Inplace Upgrade to 24.04

Thoughts & Feedback
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so I ran the update today. Went without a hitch, I knew that Thunderbird would change to a snap - lost all my local folders and email in them. Also the snap does not respect my installed theme. I think that is the way with most snaps? Anyway, wine was removed, but I will reinstall the compatible version. In the meantime I have installed an installed theme do to my OCD of having all apps respect my theme. hmmmm.

So all in all a pleasant experience to upgrade. Will post any issues as I find them.

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I have restored my chosen theme for Thunderbird. Easy Peasy!

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You wrote:

...Thunderbird would change to a snap - lost all my local folders and email in them. ...

I can't remember when Thunderbird automatically changed to a snap via an in-place upgrade of the Ubuntu-MATE OS, but I did not loose anything (everything was in place - local folders, mails, unread marks, extensions, theme, etc.). I found out only weeks later that Thunderbird changed to a snap :laughing:

OK, I admit - and this may be the major difference - I have a modified profiles.ini and a separate folder for the Thundebird local folders / mails, from day one I started with Ubuntu-MATE (some 8 years ago). This way I can simply swap (copy-paste) this folder between my daily driver PC (Ubuntu-MATE), a Win notebook that I use while on vacation, a second Ubuntu-MATE PC, without any additional work.

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Your technique of using different folders sounds a bit like mine:

Oct 29  2020  .thunderbird -> .thunderbird_Iter_G+0__MASTER
Dec 10  2021  .thunderbird_Iter_2007-06-23
Oct 20  2018  .thunderbird_Iter_2018-10-20
Dec  1  2019  .thunderbird_Iter_G+0__MASTER

I have a similar setup for Firefox, but I just recently purged the older directories:

Oct 29  2020  .mozilla -> .mozilla_Iter_G+0__MASTER
Jul 17 20:14  .mozilla_Iter_G+0__MASTER

Notwithstanding that single directory, I do have it set up (in my /home/username/.mozilla/firefox directory) to selectively choose among multiple profiles (for Firefox):

Aug 27 18:13 'Crash Reports'
Oct  5  2019  installs.FAILSAFE
Jul 17 21:01  installs.ini
Sep  6 22:04  OasisMega1.FirefoxProfile_DEFAULT
Jun 25  2021  OasisMega1.FirefoxProfile_DEFUNCT
Jul 17 21:01  OasisMega1.FirefoxProfile.Geogebra
Nov 13  2023  OasisMega1.FirefoxProfile.Geogebra.BKUP
Sep 21  2023 'Pending Pings'
Jul 17 21:01  profiles.ini
Oct  5  2019  profiles.ini.FAILSAFE
Jul 17 17:08  profiles.ini.OasisMega1

As you can see, you don't need to limit yourself to the randomly-generated profile name assigned by Firefox when it creates a fresh installation! :slight_smile:

In the past (not currently), I have used that same approach/mechanism to be prompted, on startup of Thunderbird, to choose from multiple e-mail profiles (with distinct and segregated mailboxes). The key files are the following, for either Mozilla tool:

=============== Firefox ===============
installs.ini (Firefox):

[4F96D1932A9F858E]
Default=OasisMega1.FirefoxProfile_DEFAULT
Locked=1

profiles.ini (Firefox):

[Install4F96D1932A9F858E]
Default=OasisMega1.FirefoxProfile_DEFAULT
Locked=1

[Profile1]
Name=FirefoxProfile_DEFUNCT
IsRelative=1
Path=OasisMega1.FirefoxProfile_DEFUNCT

[Profile0]
Name=FirefoxProfile_DEFAULT
IsRelative=1
Path=OasisMega1.FirefoxProfile_DEFAULT
Default=1

[General]
StartWithLastProfile=0
Version=2

[Profile2]
Name=Geogebra
IsRelative=1
Path=OasisMega1.FirefoxProfile.Geogebra

=============== Thunderbird ===============
installs.ini (Thunderbird):

Default=OasisMega1.ThunderbirdProfile_DEFAULT

profiles.ini (Thunderbird):

[InstallFDC34C9F024745EB]
Default=OasisMega1.ThunderbirdProfile_DEFAULT

[Profile0]
Name=ThunderbirdProfile_DEFAULT
IsRelative=1
Path=OasisMega1.ThunderbirdProfile_DEFAULT
Default=1

[General]
StartWithLastProfile=1
Version=2
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Are the lost local folders restored when you replace the Thunderbird folder (I should say ".thunderbird") with a backup?

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Everything that is critical is contained by the .thundebird directory (unless you are using Snap-based installation of Tbird).

So, to avoid possible confusion from some earlier corruption,

  • rename .thunderbird to .thunderbird.HOLD, (for temporary safekeping), then
  • restore .thunderbird from an earlier full backup.

That will restore all up to the date/time of backup. :slight_smile:

That way, you still have the "remnants" of the latest installation until you know you can do without its contents.

I'm not the expert on ways to reconstruct your most recent "image" by blending in some of the more recent stuff into the old image. Someone else would have to guide you on that (and it is very tricky, from my old memory of having done something like that, especially since TBird has done some restructuring of its file layout along the way. :frowning: )

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