1730006 - CalDAV updating even if set to manually update

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Calendar :: Provider: CalDAV, defect)

Description

[Bob Wheater]

Attachment: ThunderbirdCALDAVserverConfigParm.png

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:92.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/92.0

Steps to reproduce:

This started after a recent update to Version 78.14.0 I have a CALDAV server on a remote node that is frequently turned off to save electricity. I have this calendar specified as manual update with offline support. I expect that it should only try to update this remote server "only" when I hit the sync button. However it makes numerous tries to update automatically and generates error messages which have to be dismissed. This is a big "nuisance" , a waste of my time, and I am very disappointed in Thunderbird.
I have used the configuration editor to set all notifications to false and increased the sync interval to 14400. However, Thunderbird is ignoring the these config parameters. I have attached the picture of config editor parameters for this CALDAV server.

Actual results:

explained above. Manual update not working properly--Broken.

Expected results:

When I set manual refresh on a CALDAV server it should not do any automatic updates as this calendar has offline support.

Note: the CALDAV server that I am using is Radicale on Linux and Thunderbird is running on Windows 10

Comment 1

[Bob Wheater]

Also I forgot to ask where the meaning of all the configuration parameters is Documented? Thanks.

regards,
Bob

Comment 2

[Magnus Melin [:mkmelin]]

(In reply to Bob Wheater from comment #1)

Also I forgot to ask where the meaning of all the configuration parameters is Documented? Thanks.

Those are from some add-on, as their name imply. So up to the add-on author.

Tried Thunderbird 91?

Comment 3

[Bob Wheater]

"Those are from some add-on, as their name imply. So up to the add-on author"
Wrong - the CALDAV client is part of Thunderbird since the Lightning addon was integrated into Thunderbird some time agol

No I have not tried version 91 as it has not been released as an update yet and the release notes changes have nothing to do with this problem.

Comment 4

[Martin Schröder [:mschroeder]]

Bob, you mixed up "caldav" for calendars and "carddav" for address books as well as the obvious "extensions." prefix of the config parameter when interpreting your screenshot.

Comment 5

[Bob Wheater]

Attachment: CalendarRegistry... config parameters

Comment 6

[Bob Wheater]

"Bob, you mixed up "caldav" for calendars and "carddav" for address books as well as the obvious "extensions." prefix of the config parameter when interpreting your screenshot."

You statement makes "no sense". explain what you mean? By the way Radicale is both a CALDAV and CARDDAV server. (supports two protocols)

Anyway, the extensions.ca ... periodicsyncinterval seems to be ignored as it has no effect when I change it. I still get the eight connect error messages when I start thunderbird if the server is turned off.

However, the parameter with calendar.registry...refreshinterval seems to change the frequency of the connect failure message. This value is set to zero when the manual update is selected in the interface. When it is at zero I get the eight connect failure messages at startup, so I have set to 24 hr in minutes to reduced the connection fail messages. I have attached the picture of the calendar.registry... parameters.

Comment 7

[Magnus Melin [:mkmelin]]

Bob, please re-read what you're writing.
Does the word extensions in "extensions.ca" ring a bell? (Yes extension, add-on - poteto potato)

Comment 8

[Bob Wheater]

Attachment: extensionsPart1.png

Comment 9

[Bob Wheater]

Attachment: extensionsPart2.png

Comment 10

[Bob Wheater]

I have added pictures of the 7 extensions that I have added to thunderbird and none of them are related to the parameters extensions.ca....

So this extensions.ca ... configurations parameters is part of the base Thunderbird product and is not an extension that was added by the user.

Apparently you don't understand what these parameters are used for.

"add-on - poteto potato)" what does this mean? Do you actually understand the meaning of American English?

Comment 11

[Geoff Lankow (:darktrojan)]

I'm not convinced this wasn't happening a long time before 78.14, however it doesn't really matter when it happened. Thunderbird is updating calendars that are set to not update. Let's fix it.

Comment 12

[Geoff Lankow (:darktrojan)]

Attachment: Bug 1730006 - If a calendar is set to manual updates only, don't update it at start-up. r=mkmelin

Comment 13

[Geoff Lankow (:darktrojan)]

FWIW, the extensions.ca.inverse preferences appear to be from the SOGo Connector extension which doesn't appear to be installed now but might've been in the past.

Comment 14

[Bob Wheater]

Attachment: Console log shows cache replay action is a problem

Comment 15

[Bob Wheater]

Thanks so much Geoff for the proposal to fix the manual problem.

The real problem for me is no matter how high you set refresh interval the cache replay action will put out 8 to 10 error messages:

Lightning: [calCachedCalendar] Unable to perform playback action add to the server, will try again next time (7304eaec-4752-4c35-a2b3-997df2142b32,Error preparing http channel: [object Object]) calCachedCalendar.js:595

from attached console log.

I injured my hands at the beginning of July and dismissing all these error messages has drastically increased the pain level in mouse finger of the right hand so I have had to use other fingers. Consequently, I have copied all the data from the server to a local calendar, address book. However, this means that I cannot share the data between devices because it is not available across the network.

With regard to the manual problem happening before 78.14--it may be true as I was only trying manual because of the flood of modification error messages was hurting my hand and it had to be stopped. There is no need to send out these many messages that require the user to dismiss them.

"extensions.ca.inverse preferences appear to be from the SOGo Connector extension" -- since I never even heard of this extension before 78.14 it must have been an internal extension as a user I never installed it.

Because of this I am considering stopping using open source software for mail.

Comment 16

[Geoff Lankow (:darktrojan)]

The patch I made should stop those messages. At least it does in the testing I've done.

Comment 17

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://hg.mozilla.org/comm-central/rev/3c47b43980e3
If a calendar is set to manual updates only, don't update it at start-up. r=mkmelin

Comment 18

[Geoff Lankow (:darktrojan)]

I've just landed the fix in our development version. After it's been there a little while we'll put it in the beta version for more widespread testing, and then into 91-point-something.

Comment 19

[Geoff Lankow (:darktrojan)]

Comment on attachment 9242246 [details]
Bug 1730006 - If a calendar is set to manual updates only, don't update it at start-up. r=mkmelin

[Approval Request Comment]
Regression caused by (bug #): I think it's always been this way, maybe something made it more obvious
User impact if declined: calendars update (or try to) when they shouldn't
Testing completed (on c-c, etc.): landed yesterday
Risk to taking this patch (and alternatives if risky): maybe, if anything it would prevent calendars from updating when they should, but that works fine AFAICT

Comment 20

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Comment on attachment 9242246 [details]
Bug 1730006 - If a calendar is set to manual updates only, don't update it at start-up. r=mkmelin

[Triage Comment]
Approved for beta

Comment 21

[Bob Wheater]

I prefer the behavior of the previous version 78.13-- no error messages that the user has to respond to on failure to connect to a remote CALDAV server. The failure to connect is indicated by the warning sign symbol in the calendar list. If the user desires more information he can always look at the console log.

Comment 22

[Geoff Lankow (:darktrojan)]

I have never seen any of the error messages here require a response. They are only logged to the Error Console. Where do they appear that requires a response?

Comment 23

[Bob Wheater]

Attachment: ConnectFailToCAL-CARDserver.png

Its a pop-up window saying modification_failed - see attachment

Comment 24

[Geoff Lankow (:darktrojan)]

Oh that horrible window. I am quite keen to kill it off, but that is easier said than done. I don't know why you'd be seeing that when you weren't previously, nothing changed that would affect it as far as I am aware.

The good news is that the changes I've made here will stop it appearing unless you click the Synchronise button.

Comment 25

[Rob Lemley [:rjl]]

Thunderbird 93.0b5:
https://hg.mozilla.org/releases/comm-beta/rev/08443b6b1226

Comment 26

[Geoff Lankow (:darktrojan)]

Comment on attachment 9242246 [details]
Bug 1730006 - If a calendar is set to manual updates only, don't update it at start-up. r=mkmelin

[Approval Request Comment]
Regression caused by (bug #): I think it's always been this way, maybe something made it more obvious
User impact if declined: calendars update (or try to) when they shouldn't
Testing completed (on c-c, etc.): in 93.0b5
Risk to taking this patch (and alternatives if risky): low

Comment 27

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Comment on attachment 9242246 [details]
Bug 1730006 - If a calendar is set to manual updates only, don't update it at start-up. r=mkmelin

[Triage Comment]
Approved for esr91

Comment 28

[Rob Lemley [:rjl]]

Thunderbird 91.2.1:
https://hg.mozilla.org/releases/comm-esr91/rev/82bd1c0a8daa