New LTS Thunderbird : v115 - in 'portable' format - 32- and 64-bit

[mikewalsh]

Okay, gang.

After publishing the new crop of Firefox portables earlier today, I thought I'd better release these corresponding new Thunderbird builds. I put these together several weeks ago, but have been testing the Qt5-powered 'BirdTray' app.......which is the best replacement I've found for the now-defunct 'FireTray' extension..

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These, like the current Firefox portables, are now built in my new, 'standard' portable format. The 'extralibs' directory - GTK3 & libdbus in this case - is again re-located to the top 'level', as is Thunderbird's 'profile'. This permits easier "dropping-in" of an existing profile from a previous version.

Nothing extraneous now lives within the main directory.

You also have the ability to add a Menu entry from wherever your portable is located. The 'MenuReadMe' explains how this works.

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I've also built a 'basic' FireTray 'replacement', which I've called TBTray. This won't give you notifications of unread mails - you'll have to check for these manually, I'm afraid; I'm not that good, yet! - but it at least gives you a method for accessing Thunderbird from the tray, without the need to dig around in the Menu or accessing your desktop for the launcher. A wee script places an executable icon in the notification area over to the right; here, at least, it never gets covered up by anything else, and gives you quick access to Thunderbird at any time. 'TBTrayReadMe' explains what to do with this.

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There's a 32-bit and a 64-bit version of Thunderbird-portable v91. Realistically, this is only going to run in any Pup from around Xenialpup onwards.....Tahrpup needs too much other stuff to make it worthwhile, TBH. You CAN find older versions at my Google Drive, here:-

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing

v102 can be found at my Mega a/c, here:-

https://mega.nz/folder/HLBHUa5B#btIZKSse78s6dfpHAcuM8A

.....along with the afore-mentioned 'BirdTray' .debs, for anyone who wants to try it.

v91 - now in its own separate sub-folder:-

https://mega.nz/folder/iTZ1DICA#U4BissENVuap9vA-RvuDNg

Hope they're useful for some of you!

Mike.

[mikewalsh]

~~~BirdTray~~~
(FireTray replacement for Thunderbird)
----------------------------------------------------------------

Morning, gang.

As mentioned above, and as I've talked about before, the extremely useful FireTray extension for T-Bird worked fine up until TB52. TB60 then broke it; it's developer re-wrote it.....and then Mozilla switched the extension infrastructure to WebAPI. And FireTray disappeared.....

Various replacements have been introduced; some maintained, some abandoned. The most useful replacement I've found is "BirdTray", by George Yunaev. It's the closest in functionality to FireTray itself, even possessing the ability to make use of different icons if so desired. Its only drawback is the requirement for Qt5.

I reviewed it in the early days, some 3 or 4 years back. It was promising, but very 'dodgy' at that time; you often ended up with a whole bunch of icons completely filling the task-bar! This has, thankfully, been fixed in more recent releases, and it's now a useful drop-in replacement for FireTray. It has one main difference:-

- In FireTray, closing the Thunderbird window with the "X" minimized it back down to the tray icon.
- In BirdTray, when doing the same thing, BirdTray thinks you're closing Thunderbird.....and helpfully re-starts it for you (then hides it again!) So here, you control TBird operation completely from the tray. When setting it up, therefore, take a few minutes to make sure you have the multitude of options on the Settings->Hiding tab just how you want them!

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I may have a go at re-building these packages with included Qt5 - just the modules it actually needs. For now, you can find the BirdTray .debs - for Xenial64, Bionic64 & Fossa64 - in a separate sub-directory alongside the current TB91s.....at the above MEGA.nz URL.

Hope they're useful. They're working well for me....

Mike.

[mikewalsh]

Afternoon, gang.

Now then; it's update time again. Here, at long last, is Thunderbird v102.....in Puppy-portable format.

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There's a few new features. A new sidebar, which gives instant access to things like your address-book, the calendar, task scheduler....stuff like that. And all icons are now coloured; quite whether that has a function, or whether it's simply 'eye-candy', I haven't yet figured out. You decide....

This is now completely out of the window for Tahrpup. As with the current Firefox v102, all you get is a blank window come up; the terminal is full of dire, critical warnings about glib-gobject not supporting certain features. So, accordingly, I've left v91 up - which still works A-OK - now in a separate sub-folder.

Personally, I'm running T-Bird v102 in a Xenialpup chroot.....which is working very nicely for Slacko 560, Sailor Eceladus' Slacko 571.....and of course, Tahrpup.

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Links for both versions are in post #1. As always:-

• Download

• Unzip

• Move the portable directory anywhere you like, though preferably outside the 'save'

• Click to enter

• Click 'LAUNCH' to run AS a 'portable. For greater system integration, you can add a Menu entry if required. Or, for even more convenience, you can forgo the Menu entry, and install the tray icon 'launcher' instead.....making it always available at the click of a button, regardless of what else may be open. This is installed/removed via TBTrayAdd/Remove

Enjoy.

Mike.

[geo_c]

@mikewalsh

Hey Mike, really enjoying this Thunderbird portable. Thunderbird came a long way since the last time I tried to use it, which was many years now. And the portable aspect of an email client is too good to be true really. Very handy. Set it up once and copy it to where ever!

[mikewalsh]

@geo_c :-

I know it's comparatively big'n'clunky when viewed against something like Claws Mail, but I've been using T-Bird for MANY years.....I was using it under Windows XP, for a long while before I jumped ship and hopped over the 'dark side' of the fence. I still think that for a complete, all-in-one package, it takes some beating. And even on older systems with far less resources than I currently have, it was one app I always made room for, regardless.

It HAS come on a long way in recent years. No denying that.... What I wouldn't mind seeing is SeaMonkey's mail 'client' separately packaged as its own app. I can't help thinking it would be somewhat more lightweight; it's very similar to T-Bird, although, like Sylpheed/Claws, setting-up accounts is very much more 'manual' & 'hands-on'. It's easy enough to do once you've got the hang of it, of course, though T-Bird kinda spoils you with the degree of automation it possesses, and the ease of setting things up that promotes.

Mike.

[geo_c]

@mikewalsh Thunderbird asks me if I want to download the updates. Is this capable of updating, or should I leave it alone?

Thanks

[mikewalsh]

@geo_c :-

You're quite safe to let these update. Portable Thunderbird is exactly the same as Portable Firefox in this respect; it downloads the update, but asks you first if you want to accept. That's the default behaviour, I believe.

Updates aren't as frequent for T-Bird as they are for 'mainline' Firefox. More like the ESR releases, I would say......which is, I think, what they're based on. A new T-Bird usually appears around the same time as a new FF ESR release, so.....

Mike.

[Governor]

@geo_c :-

You're quite safe to let these update. Portable Thunderbird is exactly the same as Portable Firefox in this respect; it downloads the update, but asks you first if you want to accept. That's the default behaviour, I believe.

Updates aren't as frequent for T-Bird as they are for 'mainline' Firefox. More like the ESR releases, I would say......which is, I think, what they're based on. A new T-Bird usually appears around the same time as a new FF ESR release, so.....

Mike.

So if I make some edits to the config file in portable versions of TB or FF, and allow the prompted updates, will my edits remain intact?
Since the updates (always/often/usually) restart the apps, it seems to me the updates could make virtually any changes, including adding spy code or other malicious code.
Do you presume updates are always safe and beneficiary?

[mikewalsh]

Since the updates (always/often/usually) restart the apps, it seems to me the updates could make virtually any changes, including adding spy code or other malicious code.
Do you presume updates are always safe and beneficiary?

Heh. If you're THAT paranoid, there's only one real solution; unplug your computer, chuck it in the dumpster, shut all your online accounts down, disconnect from the modern world in every way possible.......then go live in a cave in a remote location. And become a hermit.

You're thinking like a Windoze user.

In over 8 years of using Puppy - often in some very "unsafe" ways! - I have never yet had so much as a sniff of malware on any of my boxes. Puppy's not perfect, but she's pretty darn secure...

I'm afraid I can't talk to paranoid people. I can't get a lick of sense out of them.....and I've long since learned that it's pointless trying to convince them of anything.

TBH, why would I even want to?

Mike.

[geo_c]

So if I make some edits to the config file in portable versions of TB or FF, and allow the prompted updates, will my edits remain intact?

Yes, your configurations remain in tact as long you don't alter your profile folders.

Since the updates (always/often/usually) restart the apps, it seems to me the updates could make virtually any changes, including adding spy code or other malicious code.
Do you presume updates are always safe and beneficiary?

Presumably, security is one of the primary reasons in favor of updating. Mozilla is addressing security holes as they arise and subsequently send out updates. Of course, Mozilla and Google are probably some of the biggest spies on the planet. So if you don't trust them, don't use their products. If it's any consolation, their spying is rock solid secure.

[mikewalsh]

@geo_c :-

.....except of course if he won't use either Google or Mozilla products, he might just as well pack up and close his forum account NOW. Because EVERY browser available out there is related to either Chromium OR Firefox in some way or another.

Between them, they have a complete duopoly insofar as internet access goes. Unless he wants to stick with a text-only browser, like Lynx.....but then, Governor probably wouldn't trust that either.

You can't help some people. And I've got better things to do than finding fault with everything, and spending my time analyzing security "holes" to the nth degree.

Mike.

[Governor]

@geo_c :-

.....except of course if he won't use either Google or Mozilla products, he might just as well pack up and close his forum account NOW. Because EVERY browser available out there is related to either Chromium OR Firefox in some way or another.

Between, they have a complete duopoly insofar as internet access goes. Unless he wants to stick with a text-only browser, like Lynx.....but then, Governor probably wouldn't trust that either.

You can't help some people. And I've got better things to do than finding fault with everything, and spending my time analyzing security "holes" to the nth degree.

Mike.

Wow, that sure was quick that you overreacted, Mike. I have seen plenty of bad software, and unscrupulous updates. And if you sign up for any service on-line, you generally sign away all rights, so technically, you enter into a contract where the service provider can change your contract however they please without your consent since you must consent to anything they say in order to keep using their service. Nowadays, you often are not even asked for consent and only if you read the fine print, find out how to quit the service if you don't agree. I remember when a contract was something agreed to by both (or all) parties and any changes had to be made in concert by everyone named in the contract.

I object to Google anything and try hard to avoid Google. This forum has some sort of interaction with gstatic and I am blocking all javascript from that site from Firefox. BTW, thanks for the portable version.

Cheers!

[mikeslr]

Governor, you might want to examine this thread. https://www.forum.puppylinux.com/viewto ... 203#p19203. I'm not sure to what extent it's recipe may apply. But Thunderbird is a 'mozilla' product and 'the apple doesn't fall far from the tree'. Googling --or if you want, run a search using Qwant-- may reveal recommendations similar to Chris Xiao's for firefox, but with Thunderbird as its target.

There may be other nations which like Switzerland are not treaties to either NASA's or the EU's 'prying eyes'; or Chinese or Russian defacto interception of whatever they choose to of any communication thru their networks. But Switzerland is the home of protomail and protonVPN. Protonmail is free; and a mail account enables use of free VPN servers, albeit only a couple of the VPN servers it maintains are free.

Like MikeWalsh, however, I have little reason to question how secure Puppys generally are. And I can add this: for six years I was employed by a government agency which, among its functions, investigated criminal activity. The real limitation of such investigations was neither the Law nor the available technology. It was the financial cost entailed in having to assign people to it and pay their salaries for what, most of the time, was tedious, boring, and fruitless surveillance.

Lady Godiva might attract attention; but only by making an effort to do so in public.

[Governor]

Governor, you might want to examine this thread. https://www.forum.puppylinux.com/viewto ... 203#p19203. I'm not sure to what extent it's recipe may apply. But Thunderbird is a 'mozilla' product and 'the apple doesn't fall far from the tree'. Googling --or if you want, run a search using Qwant-- may reveal recommendations similar to Chris Xiao's for firefox, but with Thunderbird as its target.

There may be other nations which like Switzerland are not treaties to either NASA's or the EU's 'prying eyes'; or Chinese or Russian defacto interception of whatever they choose to of any communication thru their networks. But Switzerland is the home of protomail and protonVPN. Protonmail is free; and a mail account enables use of free VPN servers, albeit only a couple of the VPN servers it maintains are free.

Like MikeWalsh, however, I have little reason to question how secure Puppys generally are. And I can add this: for six years I was employed by a government agency which, among its functions, investigated criminal activity. The real limitation of such investigations was neither the Law nor the available technology. It was the financial cost entailed in having to assign people to it and pay their salaries for what, most of the time, was tedious, boring, and fruitless surveillance.

Lady Godiva might attract attention; but only by making an effort to do so in public.

Thanks for mentioning Proton.
Well I can't see anything wrong with asking about security. I am not doubting Puppy is secure, I know very little about it so I am simply inquiring.

"Saying you don't care about privacy because you have nothing to hide, is no different than saying you don't care about free speech because you have nothing to say."
~Edward Snowden

Cheers!

[mikewalsh]

@Governor :-

Well I can't see anything wrong with asking about security. I am not doubting Puppy is secure, I know very little about it so I am simply inquiring.

No, there's nowt wrong with asking about security. The folks who get my back up are those who run on about it to the exclusion of everything else......as though it were the "be-all" and the "end-all" of computing (and nothing else matters).

Such individuals I have very little time for. But that's just me.....so don't take my maunderings too seriously.

Mike.

[geo_c]

I object to Google anything and try hard to avoid Google. This forum has some sort of interaction with gstatic and I am blocking all javascript from that site from Firefox. BTW, thanks for the portable version.

I object to google anything myself. However their web engine is used for just about everything imaginable these days.

For browsers I use LibreWolf's appimage with the following extensions, and also some extra things turned off from about:config like almost all vr.oculus settings. Blocking java script on certain websites seems like I good idea that I haven't played with yet.

I generally use terminal email like neomutt and nmail, but I recently had to use Thunderbird because of certificate issues on my work microsoft accounts. It irritates the crap out of me.

I also don't only use one browser. I never log into microsoft of google with LibreWolf, if I have to log into either to access my employers files I use @mikewalsh's ungoogled chromium portable. It runs as spot, so it won't touch your filesystem.

[Governor]

I object to Google anything and try hard to avoid Google. This forum has some sort of interaction with gstatic and I am blocking all javascript from that site from Firefox. BTW, thanks for the portable version.

I object to google anything myself. However their web engine is used for just about everything imaginable these days.

For browsers I use LibreWolf's appimage with the following extensions, and also some extra things turned off from about:config like almost all vr.oculus settings. Blocking java script on certain websites seems like I good idea that I haven't played with yet.

I generally use terminal email like neomutt and nmail, but I recently had to use Thunderbird because of certificate issues on my work microsoft accounts. It irritates the crap out of me.

I also don't only use one browser. I never log into microsoft of google with LibreWolf, if I have to log into either to access my employers files I use @mikewalsh's ungoogled chromium portable. It runs as spot, so it won't touch your filesystem.

I never log into Google, or Microsoft on my own, but unfortunately I am forced to use Microsoft at work, including Outlook and Edge.
How do you get a program to run as spot?
I have 48 extensions installed in FF.

With Puppy, I am still stuck and I am at a loss as to how to proceed. I think there is also something wrong with the new boot CD because it seems OS is running from my harddrive, even though I
booted from the CD and chose copy-to-ram. So I am unable to repartition from FAT32 to ext4. I don't see much benefit from savefile, since I must reconfigure after every boot.

Thanks!

[geo_c]

I never log into Google, or Microsoft on my own, but unfortunately I am forced to use Microsoft at work, including Outlook and Edge.
How do you get a program to run as spot?
I have 48 extensions installed in FF.

With Puppy, I am still stuck and I am at a loss as to how to proceed. I think there is also something wrong with the new boot CD because it seems OS is running from my harddrive, even though I
booted from the CD and chose copy-to-ram. So I am unable to repartition from FAT32 to ext4. I don't see much benefit from savefile, since I must reconfigure after every boot.
Thanks!

Mike's Ungoogled Chromium portable runs as spot out-of-the-box. It's possible to run other program's by opening it on the command line, but I'm not sure of the syntax. There are topics covering it on the forum.

Berfore you bother with anything puppy related though, you do need to straighten out the installation.

Let's take that discussion back to here: viewtopic.php?p=74916#p74916

[mouldy]

Heh. If you're THAT paranoid, there's only one real solution; unplug your computer, chuck it in the dumpster, shut all your online accounts down, disconnect from the modern world in every way possible.......then go live in a cave in a remote location. And become a hermit.

Might want to shut down all online accounts BEFORE chucking computer. Its lot harder to do via snail mail or by phone. Lot of these places dont hire very many actual humans to interact with customers, its all automated. Just try to get a real live person at PayPal.... LOL And now with all banks, etc linking your account to a cell phone number, whole lot fun if you lose your phone and have to change numbers without the old phone to accept a security code.

[mikewalsh]

Evening, gang.

Now then; it's new build time. I'm pleased to be able to offer 64- AND 32-bit builds of the world's best-ever open-source mail client in 'portable' format.

This is Thunderbird 115 'Supernova'.....currently at v115.1.1:-

Not only is it now more professional-looking than ever; I don't quite know what the T-Bird team have done over the last year or so, but their releases just seem to keep getting more & more stable, too. Which is great news for everybody that relies on this to the extent that I do!

And with the new "Supernova" redesign, it's also very, very good-looking, too.....

Your profile can be transferred straight across from v102, and should work without issue. Mine does.

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The new packages can be obtained from the usual location in post #1. A Menu entry can be added in the usual way, if required. Hope y'all like it as much as I do.

Enjoy!

Mike.

[Governor]

snip -------->8
And with the new "Supernova" redesign, it's also very, very good-looking, too.....

Your profile can be transferred straight across from v102, and should work without issue. Mine does.
snip -------->8

Where can I find instructions for transferring my profile to this version?
Thanks!

[mikewalsh]

@Governor :-

Depending on how you're currently running T-Bird, it's either really easy........or moderately easy.

IF you're running the previous Thunderbird-portable - v102 - it's literally as simple as copying the 'profile' directory across from one to the other. When you fire the new one up, it'll find what it's looking for straight away.

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If you're running as a normal installation from within Puppy, you need to find the /root/.mozilla directory. Look for Thunderbird, then look inside that for a directory labelled with a mixture of random letters & numbers. This will be the profile. Leave this ROX window open.

Open a new instance of ROX, go into the new portable, and manually create a new directory CALLED 'profile' (small letters). Open this, and leave it open.

Now, copy the contents of the first profile directory across into the one you've just created. That's it.

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You can now fire-up the new portable, and it should be just as you left it. Apart from the new 'look', that is!

Mike.

[Governor]

@Governor :-

Depending on how you're currently running T-Bird, it's either really easy........or moderately easy.

IF you're running the previous Thunderbird-portable - v102 - it's literally as simple as copying the 'profile' directory across from one to the other. When you fire the new one up, it'll find what it's looking for straight away.

8<-------------------------- snipped

You can now fire-up the new portable, and it should be just as you left it. Apart from the new 'look', that is!

Mike.

I am running a portable version I got from your mega.nz repository, but I believe it has been updated once or twice with the built-in update feature.

I will give it a try. Thanks!

[dcung]

The new packages can be obtained from the usual location in post #1. A Menu entry can be added in the usual way, if required. Hope y'all like it as much as I do.

Hi @mikewalsh

I downloaded from post #1, but I can only see the following, and when downloaded, it's v102.
I probably missed something, where can I download v115 from?
Thank you.

Capture.PNG (48.35 KiB) Viewed 260 times

[mikewalsh]

@dcung :-

Heh. Ah, I'm sorry for the confusion there. Both '32' and '64' folders contained two sets of items; v102 AND v115. The older v102 was packed as 'tar.gz', but the newer v115 was packed as 'tar.xz'. There should have only been the newer build in there, but I had a cock-up with the 'sync' function between the web-site and my desktop MEGA client! Consequently, a lot of older items that I hadn't updated in the client got re-uploaded again to the web-site.....

I've now deleted the older 'tar.gz' packages again, and the sole remaining items - the 'tar.xz' package and md5 checksum - ARE the ones you want.

Apologies for that.

Mike.

[dcung]

Both '32' and '64' folders contained two sets of items; v102 AND v115. The older v102 was packed as 'tar.gz', but the newer v115 was packed as 'tar.xz'. There should have only been the newer build in there,.....

That explained it.
Yes, I saw two sets with same name and decided to download gzip packed one.

Thanks Mike!