741374 - Getting messages triggers 'command error 12' pop-up in bottom right corner(Badly configured IMAP server retrurns "BAD Command Error. 12" to ID command even though server returns ID in CAPABILITY response, so send_client_info=false was introduced)

Status: RESOLVED INVALID

(MailNews Core :: Networking: IMAP, enhancement)

Description

[michael]

Attachment: commanderror12.png

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64) AppleWebKit/535.11 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/17.0.963.83 Safari/535.11

Steps to reproduce:

Pop up message occurs when checking for new emails or after sending a new email.


Actual results:

After my email provider upgraded to Exchange 2010, this error message/pop up started appearing. It doesn't not appear to actually affect anything; as far as I can tell, sending and receiving of messages is unaffected and the message should probably be supressed as it is not important? I have contacted my provider about it and they seem to think it is an issue with Thunderbird. They could not tell me what command error 12 signifies.


Expected results:

Nothing seems to be wrong, so I don't think the message should appear.

Comment 1

[Hashem Masoud]

(In reply to michael from comment #0)
> After my email provider upgraded to Exchange 2010, this error message/pop up
> started appearing. It doesn't not appear to actually affect anything; as far

Maybe your provider disabled IMAP/POP support. You can check the session log: https://wiki.mozilla.org/MailNews:Logging

Comment 2

[michael]

Thanks for your reply. They haven't disabled IMAP or POP support; it still fetches the messages ok, it just generates this pop up error message every single time. It doesn't appear to be missing emails or anything like that. Arguably it is a purely cosmetic error, but I have hundreds of customers and over the last two years have switched many of them to Thunderbird, so it is frustrating that they have these messages pop up. I don't want to undermine their faith in the software, and it seems silly to have to keep telling them 'it is fine, ignore the message'.

Thanks also for the wiki link; I've created the batch file to start the logging process - presumably I need to run this before running Thunderbird, and it then logs that whole session until Thunderbird is closed?

I've never done logged a bug with it before so generating logs for debugging purposes is all new to me.

Comment 3

[Ludovic Hirlimann [:Usul]]

(In reply to michael from comment #2)
 
> Thanks also for the wiki link; I've created the batch file to start the
> logging process - presumably I need to run this before running Thunderbird,
> and it then logs that whole session until Thunderbird is closed?

yes ...
 
> I've never done logged a bug with it before so generating logs for debugging
> purposes is all new to me.

and make sure your user can write in the directory where the log file is pointing to.

Comment 4

[michael]

Attachment: Log file showing two instances of the error (checked sent folder, checked inbox)

Created batch file as described here: https://wiki.mozilla.org/MailNews:Logging#Windows

Ran Thunderbird, logged in to mailbox (Exchange 2010); it was already set to look at Sent folder, so it checked that folder and triggered the command error 12 message. I then switched to the Inbox folder, thus triggering another command error 12 message. I then closed Thunderbird and terminated the log.

The first instance of the error occurs on line 36 of the log.
The second instance of the error is logged on line 222.

For privacy reasons, I edited out the mailserver and email address in the log with <MAILSERVER> and <EMAILADDRESS>.

Comment 5

[michael]

If you would like me to create a mailbox for you for testing purposes please let me know.

Comment 6

[Kevin Lea]

Attachment: Log File (only 11hr-productions mailboxes have the problems)

As you can see there is a few mailboxes that are not working properly due to fasthosts changing to Exchange 2010 earlier this year.

Comment 7

[Ludovic Hirlimann [:Usul]]

from the log 

6756[64e1e80]: ReadNextLine [stream=9209b68 nb=25 needmore=0]
6756[64e1e80]: 7568c00:mail.11hr-productions.co.uk:A:CreateNewLineFromSocket: 3 BAD Command Error. 12

Hum this looks more like a server error than a Thunderbird one.

Comment 8

[Kevin Lea]

I have been in touch with Fasthosts and they are 100% positive that it's a Mozilla bug, I can get into my mail fine via the outlook webpage just that Thunderbird seems to struggle.

Comment 9

[michael]

Kevin, you say that Thunderbird seems to struggle - do you notice any mail missing or anything like that? For me and my customers, everything seems to be find, sending and receiving of mail etc - just the message keeps popping up for no reason.

I might try raising another support request with Fasthosts and refer them to this bug report.

Ludovic, if you could please give me more detail regarding what makes you think it is a server error instead of a Thunderbird error, that might help my case with Fasthosts. I can't fully understand the log output and not sure where to go to try and understand it.

It is a fair point though, from Fasthosts' point of view, that other email clients do not have the same behaviour/report this error message.

Comment 10

[Kevin Lea]

Emails seem to come and go fine, it's just I think it's how Thunderbird deals with the certain folders like example Exchange uses Deleted Items or Sent Items, Thunderbird is set to Trash even when you change it to what Exchange has it still comes out with the error 12, seems a big issue but no one seems to know what it is or how to fix it, but I have been in touch several times with Fasthosts and they are persistent in thinking it's not their fault, just wish they never upgraded their email configs now.

Comment 11

[Ludovic Hirlimann [:Usul]]

(In reply to michael from comment #9)
> Ludovic, if you could please give me more detail regarding what makes you
> think it is a server error instead of a Thunderbird error, that might help
> my case with Fasthosts. I can't fully understand the log output and not sure
> where to go to try and understand it.

I'm no expert but see comment 7
Thunderbird passes an imap command to the server , command number 6756
Server answers error 12

Comment 12

[David :Bienvenu]

(In reply to Kevin Lea from comment #8)
> I have been in touch with Fasthosts and they are 100% positive that it's a
> Mozilla bug
That error is coming from the IMAP server. I doubt very much that Fasthosts have done any sort of investigation. Did they claim Thunderbird is sending invalid protocol?
> I can get into my mail fine via the outlook webpage just that
> Thunderbird seems to struggle.
The outlook webpage doesn't use IMAP.

If you generate an IMAP protocol log using these instructions, https://wiki.mozilla.org/MailNews:Logging - you should be able to tell the Fasthosts folks exactly which command Thunderbird is sending that's causing them to return an error.

Comment 13

[Kevin Lea]

Is that the log I already sent on here? i have no idea what im looking for in there and is seems mozilla and fasthosts are denying they have the problems it's like a question of who is right or wrong but i will contact them again but had very little help last time.

Comment 14

[David :Bienvenu]

(In reply to Kevin Lea from comment #13)
> Is that the log I already sent on here? i have no idea what im looking for
> in there and is seems mozilla and fasthosts are denying they have the
> problems it's like a question of who is right or wrong but i will contact
> them again but had very little help last time.

Oh, my apologies, didn't see the log. yeah, so the server is telling us that it supports the ID command, which allows us to identify ourselves to the server, but then giving us an error when we execute the command! So, the server would seem to be at fault.

But, I added a hidden pref to turn off Thunderbird's use of the ID command for just this reason. If you go into the config editor (tools, options, advanced, general, config editor button), and type "send_client_info", you'll see a pref that controls whether we'll send the ID command. toggle it to false, and the error should stop.

Comment 15

[Kevin Lea]

Only problem I see with that but only guessing is that i have few folders into something called Deleted Items which shouldn't be there, but anytime I delete it and reopen Thunderbird it comes back :(

Comment 16

[WADA:World Anti-bad-Duping Agency]

send_client_info=false is already introduced for such badly configured IMAP server.
Changing to Severity=Enhancement. (torelance of Tb with bad IMAP server)
David, which Tb release will have the option?

Comment 17

[WADA:World Anti-bad-Duping Agency]

If send_client_info=false is officially supported, I think it should be per server option.

Comment 18

[David :Bienvenu]

(In reply to WADA from comment #17)
> If send_client_info=false is officially supported, I think it should be per
> server option.

it is per server - but it's so much easier to tell people how to change the default setting, and nothing will break if we stop using ID for his other servers, if any.

Comment 19

[Tom Pearson]

Attachment: Another IMAP log for an email account at Fasthosts that is showing error

Comment 20

[David :Bienvenu]

Tom, this is a server issue. See https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=741374#c14 for how to tell Thunderbird not to send the command that the server is unhappy about.

Comment 21

[David :Bienvenu]

Wayne, Roland, probably something for support to know about (warning with Fasthost imap servers).