Portable Version of Thunderbird

[JusGellin]

I wanted to get the portable version of Thunderbird.
I found a link to get version 91 at https://mega.nz/folder/iTZ1DICA#U4BissENVuap9vA-RvuDNg

But the download is a zip file and the MD5 doesn't match it.

I wanted to get the portable version and then try to upgrade it to version 115.

Where can I get this with the md5 verification?

I'm probably going to the wrong place, but need some direction on this.
I'm using BookwormPup64_10.0.6.

I've installed the installed version of Thunderbird, but now I want to use the portable version of it.

Thanks

[pp4mnklinux]

Hope it helps.

Portables: https://www.protopage.com/pp4mnkt3am#Pu ... _PORTABLES

Thunderbird:
viewtopic.php?t=4085

Cheers

[darksun]

I discourage people from fetching software from other places that are not official ones (official websites, default packet managers with official repositories eg apt install) ; doing otherwise increase the risk of installing pieces of software that are malware' vectors too

[JusGellin]

I discourage people from fetching software from other places that are not official ones (official websites, default packet managers with official repositories eg apt install) ; doing otherwise increase the risk of installing pieces of software that are malware' vectors too

Thanks, I was able to find the md5 check from the below.

Thanks @pp4mnklinux
I went here before, but just didn't go far enough. So I tried again
Here's the steps for how I obtained the portable Thunderbird I needed:

1. Go to @mikewalsh Portables: https://www.protopage.com/pp4mnkt3am#Pu ... _PORTABLES
Mike Walsh Portables tab comes up:
2. Select Thunderbird Portable

3. Puppy Linux Discussion Forum comes up
Topic New LTS Thunderbird : v115 - in 'portable' format - 32- and 64-bit
Post by mikewalsh » Wed Sep 22, 2021 4:14 pm
4. Go down page to select link
v102 can be found at my Mega a/c, here:-
https://mega.nz/folder/HLBHUa5B#btIZKSse78s6dfpHAcuM8A

Mega site comes up at https://mega.nz/folder/HLBHUa5B#btIZKSse78s6dfpHAcuM8A
5. Download 64 directory
Thunderbird.zip is downloaded
6. Extract zip file
Gets directory called Thunderbird.zip.extracted.zip
7. Open directory - gets folder called Thunderbird
8. Select directory called 64
Gets
Thunderbird-portable64.tar.xz
Thunderbird-portable64.tar.xz.md5
9. Check that tar file has proper md5
10. Extract Thunderbird-portable64.tar.xz
Gets
Thunderbird-portablei64.tar.xz.extract-ar.xz.xz.extracted
11. Open directory
Gets directory Thunderbird-portable64
12. Place directory at /mnt/home
13. Open directory
14. launch or put into menu - see readme

[mikewalsh]

I discourage people from fetching software from other places that are not official ones (official websites, default packet managers with official repositories eg apt install) ; doing otherwise increase the risk of installing pieces of software that are malware' vectors too

Oh dear, oh dear....

You're just "parrotting" the standard, Linux "party line". From a purely security point of view, this IS quite correct for a mainstream distro on a FULL install.....but Puppy is a bit different. So long as you have a regular backup routine, if you get "infected" it's the work of just a few minutes to be back up-and-running again, exactly as you were before.

For us, it's nobbut a minor inconvenience.....

Mike.

[darksun]

I discourage people from fetching software from other places that are not official ones (official websites, default packet managers with official repositories eg apt install) ; doing otherwise increase the risk of installing pieces of software that are malware' vectors too

Oh dear, oh dear....

You're just "parrotting" the standard, Linux "party line". From a purely security point of view, this IS quite correct for a mainstream distro on a FULL install.....but Puppy is a bit different. So long as you have a regular backup routine, if you get "infected" it's the work of just a few minutes to be back up-and-running again, exactly as you were before.

For us, it's nobbut a minor inconvenience.....

Mike.

I was not aware good malware uses to alert you , and before doing any bad stuff.

I apology for the sarcasm (& oxymoron & OT within this thread), but I could not resist. Evidently we do have different points of view about security (and privacy, but here I am referring to another thread).

[dimkr]

this IS quite correct for a mainstream distro on a FULL install.....but Puppy is a bit different.

Different and not in a good sense, it's a distro that runs everything as root and has no security updates of any kind. You should be more careful, not less.

I think it would be best to provide a script that downloads and extracts the official Thunderbird tarball to create a "portable", rather than publishing a prebuilt SFS. That would be smaller to download, easy to audit and easy to maintain over time (if the person who created the SFS doesn't publish updated versions when new Thunderbird versions come out).

[darksun]

this IS quite correct for a mainstream distro on a FULL install.....but Puppy is a bit different.

Different and not in a good sense, it's a distro that runs everything as root and has no security updates of any kind. You should be more careful, not less.

@dimkr this is one of the several reasons I prefer your vanilla dpup over other puppy flavors as it is frequently released , over github , with the latest Debian security updates applied. I take the chance to thank you sincerely.

[dimkr]

@dimkr this is one of the several reasons I prefer your vanilla dpup over other puppy versions as it is frequently released , over github , with the latest Debian security updates applied. I take the chance to thank you sincerely.

This is exactly why I created it, I wanted something with the latest security updates and zero prebuilt packages that can hide malware or bugs that stay forever. (Plus, I wanted something 100% reproducible others can fork or maintain if I don't.)

One of my latest contributions to woof-CE before I forked it is https://github.com/puppylinux-woof-CE/w ... portable64, a build script that automates a "portable" Firefox preinstalled in /opt. This automates construction of the BookwormPup adrv, instead of relying on a prebuilt SFS, and the x86_64/debian/bookworm64 build configuration uses this: the same idea can be applied to Thunderbird.

[mikewalsh]

this IS quite correct for a mainstream distro on a FULL install.....but Puppy is a bit different.

Different and not in a good sense, it's a distro that runs everything as root and has no security updates of any kind. You should be more careful, not less.

I think it would be best to provide a script that downloads and extracts the official Thunderbird tarball to create a "portable", rather than publishing a prebuilt SFS. That would be smaller to download, easy to audit and easy to maintain over time (if the person who created the SFS doesn't publish updated versions when new Thunderbird versions come out).

@dimkr :-

Yes, I know I often come across as rather flippant about it all. For that, I should perhaps apologise; I suppose I'm becoming somewhat blasé, given that I've had a full decade of utterly trouble-free computing with Puppy. And to someone like yourself, who takes the exact opposite view - AND goes the 'extra mile' to update/upgrade and keep everything as secure as you possibly can (which IS appreciated) - that WAS rather "begging" a response, wasn't it?

I concur with your statement about SFS packages. These do indeed need to be constantly updated/re-packed & re-published, because of their read-only nature.....which is why I gave up on SFSs some time ago. Yes, it's the traditional Puppy package format, I know.......but It's continuous, never-ending work with them things (especially with browsers).....and I do have a life outside this forum, such as it is..!

For the portable browsers/email clients, I always use the official sources. Anything Mozilla-related has always had a built-in, fully-functional updater which works perfectly. So; Thunderbird is obtained from here:-

https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/thunderbird/releases/

115 IS the current ESR release, and despite that the last published build here is 115.9.0, we are in fact presently at 115.12.2:-

.....and it quietly keeps itself up-to-date in the background.

I know bigpup and I both espouse the same point of view, i.e., "If it works, leave it alone". For non-critical, largely isolated and/or standalone stuff with no online interaction this DOES hold water......but when it comes to internet-facing stuff like browsers/mail-clients/messenger clients of any stripe, even I'm not that daft! Thanks to Mozilla's updaters, AND latterly @fredx181 's extremely useful updater scripts that he contributed for most of the Chromium-based portables.....which also 'pull' from the official sources (thanks, Fred!), these portable apps are pretty much self-maintaining. Some run the updater automatically, some need to be run by the user as-and-when......but it all happens in-situ, right there in the portable directory. No need to mess about with un-loading/downloading/re-loading and/or re-installing a more current standard package.

I know some Puppians turn their noses up at these things, much preferring to install apps the traditional, 'standard' way, but with help & contributions from several people over the last 5 years, between us we've managed to hone the portable browsers and such-like into safe, user-friendly AND convenient applications.

Just wanted to set the record straight. You know - as well as I do - that repository builds of these items are often one or maybe two versions behind, because they change so frequently; with the way we've tried to approach things, the newest, current, up-to-date builds are only ever a click & a couple of minutes away...

There ARE viable options to many of the tried & tested, time-honoured methods that have served the Linux community well for the last 3 decades or more. Unfortunately, an often hide-bound mentality refuses to accept that any other method CAN work.....along with a certain geekish 'snobbery' that STILL exists among some Linux veterans.

I find it pays to remain open-minded. I know - for some folks - these are perhaps too MUCH like the Windows 'portable apps' (upon which they were modelled). But where's the harm in paying homage to a basically brilliant idea.....especially if it proves beneficial to the whole community?

(*shrug...*)

Mike.

[mikewalsh]

@JusGellin :-

Actually, that T-Bird 91 directory really needs removing. It was added at a point in time when Mozilla/the TBird devs had just made some far-reaching changes to Thunderbird, and I was having "issues" with it........and wanted to preserve the last working build as long as I could!

By rights, it should have gone a long time ago.

Just go here, instead:-

https://mega.nz/folder/2HQzSaRA#pDdhntZFlIaSP62dq_2LAw

The build here IS 115, though it may be a few point releases behind by now. No probs; the updater will soon take care of that...

Mike.

[JusGellin]

@mikewalsh
Thanks, that's less steps for sure.

The portable works great except when I ran the MenuEntry, it gets the menu item but the Thunderbird icon doesn't show up.
Looking at /usr/share/pixmaps shows a thunderbird.png graphic and if I click on it, it show the Thunderbird icon.
If I look at the menu item, it is looking for the icon there but it shows nothing instead.

What can I do to make the icon show up

Thanks

[mikewalsh]

@JusGellin :-

Heh. Investigation shows it's a very simple 'fix', actually.

Go into /usr/share/applications, and look for the thunderbird-portable.desktop file. Open it up with Geany.

Line 6 currently reads:-

Code: Select all

Icon=/usr/share/pixmps/thunderbird.png

.....when it SHOULD read:-

Code: Select all

Icon=/usr/share/pixmaps/thunderbird.png

The "a" is missing in 'pixmaps'! I've had a dodgy "a" key on my wireless keyboard for ages, but the rest of the keyboard works so well I've learnt to live with it...

Just add the "a" in where it should be, then 'Save' and close Geany.

Now open a terminal. Enter the following one at a time, and press 'Enter' after each one:-

fixmenus
jwm -reload

That should fix it. I never noticed it because the Thunderbird-portable is unique even amongst all the other portables. Not only will it run from the directory 'LAUNCH' script, or from the Menu entry if you add it, it has a third option.....you can add a tray icon over on the right-hand side, near the clock, and it will fire-up by clicking on this. Saves digging around in the Menu OR having to get back to the desktop if you place the launcher here.

The 'tray' launcher is the one I always use....

Mike.

[JusGellin]

@mikewalsh

That's great
I'm going to add the tray icon as well.

Thanks for your help.