thunderbird 60.9.1 vs 68.1.2

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elmarts
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thunderbird 60.9.1 vs 68.1.2

Post by elmarts »

The software packager shows only version 60, but the Mozilla site has version 68 as a tar.bz2 file. Unpacking it shows a Thunderbird folder, but no readme and no instructions on how to install it. Help?
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
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- Elmar
Dual boot win 10 & Linux Mint
Release Linux Mint 21.3 Virginia 64-bit
Kernel Linux 5.15.0-91-generic x86_64
MATE 1.26.0
ajgreeny
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Re: thunderbird 60.9.1 vs 68.1.2

Post by ajgreeny »

I have not downloaded the .tar.bz2 archive, but if it is the same as the archives of firefox that you get direct from Mozilla, there is no absolute need to install the application as there is probably a binary executable file in the archive simply named thunderbird.
A double click on that may start that version for you.

Take care if you do this as it is not unknown for updated executables to make changes to the configuration folders and files in your home rendering them useless to the older version from the repos.
elmarts
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Re: thunderbird 60.9.1 vs 68.1.2

Post by elmarts »

Well I cannot find where my version 60 is installed in the file system. so I don't know how to replace/update it. So please help - what do I do with this new version folder? The windows side of my dual boot was much easier.
- Elmar
Dual boot win 10 & Linux Mint
Release Linux Mint 21.3 Virginia 64-bit
Kernel Linux 5.15.0-91-generic x86_64
MATE 1.26.0
ajgreeny
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Re: thunderbird 60.9.1 vs 68.1.2

Post by ajgreeny »

Did you actually check that the new version of thunderbird will start from the executable as I suggested it will?

Your current thunderbird executable is /usr/bin/thinderbird and the thunderbird.desktop file, which is its launcher, will be /usr/share/applications/thunderbird.desktop.

This is a simple text file which you can easily open in any text editor. Look for the line starting Exec= and edit that to the full pathway of your new thunderbird executable, eg /home/username/Downloads/Thunderbird/thunderbird, making sure you get that completely correct.

Save the edited file as thunderbird.desktop to ~/.local/share/applications which you can do as user as it is in your home.
It will take priority over the original file which you can keep where it was.
The new thunderbird version should now start from the launcher or menu entry which will remain where it was.
elmarts
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Re: thunderbird 60.9.1 vs 68.1.2

Post by elmarts »

Yes it starts, runs, but is completely naive, knowing nothing about the old email accounts, etc. Thanks. To move it into a folder that all users can access via a desktop launcher, I would have to stuff it into usr/bin rather than any specific username, right? Can I simply delete what is in the existing usr/bin/thunderbird folder, and put the new stuff into it? And is there a way to preserve/migrate from the old to the new, i.e. set it to look at the same profile? I vaguely remember that it has to create a new profile itself, and then you can cut/paste from your old one into your new one. Local files are no problem, since i have those on a different partition entirely.

Again, thanks for your patience with this newbie. - Elmar
- Elmar
Dual boot win 10 & Linux Mint
Release Linux Mint 21.3 Virginia 64-bit
Kernel Linux 5.15.0-91-generic x86_64
MATE 1.26.0
Petermint
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Re: thunderbird 60.9.1 vs 68.1.2

Post by Petermint »

elmarts
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Re: thunderbird 60.9.1 vs 68.1.2

Post by elmarts »

That helps, tremendously. Thanks. Has anyone tried to use the same profile in a dual boot system? If I point my win7 TB to the same profile as my Mint TB, will it get confused?
- Elmar
Dual boot win 10 & Linux Mint
Release Linux Mint 21.3 Virginia 64-bit
Kernel Linux 5.15.0-91-generic x86_64
MATE 1.26.0
Petermint
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Re: thunderbird 60.9.1 vs 68.1.2

Post by Petermint »

At a minimum for dual boot, you will have to upgrade both at the same time. New versions can modify files. An access by an old version can then mess up the files.
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