277998 - SMTP setting of identities is not changed according to SMTP change of primary account (Introduce "Always use primary's SMTP" for identities, please)

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 316978

(Thunderbird :: Account Manager, enhancement)

Description

[Matthew Somerville]

From Bug 272354 comments:

I have two SMTP servers, smtp1 and smtp2, and an account with three identities,
1-3. Looking at my prefs.js file gives me:
  user_pref("mail.identity.id1.smtpServer", "smtp1");
  user_pref("mail.identity.id2.smtpServer", "smtp1");
  user_pref("mail.identity.id3.smtpServer", "smtp1");

Which is fine. I then change my account (Tools->Account Settings->Server
Settings->Advanced->SMTP) to be "Always use default server" (because my computer
is in two locations, each of which forces me to use a different SMTP server, so
I just want to change the default server when I move location). And now prefs.js
says:
  user_pref("mail.identity.id1.smtpServer", "");
  user_pref("mail.identity.id2.smtpServer", "smtp1");
  user_pref("mail.identity.id3.smtpServer", "smtp1");

Which means when I'm in location 2, and I've set the default to smtp2, trying to
send mail using either of the non-default identities fails, as I can't connect
to smtp1 from there. I would expect that changing the SMTP server setting for
the "account" changes it for all the identities, and this caused me some
confusion for a while.

Comment 1

[WADA:World Anti-bad-Duping Agency]

Write again description of Bug 272354 comment #4 and Bug 272354 comment #5.  

SMTP choice problem when identity definition is alredy resolved by Bug 235762.
> Bug 235762 Identity should use the account preferences instead of the default 
Bug 235762 was closed as FIXED(but no patch) based on closing as FIXED by patch
for Bug 246744.
Bug 246744 is UI change for identities, for FCC folder , BCC etc. 
> Bug 246744 Missing identity attributes for multiple identities UI

And Bug 235762 Comment #19 says :
> I changed my default SMTP and added afterwards a new identity.
> This identity contains all needed prefs and the correct SMTP
> (not the new default SMTP).
This indicates :
 - After patch for Bug 246744, SMTP of a identitiy is set from primary account's
   SMTP definition, when identity is defined.

But this is done when identity definition time only.
Primary account's SMTP setting should be inherited when setting change.

Comment 2

[WADA:World Anti-bad-Duping Agency]

Inheriting SMTP choice is not valid action if user intentionaly set identitiy's
SMTP choice to different SMTP from primary account's one.
To avoid this, I think introducing "Always use Primary Account's SMTP server"
can be a solution.
 - Assign "smtp0" to it, because SMTPs are defined from smtp1 and smtp0 isn't used.
 - Set "smtp0" on new identity definition.

Change summary according to above.

Comment 3

[WADA:World Anti-bad-Duping Agency]

UI for independent settings for each identitiy's is already implemented by Bug
262300.
See Bug 245162 comment #18. 

Comment 4

[WADA:World Anti-bad-Duping Agency]

Introducing "Use primary's account's setting" can be a better solution, because
inheriting is also prefeable for FCC folder etc. in many cases.
This is same kind of setting as "Use my global LDAP server preference for this
account", while "Always Use Primary's SMTP" is natural enhancement of "Always
use deafult SMTP server".

Comment 5

[WADA:World Anti-bad-Duping Agency]

See Bug 245162 for discussion on inheriting of FCC foler etc.

Comment 6

[Marcelo Vanzin]

I think a better way to do it is to set up the identity's properties such as
SMTP server and mail composition options to "inherit from primary identity" when
creating new identities.

Once the user changes an identity property manually, then changes to the primary
identity wouldn't affect that particular property that was changed.

This wouldn't fix identities which are currently messed up, though. So maybe a
"back door" way to set the identity's properties back to "inherit" would be nice. 

But adding a new option for a specific option of the identity seems like a waste
for me (just make it generic for all identity properties).

Comment 7

[Mike Cowperthwaite]

xref bug 222388

Comment 8

[Mike Cowperthwaite]

*** Bug 322995 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 9

[Nicolas Mandil (:NicolasWeb)]

This bug is SMTP specific of bug 316978