1748101 - Profile files erased without warning

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Thunderbird :: General, enhancement)

Description

[Bertrand]

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Ubuntu; Linux x86_64; rv:95.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/95.0

Steps to reproduce:

OS I se: Ubuntu 20.04

At first Thunderbird launch:
I wanted to use my profile and files saved in a separate external disk.
I had no other option than to create a new user to start Thunderbird.
Otherwise... wont go further...
To do so, I had to modify the profile.ini to tell TB to use the profile using the disk.
At next Thunderbird launch, it asked me to delete a profile, among two.
BUG:
by mistake I have chosen the wrong profile. Until then its OK.
But deleting the profile HAS DELETED ALL THE DISK PROFILE Including the files.
WITHOUT ANY WARNING. That is Dumb... and very dangerous!

there should be a warning saying:
"you are going to erase he profile including all the files of that profile...
DO YOU WANT TO PROCEED ??? Press Enter to exit or Y to do it"

But more clever:
The action would have been to erase only the file profile.ini and this bug would have never happened :-)

Thanks a lot for offering that possibility as the danger is HIGH>

Dominique

Bug #2
Why do we have to use google to login to Bugzilla???
That is stupid and UNFORGIVABLE! And certainly unnecessary.
They can know manage ALL your site because it knows ALL the passwords.
Secondly... lost of people don't have a google account and you force them to create one, which is a abuse!
Remain Independent!!!
That is extremely serious!!!

Actual results:

I wanted to use my profile saved in a separate disk.
I had no other than to create a new user to start Thunderbird.
I had to modify the profile.ini to use my profile of the disk.
Next Thunderbird launch. it asked me to delete a profile...
BUG:
I have by mistake chosen the wrong profile. Until then its OK.
But deleting the profile HAS DELETED ALL THE DISK PROFILE Including the files.
WITHOUT ANY WARNING. That is Dumb...

there shoud be a warning saying "you are going to erase all the file of that profile...
DO YOU WANT TO PROCEED ??? Press Enter to exit or Y to do it"

But ore clever:
Just erase the profile.ini and this would have never happened :-)

Expected results:

I wanted to use my profile saved in a separate disk.
I had no other than to create a new user to start Thunderbird.
I had to modify the profile.ini to use my profile of the disk.
Next Thunderbird launch. it asked me to delete a profile...
BUG:
I have by mistake chosen the wrong profile. Until then its OK.
But deleting the profile HAS DELETED ALL THE DISK PROFILE Including the files.
WITHOUT ANY WARNING. That is Dumb...

there shoud be a warning saying "you are going to erase all the file of that profile...
DO YOU WANT TO PROCEED ??? Press Enter to exit or Y to do it"

But ore clever:
Just erase the profile.ini and this would have never happened :-)

Comment 1

[Anje]

Attachment: delete-profile-warning.jpg

(In reply to Bertrand from comment #0)

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Ubuntu; Linux x86_64; rv:95.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/95.0

Steps to reproduce:

OS I se: Ubuntu 20.04

At first Thunderbird launch:
I wanted to use my profile and files saved in a separate external disk.

Did you want to keep that profile in that separate drive and point Thunderbird to look in that location ?
OR
Did you intend to import the 'profile name' folder into the default location ?

I had no other option than to create a new user to start Thunderbird.
Otherwise... wont go further...
To do so, I had to modify the profile.ini to tell TB to use the profile using the disk.

Ah this answers the question that you did not want to run the profile from the default location -
It sounds possible you made an error with the 'profiles.ini' file, but there is the standard method you could have used.
If you were unsure you could have asked for support advise in the Thunderbird Support forum.

It also tells me you had no idea you could have simply created a new profile and pointed it to use the profile in non-default location - separate drive. How to do this.................
In Thunderbird,
Menu app icon > Help > More Troublehooting Information
Under 'Application Basics' - near the bottom 'Profiles' - click on 'about-profiles' which opens in a new tab
FRom here you click on 'Create a new Profile' - set name - 'Default User' and click on 'Choose Folder', this allows you to select the location - the 'profile name' folder on othe drive and click on ok, then click on 'Finish'. This auto updates the 'profiles.ini' file correctly.

Alternatively, if you really wanted to use your old profile, but wanted to run it from the default location -
you would have done this - after running thunderbird the first time just to create a default profile, you would have exited Thunderbird without creating any account or profile.
Accessed the new default profile folder, emptied it's contents then copied all the contents of the backup profile name folder and pasted them into the now empty new default profile. then start Thunderbird. But this would mean running Thunderbird profile from the default location.

At next Thunderbird launch, it asked me to delete a profile, among two.

Now that is a new one - I've never launched Thunderbird and it actually ask/demand me to delete profile name folders.
Did you launch thunderbird using the 'Profile Manager'?
In which case it only offers options eg: create, rename, delete or select a particular profile and click on 'Start Thunderbird'.
Did you misunderstand what you were doing?
You just had to select what profile to use and click on 'Start Thunderbird' to Launch Thunderbird.

BUG:
by mistake I have chosen the wrong profile. Until then its OK.
But deleting the profile HAS DELETED ALL THE DISK PROFILE Including the files.
WITHOUT ANY WARNING. That is Dumb... and very dangerous!

there should be a warning saying:
"you are going to erase he profile including all the files of that profile...
DO YOU WANT TO PROCEED ??? Press Enter to exit or Y to do it"

Yes, I can see your point, some people may not understand that deleting a profile actually does as commanded - deletes the profile.
Maybe some People may not understand that the 'profile' is where all their profile data is stored.
Maybe they pressed 'delete profile' accidentally.

However, I have noticed you have stated you are using version 78
I'm assuming this was a download from the official website
https://www.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/all/
and you have chosen not to update.

The lastest release version is 91.4.1
Regardless of whether you choose to delete the Profile via the 'Profile Manager' or via the 'about:profiles'
there is a warning already in place.

I've attached image showing the warning.

I'm not sure about version 78*, but even if it does not have this in place, I cannot see developers altering an old version.

Please Note:
I'm testing this in Windows OS version 91.4.1

Perhaps it should be tested in Linux for latest version to ensure warning is inplace.

Comment 2

[Anje]

The 'bug' below is not a bug

Bug #2
Why do we have to use google to login to Bugzilla???
That is stupid and UNFORGIVABLE! And certainly unnecessary.
They can know manage ALL your site because it knows ALL the passwords.
Secondly... lost of people don't have a google account and you force them to create one, which is a abuse!
Remain Independent!!!
That is extremely serious!!!

You do not have to use Google. No one has to use Google. If you have a Google account then it is offered as a logon option to use on many websites, but it is only an option.

It would seem you have misunderstood that Google do offer you this option if you have a google account.
If website allows it, you can use it, but you are not obligued to use it.
I could use it, but I chose otherwise.
I do not see how it is the fault of Bugzilla, nor a bug if you choose to continue to logon using google rather than create a separate logon using another email address.

Please note this is not the topic of the reported bug.

Comment 3

[Anje]

Perhaps it should be tested in Linux latest 91* version to ensure warning is in place.

Wayne do you know someone using Linux OS ?

If warning is in place in all latest platform releases, then perhaps this bug will be a WONTFIX ?

Comment 4

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Walt, can you test?

Comment 5

[WaltS48 [:walts48]]

I'll see what I can do using Fedora 35 after the reporter answers Anje's questions.

Comment 6

[WaltS48 [:walts48]]

I guess the reporter has left the building.

Sorry, I haven't been able to test this yet.

Reporter,

What external drive do you use?

Anje,

The reporter is probably using the Ubuntu supplied version 78.
They were a lot late updating to a version 91 and that is the reason I switched to Fedora Workstation.

Comment 7

[WaltS48 [:walts48]]

I decided to try with my backup USB stick drive, which has the hidden .thunderbird Linux folder where all my profiles are stored.
Started the Fedora supplied 91.5.0 version, which opened the Profile Manager.
Selected Create Profile.
Selected Next.
Gave it a name.
Selected Choose Folder.
Chose the .thunderbird folder, expecting it to create a profile named "external".
Selected that profile in the profile manager and clicked the Start Thunderbird button.
Went to file manager and didn't see the profile name in the hidden .thunderbird folder.
Instead, it was populated with all the folders and files one would expect in a new profile that an account hasn't been created in.

I can use it as long as the USB stick drive is plugged in.

Comment 8

[WaltS48 [:walts48]]

Attachment: about:profiles.png

Screenshot of the profile with no name.

Comment 9

[Anje]

(In reply to WaltS48 [:walts48] from comment #7)

I decided to try with my backup USB stick drive, which has the hidden .thunderbird Linux folder where all my profiles are stored.
Started the Fedora supplied 91.5.0 version, which opened the Profile Manager.
Selected Create Profile.
Selected Next.
Gave it a name.

I assume it was called 'external'

Selected Choose Folder.

This means you do not want a completely new profile name folder into which you add new mail account.
You want the new 'external' profile to point to another 'profile name' folder and you are now choosing that 'profile name' folder to use.

Chose the .thunderbird folder, expecting it to create a profile named "external".

It sounds like you did not actually select a 'profile name' folder.
You needed to choose the backup USB stick drive, after locating the .thunderbird folder - click to open and select the 'profile name' folder called 'hz5nxvr2.dailytest' because it is that 'profile' you want 'external' to use.

Selected that profile in the profile manager and clicked the Start Thunderbird button.
Went to file manager and didn't see the profile name in the hidden .thunderbird folder.
Instead, it was populated with all the folders and files one would expect in a new profile that an account hasn't been created in.

That's because when you clicked on 'Choose Folder' you did not choose a 'profile name' folder, so it's using the .thunderbird folder as if it was the 'profile name' folder. AS the .thunderbird folder does not contain any files or folders used in a 'profile name' folder - TB created them in the folder you chose- therefore you got a new empty profile which is assuming the .thunderbird folder is the actual profile name folder.

I can use it as long as the USB stick drive is plugged in.

In the 'profiles.ini' file it would mention the 'external' profile and state what profile it is using.
eg:
[Profile 2]
Name=external
IsRelative=0
Path=/run/media/walts48/backups/.thunderbird/hz5nxvr2.dailytest

But because you did not actually choose the 'profile name' folder - you chose the .thunderbird folder that contains the profiles - you may actually see:
[Profile 2]
Name=external
IsRelative=0
Path=/run/media/walts48/backups/.thunderbird

Exit Thunderbird and edit the 'profiles.ini' file which is in the default location - /home/walts48/.thunderbird
'profiles.ini' can be opened by a simple text file editor
carefully type the name of the 'profile name' folder after the .thunderbird folder so:
Path=/run/media/walts48/backups/.thunderbird
becomes:
Path=/run/media/walts48/backups/.thunderbird/hz5nxvr2.dailytest

Then access the /run/media/walts48/backups/.thunderbird folder and remove all those new not required files and folders which you normally see in a profile name folder.

Start Thunderbird and you should be able to select to use the 'backup' one on USB drive.

Comment 10

[WaltS48 [:walts48]]

Well, I am a newbie at this task. :)

I usually just create test profiles on my internal drive, which get populated into the hidden .thunderbird folder.

So I have to insert my USB stick.
Navigate to the hidden .thunderbird folder.
Create a named profile folder, such as "ask4aclu.external".
Start Thunderbird, which on my system opens the profile manager.
Select Create Profile.
Name it "external".
Select Choose Folder
Selected the .thunderbird folder.
Created the profile.
Started Thunderbird.
Created an email account.
Quit Thunderbird
Checked that the profile was created as expected and all the folders and files were in the .thunderbird\ask4aclu.external location on the USB stick.
Restarted Thunderbird and everything was okay.

There is no installs.ini or profiles.ini on the USB stick.

The new profile was added to them in respective files in the hidden .thunderbird folder on the internal hard drive.

Comment 11

[WaltS48 [:walts48]]

Quit all applications.
Unmounted the USB stick drive.
Restarted the computer.
Reinserted the USB stick drive.
Launched Thunderbird from the desktop icon.
Selected "external" from the Profile Manager.
Selected Start Thunderbird.
The application opened.

Comment 12

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

wontfix per comment 3.

As for other parts, still much unanswered per comment 1. Edits outside of the profile manager would not be supported.