[SOLVED] Why, actually, was Thunderbird60 released without Calendar when there is a compatible version of the extension?

[pastic]

I too regret that the Calendar add-on disappeared with the recent update, but I don't understand why?

According to https://www.thunderbird.net/en-US/thund ... easenotes/ the Calendar has not been removed from being a default extension in TB.
According to https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/doc ... r_Versions version 6.2.2.1 of Calendar is compatible with the recent Thunderbird release. I get it that the very old version 5.4 (April 2017!!) is incompatible with TB60 for some reason, but there are newer versions than 5.4, why was not one of those packaged?

Is this Ubuntu lagging behind in packaging the newer Calendar extensions? If yes, is it not strange that they would have "repoed" a new version of Thunderbird without Calendar, when the policy of Thunderbird still is to "default include" Calendar?

I don't get why this happened.

[Moem]

It's a valid question, but I don't think anyone here knows the answer.

[pastic]

Okay, so at least it is not standard practice, then.

[gm10]

When are extensions ever pre-packaged? Extensions are optional features, that's why they are extensions and not parts of the core client. Thunderbird allows you to search and install calendar extensions via the Addons menu entry.

[Moem]

When are extensions ever pre-packaged?

Another good point, that I somehow managed to miss completely!

[pastic]

When are extensions ever pre-packaged? Extensions are optional features, that's why they are extensions and not parts of the core client. Thunderbird allows you to search and install calendar extensions via the Addons menu entry.

Well, yes normally, but Calendar is in fact pre-packaged since a few versions back. That's why this situation is such a conundrum.

[gm10]

All I can say is LM19 released with Thunderbird 52 and there was no calendar extension included. I'm not using Thunderbird though so I'm not claiming detailed knowledge about its history.

[karlchen]

Hello, folks.

Learnt from my Ubuntu 18.04.1 Mate that they, the Ubuntu Mate makers, distributed Thunderbird together with the package xul-ext-lightning.
Initially this was Thunderbird 52.x plus matching xul-ext-lightning.
When Thunderbird was upgraded to 60.x, xul-ext-lightning was upgaded, too.
When Thunderbird was upgraded to 60.2.1, xul-ext-lightning was upgaded again.
This is why on Ubuntu 18.04.1 Thunderbird 60.2.1 still has the functional lightning extension.

This is how you can get a functional lightning in your Thunderbird 60.2.1. on Mint 19 as well: install xul-ext-lightning from the Ubuntu repos and uninstall any lightning 5.4 extension from inside Thunderbird.

I have not checked whether the same xul-ext-lightning package is available on Mint 18.x / Ubuntu 16.04.5 as well.

Best regards,
Karl
--
P.S.:
It has been reported in two or three threads about Thunderbird 60.x / Lightning that xul-ext-lightning can be used as the solution ot get back a functional lightning extension on Thunderbird 60.x. Will have to look around a bit in order to post some relevant links.
--
P.S.2:
Thunderbird has been published all the time without itself bringing along the Lightning extension. Only up to Thunderbird 52.9, the Lightning developer had managed to keep up with Thunderbird and made sure that Lightning could be used with the recent Thunderbird version.
For some reason, the Thunderbird add-ons page still offers the now outdated Lightning extension, although newer versions seem to be in the pipeline.
--
References:
+ Solved: Upgrade to T'bird 60.2.1 zaps Lightning Calender add-on
+ Thunderbird does not support Lightening now

[pastic]

All I can say is LM19 released with Thunderbird 52 and there was no calendar extension included. I'm not using Thunderbird though so I'm not claiming detailed knowledge about its history.

Sorry, my mistake. It is included/activated by default only in Thunderbird's Windows version, which is what I installed most recently and that messed up my memory.

Thanks @karlchen, I'll have a look at this xul-ext-lightning!

[pastic]

This is how you can get a functional lightning in your Thunderbird 60.2.1. on Mint 19 as well: install xul-ext-lightning from the Ubuntu repos and uninstall any lightning 5.4 extension from inside Thunderbird.

Fantastic! So easy. I was very surprised to see that all my calendar data and caldav-configuration against my local nextcloud were intact. (I had expected them to get uninstalled when I uninstalled the 5.4 extension from within TB.)

Thanks!

[karlchen]

Hi, pastic.
You're welcome.
Best regards,
Karl