[SOLVED] Problem with Thunderbird when Migrating to Mageia 5

[stargazerinwg]

I installed Mageia 5 on a new hard drive and when I copied my old .thunderbird folder over, Thunderbird started but could not read my address book. All of my saved local files are there. Each time Thunderbird started, it appeared to be checking for compatibility and said: Unable to load address book file abook.mab. It may be read-only, or locked by another application. Please try again later.

Originally described here: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=10128

It turned out to be a permissions problem for abook.mab and history.mab - somehow these files were read only for user and when I added write for user, the address book information was available. It still does the compatibility check each time so suspecting that permissions could be the problem with that, I added user write to compatibility.ini but Thunderbird still checks for compatibility each time it starts. On another computer I installed Mageia 5 and migrated .thunderbird, it does not do this so I suspect this isn't the usual behavior. I wondered if anyone knew if there may be another file I need to look at permissions that may be incorrectly set.

Thanks.

[stargazerinwg]

Here is a snapshot of the Thunderbird Error console.

[doktor5000]

error console is totally irrelevant sadly.

Question is, how did you copy over your .thunderbird folder in particular? In the other thread you mentioned you could not see / copy . files/folders.
Also, did you maybe take the backup while thunderbird was still running? And please show the output of

Code: Select all

ls -al ~/.thunderbird
ls -al ~/.thunderbird/*default

For the compatibility check, best remove the following files in your profile:

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extensions.ini
extensions.cache
extensions.rdf
extensions.sqlite*

And maybe also compatibility.ini if the former are not enough.

They are recreated on next start.

[stargazerinwg]

I used K3b to make a copy on a DVD and then copied from there into my home directory. I can see . files on the old hard disk but Dolphin won't let me copy them.

I tried removing extensions.ini, compatibility.ini, and extensions.rdf - did not have any effect. I didn't find extensions.cache or extensions.sqlite.

Code: Select all

[ken0@localhost ~]$ ls -al .thunderbird/
total 24
drwxrwxr-x  4 ken0 ken0 4096 Feb 10  2010 ./
drwxr-xr-x 33 ken0 ken0 4096 Sep  8 06:51 ../
-r--r--r--  1 ken0 ken0  335 Feb 10  2010 appreg
drwxrwxr-x  2 ken0 ken0 4096 Feb 10  2010 Crash Reports/
drwxrwxr-x  7 ken0 ken0 4096 Sep  8 06:54 mbz4wspc.default/
-r--r--r--  1 ken0 ken0   94 Feb 10  2010 profiles.ini

Code: Select all

[ken0@localhost .thunderbird]$ ls -al mbz4wspc.default/
total 10540
drwxrwxr-x 7 ken0 ken0    4096 Sep  8 06:54 ./
drwxrwxr-x 4 ken0 ken0    4096 Feb 10  2010 ../
-rw-r--r-- 1 ken0 ken0   35725 Sep  7 08:00 abook.mab
-rw------- 1 ken0 ken0    3730 Sep  8 06:53 addons.json
-rw-r--r-- 1 ken0 ken0  524288 Sep  6 11:49 blist.sqlite
-rw------- 1 ken0 ken0  138776 Sep  7 09:41 blocklist.xml
drwx------ 2 ken0 ken0    4096 Sep  7 08:11 calendar-data/
-r--r--r-- 1 ken0 ken0  114688 Sep  4 20:50 cert8.db
-r--r--r-- 1 ken0 ken0     928 Feb  6  2015 cert_override.txt
-rw------- 1 ken0 ken0     200 Sep  8 06:53 compatibility.ini
-r--r--r-- 1 ken0 ken0  174124 Feb 10  2010 compreg.dat
-rw-r--r-- 1 ken0 ken0  524288 Sep  6 11:49 cookies.sqlite
-r--r--r-- 1 ken0 ken0    4096 Sep  4 15:16 cookies.sqlite.bak
-rw------- 1 ken0 ken0      58 Sep  6 11:52 .directory
-rw-r--r-- 1 ken0 ken0     452 Sep  8 06:53 directoryTree.json
-r--r--r-- 1 ken0 ken0   14336 Jul 20 14:28 downloads.sqlite
drwxrwxr-x 3 ken0 ken0    4096 Sep  6 11:49 extensions/
-rw-r--r-- 1 ken0 ken0     318 Sep  8 06:53 extensions.ini
-rw------- 1 ken0 ken0    3325 Sep  8 06:53 extensions.json
-r--r--r-- 1 ken0 ken0     341 Sep  4 20:50 folderTree.json
-rw-r--r-- 1 ken0 ken0  196608 Sep  6 15:05 formhistory.sqlite
-rw-r--r-- 1 ken0 ken0 1245184 Sep  6 11:49 global-messages-db.sqlite
-rw-r--r-- 1 ken0 ken0   27199 Sep  4 18:20 history.mab
drwxrwxr-x 3 ken0 ken0    4096 Sep  6 11:49 ImapMail/
-r--r--r-- 1 ken0 ken0   16384 Sep  4 20:50 key3.db
-r--r--r-- 1 ken0 ken0   15344 Sep  4 18:20 localstore.rdf
-rw------- 1 ken0 ken0     586 Sep  8 06:53 logins.json
drwxrwxr-x 4 ken0 ken0    4096 Feb 10  2010 Mail/
-r--r--r-- 1 ken0 ken0     482 Feb 10  2010 mailViews.dat
-rw-r--r-- 1 ken0 ken0   11584 Sep  4 20:50 mimeTypes.rdf
drwxrwxr-x 2 ken0 ken0    4096 Feb 10  2010 minidumps/
-rw-rw-r-- 1 ken0 ken0    4829 Sep  8 06:54 panacea.dat
-r--r--r-- 1 ken0 ken0       0 Sep  4 15:03 .parentlock
-r--r--r-- 1 ken0 ken0    2048 Feb 10  2010 permissions.sqlite
-r--r--r-- 1 ken0 ken0      73 Apr 27  2014 persdict.dat
-rw-r--r-- 1 ken0 ken0 1179648 Sep  7 08:16 places.sqlite
-rw------- 1 ken0 ken0    2768 Sep  7 08:06 pluginreg.dat
-r--r--r-- 1 ken0 ken0   15398 Sep  4 20:50 prefs.js
-rw-rw-r-- 1 ken0 ken0    1073 Sep  8 06:53 revocations.txt
-rw------- 1 ken0 ken0   16466 Sep  6 11:49 search.json
-r--r--r-- 1 ken0 ken0   16384 Apr  5  2010 secmod.db
-rw------- 1 ken0 ken0     204 Sep  8 06:54 sessionCheckpoints.json
-rw------- 1 ken0 ken0     384 Sep  8 06:54 session.json
-r--r--r-- 1 ken0 ken0   11264 Oct 21  2011 signons.sqlite
-rw-rw-r-- 1 ken0 ken0     119 Sep  8 06:54 SiteSecurityServiceState.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 ken0 ken0   98304 Sep  7 08:11 storage.sdb
-r--r--r-- 1 ken0 ken0   32768 Feb 10  2010 urlclassifier3.sqlite
-r--r--r-- 1 ken0 ken0     213 Sep  4 20:50 virtualFolders.dat
-rw-r--r-- 1 ken0 ken0   98304 Sep  6 17:58 webappsstore.sqlite
-r--r--r-- 1 ken0 ken0 2252314 Feb 10  2010 XPC.mfasl
-r--r--r-- 1 ken0 ken0  126384 Dec 13  2010 xpti.dat
-r--r--r-- 1 ken0 ken0 3764241 Mar 30  2013 XUL.mfasl
-rw------- 1 ken0 ken0    4879 Sep  8 06:54 xulstore.json

Thanks for your assistance.

[isadora]

Please place command-output between [CODE]-tags, to improve readability, thanks ahead!!!
Demo: ftp://ftp5.gwdg.de/pub/linux/mandriva/m ... e_tags.ogv

[doktor5000]

The DVD might be a problem, if you copied the files directly to the DVD - you will lose unix permissions and ownership. Better use a tarball next time and copy the tarball.

Currently the problem seems to be that a lot of files have 444 permissions only, meaning they're only readable. Best do the following:

Code: Select all

chmod -R u+w ~/.thunderbird/

to recursively add write permissions to all the files and folders recursively.

For the other issue, why won't dolphin let you copy the . files, what's the error message? BTW: You need to show them first, e.g. using Alt + .

[doktor5000]

And for comparison, here's what my permissions look like:

Code: Select all

[doktor5000@Mageia5]─[20:14:02]─[~] ls -al ~/.thunderbird
insgesamt 8
drwxr-xr-x 1 doktor5000 doktor5000   68 Mär  1  2012 ./
drwxr-xr-x 1 doktor5000 doktor5000 4558 Sep  6 19:55 ../
-rwxr-xr-x 1 doktor5000 doktor5000  335 Jul  6  2010 appreg*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 doktor5000 doktor5000  104 Jun  1  2014 profiles.ini*
drwxr-xr-x 1 doktor5000 doktor5000 1832 Sep  8 09:25 zjbfm2oy.default/
[doktor5000@Mageia5]─[20:14:11]─[~] ls -al ~/.thunderbird/*default
insgesamt 470312
drwxr-xr-x 1 doktor5000 doktor5000      1832 Sep  8 09:25 ./
drwxr-xr-x 1 doktor5000 doktor5000        68 Mär  1  2012 ../
-rwxr-xr-x 1 doktor5000 doktor5000       498 Jul  6  2010 20075116.s*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 doktor5000 doktor5000     75789 Sep  2 20:07 abook.mab*
-rw------- 1 doktor5000 doktor5000     21216 Sep  7 08:29 addons.json
-rwxr-xr-x 1 doktor5000 doktor5000    524288 Sep  5  2014 addons.sqlite*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 doktor5000 doktor5000       785 Feb 14  2013 aedebug.txt*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 doktor5000 doktor5000    524288 Sep  5  2014 blist.sqlite*
-rw------- 1 doktor5000 doktor5000    138776 Sep  7 08:31 blocklist.xml
-rwxr-xr-x 1 doktor5000 doktor5000         1 Nov 18  2013 _CACHE_CLEAN_*
drwxr-xr-x 1 doktor5000 doktor5000        64 Jul 24 21:46 calendar-data/
-rwxr-xr-x 1 doktor5000 doktor5000    655360 Sep  8 09:25 cert8.db*
drwxr-xr-x 1 doktor5000 doktor5000        28 Nov  3  2014 chrome/
-rwxr-xr-x 1 doktor5000 doktor5000     98304 Aug 14  2011 chromeappsstore.sqlite*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 doktor5000 doktor5000       180 Aug 31 19:37 compatibility.ini*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 doktor5000 doktor5000    198498 Feb  1  2012 compreg.dat*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 doktor5000 doktor5000    229376 Jul 27 21:22 content-prefs.sqlite*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 doktor5000 doktor5000    524288 Okt  6  2013 cookies.sqlite*
-rw-r--r-- 1 doktor5000 doktor5000        23 Jul 24 21:46 directoryTree.json
-rw------- 1 doktor5000 doktor5000      5320 Aug 16 16:26 downloads.json
drwxr-xr-x 1 doktor5000 doktor5000       530 Aug 18 19:00 extensions/
-rw-r--r-- 1 doktor5000 doktor5000       659 Aug 30 22:16 extensions.ini
-rw------- 1 doktor5000 doktor5000     16844 Aug 31 19:41 extensions.json
-rwxr-xr-x 1 doktor5000 doktor5000      9955 Feb  2  2012 extensions.rdf*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 doktor5000 doktor5000    458752 Sep  5  2014 extensions.sqlite*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 doktor5000 doktor5000       704 Sep  8 09:25 folderTree.json*
-rw-r--r-- 1 doktor5000 doktor5000    196608 Nov 24  2013 formhistory.sqlite
-rwxr-xr-x 1 doktor5000 doktor5000 470417408 Sep  8 09:25 global-messages-db.sqlite*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 doktor5000 doktor5000     80343 Sep  6 08:50 history.mab*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 doktor5000 doktor5000      2185 Jul  6  2010 install.log*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 doktor5000 doktor5000   3117864 Sep  7 20:08 junklog.html*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 doktor5000 doktor5000     16384 Sep  8 09:25 key3.db*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 doktor5000 doktor5000     55256 Jul 24 21:30 localstore.rdf*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 doktor5000 doktor5000      1640 Aug 19  2011 localstore-safe.rdf*
-rw------- 1 doktor5000 doktor5000      3164 Jul 24 21:46 logins.json
drwxr-xr-x 1 doktor5000 doktor5000       174 Mär  1  2012 Mail/
-rwxr-xr-x 1 doktor5000 doktor5000        25 Jul  6  2010 mailViews.dat*
-rw-r--r-- 1 doktor5000 doktor5000      6352 Jan  7  2015 mimeTypes.rdf
-rwxr-xr-x 1 doktor5000 doktor5000     53187 Sep  8 09:25 panacea.dat*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 doktor5000 doktor5000         0 Sep  8 09:24 .parentlock*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 doktor5000 doktor5000      6144 Aug 27 20:11 permissions.sqlite*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 doktor5000 doktor5000       521 Jul  6  2010 pgprules.xml*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 doktor5000 doktor5000   1277952 Sep  8 09:24 places.sqlite*
-rw------- 1 doktor5000 doktor5000      2749 Aug 16 11:36 pluginreg.dat
-rwxr-xr-x 1 doktor5000 doktor5000     21244 Feb 17  2012 prefs-1.js*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 doktor5000 doktor5000     49241 Feb 17  2012 prefs-1.js~*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 doktor5000 doktor5000     43611 Sep  8 09:25 prefs.js*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 doktor5000 doktor5000     54150 Feb 17  2012 prefs.js~*
-rw-rw-r-- 1 doktor5000 doktor5000      1073 Aug 30 22:16 revocations.txt
-rw------- 1 doktor5000 doktor5000     16466 Aug 30 22:16 search.json
-rwxr-xr-x 1 doktor5000 doktor5000         2 Mär 14  2013 search-metadata.json*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 doktor5000 doktor5000     65536 Feb  2  2012 search.sqlite*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 doktor5000 doktor5000     16384 Jul  6  2010 secmod.db*
-rw------- 1 doktor5000 doktor5000       204 Sep  8 09:25 sessionCheckpoints.json
-rw------- 1 doktor5000 doktor5000       524 Sep  8 09:25 session.json
-rwxr-xr-x 1 doktor5000 doktor5000       874 Jul  6  2010 signons3.txt*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 doktor5000 doktor5000     15360 Apr 29  2014 signons.sqlite*
-rw-rw-r-- 1 doktor5000 doktor5000       296 Sep  8 09:25 SiteSecurityServiceState.txt
-rwxr-xr-x 1 doktor5000 doktor5000      3072 Aug  1  2011 storage.sdb*
-rw-r--r-- 1 doktor5000 doktor5000         4 Dez  4  2014 Telemetry.ShutdownTime.txt
-rwxr-xr-x 1 doktor5000 doktor5000   2134927 Sep  2 20:22 training.dat*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 doktor5000 doktor5000         8 Sep  2 20:22 traits.dat*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 doktor5000 doktor5000     32768 Jul  6  2010 urlclassifier3.sqlite*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 doktor5000 doktor5000        24 Feb  2  2012 urlclassifier.pset*
drwxr-xr-x 1 doktor5000 doktor5000        54 Mär  1  2012 US/
-rw-r--r-- 1 doktor5000 doktor5000         0 Nov  3  2014 user.js
-rwxr-xr-x 1 doktor5000 doktor5000      1360 Sep  8 09:25 virtualFolders.dat*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 doktor5000 doktor5000    163840 Okt  6  2013 webappsstore.sqlite*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 doktor5000 doktor5000    126234 Feb  1  2012 xpti.dat*
-rw------- 1 doktor5000 doktor5000     13735 Sep  8 09:25 xulstore.json
[doktor5000@Mageia5]─[20:14:16]─[~]

[stargazerinwg]

wintpe helped me with group membership (thank you very much) across the 2 disk drives (old and new) and then I copied the .thunderbird folder to the new drive directly from the old drive after renaming the one I had copied from backup DVD. Thunderbird is behaving as it should now - able to access address book and not doing compatibility check each time.

Thanks to all who helped!