277460 - Thunderbird is difficult to use with multiple profiles simultaneously - starting with -P switch should create a new instance

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Thunderbird :: General, enhancement)

Description

[David Feuer]

When Thunderbird is run with the -P switch, it should create a new instance if
there is not yet an instance running with that profile.  This will make things
far easier for families that share a computer when one member wants to check
email for  a second without making another member exit thunderbird.  The effect
should, I think, be the same as that of setting MOZ_NO_REMOTE to 1.  On an
enhancement level, it'd be nice to enable the user to easily install a shortcut
to each profile in the start menu when the profile is created, rather than
making users roll these from scratch, which many do not know how to do.

Comment 1

[David Feuer]

Proposed fix:
When Thunderbird is run with the -P switch, and an instance is running, check to
see whether that profile is locked _before_ deciding what to do.  If the profile
is not locked, a new instance should be started.  If it is locked, there needs
to be some way to find that instance.  I'm sure someone can figure that out.

Comment 2

[David Feuer]

Steps to reproduce:

Run thunderbird -P ABC
Then run thunderbird -P XYZ

Expected result:

Two instances of Thunderbird, one running with profile ABC and the other with
profile XYZ

Actual result:

One instance of Thunderbird running with profile ABC.

Note:  If MOZ_NO_REMOTE is set to 1, this example will work, but
thunderbird -P ABC
followed by
thunderbird -P ABC
will open the profile selection dialog rather than the existing instance of
thunderbird.

Comment 3

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

This is an automated message, with ID "auto-resolve01".

This bug has had no comments for a long time. Statistically, we have found that
bug reports that have not been confirmed by a second user after three months are
highly unlikely to be the source of a fix to the code.

While your input is very important to us, our resources are limited and so we
are asking for your help in focussing our efforts. If you can still reproduce
this problem in the latest version of the product (see below for how to obtain a
copy) or, for feature requests, if it's not present in the latest version and
you still believe we should implement it, please visit the URL of this bug
(given at the top of this mail) and add a comment to that effect, giving more
reproduction information if you have it.

If it is not a problem any longer, you need take no action. If this bug is not
changed in any way in the next two weeks, it will be automatically resolved.
Thank you for your help in this matter.

The latest beta releases can be obtained from:
Firefox:     http://www.mozilla.org/projects/firefox/
Thunderbird: http://www.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird/releases/1.5beta1.html
Seamonkey:   http://www.mozilla.org/projects/seamonkey/

Comment 4

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

This bug has been automatically resolved after a period of inactivity (see above
comment). If anyone thinks this is incorrect, they should feel free to reopen it.

Comment 5

[Alexander Sack]

this (see comment 1 and comment 2) should be dealt with imo ... either disable profile support completely or fix these issues.

Scott, what do you think?

Comment 6

[Phil Ringnalda (:philor)]

See bug 308076 (of which this is, practically, a duplicate, since most of the profile code is in toolkit and we're extremely unlikely to want to fork this behavior, much less that code) - the hypothetical happy family happily sharing a single OS login will just have to learn to type |thunderbird -P Daddy -no-remote|.