539503 - Different emails are merged into one (corrupted) email

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

(Thunderbird :: Folder and Message Lists, defect)

Description

[Christoph Tapler]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-US; rv:1.9.1.7) Gecko/20091221 Firefox/3.5.7 (.NET CLR 3.5.30729)
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-US; rv:1.9.1.5) Gecko/20091204 Lightning/1.0b1 Thunderbird/3.0

In rare cases, two emails are merged into one email. I am using IMAP and GMail as Provider. In the GMail web front-end the two emails are shown correctly. In my local Inbox in TB, the content of the two emails is merged. The subject in the local Inbox shows the subject of the second email.
When I look into the message source, it seems that the first email is okay (message header is included), but the message source of the second email seems truncated at the beginning (missing mail header and more) and at the end.

If you want I can send the original emails (from the GMail web account) and the corrupted email (from the local GMail inbox) to some specific person. Just want to avoid posting personal data into the bug filing system.

Reproducible: Didn't try

Steps to Reproduce:
Don't see a way to reproduce this problem. Just happens once a while (<1% of the received emails) when synchronizing with my GMail account.

Comment 1

[WADA:World Anti-bad-Duping Agency]

What mail do you mean by first mail and second mail?
What is the "subject in the local Inbox"? String in "Subject" column of thread pane? Subject displayed at mail header box of message pane?
Do you enable "offline use" for Inbox of the Gmail IMAP account?
(Folder Properties, Synchronization)

Could you please describe clear/detailed phenomenon.
Show "Order Received" column(UID of mail if IMAP), and write the UID for the "first mail" abd the "second mail", please.
If possible, please explain about data of the "truncated at the beginning and at the end. Which mail's data is displayed?

If possible, explain about what is correct data for the two mails, please.
1. Create new profile, define the Gmail IMAP account,
   disable Global Search and Indexer,
   disable auto-sync of the IMAP account(uncheck "Keep messages...")
2. Open Inbox, wait for download of headers.
3. Save the two mails(same UID of the "first mail" and the "second mail") to .eml files.
4. Restart Tb with current profile, and compare mail data.

Comment 2

[Christoph Tapler]

On GMail Web front-end:
First mail: "Bestaetigung Ihrer Bestellung beim ESPRESS0-Verlag" (older)
Second: "Bestellung Ausland"
Third mail: "BahnCity-HIT Luxus - Reisen auf hoechstem Niveau" (newer)

In Thunderbird Inbox:
First mail: 
    "Bestaetigung Ihrer Bestellung beim ESPRESS0-Verlag" 
    Order Received=4969
Second mail: 
    "Bestellung Ausland"
    Order Received=4970
Third mail:
    "BahnCity-HIT Luxus - Reisen auf hoechstem Niveau",
    Order Received=4976

--> Everything seems fine, but...
--> First mail was received correctly (sorry, explanation was a bit misleading in my first email)
--> Second mail is OK
--> Third email "BahnCity..." is corrupted, whereas the head and the tail of the email is missing, and at the end, the full content of the first email ("Bestaetigung...") has been appended (including the mail header, whereas content is exactly the same compared to first email, including date, time, etc)

Further notes:
- I do not use GMail and / or Thunderbird in offline mode
- When I set up my GMail account again, the issue does not appear again. 

Question:
- What do you mean with the UID?

Comment 3

[WADA:World Anti-bad-Duping Agency]

(In reply to comment #2)
> Question:
> - What do you mean with the UID?

UID==Unique Identifier which is assinged to a mail by IMAP server, and is displayed in "Order Received" column by Tb.

> Further notes:
> - I do not use GMail and / or Thunderbird in offline mode

I'm not talking about offline mode or online mode. I'm talking about per folder "offline use" setting (Folder Properties, Synchronization). 

> In Thunderbird Inbox:
> First mail: 
>(snip)
>     Order Received=4969

Does the "First" mean that UID=4969 is smallest value at "Order Received" of Inbox folder?

> Third mail:
>     "BahnCity-HIT Luxus - Reisen auf hoechstem Niveau",
>     Order Received=4976

> --> Third email "BahnCity..." is corrupted, whereas the head and the tail of
> the email is missing, and at the end, the full content of the first email
> ("Bestaetigung...") has been appended (including the mail header, whereas
> content is exactly the same compared to first email, including date, time, etc)

Save the corrupted mail to .eml file, and check top part of offline store file(file named ...\Inbox).
Is displayed mail source same as the top part of the offline store file?
I yes, see bug 501851.

Comment 4

[Christoph Tapler]

> Does the "First" mean that UID=4969 is smallest value at "Order Received" of
> Inbox folder?
Yes.

> I'm not talking about offline mode or online mode. 
> I'm talking about per folder
> "offline use" setting (Folder Properties, Synchronization). 

Yes, the "offline use" of the respective folder is activated.

> Save the corrupted mail to .eml file, and check top part of offline store
> file(file named ...\Inbox).
> Is displayed mail source same as the top part of the offline store file?

Yes, the content is the same.

>I yes, see bug 501851.

I did not understand the bug report. Anyway, I assume you are right.

Comment 5

[WADA:World Anti-bad-Duping Agency]

(In reply to comment #4)
> > Save the corrupted mail to .eml file, and check top part of offline store
> > file(file named ...\Inbox).
> > Is displayed mail source same as the top part of the offline store file?
> 
> Yes, the content is the same.

Data at offset=0 in offline-store is displayed for the third mail.
What is file size of the saved .eml?

Do you use auto-backup software for directories for Tb's mail folder file?
Do you run virus-scan of anti-virus software periodically on directories for Tb's mail folder file?
(test case of bug 501851 is emulation of interfere by such programs.)

Comment 6

[WADA:World Anti-bad-Duping Agency]

FYI.
Recovery from bug:
If folder is small, rebuild-index is simplest way. 
If folder is big, move the error mail to other folder of same IMAP account, then move back the mail to original folder. To remove garbage in offline-store, it's better to execute "compact" after move back.

Comment 7

[Christoph Tapler]

> Data at offset=0 in offline-store is displayed for the third mail.
> What is file size of the saved .eml?
The file size is 6940 bytes.

> Do you use auto-backup software for directories for Tb's mail folder file?
No.

> Do you run virus-scan of anti-virus software periodically on directories for
> Tb's mail folder file? 
> (test case of bug 501851 is emulation of interfere by such programs.)
Yes, I have installed an Antivirus software which checks incoming mails.
I am using Avira Antivir Premium.

Comment 8

[nigelord]

I have seen this behaviour also. Reason I am posting it is because original post was Vista / IMAP I have seen it on XP SP3 / POP3. I checked mail on my ISP webmail and it looked ok but in TB 2 mails merged into 1. If you provide me with an email address I can forward you the mail. 

Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-GB; rv:1.9.1.9) Gecko/20100317 Thunderbird/3.0.4

Comment 9

[Andrew]

I also have this problem. Emails in inbox from Gmail/IMAP is truncated and overwritten at the bottom by a previous email. This previous email remains uncorrupted in the inbox. Occasionally had the problem prior to TB v3. After upgrading to v3 it "went away". Now have TB 3.0.5 (under XP SP2) and it happens continuously. Can usually view the problem email uncorrupted at first and then later on find it corrupted. This has happened to about 10 emails today, but not all emails. After reading this bug report I changed folder properties/synchronisation so that the folder is not selected for offline use. Have not yet seen another corrupted email after viewing about 8 new emails in 6 hours since changing sync setting. I presume I have to rebuild TB from Gmail?

Comment 10

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Do you still see this issue when using version 5 or 6 (due out a week)?
- If you no longer see the problem, please set status to RESOLVED, and set resolution to WORKSFORME.
- If you still see the problem, please provide updated details, and any additional steps needed to reproduce the problem.

Comment 11

[Christoph Tapler]

Never experienced that problem any more.