Thunderbird Email Logon with Different Distros Fails

[JusGellin]

I was able to successfully use Thunderbird email version 115.9.0 (64-bit) for BookwormPup64_10.0.6.

I wanted to do the same thing for F96-CE_4 but couldn't make it logon. The version here is 68.9.0 (64-bit). I matched everything up with the above so the only difference was the version number. It gave the error message of Unable to log in at server. Probably wrong configuration, username or password.

Since everything is the same for the account setup, could it be a problem with the older version of Thunderbird? I was wondering why the versions are so far apart. Could I somehow install the newer version into F96-CE_4?

Thanks

[rockedge]

@JusGellin I use Thunderbird on F96-CE_4 everyday!

I download Thunderbird from it's website. Then extract and place in /opt. I drag the binary to the desktop and assign an icon. Works really well.

could it be a problem with the older version of Thunderbird?

Yes it can be a problem! The new T-bird is Super Nova and it changes some things enough that older versions are not fully compatible

[JusGellin]

@rockedge
I downloaded the newest version which was the same that Bookworm uses. It failed the same.
But I notices there was a difference for the Local Directory settings:
Bookworm uses /home/spot/.thunderbird/.....
F96-CE uses /root/.thunderbird/....
So maybe I'm not installing thunderbird right for using with spot. My Firefoxes for both are running as spot. When I installed Thunderbird on Bookworm, it worked without doing anything special. But I didn't have to download it, it was just an install for that os.

How should I install Thunderbird for F96-CE?

Thanks

[williwaw]

are you using a password manager or using the new Tbird with an older save?

If you set up your account and server info from scratch with the new install, there is a lot of little misconfigs that can prevent logon.
there should be a log file somewhere that you can find and post the last few lines.

[rockedge]

@JusGellin

But I notice there was a difference for the Local Directory settings.......

Yes there is a difference in the location of the Thunderbird profile directory. In F96-CE_4 if you started Thunderbird as the root user the profile for Thunderbird will be accessed by the root user so the location is /root/.thunderbird

If started as user spot, the profile directory will be in /home/spot/.thnderbird.

If you want T-bird to run as spot you can make a small script to launch Thunderbird with run-as-spot /opt/thunderbird/thunderbird

It is possible to symlink the .thunderbird profile directory, or copy or move it to different systems.

Might be easiest to copy the /root/.thunderbird directory to /home/spot/.thunderbird if running T-bird primarily as user spot

[JusGellin]

I am just not able to get F96-CE_4 to connect with my email server using thunderbird. It didn't matter if I run it as spot or root, it fails to connect. Whereas BookwormPup64_10.0.6 connected with no special attention. But I was able to install thunderbird just using the apt install.

I've downloaded the current version of thunderbird-115.9.0 and copied the thunderbird directory to /opt and then ran the file called thunderbird which ran the setup configuration. But even though I set it up just like I have for BookwormPup, it always fails to connect. I haven't been able to find any thunderbird log files that can help to tell me what exactly is the reason it won't connect even though it does find what configuration it expects it needs, but then fails anyway. At least that shows it does communicate with the email server to see what it needs to connect. Also I do have internet connection since I can browse with it. I've also disabled the firewall.

It's good to know that it should work since @rockedge is successful in using it.
What can I do to further help to troubleshoot this? I've also searched for any help on the internet that still hasn't helped.
Thanks

[rockedge]

@JusGellin Understandable frustration for sure. Which email server are you failing to connect with?

It certainly seems like T-bird is working correctly in your F96-CE_4 but you are have a problem getting the settings for your email account IMAP to line up correctly.

Are you trying IMAP or POP3 to communicate with your email server/service?

Sometimes the configurations can be tricky enough the automatic account configuration leads to incorrect settings depending on the email server/service type.

I am using several different email servers. Gmail, Hotmail (formally known as) and 2 other webmail systems at rockedge.org and puppylinux.com. All use slightly different settings but most important is the PORT number to communicate via SSL connection to these email servers.

[JusGellin]

I'm using comcast.net. Here's what their site recommends and what thunderbird also finds for the configuration:

For Comcast.net emails, we recommend the following settings:
Server Name: imap.comcast.net
Port: 993
Connection Security: SSL/TLS
Authentication Method: Normal password

Configure SMTP Setting
For Comcast.net emails, we recommend the following settings:
Description: Comcast
Server Name: smtp.comcast.net
Port: 465
Connection Security: SSL/TLS
Authentication Method: Normal password

When I initially set this up and hit the done button, it gives the following message:
Unable to log in at sertver. Probably wrong configuration, username or password.

[rockedge]

Is this setting correct on your comcast.net settings?
Enable/Disable Third-Party Client Access to Comcast.net Email

[williwaw]

and then ran the file called thunderbird which ran the setup configuration

what thunderbird also finds for the configuration:

and you can see what that config is if you look at the server settings menus?
each of the 4?
Server Name: imap.comcast.net
Port: 993
Connection Security: SSL/TLS
Authentication Method: Normal password

see if setting SSL/TLS automatically has t-bird preselecting 993 or 995
is there actually a setting in tbird for SSL/TLS?
or does tbird offer: ssl or tls or starttls or something else?
make sure your username and password has no whitespaces
https://www.lifewire.com/pop-imap-smtp- ... rd-1173156

[rockedge]

is there actually a setting in tbird for SSL/TLS?
or does tbird offer: ssl or tls or starttls or something else?

Yes, and T-bird offers all three. I have to also use OAuth2 for example on Gmail accounts which required instead of Normal Password which required an okay confirmation on Gmail to get a token.

The port is important and for all of the different email servers I have setup with Thunderbird the incoming mail port for all of them using SSL/TSL is 993 (default)

use the entire email address as the user name. On one of the email servers I use the full address needs to be used.

[JusGellin]

@rockedge

rockedge wrote:
Is this setting correct on your comcast.net settings?

Yes, I did a long time back. That's really good that you found that just in case. My other pup, Bookworm works with this and all the other settings as mentioned that I have verified for F96-CE_4 as well.

It sure would be nice if I could see some sort of log that mentions exactly how it is failing.

[williwaw]

It sure would be nice if I could see some sort of log that mentions exactly how it is failing.

did you turn on Transaction Logging?

[JusGellin]

@williwaw

did you turn on Transaction Logging?

How can I do this?

Thanks

[some1]

williwaw may provide a hands-on

else try:
Lifewire - has a recipe on traffic-logging w thunderbird on linux:
scroll down
https://www.lifewire.com/pop-imap-smtp- ... rd-1173156

[williwaw]

williwaw may provide a hands-on

else try:
Lifewire - has a recipe on traffic-logging w thunderbird on linux:
scroll down
https://www.lifewire.com/pop-imap-smtp- ... rd-1173156

yes, the links above. if you have trouble with the command line, copy and paste the entire contents of the terminal session and wrap in code block

that is, select the pasted text and click the </> above,

[JusGellin]

I saw an old post that may be similar to what I'm experiencing.
Post - How to Install Thunderbird in Fossapup 9.5? (Solved)
https://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic.php?t=7580

in its last post

ionmich wrote:
It was a bit of a struggle. I had to use chmod, but it's up and running.

What did he need to do with chmod? What struggles did he need to overcome?

It seems that when I installed BookwormPup64_10.0.6, all I had to do was use apt to install thunderbird and it worked.
But when I downloaded thunderbird and installed it on F96-CE_4 it doesn't seem to connect right. I guess I'm not doing it correctly and maybe I need more specific instruction for installing a download of thunderbird on F96-CE_4. I'm just not understanding enough yet.

I still really appreciate all the help I'm given.

[geo_c]

For what it's worth, I have absolutely no issue running @mikewalsh's portable Thunderbird on F96 on a variety of different machines and network interfaces. I am able to access microsoft outlook and yahoo without issue. I use it daily for quite awhile now.

My guess from what I'm reading in this thread, is that you downloaded the most recent version of Thunderbird, but F96 is still pulling libraries and such from it's older repo.

It could be that if you tried the portable version, which allows updating from within Thunderbird, and you found it worked on your copy of F96, then perhaps there are simply some incompatible components on F96 that wouldn't be needed by the portable version.

Just my impression without trying to actually install Thunderbird using your method for comparison.

Also, I didn't notice whether you tried running Thunderbird from the terminal to see if you get any helpful messages there.

[JusGellin]

Thanks @geo_c
I'm not giving up to getting this challenge accomplished. I just wanted to let it be known that I haven't done it yet.
I did set it up to do the tranaction logging from the terminal. It gave information that didn't seem to help. It just seems that the logging connection just isn't working. One time it suddenly connected and brought in all the emails to that time. But when I closed thunderbird and reopened it, I couldn't get it to work again.
I think I'll try using the portable version again on a fresh new install of F96-CE and try to get it to update.

[geo_c]

Thanks @geo_c
I'm not giving up to getting this challenge accomplished. I just wanted to let it be known that I haven't done it yet.
I did set it up to do the tranaction logging from the terminal. It gave information that didn't seem to help. It just seems that the logging connection just isn't working. One time it suddenly connected and brought in all the emails to that time. But when I closed thunderbird and reopened it, I couldn't get it to work again.
I think I'll try using the portable version again on a fresh new install of F96-CE and try to get it to update.

It should do the update just fine, just go to >Help>About and it should give you the button to update.

[JusGellin]

Success!!!!
Now it works like I would expect.
The difference from what I did the first time was that I tried using one of the Package Managers. When thunderbird was installed, it said that it was missing some files. That's when I tried just a direct download of thunderbird which downloaded ok but I couldn't get it to connect right.

This time I noticed another file manager called quickpetfossa and and found thunderbird was one of the apps I could install. I installed this, but it failed to connect as well. So I went to Help>About> update and this took it to a very old version to a newer version. Then that made it work like it should and I was able to logon and get my emails. Then I thought I'll keep updating, which I did about 5 times which updated it to an increased level each time until I got to the latest of 115.10.0(64-bit).
This works fine. whew!! I think I'm on my way now.
Thanks again

[mikewalsh]

@JusGellin :-

The main difference with the portable build of T-Bird is that once you've set-up your profile(s) correctly, it will continue to use that same working profile wherever you choose to run it. No need to copy over profiles, etc.

I don't use F96_CE_4, just the original Fossapup64 9.5 from PhilB. As with geo_c's experience, it just "works" wherever I use it.....but then, I never try running it as user 'spot'. It's set-up to run as the Puppy 'root' user, and never gives any problems.

I know some newer Puppies (& others) have the facility to choose to run all internet-facing apps as user 'spot' by default. I also concur with m'colleague @rockedge : while T-Bird versions will continue to run for a long while before they eventually reach 'no-go' territory, they DO sooner or later reach the stage where you have to move to the newest version. I always build these with the newest current ESR version; this is kind of like an LTS build, which will continue to function as long as there are updates available for it.....

Anyway, it's good to know you got it fixed at last!

Mike.