Thunderbird query, please?

Support & Help Requests
#1

Hello Folks.
I use Thunderbird for emails via gmail with their oauth.

I have several non-gmail addresses that I also wish to make use of via Thunderbird...sort of.

Tried having 2 profiles before but it became problematic after some time & anyway what I'd really like is different than that, if anyone can guide me to how it may be accomplished.

I'd like to have a totally separate & older version of Thunderbird with its own profile that does not just use the default profile file location.

I thought maybe an APPIMAGE could do this, but apparently those also default to the system's saved profile - and I thought maybe it would be possible to just create a totally separate profile & file location, but found nothing specific about that as pertains to using an APPIMAGE.
(It also appears that using a snap will do just about the same.)

I could be totally wrong about any of the above configuration ideas, and will appreciate any helpful guidance, please ??

Thanks for any helpful replies.

#2

Not a direct answer to your question about profiles, but rather another solution. I use gmail to consolidate multiple email addresses, then Thunderbird to collect all email from gmail, set up rules in Thunderbird to separate the addresses into separate folders.

#3

My exact goal in this is to fully separate the gmail stuff from the non-gmail stuff.

Having all of it lumped together into a single folderized instance of Thunderbird is a method which can be useful for folks sometimes - and when I was less dependent upon the many, many uses of email I did that as well, BUT...

Now I wish to segregate the gmail totally from the non-gmail, hence the specificity of my query here.

Hopefully someone here will be able to point me at a non-profile and non-filtering method to have 2 separated & working instances of Thunderbird.

Thanks.

#4

Probably doable via a chroot, but I've never tried it myself.

#5

I use a single instance of tbird, but with 3 different accounts for different mail sources - each has its own inbox, sent box etc. So I can keep these as separate as I want or integrated.
HTH
Derek

#6

Thanks Folks.
1 instance with different accounts is no biggie - and not what I asked about, which is how to use 2 totally different instances & versions of Thunderbird.

I do not know how to do this via chroot - but it does seem to point at the idea of a separate instance ability relating with doing it as the root user - an interesting concept which it looks like I'll have to check into.

Still hoping someone here will have the know-how to do as I've asked & will share it.

Thanks Again Folks.

#7

Aren't there two versions of TB? The .deb and the snap versions. They can co-exist AFAIK

1 Like
#8

Thanks Again.
Sadly, according to what I've found thus far the snap version (aside of being newer than I desire) also uses the same profile.
There is also an independly created APPIMAGE as I'd mentioned, but it also does the same things.

Thanks Again Folks.

#9

then use a totally different email client :thinking:
Evolution maybe??

#10

I know it used to be that way for Firefox too. It is only fairly recently you could run Firefox and Firefox ESR that they didn't share the profiles. I have never read that as an option for Thunderbird. I agree with 24601 you need to run two different email clients. Another option would be to set up a second Ubuntu Mate account. Yet that would mean logging out of one account and into anther to get your other emails.

1 Like
#11

...or switching users, I suppose -- which would mean you wouldn't have to log out, and thus your open windows wouldn't get closed.

#13

Well, what about running two containerized instances of TB? Say, in docker or LXCFS...

#14

Thanks for the replies Folks.

My goal in all things is always simplicity...

Using that other (inferior IMO) OS as my example - my aim as expressed here was attainable in it quite easily in about a minute via either=>
1 - Installing TB as a 2nd instance in a different directory, or;
2 - Using a portable release of it in a separate directory.

A possible TB compatible client and solution could possibly be found here:
https://binaryoutcast.com/projects/interlink/download/#linux

At one point I did get it but stopped short of actually trying it because of my tolerances for flakiness having already been exceeded by the flaky non-support associated with the Palemoon browser - thus it was deleted so as not to tempt me any further.

I could easily make a minimal VM to accomplish the goal of separated instances - and I do still have a VM of XP on hand that almost never gets any use.

IMO there should be a simple, easy way to have 2 separated instances of TB under Linux which could be opened at the same times MINUS the need for any exotic solutions.

Sure, no OS can ever be 100% perfect such that ALL its users are 100% perfectly happy at ALL times - but in that area, here is my silly example:

Before switching totally to being a full time Linux user, I was a great appreciator of portable apps.
Being able to do this or that with zero (or very little) system overhead was wonderful - as was the ease with which an entire app along with its data was transportable.

AFAIK, the closest that Linux comes to this is APPIMAGES - but=>
Using TB as my example, the same architectural flaws apply wherein it MUST use the same profile(s) as the installed TB, so...
Why bother ?!?

Lastly, this brings to mind that decades ago it was my pleasure to be the very 1st tech support guy for a large organization starting out with the original IBM PCs which mostly had DOS v2.11 at the time.

Having to memorize so many commands with their associated & mandatory syntax was a thrill for my younger self as well as enjoying the work itself.

Today's world is NOT the same as it was ~30 years ago.
Granted (IMO) PCs really haven't evolved THAT much as compared with even a high-end, unlocked Android smartphone.

I have zero interest in Docker or any of its spinoffs for the same exact reason that I refuse to learn any 'language' for coding:
Too much effort in memorizing esoteric stuff aimed at attaining a very narrow goal.

Should someone have a really cool sort of app that SIMPLY creates something like an OS (image ??) within the running OS which makes it utterly simple to have additional, isolated instances of system-installed apps, I'll be curious to check that out - as long as it isn't going to have me riding the learning curve any longer than the time it takes me to make my breakfast (as in...not very long a'tall !!).

Thanks Again.

#15

First the 'shortcoming' of pre-packaged thunderbird:
You can not have two different thunderbird installs

You can, however, have two of these (portable installs):
Installing Thunderbird on Linux | Thunderbird Help

The important part:

Installing outside of a package manager

The installation file provided by Mozilla in .tar.bz2 format does not contain sources but pre-compiled binary files, therefore you can simply unpack and run them. There is no need to compile the program from source.
The following instructions will install Thunderbird into your home directory, and only the current user will be able to run it.

  1. Download Thunderbird from the Thunderbird download page to your home directory.
  2. Open a Terminal and go to your home directory: cd ~
  3. Extract the contents of the downloaded file: tar xjf thunderbird-*.tar.bz2
  4. Close Thunderbird if it's open.
  5. To start Thunderbird, run the thunderbird script in the thunderbird folder: ~/thunderbird/thunderbird

And in case of two different installs:
rename the ~/thunderbird to ~/thunderbird1
repeat step 1 to 5 for an other version
rename the new ~/thunderbird to ~/thunderbird2

This might work. I haven't tested it so all bets are off
but this is the way I would go if I wanted two different thunderbird installs.

The next part is also important :

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Run_multiple_copies_of_Thunderbird_at_the_same_time

a short quote from that webpage:

Making Thunderbird behave differently

Multiple instances of Thunderbird can be launched by starting Thunderbird with a -no-remote command line argument or by setting the environmental variable MOZ_NO_REMOTE=1 before you run any copy of Thunderbird. You must use a different profile to run each copy of Thunderbird, so if profile manager does not normally appear during startup then you will also need to specify -P on the command line. Multiple instances is intended for debugging, so use it at your own risk. (-no-remote first appears in version 2.0 via bug 325509. For earlier versions you must use MOZ_NO_REMOTE=1.)

with the -P option you can select a profile so both instances can have their own unique profile.
A profile includes accounts, settings, mailfolders etc. so this might work.

From the man page:

man thunderbird

OPTIONS
   -P profile
             If   no  profile  is given to the -P op‐
             tion, the profile manager  will  pop-up.
             You  will be allowed to create or select
             a profile.   Thunderbird  then  launches
             with the selected profile.
#16

Thanks for replying & trying to assist TKN.

I believe I mentioned in this thread that using multiple profiles does not solve this for me - and yes, I do know how to go about that if/when it is the best solution.

A full solution would be a 100% separate installation, preferably with a different version and which would NOT use or refer to the system associated profile location at all.

With regards to kb.mozillazine.org - it is mostly windows-centric rather than being truly general information as well as how it is seldom updated - and as such, the bottom of that page says this:

This page was last modified 01:34, 21 February 2017.

I've tried getting Linux centered help from their forum sometimes as well, and of course only get windows-centric answers.

This matter has consumed LOTS of my time & efforts as detailed in all my entries above and then some.

I've also looked into whatever TB forks may be around given that I do prefer the 'classic' TB (think TB V3.x...) over the 'new' chrome-ized Mozilla stuff.

It'd be wonderful if some forks would come around in the fashion of Palemoon browser - and especially if such forks might ease transitions of windows refugees' data into Linux versions of those TB forks.

My situation does not have a simple solution - if it did then I would have marked this thread as 'solved' soon after posting the OP months ago.

Thanks Again.

#17

You problem is there are very few people that would ever want to run two separate instances of Thunderbird on one user desktop, so no one is probably going to spend time coding a way to do that. I myself have multiple accounts on one instance of Thunderbird and that serves me just fine. My wife also has an account on the same Thunderbird, so there are already many options. I am guessing unless you yourself can code that or fund some developer willing to develop that, it just is not going to happen.

#18

Hi, I updated my post somewhat. It might interest you :slight_smile:

#19

Again, my thanks for replying TKN.

The gist of what this centers upon is how installed TB -insists- that it MUST store profile info under ~/.thunderbird - which causes the complications if disparate versions may somehow be installed.

The write-up about installing outside of a package manager has 2 flaws in it as apply to this conundrum=>
1 - No mention of locating the profile separately;
B - Whether it will work for wildly differing versions such as...
https://archive.mozilla.org/pub/thunderbird/releases/3.1/linux-i686/en-US/thunderbird-3.1.tar.bz2
And:
https://archive.mozilla.org/pub/thunderbird/releases/52.3.0/linux-i686/en-US/thunderbird-52.3.0.tar.bz2

Cannot be ascertained therein.

52.x is the upper limit I prefer for my gmail vs. a lovely installation of 3.x for my non-gmail would be delightful.

Thanks Again for the replies here Folks.

Since I am waiting for some epoxy to cure as part of a very critical repair job, this has helped to fill the minutes I must wait before I check to be sure it is setting correctly (Marine-Tex is funny stuff to mix just right...).