861911 - Alert for new mail lacks message preview for unsynchronized Gmail IMAP accounts

Status: NEW

(MailNews Core :: Networking: IMAP, defect)

Description

[rsx11m]

(Quoting rsx11m from bug 856454 comment #4)
> BTW: The preview of the message text part doesn't work for me, with or
> without the patch (the checkbox toggles the pref correctly). It doesn't show
> up in the notification regardless of the value of mail.biff.alert.show_preview.

(Quoting rsx11m from bug 856454 comment #5)
> I think I know what's going on. I don't see the preview text with my Gmail
> IMAP account, which is not synchronized, but with another account which is
> not Gmail but synchronized, using the same build. Thus, either it's an issue
> with Gmail or the lack of synchronization for that account (the latter makes
> intuitively sense as the message content would only be available after
> downloading the message...).

Steps to reproduce:

1. Create a new profile for a Gmail account
2. Set up as IMAP, disable synchronization and indexing
3. Make sure that "Show an alert" is checked
4. Make sure that showing preview text is activated
5. Send yourself an e-mail
6. Note that Subject and Sender are present, but no preview text
7. Try with a non-Gmail account
8. Note that preview text is present with otherwise same settings

Reproduced in current TB 23.0a1 and SM 2.20a1 builds on Windows 7 and Linux. I'm not sure to which extent synchronization or indexing may be a factor here, but the type of the IMAP server seems to be definitely a factor.

Comment 1

[David Lechner (:dlech)]

The fact that you see header info, but not the body makes me think that it might possibly have to do with bug 854161.

Comment 2

[rsx11m]

I'm unable to follow the detailed technical discussion in that bug report, but it would certainly sound plausible that an empty message body is shown in the alert if the respective backend assumes that the message is synchronized for offline use when in fact it is not.

Comment 3

[rsx11m]

The regression range doesn't match the initial checkin for bug 721316, though. If indeed the cause, this should have been broken with TB 17.0b1 already, based on

http://hg.mozilla.org/releases/comm-beta/graph/13473

However, testing 17.0b1 *does* show the preview text with the same profile, so does the current 17.0.5 release; in contrast, 18.0b1 *doesn't* show the preview text. Thus, something broke shortly after the initial landing of that patch, possibly in one of the follow-up fixes (e.g., bug 815087 or bug 854162, according to the dependencies).

Comment 4

[rsx11m]

(neither of those two bugs - the first should be effective in 17.0.x, the latter in 22.0, thus nothing matching for the 18.0b1 time frame.)

Comment 5

[WADA:World Anti-bad-Duping Agency]

Preview text at which "new mail alert panel"?
(1) New mail arrives => new mail alert panel #1 (toaster popup)
    => popup ends, and tray-icon is shown
(2) Clck tray-icon => new mail alert panel #2.
    Opened panel is kept until intentionally closed by X button.
If "no previewText is shown at panel #1" but "previewText is shown at panel #2", it was observed in Tb 17.0.7 on Win-XP, with Gmail IMAP.

- [Gmal]/All Mail is Offline-Use=On, already sych'ed
  INBOX is  Offline-Use=On, no mail, or already 
- "New mail check by Bff" is enabled for INBOX and Gmal]/All Mail ony.
- IDLE is enabled
- At other IMAP client,
  change a mail in [Gmail]/All Mail to Unread, copy it to INBOX
=> At Tb, new mail in Inbox is detected by IDLE.
   fetch headers is executed for the new mail.
   fetch body[text]<0.2048> #1 for previewText is issued
   fetch body[] by auto-sync.
   fetch body[text]<0.2048> #2 for previewText is issued
=> toaster popup is shown and giden, then tray-icon is shown.
   previewText is not seen in this toaster popup.
=> click tray-icon => alert panel is shown. previewText is shown.

Comment 6

[WADA:World Anti-bad-Duping Agency]

I could observe "no previewText is shown at panel #1" AND "no previewText is shown at panel #2 too", with Tb 17.0.7 on Win-XP, with Gmail IMAP.

With same setting and same test as comment #5, except auto-sync is Off.
  Auto-sync is disabled.
  mail.server.server1.autosync_offline_stores = false
=> At Tb, new mail in Inbox is detected by IDLE.
   fetch headers is executed for the new mail.
   fetch body[text]<0.2048> #1 for previewText is issued
   fetch body[text]<0.2048> #2 for previewText is issued
   "fetch body[]" doen't occur because auto-sync is disabled.
=> toaster popup appears and disappears, then tray-icon is shown.
   previewText is not seen in this toaster popup.
=> click tray-icon => alert panel is shown. previewText is NOT shown.

IIRC, double "fetch for previewText" was not observed in tests for bug 823838 and dup bugs, and only "one fetch BODY.PEEK[TEXT]<0.2048> per an UID" is seen in IMAP log attached to bug 764662.
.

Comment 7

[Mark Banner (:standard8)]

It'd be really great if we could get a specific regression range on this and see if we can find a solution.

Comment 8

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

(In reply to Mark Banner (:standard8) (away until 27th Aug) from comment #7)
> It'd be really great if we could get a specific regression range on this and
> see if we can find a solution.

Comment 9

[WADA:World Anti-bad-Duping Agency]

My report was merely:
  I saw incidentally phenomenon of comment #5 and comment #6 while testing for bug 885220,
  and I saw "two fetch or previewText" in IMAP log, because I fortunately
  watched IMAP log at DebugView Console when I tested.
I don't know whether problem occurs on any new mail or not, or specific condition is needed or not, so I can't do duplcation test of this bug.

Comment 10

[rsx11m]

Regression window as determined on Linux x86_64 builds:

  Last working TB 18.0a1 build - 20120919030603
  First broken TB 18.0a1 build - 20120920030544

Pushlogs (nothing obvious):

http://hg.mozilla.org/comm-central/pushloghtml?startdate=2012-09-19+03%3A00&enddate=2012-09-20+03%3A00
http://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/pushloghtml?startdate=2012-09-19+03%3A00&enddate=2012-09-20+03%3A00

Comment 11

[rsx11m]

(In reply to David Lechner (:dlech) from comment #1)
> The fact that you see header info, but not the body makes me think that it
> might possibly have to do with bug 854161.

That bug suggests bug 721316 as the source of its regression, which checked in on 2012-09-27 (main patch) per bug 721316 comment #64, thus not within the identified regression window.

Comment 12

[Philip Chee]

Dup?
Bug 885220 - no new mail alert or icon on gmail imap accounts (new profile) (When CONDSTORE is used, new mail alert by Biff is not shown when new mail is detected via IDLE)

Possible related bugs:
Bug 912216 - Temporarily disable CONDSTORE support for GMail

Comment 13

[rsx11m]

Definitely not. For obvious reasons, I was testing with CONDSTORE disabled, and the other bug existed well before the regression range for this bug. Also, the alert appears, it just doesn't contain the message preview when connecting to Gmail (and possibly other) servers.

Comment 14

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

rsx11m,
Does this still reproduce?