better with 91.3.0 ?

Although, I had forgotten that pre-version 91/8x, Mac still has an issue with primary password - Bug 1685877 - Still getting dual password requests in MacOS after "fix" in 85.0b3

Yes, seems to be fixed with 91.5.0. Of course ideally I would only need to enter the password once, but at least now I get the two modal dialogues one after another.