397875 - Messages lost after adding slash "/" (or other chars forbidden in filesystem) to the name of mail folder with a long name

Status: UNCONFIRMED

(Thunderbird :: Folder and Message Lists, defect)

Description

[Maciej Jaros]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; pl; rv:1.8.1.7) Gecko/20070914 Firefox/2.0.0.7
Build Identifier: wersja 2.0.0.6 (20070728)

Firstly if someone could help me in restoring the messages I would be very grateful!

Now for the bug. I'm not sure if it was about the slash, but this the only reason I could think off.

Reproducible: Didn't try

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Got some messages (read and unread) in a folder called "2007-01-27  01111, kjaksjk i lkjslakjsll ldkdjslk, VI LO Elafdl, Sjdkłeodmr" (I've changed some letters, but preserved length and non-ascii chars)
2. Renamed folder (with F2), to "[as above]/Tonie"

Actual Results:  
The messages disappeared!

Expected Results:  
Folder should simply be renamed or some popup should appear "This character is not allowed!"

Tried to rebuild index and to rename the folder to it's old name and rebuild again. No luck. After reopening TB there were two folders: "2007-01-27  01111, kjaksjk i lkjslakjsll ldkdjslk, VI LO Elafdl, Sjdkłeodmr" and "2007-01-27  01111, kjaksjk i lkjslakjsll ldkdjslk, VI LO Elafdl, Sjdkłeodmr63bf528"

If this is important I've got folders with many subfolders.

It also happened before few days ago. I think I'll make backups few times a day now...

Comment 1

[Maciej Jaros]

And now this strange folder cannot be removed ("2007-01-27 01111, kjaksjk i lkjslakjsll ldkdjslk, VI LO Elafdl, Sjdkłeodmr63bf528").

I found those messages on our server, but a workaround for future bugs like that would still be appreciated.

Comment 2

[Maciej Jaros]

Reproduced.

1. Create dir "2007-01-27  01111, kjaksjk i lkjslakjsll ldkdjslk, VI LO Elafdl, Sjdkłeodmr"
2. Copy e-mail with large attachment to it (my was about 10MB).
3. Change folder name to "2007-01-27  01111, kjaksjk i lkjslakjsll ldkdjslk, VI LO Elafdl, Sjdkłeodmr/Testin"
4. Messages disappear.

And now in "[my profile]\Mail\Local Folders\Serwis 87275995.sbd\oni.sbd\" I have:
2007-01-27  01111, kjaksjk i lkjslakjsll ldkdjsdf0df42d
2007-01-27  01111, kjaksjk i lkjslakjsll ldkdjsdf0df42d.msf
2007-01-27  01111, kjaksjk i lkjslakjsll ldkdjslk, VI LO Elafdl, Sjdkłeodmr0de52b5b
2007-01-27  01111, kjaksjk i lkjslakjsll ldkdjslk, VI LO Elafdl, Sjdkłeodmr0de52b5b.msf
2007-01-27  01111, kjaksjk i lkjslakjsll ldkdjslk, VI LO Elafdl, Sjdkłeodmr462311ee
2007-01-27  01111, kjaksjk i lkjslakjsll ldkdjslk, VI LO Elafdl, Sjdkłeodmr462311ee.msf

The two at the end seems to be correct, though I don't know how to import them back to the TB.

Comment 3

[Magnus Melin [:mkmelin]]

Look around in your profile folder <http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder> - you should probably find the a folder named as the original name. Move that under a folder where things work, and delete the corresponding .msf file.

Was this pop? I think there is a bug for imap about slash, not sure about pop. One of the bugs depending on bug 124287?

Comment 4

[Maciej Jaros]

(In reply to comment #3)
> Look around in your profile folder <http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder> -
> you should probably find the a folder named as the original name. Move that
> under a folder where things work, and delete the corresponding .msf file.
> 
> Was this pop? I think there is a bug for imap about slash, not sure about pop.
> One of the bugs depending on bug 124287?
> 

Yes that was pop, but in Local folders (if that makes any difference). I've tried few times and I'm sure it works every time - you just need to put a big message inside the folder. In other words it's not only a character thing. Maybe this is a friend of bug 381316? If I remember correctly it wasn't really fixed - just a workaround was made (rebuild after moving).

If I'll have some time I'll make a simple account to test on it and attach it's contents for a simpler testcase.

Comment 5

[WADA:World Anti-bad-Duping Agency]

Sounds to be RENAME version of problem of Bug 396149(Folder move case).

(In reply to comment #2)
> 1. Create dir "2007-01-27  01111, kjaksjk i lkjslakjsll ldkdjslk, VI LO Elafdl, Sjdkłeodmr"

What your "dir" means? Directory in file system of MS Windows? Or "Mail folder" in Thunderbird?

> And now in "[my profile]\Mail\Local Folders\Serwis 87275995.sbd\oni.sbd\" I
> have:
> 2007-01-27  01111, kjaksjk i lkjslakjsll ldkdjsdf0df42d
> 2007-01-27  01111, kjaksjk i lkjslakjsll ldkdjsdf0df42d.msf
> 2007-01-27  01111, kjaksjk i lkjslakjsll ldkdjslk, VI LO Elafdl,
> Sjdkłeodmr0de52b5b
> 2007-01-27  01111, kjaksjk i lkjslakjsll ldkdjslk, VI LO Elafdl,
> Sjdkłeodmr0de52b5b.msf
> 2007-01-27  01111, kjaksjk i lkjslakjsll ldkdjslk, VI LO Elafdl,
> Sjdkłeodmr462311ee
> 2007-01-27  01111, kjaksjk i lkjslakjsll ldkdjslk, VI LO Elafdl,
> Sjdkłeodmr462311ee.msf

\Local Folders\Serwis 87275995.sbd\oni.sbd corresponds to ;
  Account="Local Folders"
  Mai Folder=Serwis 87275995
    Subfolder=oni
What mail folder names are displayed as subfolders of "oni" in folder pane?
What text is obtained as "Folder Location" for subfolders of "oni"?
 1. "Copy Folder Location" in Context Menu of each subfolder of "omi"
 2. "Paste" at text editor such as notepad.exe

When above files were created? What file size?
Go Command Prompt
  MD C:\WORK
  CD [your profile]\Mail\Local Folders\Serwis 87275995.sbd\oni.sbd
  DIR *.* /S > C:\WORK\DIR-LIST.TXT
  notepad.exe C:\WORK\DIR-LIST.TXT

Each ".msf" file contains string of "mail folder name" in it.
What string for "mail folder name" is kept in above ".msf" files?
(Shutdown Thunderbird, and open above ".msf" files by notepad.exe) 

> 1. Create dir "2007-01-27  01111, kjaksjk i lkjslakjsll ldkdjslk, VI LO Elafdl, Sjdkłeodmr"
>(snip)
> 3. Change folder name to "2007-01-27  01111, kjaksjk i lkjslakjsll ldkdjslk, VI LO Elafdl, Sjdkłeodmr/Testin"

What files will be created for mail folder of above names?
 1. Create a mail folder for test (Say Test)
 2. Create mail folders of above names as subfolder of "Test" via UI.  
 3. Check directory structure of directory of C:\Doc...\Mail\...\Test.sbd
    Go Command Prompt
     MD C:\WORK
     CD C:\Doc...\Mail\...\Test.sbd
     DIR *.* /S > C:\WORK\DIR-LIST.TXT
     notepad.exe C:\WORK\DIR-LIST.TXT


 

Comment 6

[Magnus Melin [:mkmelin]]

STR from comment 2 seem reproducible on linux too. As for getting the messages back, find the "fake" file, swap it's file name with the real one.

Comment 7

[Maciej Jaros]

Attachment: Local Folders - after renaming the folder

1. In local folders created a folder called "2007-01-27  01111, kjaksjk i lkjslakjsll ldkdjslk, VI LO Elafdl, Sjdkłeodmr".
2. Created a message with TB setup 2.0.0.6.exe attached to it.
3. Copied the message to the mail folder.
4. Renamed the mail folder to "2007-01-27  01111, kjaksjk i lkjslakjsll ldkdjslk, VI LO Elafdl, Sjdkłeodmr/test"
5. The message disappeared.

Attaching the Local Folders folder. Just removed inner part of the attachment.

Comment 8

[Maciej Jaros]

Attachment: Local folders - before and after (simple name)

Tested some more and didn't work with short folder names... And then it hit me.

1. Create a big message (with about 10MB attachment).
2. In your local folder create a mail folder:
123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678
3. Copy the message to this folder.
4. Rename the folder to something like:
123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678/test
5. The message will disappear.

Adding a single "/" will also have the same effect. It also works with: "#", "*", ":", "?". So this seems to be about characters that needs escaping (not allowed for file names).

Comment 9

[Maciej Jaros]

Changing description after tests. If someone have any idea how to shorten this go ahead :).

Comment 10

[Maciej Jaros]

> Adding a single "/" will also have the same effect. It also works with: "#",
> "*", ":", "?". So this seems to be about characters that needs escaping (not
> allowed for file names).

Damn... Add space (" ") to the list.

BTW to quickly restore the contents of the folder:
1. Change the folder back to it's old name.
2. Close TB.
3. Go to your profile folder <http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder>
4. Just to be sure you won't mess up - backup your profile folder
5. Search for a file named like the renamed folder (there should be two files - one without an extension and one with an "msf" extension).
6. Now you have to rename two files with the new name to the old name of the folder.
7. Run TB again and make sure that everything is OK.

e.g.
* I have a folder named: "folder before renaming"
* I rename it to: "long folder name after renaming: something"
* Messages disappeared.
Fix:
1. Rename now empty folder
"long folder name after renaming: something"
back to
"folder before renaming"
2. Close TB.
3. Go to your profile folder <http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder>
4. Just to be sure you won't mess up - backup your profile folder
5. Searching for a file named
"folder before renaming"
6. Now rename
"long folder name after renaming a123" (Note: "a123" will be some numbers and letters)
to
"folder before renaming"
and
"long folder name after renaming a123.msf" (Note: "a123" will be some numbers and letters)
to
"folder before renaming.msf"

Comment 11

[Maciej Jaros]

OK. Now that I have some better understanding of TB (thanks this this bug ;)) I can give you a very quick and much easier workaround.

To restore the contents of a folder you should:
1. Close TB.
2. Go to your profile folder <http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder>
3. Backup your profile folder (just to be sure you won't mess up)
4. Search for a file named like your folder was named (but not more then the first 40 characters of it). You will find 2 files that start with those chars and 2 more that start with the new folder name.
5. Now simply copy the full name (including an extension) of shorter files to those that are longer.
6. Run TB again and make sure that everything is OK.

You can do this really quick with shortcut-keys for renaming files. Just Copy&Paste and your done.


BTW. This seems like a bug that is easy to fix - TB should easily remove unwanted files and rename the correct ones.

Comment 12

[c.duvergier.div]

The same problem occured with my mailers (which are Thunderbird v2.0 and SeaMonkey v1.1 and v2.0): The files describing and representing a folder have a name that differs from the one I typed in the software.

I've got two cases:
- A folder created under the name "This is my #1 folder" and listed as such ("This is my #1 folder") in the mailer folder list whereas it's .msf and content FS files are "This is my 13b60fb3.msf" and "This is my 13b60fb3"

- An older folder that might come from a previous mailer version which is listed as "Folder about3f23c2a6", just like it's FS files: "Folder about3f23c2a6.msf" and "Folder about3f23c2a6".

Whe can see that the software can, somehow, "translate" the name "This is my 13b60fb3" into "This is my #1 folder" (because it is shown as it).
So why can't it do for the other case?

In my case, what I absolutely need to recover is the original name of the folders.

Comment 13

[Marcus]

This Bug is still valid. 
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.1; rv:2.0b4pre) Gecko/20100817 SeaMonkey/2.1a3

Comment 14

[Thomas D. (:thomas8)]

This should be confirmed or marked as dupe.

I think the reason why this bug isn't confirmed (in spite of many confirmations in previous comments) is simply that we have a lot of similar bugs out there collected as dependants of Meta bug 124287:
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/showdependencytree.cgi?id=124287&hide_resolved=1

If you see a bug in that list which describes the same problem, preferably with a lower bug number than this one, pls mark this as a duplicate.

Comment 15

[Magnus Melin [:mkmelin]]

24 is not developed anymore