1919107 - Unified Folders: With "Check for new messages at startup" enabled, "Unable to open summary file for Inbox ... Perhaps there was an error on disk ..." for all 6 IMAP accounts. After several minutes, things work ok.

Status: UNCONFIRMED

(MailNews Core :: Networking: IMAP, defect)

Description

[macuc]

Steps to reproduce:

Open Thunderbird 128.2.0esr with "Check for new messages at startup" enabled on all email accounts (a mix of 3 POP3 accounts and 6 IMAP accounts on gmail and hotmail). Several message filters for the POP3 accounts are enabled too.

Actual results:

All IMAP accounts show alerts saying the Inbox folder could not be written to. POP3 accounts show alerts saying the message filters could not move email to the destination folder. Many folders show as empty, when they should show a message list of emails stored in them.

Unchecking the "Check for new messages at startup" avoids these alerts. But the empty folders problems still occurs. After several minutes, the message lists in folders will display correctly, email can be downloaded without errors, and message filters function normally.

TB128.2.0esr is acting as if there are slow running threads generating messages lists every time TB is started. If any email is downloaded or filtered before this process is complete, errors occur and alerts are displayed.

Expected results:

I expected TB to function as it did with v115, messages can be downloads on startup and filtered without errors.

Comment 1

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

What is the exact wording of the alert(s)?

If Windows OS, does the issue reproduce with Windows started in safe mode with networking enabled - https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/12376/windows-10-start-your-pc-in-safe-mode AND Thunderbird STARTED in troubleshoot mode https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/troubleshoot-mode-thunderbird

If not Windows OS, what exact OS?

Comment 2

[macuc]

• This is on Window 10 Home and Windows 11 Home.

• This happens in Troubleshooting Mode.

• Exact wording of alerts: "Unable to open summary file for Inbox on [email]. Perhaps there was an error on disk, or the full path is too long." With "[email]" being the email address of the account that is currently failing.

• Disabling "Check for new messages on startup." prevents the alerts from popping up. But message lists take a while to populate in the folders for each account.

• I installed TB Beta 131.0b4, and got the same results in both normal and troubleshooting mode.

• Note that I do have 5GB of saved email in various folders. But this problem did /not/ occur on TB 115.

Comment 3

[macuc]

• The Windows 11 computer is an Asus, and it has some issue that doesn't let it boot into safe mode
• The Windows 10 computer will boot into safe mode w/networking. The behavior is the same...
• • Note: There is no built in ethernet controller, and WiFi is disabled in safe mode w/networking. So I had to use a USB ethernet adapter to get networking to work.
• • I opened TB128.2.1esr on the safe mode Windows 10 Home computer with an ethernet connection, and immediately clicked the download messages icon (since I now have "Check for new messages on startup" disabled).
• • This installation has no message filters so it did not complain about not being able to move messages. But the status bar showed a bunch of new messages being downloaded. Trying to look at the Inboxes on the 2 POP3 accounts and the one IMAP account, show no messages where there should have been dozens.
• • Clicking on the IMAP account Inbox shows the same "Unable to open summary file for Inbox on..." alert.
• • It has now been almost ten minutes, and I still can't see any messages that were downloaded, just a "New messages found" icon when I click on the Inboxes. But the alert on the Inbox has stopped popping up.

Comment 4

[macuc]

• In my previous message, "New messages found" should have been "No messages found"

I will also add to this bug report that RSS feeds behave in a similar way. After opening either TB128.2.1esr or TB131.0b5, trying to view the contents of RSS feeds will show "No messages found" for several minutes after launching TB. Clicking "Get messages" for any or all RSS feeds does not produce any alerts. But clicking on individual feeds shows "No messages found" when there should have been a lot of previously downloaded messages available for display.

Comment 5

[macuc]

BTW, if anyone is wondering whether my computer is simply a slow computer:

Asus Zenbook
Intel i7-12700H, 2.3Ghz base frequency, 14 cores, 20 logical processors, virtualization enabled.
Dual GPUs - Intel Iris Xe and Intel Arc A370M
16GB Ram
1TB SSD

So I don't think it is a matter of slow running software. It seems more like a deadlock or something blocking other threads when it shouldn't.

Comment 6

[macuc]

(In reply to Wayne Mery (:wsmwk) from comment #1)

What is the exact wording of the alert(s)?

If Windows OS, does the issue reproduce with Windows started in safe mode with networking enabled - https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/12376/windows-10-start-your-pc-in-safe-mode AND Thunderbird STARTED in troubleshoot mode https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/troubleshoot-mode-thunderbird

If not Windows OS, what exact OS?

See info above...

Comment 7

[macuc]

Maybe this will help, or at least prove that what I am saying is actually happening. I opened TB, and immediately clicked the Menu>>Developer Tools menu item to open a debug console. I then right-clicked over one of the IMAP account names and selected "Get Messages" from the context menu. I then clicked on one of the folders listed under that IMAP account ("Trash" in this case) and got the "Unable to open summary file..." alert.

I then clicked on one of the folders under one of the POP3 accounts, and got the same alert for that folder.

Here is the console output, I will also attach as a file to this bug. (Note: private data redacted with underscores)

1727369473052 addons.xpi WARN Checking C:\Program Files\Mozilla Thunderbird\distribution\extensions for addons 1727369473970 addons.xpi WARN Addon with ID [e-mail] already installed, older version will be disabled 1727369473970 addons.xpi WARN Addon with ID [e-mail] already installed, older version will be disabled Uncaught NS_ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND: Component returned failure code: 0x80520012 (NS_ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND) [nsIMsgSendLater.hasUnsentMessages] haveUnsentMessages chrome://messenger/content/mail-offline.js:86 shouldSendUnsentMessages chrome://messenger/content/mail-offline.js:165 loadStartFolder chrome://messenger/content/messenger.js:791 mail-offline.js:86 Use of nsIFile in content process is deprecated. 5 NetUtil.sys.mjs:249:50 sizeToContent() is deprecated and will be removed in the future. commonDialog.js:132:10 Update folder imap://[e-mail]/[Gmail]/Trash failed. NS_ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND: Component returned failure code: 0x80520012 (NS_ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND) [nsIMsgFolder.updateFolder] updateFolderAndNotifyOnLoad resource:///modules/DBViewWrapper.sys.mjs:113 open resource:///modules/DBViewWrapper.sys.mjs:896 _onSelect chrome://messenger/content/about3Pane.js:2754 handleEvent chrome://messenger/content/about3Pane.js:1727 updateRowClasses chrome://messenger/content/tree-listbox-mixin.mjs:717 updateSelection chrome://messenger/content/tree-listbox-mixin.mjs:599 _onClick chrome://messenger/content/tree-listbox-mixin.mjs:189 handleEvent chrome://messenger/content/tree-listbox-mixin.mjs:156 DBViewWrapper.sys.mjs:115:15 Uncaught NS_ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND: Component returned failure code: 0x80520012 (NS_ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND) [nsIMsgFolder.updateFolder] updateFolderAndNotifyOnLoad resource:///modules/DBViewWrapper.sys.mjs:113 open resource:///modules/DBViewWrapper.sys.mjs:896 _onSelect chrome://messenger/content/about3Pane.js:2754 handleEvent chrome://messenger/content/about3Pane.js:1727 updateRowClasses chrome://messenger/content/tree-listbox-mixin.mjs:717 updateSelection chrome://messenger/content/tree-listbox-mixin.mjs:599 _onClick chrome://messenger/content/tree-listbox-mixin.mjs:189 handleEvent chrome://messenger/content/tree-listbox-mixin.mjs:156 DBViewWrapper.sys.mjs:113 Update folder mailbox://[e-mail]/__________ failed. NS_ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND: Component returned failure code: 0x80520012 (NS_ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND) [nsIMsgFolder.updateFolder] updateFolderAndNotifyOnLoad resource:///modules/DBViewWrapper.sys.mjs:113 open resource:///modules/DBViewWrapper.sys.mjs:896 _onSelect chrome://messenger/content/about3Pane.js:2754 handleEvent chrome://messenger/content/about3Pane.js:1727 updateRowClasses chrome://messenger/content/tree-listbox-mixin.mjs:717 updateSelection chrome://messenger/content/tree-listbox-mixin.mjs:599 _onClick chrome://messenger/content/tree-listbox-mixin.mjs:189 handleEvent chrome://messenger/content/tree-listbox-mixin.mjs:156 DBViewWrapper.sys.mjs:115:15 Uncaught NS_ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND: Component returned failure code: 0x80520012 (NS_ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND) [nsIMsgFolder.updateFolder] updateFolderAndNotifyOnLoad resource:///modules/DBViewWrapper.sys.mjs:113 open resource:///modules/DBViewWrapper.sys.mjs:896 _onSelect chrome://messenger/content/about3Pane.js:2754 handleEvent chrome://messenger/content/about3Pane.js:1727 updateRowClasses chrome://messenger/content/tree-listbox-mixin.mjs:717 updateSelection chrome://messenger/content/tree-listbox-mixin.mjs:599 _onClick chrome://messenger/content/tree-listbox-mixin.mjs:189 handleEvent chrome://messenger/content/tree-listbox-mixin.mjs:156 DBViewWrapper.sys.mjs:113

Comment 8

[macuc]

Attachment: Debug console export

Comment 9

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Could the change to serializing pop accounts have side effects with these symptoms?

Comment 10

[macuc]

Here are a couple more strange behaviors I have noticed with this issue, maybe they will help...

• When TB is in this weird state, after clicking OK on the "Unable to open summary file..." alert on an IMAP account folder, that folder will disappear from the tree view. Once folder access starts working again, right-clicking on the account in the tree and selecting "Get Messages" will bring back the folder that disappeared. Luckily, any saved messages in the disappearing folders are still on the IMAP server and they don't get deleted.

• There have been situations on the POP3 accounts where messages that are days old will reappear. If I haven't deleted earlier downloads of these messages, then those messages will show up in folders multiple times. This is happening even though I have the "Leave messages on server" not checked in the account settings. So it seems like whatever transaction is happening to get the message list, download new messages, then delete the downloaded messages from the POP3 server is not completing, and messages that were downloaded are staying on the POP3 server.

Comment 11

[gene smith]

(In reply to Wayne Mery (:wsmwk) from comment #9)

Could the change to serializing pop accounts have side effects with these symptoms?

I tested with 3 pop3 account with one being unreachable (a POP3 test server is down) and several IMAP accounts. Don't see a problem.
Maybe the reporter macus could "disable" his POP3 accounts and restart TB and see if the the problem(s), at least with IMAP, still occur.

Reporter macus, to "disable" your POP3 accounts, go to the Server settings for each account and un-select Check for new messages at startup and disable Check for new messages every X minutes. Then select Inbox on an imap account and restart TB. After restart, don't attempt to access or check for new messages on POP3 account. Just access other non-POP3 accounts as you normally would.

If you do this, do you still see problems?
Once this test is finished you can returned the POP3 server configurations back the way they were.

Comment 12

[macuc]

(In reply to gene smith from comment #11)

Reporter macus, to "disable" your POP3 accounts, go to the Server settings for each account and un-select Check for new messages at startup and disable Check for new messages every X minutes. Then select Inbox on an imap account and restart TB. After restart, don't attempt to access or check for new messages on POP3 account. Just access other non-POP3 accounts as you normally would.

If you do this, do you still see problems?

If you would like to see the problem on your computer, I suggest that you do the following on a Win10 or Win11 computer:

• Optional: Backup your profile.
• Uninstall Thunderbird.
• Delete the C:\Users\<account name>\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird folder.
• Bonus points: Use your favorite cleaner to delete all stray files, folders, registry settings and firewall settings associated with Thunderbird.
• Install a fresh copy of Thunderbird TB128.2.1esr.
• Start Thunderbird and configure all your POP3 and IMAP accounts.
• Bonus points: Set up some folders and message filters to move emails to those folders whenever new mail arrives.
• Enable "Check for new messages at startup" on all the accounts.
• Shutdown Thunderbird.
• Open a webmail account or another email client and send a bunch of test emails to all of the accounts configured in Thunderbird.
• Start Thunderbird and watch the "Unable to open summary file for Inbox..." alerts pop-up.

The main points being, I was working from a fresh install on both my Win10 and Win11 computers, and also, these alerts will not pop-up unless you have "Check for new messages at startup" enabled and there is e-mail waiting for you in your accounts to be downloaded when TB starts. I already know that not having any email waiting or disabling "Check for new messages at startup" will stop the alerts from happening.

Comment 13

[macuc]

Thunderbird 132.0b1 installed on my Win11 computer, and the problems went away.

I did not see anything in the release notes that looked like it mentioned this specific issue. It was not working any release of the 131 betas. So something changed between 131 beta and 132 beta that fixed the problem.

Comment 14

[macuc]

I spoke too soon I wanted to see if the bug I reported about Unified Folders View not working had been fixed as well. (I tried searching for that bug report, but it looks like someone unceremoniously deleted it). After enabling View >> Folders >> Unified Folders then closing Thunderbird and restarting it, the "Unable to open summary file for Inbox..." alerts came back.

I disabled Unified Folders, then closed and reopened Thunderbird, but the same alerts popped up again. I closed TB, deleted C:\Users\<account name>\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\<profile id>\Mail\smartmailboxes\ then reopened Thunderbird, and everything started working again.

So whatever was fixed for make View >> Folders >> All Folders work probably needs to be applied for View >> Folders >> Unified Folders / SmartMailboxes.

Comment 15

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Do you have many folders, say a couple hundred or more?
Many saved searches?

Comment 16

[macuc]

(In reply to Wayne Mery (:wsmwk) from comment #15)

Do you have many folders, say a couple hundred or more?
Many saved searches?

I have two installations...

• One has two POP3 accounts and one IMAP account, with no additional folders.
• The other install has two POP3 accounts and 6 IMAP accounts. One POP3 account has dozens of folders and about 2GB of saved emails. The other POP3 account has 5 folders and a few megabytes of saved email.
• I don't know what a "saved search" is, so I would say I have zero of those on both installs.
• Both installs react the same way.

I believe what triggers the problem is enabling View >> Folders >> Unified Folders then closing and opening TB at least 4 or more times, with incoming email, then that is when all these problems start happening.

Once the problems start happening, disabling Unified Folders does not make the problem go away. The only thing that stops these problems is disabling Unified Folders, then closing TB, then deleting C:\Users\<account name>\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\<profile id>\Mail\smartmailboxes\, then re-opening TB. Then problem go away, but you can not use Unified Folders again without bringing back the problems.

Unified Folder View used to work fine in previous versions, now it is unstable for me on both installs.

Comment 17

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Magnus, what do you make of comment 10, comment 16?

Comment 18

[Magnus Melin [:mkmelin]]

Not much clues.
Have you checked if the .msf file for the smartmailboxes gets created? And what happens to it on close.

Comment 19

[macuc]

Thanks for considering this bug report again. I'm sure you all have day jobs, as do I, and since this was 7 months ago, I've just moved on and will never trust the Unified Folders feature again. It was useful while it lasted.

But I'm not sure what the problem is in discovering the cause. Unified Folders was working perfectly in one version, then broke in the next version. Wouldn't doing a file diff on the appropriate files make it pretty obvious what was changed, and point to cause of the problem?

Comment 20

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

(In reply to macuc from comment #19)

...
But I'm not sure what the problem is in discovering the cause. Unified Folders was working perfectly in one version, then broke in the next version. Wouldn't doing a file diff on the appropriate files make it pretty obvious what was changed, and point to cause of the problem?

No, it's not that simple, because there are many potential causes for what you are seeing.

Have you manually created any virtual folders?
Do you have other folder modes enabled? (unread, favorite, recent, tags)