Double Click "Thunderbird" Icon, nothing happens???

[ScottyK]

I was running Thunderbird 2.023 (what you can download from KPackageKit) and was running fine.

Then this morning I decided to upgrade to version 3.01, to match what I was running under Windows 7.

I added the package directory to KpackageKIt, and went into the terminal to install the program.

I typed the following...

sudo apt-get install thunderbird-mozilla-build

Installed worked like it should, and when I clicked on the icon, Thunderbird 3.01 started! However it didn't link to the previus profile.

So using a command I found, I typed in the followng..

$ mv ~/.thunderbird ~/thunderbird-profile-backup
$ ln -s ~/.thunderbird-x.y ~/.thunderbird

Per the instructions, I subsituted "x.y" for "3.0".

That's when things went screwy.

Now when I click on the thunderbird icon, I see the program trying to load down in the taskbar, but after about 20 seconds, it disappears, and that's it.

I checked around on the directory, and see Thunderbird 3.0.1 sitting there, and my profile containing the mail.

So I decided to apt-get remove thunderbird-mozilla-build, and then when back to the KpackageKit to remove Thunderbird 2.023.

Rebooted the computer (not sure if this is necessary, but force of habit from using Windows)

Logon the system, and typed in the apt-get command again to get the new thunderbird.

Icon comes back, but still same behavior.

So now I'm not sure what to do! The mail has safely been copied somewhere else, so I can delete that profile if needed.

Suggestions?

I'm running KDE 4.4, on a 64-bit system.

This is the link where I got the instructions to install Thunderbird.

http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawik...ge#64bit_users

And this is the link where I got the command to "move" the profile.

http://www.atoztoa.com/2010/01/insta...-official.html

[skunk]

Re: Double Click "Thunderbird" Icon, nothing happens

If you start Thunderbird from a console there may be some useful trace information printed that could help find the problem

[ScottyK]

Re: Double Click "Thunderbird" Icon, nothing happens

excellent! What do I type?

[skunk]

Re: Double Click "Thunderbird" Icon, nothing happens

Open a console

thunderbird

[ScottyK]

Re: Double Click "Thunderbird" Icon, nothing happens

Ok this is what I get

(thunderbird-bin:2701): GLib-WARNING **: g_set_prgname() called multiple times

[skunk]

Re: Double Click "Thunderbird" Icon, nothing happens

Thats exactly the same "error" I see when it starts. But mine actually opens.

Hopefully somebody else will chime in soon with some more ideas

[doctordruidphd]

Re: Double Click "Thunderbird" Icon, nothing happens

First things first...

If you are downloading from the daily ppa, you may have an unstable version of thunderbird. Hard to tell what might be going wrong. I notice that the most recent thunderbird in the lucid repositories doesn't work.

Here is what I did to ge thunderbird 3.x:

1. Downloaded from the mozilla website:
http://www.mozillamessaging.com/en-U...rbird/all.html
It's version 3.01

2. tar -xvf the file you downloaded.

3. Move the new thunderbird directory to /opt.

4. If you have been using thunderbird2 from the ubuntu repositories, your user data is in .mozilla-thunderbird . You will need to copy that to .thunderbird, like this:

cd ~
cp -r .mozilla-thunderbird .thunderbird

5. Change the link in /usr/bin to point to your new thunderbird program:

cd /usr/bin
sudo mv thunderbird thunderbird-old
sudo ln -s /opt/thunderbird/thunderbird thunderbird

6. At this point you are ready to try the new program. Hitting any of the thunderbird icons in the menu. or wherever you have them, should start the new version, and it should read your data from the new .thunderbird directory.

Note that there may be a bunch of updates and/or incompatibility messages, depending on the themes and extensions you have installed. But the program should start. You may need to reinstall various extensions and themes with newer versions to get them running.

Another thing tor emember is that your personal data is now in .thunderbird, so when ubuntu updates the repository, the new version it installs will change the symbolic link in /usr/bin to point back to /lib/thunderbird/thunderbird, and it will look in the .mozilla-thunderbird directory for info. So if you don't watch the updates carefully, it may look like you have lost your data. You haven't; all you need to do is redo the symbolic link to point to /opt/thunderbird/thunderbird. Alternatively, you can ser tup a different symbolic link, say,

cd /usr/bin
sudo ln -s /opt/thunderbird/thunderbird thunderbird-local

and then change your menu icons, etc to point to thunderbird-local instead of thunderbird.

[ScottyK]

Re: Double Click "Thunderbird" Icon, nothing happens

Thanks for the step by step! Should I nuke all traces of Thunderbird before trying this method?

[doctordruidphd]

Re: Double Click "Thunderbird" Icon, nothing happens

Thanks for the step by step! Should I nuke all traces of Thunderbird before trying this method?

I wouldn't "nuke" anything until you are sure it is working. I'm not sure exactly what you have at this point, or exactly sure where your data may be. So don't erase anything yet. If you were using thunderbird-2 from the regular ubuntu repostiories, then your data should all be in .mozilla-thunderbird, so it is safe to remove all of the .thunderbird stuff. If you were using a version of thunderbird other than that, your data might be in .thunderbird. Have a look at whatever .thunderbird directories you have, and if they have any data in them, then rename them to something else (.thunderbird-test maybe) until you are sure you haven't lost anything.

Then, you would want to do the copy from .mozilla-thunderbird to .thunderbird, and proceed to install the new version of the program.

The idea here is don't permanently erase anything, until you are sure it's working properly, and your personal data is where you want it.

[ScottyK]

Re: Double Click "Thunderbird" Icon, nothing happens

I keep running into that error up above. After searching the Internet some, it looks like others are having problems with 3.0.

This computer is dual booting with Vista, and only have 50GB for the Kubuntu. I've decided that I want Linux to have most of the hard drive (250 GB), so I'm going to back everything up, wipe the computer and start over.

Then I'll be able to follow the above directions, and hopefully it will work. Thanks again all for the input!

[rfakhrai]

Re: Double Click "Thunderbird" Icon, nothing happens

what about ubuntuzilla.py? pretty straightforward script. downloads and installs latest stable of firefox or thunderbird. something tells me I've got this wrong since it hasn't been suggested already.

[ScottyK]

Re: Double Click "Thunderbird" Icon, nothing happens

I think I tried this already. But i goofed first, I installed the regular 3.0.1 from Thunderbird, didn't work, then went and installed this. Website looks familiar.

[The Liquidator]

Re: Double Click "Thunderbird" Icon, nothing happens



Thist should work for you, it did for me - this assumes you are using the mozilla-build of T'bird 3 as provided by ubuntuzilla.

Rename your /home/.thunderbird directory. Launch t'bird. It will set up a new .thunderbird folder. Close T'bird.

Then copy the contents of the default profile folder from the .mozilla-thunderbird folder into the default profile folder within the .thunderbird folder i.e do not change the folder itself, just it's contents. Allow all overwrites.

On next launching thunderbird you should then see your mail and address book.

Once you are satisfied you have everything you can then remove the .mozilla-thunderbird folder and any previously renamed .thunderbird folder.

HTH

Ian