813539 - Columns not remembered in the message list after restart (only after restart of Tb which is automatically initiated when an update is applied by Addon update). Caused by add-on/extension

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

(Thunderbird :: Folder and Message Lists, defect)

Description

[Konstantin Stefanov]

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:16.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/16.0
Build ID: 20121024073032

Steps to reproduce:

Change the columns show for INBOX for first account (or their order).
Wait for some addon to update.
Press 'restart now' in addon manager.

I retain only Thread, Subject, From, Date and Attachment columns in that order.


Actual results:

Column list and order in INBOX reset to default state.


Expected results:

Column list and order in INBOX stay as I changed it.

This is resurrect of bug #710056, which is RESOLVED FIXED, but the issue is still here in 16.0.2, and in bug comments it is advised to file the new one.

Comment 1

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

duplicate of bug 812786?

Comment 2

[:aceman]

This one at least has proper STR.

For the record, I could not reproduce this with just disabling/enabling any add on and clicking 'restart now' in addon manager, on TB19 Win XP. The columns on the currently active folder (inbox) stay preserved.
I also tried opening an updated addon from file (xpi) and got the "addon will be updated after restart". Clicking 'restart now' still preserved the columns.

Comment 3

[Konstantin Stefanov]

(In reply to Wayne Mery (:wsmwk) from comment #1)
> duplicate of bug 812786?

Not exactly. I see 2 differences:
1. I do not see 'Recipients' appearing. Folder list is reset to some default view, but there is no 'Recipients' there. That default has coluemns 'Thread', 'Star', 'Subject', 'Read', 'From', Junk Status', 'Date' in that order. And there is 'Attachment' column somewhere near the beginning of list in the default view.

2. For me it happens after Addon update (may be after TB update as well, but it seldom happens without addon update in the same restart), not reandomly.

As I found just now, it also happens after 'repair folder' on INBOX, but the 'Attachment' column is not reset to its default position somewhere in the beginning of columns, as happens after TB restart.

And yes, I have quite old profile, 5+ years.

Comment 4

[Hillel Markowitz]

It is still happening in Thunderbird 19 Beta 1

Comment 5

[WADA:World Anti-bad-Duping Agency]

Attachment: Small test addon to show column setting value obtained via gFolderDisplay.getColumnStates()

This test addon, named WinBackMyTrash, has 5 cutomized ToolBar buttons.
Button3($ mark icon) is for this bug.
(button 1/2/4 is for other test. button 2/3/4/5 merely dumps object data to Error Console, and nothing of Tb's setting/status is changed except Error Console data.)

How to use.
1. Add button3 of test addon to Menuw Bar(or ordinal ToolBar).
   Open Error Console.
2. After column setting change of a mail folder by you,
   and just before restart of Tb by any event,
   (normal termiation/restart, restart by upgarade of Tb/addon)
   Select a mail of relevant mail folder at thread pane,
   Click button3($ mark), Copy Error Console log to Text Editor, Save as file.
   Confirm that column setting data is correct(no mismatch with actual display) 
   Note: This is dump data of JavaScript object. i.e. Data held in memory.
3. Just before restart of Tb, keep backup of .msf file of the relevant folder.
   Is column setting data held in .msf correct? Or obsolete one?
   Note-1: column setting data is not physically written to .msf file
           until event such as folder close occurs.
           So, if the relevant mail folder is opened at messsenger window,
           latest column setting data is not held in .msf at this stage.

After it,
4. If you see your problem on mail folder after restart of Tb, check column setting data in .msf file, shown column setting data by addon, actual column display staus, please.
Is column setting after restart(you call "not remember after restart") same as one in .msf at step 3? Or different one such as internal default column set?

By the way, if you want to know about properties/provided function of gFolderDisplay object, add button5("i" mark) to Menue Bar, and select Drafts folder of any account, select a mail in it, click button5, copy Error Console log data to Text Editor.

Comment 6

[WADA:World Anti-bad-Duping Agency]

(In reply to Constantin Stefanov from comment #3)
> As I found just now, it also happens after 'repair folder' on INBOX, but the
> 'Attachment' column is not reset to its default position somewhere in the
> beginning of columns, as happens after TB restart.

If local mail folder, I guess inbox is written as Inbox in many cases...
IMAP? If so, don't refer to different/already-know problem, please.

For change is "From disapears, Recipient appears" what is seen in some problem reports in other bugs.
Do you set Sent folder == Inbox?

Comment 7

[WADA:World Anti-bad-Duping Agency]

(In reply to Constantin Stefanov from comment #3)
> As I found just now, it also happens after 'repair folder' on INBOX, but the
> 'Attachment' column is not reset to its default position somewhere in the
> beginning of columns, as happens after TB restart.

If IMAP, read bug 710056 comment #1, please.

Comment 8

[WADA:World Anti-bad-Duping Agency]

Comment on attachment 709365 [details]
Small test addon to show column setting value obtained via gFolderDisplay.getColumnStates()

I attached new version of test extension( attachment 710391 [details] ) to bug 812786.
See bug 812786 comment 11, please.

Comment 9

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Constantin, what is your thoughts to previous comments?

Comment 10

[Konstantin Stefanov]

I am sorry, I missed some comments.

I installed the addon, restarted TB (as needed to finish addon install). After restart, column order in INBOX is changed to default.
WinBackMyThrash1->Thread column Settings gives:
----------------------------------------------------------
2013/06/06 06:52:51.722 WinBackMyTrash

Current selection
  serverURI = imap://[e-mail], type = imap, isGMailServer = undefined
  trashFolderName = undefined, personalNamespace = undefined
  Mbox=INBOX :  URI=imap://[e-mail]/INBOX, prettiestName=Inbox, SpecialUse( nothing ), expungedBytes=482039947, sizeOnDisk=1960915721, All_isSpecialFolder( Inbox,Mail,Elided,ImapBox,ImapPersonal,Offline,Favorite )

Thread column setting
  threadCol = { visible = true, ordinal = 3 }
  flaggedCol = { visible = true, ordinal = 5 }
  attachmentCol = { visible = true, ordinal = 7 }
  subjectCol = { visible = true, ordinal = 9 }
  unreadButtonColHeader = { visible = true, ordinal = 11 }
  senderCol = { visible = true, ordinal = 13 }
  recipientCol = { visible = false, ordinal = 15 }
  junkStatusCol = { visible = true, ordinal = 17 }
  receivedCol = { visible = false, ordinal = 19 }
  dateCol = { visible = true, ordinal = 21 }
  statusCol = { visible = false, ordinal = 23 }
  sizeCol = { visible = false, ordinal = 25 }
  tagsCol = { visible = false, ordinal = 27 }
  accountCol = { visible = false, ordinal = 29 }
  priorityCol = { visible = false, ordinal = 31 }
  unreadCol = { visible = false, ordinal = 33 }
  totalCol = { visible = false, ordinal = 35 }
  locationCol = { visible = false, ordinal = 37 }
  idCol = { visible = false, ordinal = 39 }
  enigmailStatusCol = { visible = false, ordinal = 1 }
gFolderDisplay._columnsDirty = false
gFolderDisplay._savedColumnStates = null
-----------------------------------------------------
It is the order I see (the default TB order, not that I previously set. But I noticed that if I change to another mail folder and then back to INBOX (just 2 mouse clicks, nothing more), the order is restored to mine. And your addons confirms it:
---------------------------------------------------------------
2013/06/06 06:57:34.375 WinBackMyTrash

Current selection
  serverURI = imap://[e-mail], type = imap, isGMailServer = undefined
  trashFolderName = undefined, personalNamespace = undefined
  Mbox=INBOX :  URI=imap://[e-mail]/INBOX, prettiestName=Inbox, SpecialUse( nothing ), expungedBytes=484410318, sizeOnDisk=1960915721, All_isSpecialFolder( Inbox,Mail,Elided,ImapBox,ImapPersonal,Offline,Favorite )

Thread column setting
  threadCol = { visible = true, ordinal = 3 }
  flaggedCol = { visible = false, ordinal = 5 }
  attachmentCol = { visible = true, ordinal = 21 }
  subjectCol = { visible = true, ordinal = 7 }
  unreadButtonColHeader = { visible = false, ordinal = 9 }
  senderCol = { visible = true, ordinal = 11 }
  recipientCol = { visible = false, ordinal = 13 }
  junkStatusCol = { visible = false, ordinal = 15 }
  receivedCol = { visible = false, ordinal = 17 }
  dateCol = { visible = true, ordinal = 19 }
  statusCol = { visible = false, ordinal = 23 }
  sizeCol = { visible = false, ordinal = 25 }
  tagsCol = { visible = false, ordinal = 27 }
  accountCol = { visible = false, ordinal = 29 }
  priorityCol = { visible = false, ordinal = 31 }
  unreadCol = { visible = false, ordinal = 33 }
  totalCol = { visible = false, ordinal = 35 }
  locationCol = { visible = false, ordinal = 37 }
  idCol = { visible = false, ordinal = 39 }
  enigmailStatusCol = { visible = false, ordinal = 1 }
gFolderDisplay._columnsDirty = false
gFolderDisplay._savedColumnStates = null
---------------------------------------------------------------

I have INBOX.msf files: INBOX.1.msf is copied immediately after first TB restart (after addon install), when the order of columns is TB default, not mine. Next (INBOX.2.msf) when I changed mail folder forth and back and thus restored column order and the third (INBOX.2.msf) I took after another one restart of TB, just in case.
But I do not know how to extract column order info from msf files. They are quite large (more than 6MB each), but heir difference is small.
Here are 2 diffs:
---------------------------------------------------------------
--- INBOX.1.msf	2013-06-06 10:50:43.196169900 +0400
+++ INBOX.2.msf	2013-06-06 10:57:27.191679100 +0400
@@ -108917,3 +108917,14 @@
 <(34F9BAC=4935|$D0$92$D0$B0$D0$B4$D0$B8$D0$BC $D0$92$D0$BE$D0$B5$D0$B2$D0$BE$D0\
 $B4$D0$B8$D0$BD)>[10152B:^80(^D3^34F9BAC)]
 @$$}5D5BF}@
+
+@$${5D5C0{@
+<(34F9BB5=1370501846)(34F9BB4=1cdf83ce)>
+[-1:^9F(^AC=1)(^AD=1)(^AE^81)(^A7^81)(^88^82)(^AF=337678)(^B0^84)(^A8^85)
+    (^B3=10156d)(^A1=1e89)(^A2=3)(^A6=10156d)(^BE^34F9BB5)(^C5=1d4b4)
+    (^A4^34F9BB4)(^CC=12)(^CD=1)(^CE=0)(^CF=0)(^CB^1DF31)(^D1^B995)
+    (^EA^3491957)(^A9=0)(^AA=0)]
+@$$}5D5C0}@
+
+@$${5D5C1{@
+@$$}5D5C1}@
---------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------
--- INBOX.2.msf	2013-06-06 10:57:27.191679100 +0400
+++ INBOX.3.msf	2013-06-06 10:59:33.194100500 +0400
@@ -108928,3 +108928,10 @@
 
 @$${5D5C1{@
 @$$}5D5C1}@
+
+@$${5D5C2{@
+@$$}5D5C2}@
+
+@$${5D5C4{@
+<(34F9BB6=1370501972)>[1:^9F(^BE^34F9BB6)]
+@$$}5D5C4}@
---------------------------------------------------------------
If you need the whole .msf files or some specific info from them, please let me know how to give them to you (or what should I extract).

Thanks for your help, and sorry for being unresponsive.

Comment 11

[WADA:World Anti-bad-Duping Agency]

(In reply to Constantin Stefanov from comment #10)
>  I missed some comments.

Some only? No answer even for "IMAP or not". It looks for me "Any" :-)

It seems;
(1) Just after restart by addon install, because INBOX was seleced at Folder Pane when Tb was termiated, INBOX of the IMAP account is shown as "Selected" status. And, column is shown without getting column data held in INBOX.msf file. (data in folder cache is used in this case?)
(2) By "click other Mbox then click INBOX again", INBOX is normally/explicitely opened and column is set from column data held in INBOX.msf.

What is actual file name of .msf for INBOX? Suffixed like INBOX-1.msf?
> Mbox=INBOX :  URI=imap://[e-mail]/INBOX,
> prettiestName=Inbox,
MBOX= is extracted string from URI=. INBOX is perhaps actual Mbox name returned from server, and Inbox is Tb's internal folder name for special folder of "Inbox".

Is there multiple "sets of columns data" in .msf file? (Edit backup of .msf file by Text Editor, Search string like column data shown by my addon)

Namespace of INBOX is used? (Server Settings/Advanced)

Do you see your problem on other Mbox of same IMAP account?

> enigmailStatusCol = { visible = false, ordinal = 1 }

Enigmail looks used, and Enigmail looks to add column.
Do you see your problem with no addon except mine?

Comment 12

[WADA:World Anti-bad-Duping Agency]

Phenomenon is confirmed by your test and dump data of gFolderDisplay.getColumnStates(). Confirming.

Comment 13

[WADA:World Anti-bad-Duping Agency]

> All_isSpecialFolder( Inbox,Mail,Elided,ImapBox,ImapPersonal,Offline,Favorite )

You INBOX has "Favorite" flag.
Phenomenon with what Folder View? All? Unified? Favarite? or other?

Comment 14

[Konstantin Stefanov]

(In reply to WADA from comment #11)
> It seems;
> (1) Just after restart by addon install, because INBOX was seleced at Folder
> Pane when Tb was termiated, INBOX of the IMAP account is shown as "Selected"
> status. And, column is shown without getting column data held in INBOX.msf
> file. (data in folder cache is used in this case?)
Can I check it&

> (2) By "click other Mbox then click INBOX again", INBOX is
> normally/explicitely opened and column is set from column data held in
> INBOX.msf.
> 
> What is actual file name of .msf for INBOX? Suffixed like INBOX-1.msf?
In the profile folder it is just 'INBOX.msf', 'INBOX.<digit>.msf' is my own 'versioning'.

> Is there multiple "sets of columns data" in .msf file? (Edit backup of .msf
> file by Text Editor, Search string like column data shown by my addon)
I searched for strings 'threadcol' and 'sendercol' and found only 1 such string in every .msf file.

> Namespace of INBOX is used? (Server Settings/Advanced)
'Personal namespace' field contains "" (two double quotes), all other text fields are empty.

> Do you see your problem on other Mbox of same IMAP account?
TB always starts with INBOX selected, and when I change to another folder, everything is OK.

> > enigmailStatusCol = { visible = false, ordinal = 1 }
> 
> Enigmail looks used, and Enigmail looks to add column.
Enigmail is installed, but almost not used (just check signatures on incoming mail).

> Do you see your problem with no addon except mine?
Do you suggest disable all other addons and restart? I have over 20 of them, I'll make the test, but a little later.

Comment 15

[Konstantin Stefanov]

(In reply to WADA from comment #13)
> > All_isSpecialFolder( Inbox,Mail,Elided,ImapBox,ImapPersonal,Offline,Favorite )
> 
> You INBOX has "Favorite" flag.
> Phenomenon with what Folder View? All? Unified? Favarite? or other?
It is 'Flattened' (As I remember it is from Flat Folder Tree addon: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/thunderbird/addon/flat-folder-tree/)

Comment 16

[WADA:World Anti-bad-Duping Agency]

> Do you see your problem with no addon except mine?
Do you suggest disable all other addons and restart?

Several times of quick check with starting Tb with "thunderbird.exe -safe-mode" is sufficient.

> Do you see your problem on other Mbox of same IMAP account?
TB always starts with INBOX selected, and when I change to another folder, everything is OK.

If I understant correctly, Tb's design/implemetation with ordinal setup is "open last selected folder at folder pane when restart".
Do you use addons relevant to folder selection at Folder Pane other than Flat Folder Tree?

Comment 17

[Konstantin Stefanov]

(In reply to WADA from comment #16)
> > Do you see your problem with no addon except mine?
> Do you suggest disable all other addons and restart?
> 
> Several times of quick check with starting Tb with "thunderbird.exe
> -safe-mode" is sufficient.
But is disables your addon as well.
I did the check. First time I started TB in safe mode columns in INBOX were in default state, not mine. Change folder to another and back fixed it. After that I started TB in safe mode several times, then I started it normally then in safe mode again and columns were in my specific order, not default.

> > Do you see your problem on other Mbox of same IMAP account?
> TB always starts with INBOX selected, and when I change to another folder,
> everything is OK.
> 
> If I understant correctly, Tb's design/implemetation with ordinal setup is
> "open last selected folder at folder pane when restart".
Seems that some addon does this. In safe mode it starts with last folder selected.

> Do you use addons relevant to folder selection at Folder Pane other than
> Flat Folder Tree?
It is Manually Sort Folder (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/thunderbird/addon/manually-sort-folders/). It has setting which folder to select at startup. I changes the setting to 'last opened folder' and saw the same effect with another folder.

But the addon itself (Manually sort folders) is not the cause: I can see the effect with the addon disabled.

Comment 18

[WADA:World Anti-bad-Duping Agency]

Thanks for checking.
What is found are :
  Which folder is selected is irrelevant to problem.
  Manually sort folders merely changed selected folder.
Suspected phenomenon.
(a) Due to addon relevant to folder, "reading .msf just after restart"
    is affected. For example, upon first column display, reading of
    column setting in .msf is interfered, or is postponed.
(b) Due to addon relevant to column, expected "reading from .msf"
    is not invoked upon first column display.
    For example, XUL cache data relevant to column is not written
    correctly when forced termination by addon install/update.
    Then internal default is used for first column display just after
    restart for addon install/update.
If problem like (a), Flat Folder Tree may be relevant.
If problem like (b), Enigmail may be relevant.

Comment 19

[Konstantin Stefanov]

(In reply to WADA from comment #18)
> If problem like (a), Flat Folder Tree may be relevant.
> If problem like (b), Enigmail may be relevant.
I disabled both addons, restarted twice (to be sure), then disabled another addon, restarted and saw the phenomenon again.
So I do not think it is one of these two addons.

Comment 20

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

(In reply to Constantin Stefanov from comment #19)
> (In reply to WADA from comment #18)
> > If problem like (a), Flat Folder Tree may be relevant.
> > If problem like (b), Enigmail may be relevant.
> I disabled both addons, restarted twice (to be sure), then disabled another
> addon, restarted and saw the phenomenon again.
> So I do not think it is one of these two addons.

To further prove the theory, please:
- remove ALL addons (remove, not just disable)
- restart
- set folder column to be non-default
- restart again 

is problem seen?

Comment 21

[Konstantin Stefanov]

(In reply to Wayne Mery (:wsmwk) from comment #20)
> To further prove the theory, please:
> - remove ALL addons (remove, not just disable)
> - restart
> - set folder column to be non-default
> - restart again 
> 
> is problem seen?
No, I did not succeded in seeing problem with fresh profile without addons.

Comment 23

[Poohs]

Hi, dont know if anybody is still working this issue but I stumbled on this thread when searching for why columns kept changing on Thunderbird.

If it helps, I tried disabling add-ons and discovered that with "ImportExportTools" disabled, I cannot recreate the problem under any circumstances.

When I re-enable it, it happens very shortly afterwards.

I only export anything from Thunderbird 2 or 3 times a year so my "work-around" will be to only enable it when I need it.

Comment 24

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

(In reply to Poohs from comment #23)
> ...
> If it helps, I tried disabling add-ons and discovered that with
> "ImportExportTools" disabled, I cannot recreate the problem under any
> circumstances.
> 
> When I re-enable it, it happens very shortly afterwards.

Poohs, thanks for that information. Have you notified the author of ImportExportTools?


Konstantin emailed me last year that he hasn't found which of his 20 addons is causing the problem - "I'll try to test, but as the bug is quite rare now, I don't know when to stop testing and be sure which addon is to blame. ... As FolderFlags is disabled now (can a disabled addon cause bugs?), I'll begin with disabling manually sort folders and try to live with it several days."

I'm going to leave this open for further investigation, because it seems to me that an addon shouldn't be causing columns to be set back to default

Comment 25

[Poohs]

(In reply to Wayne Mery (:wsmwk, NI for questions) from comment #24)
> (In reply to Poohs from comment #23)
> > ...
> > If it helps, I tried disabling add-ons and discovered that with
> > "ImportExportTools" disabled, I cannot recreate the problem under any
> > circumstances.
> > 
> > When I re-enable it, it happens very shortly afterwards.
> 
> Poohs, thanks for that information. Have you notified the author of
> ImportExportTools?
> 
> 
> Konstantin emailed me last year that he hasn't found which of his 20 addons
> is causing the problem - "I'll try to test, but as the bug is quite rare
> now, I don't know when to stop testing and be sure which addon is to blame.
> ... As FolderFlags is disabled now (can a disabled addon cause bugs?), I'll
> begin with disabling manually sort folders and try to live with it several
> days."
> 
> I'm going to leave this open for further investigation, because it seems to
> me that an addon shouldn't be causing columns to be set back to default

Wayne,

In answer to your question, no I didnt contact the add-on author.  However, the add-on may not have been the root cause.

As far as I can tell, for me Thunderbird seems to have now stopped changing column settings even with the ImportExportTools add-on enabled.

I cant say exactly when this happened but I discovered it a few weeks ago when I accidently left the add-on enabled (see my previous comment about only enabling when I needed it).

Thunderbird no longer exhibits this random column changes problem.  As a said, I dont have a clear view of when this happened but I think it was around the time of the last biggish update to TB.

The ImportExportTools add-on states it was last updated June 2016, which by my reckoning was before the problem stopped for me so I dont think changes in this add-on is the reason I no longer have the problem (if you get my drift - excuse my triple negative !).

Poohs

Comment 26

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

WFM per comment 25