[SOLVED] Icedove to Thunderbird and Crash Reports are a "No Option"

Sector11 · 2017-05-09 20:10:46

Post 2 and 3 is the fix!

Ever since Icedove has become Thunderbird there is an option in Preferences that simply does not work and messes with my rsync backup because it creates a "root" folder in my ~/ directory.

/home/sector11/.thunderbird/Crash Reports

Opening: Thunderbird » Edit » Preferences » Advanced » Data Choices; we see:

Crash Reporter
   Thunderbird submits crash reports to help Mozilla make your e-mail client more stable and secure.

   [*] Enable Crash Reporter                                Learn More

OK; it says: Data Choices my left -----. There is NO CHOICE that I can see. You can not turn it off!
Well, you can, and with

gksu thunar

delete the directory.

Until the next time you open Thunderbird - it's been reset and the /Crash Reporter directory recreated.

Anyone got a way around this?

Head_on_a_Stick · 2017-05-09 20:23:51

Edit the file at /usr/lib/thunderbird/application.ini and change [Crash Reporter] Enabled=1 (use a zero at the end instead) to disable the Crash Reporter, apparently.

Reference: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Breakpad

Sector11 · 2017-05-09 22:29:43

Well that didn't work.

... it still created: /home/sector11/.thunderbird/Crash Reports

So I deleted it.

Reading the first couple of lines and I modify the entry in OB Menu thinking "-app" meant "thunderbird"

thunderbird /usr/lib/thunderbird/application.ini

CRAP! It still created it! deleted it again and edited OB Menu entry.

thunderbird -app /usr/lib/thunderbird/application.ini

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh success! But what a freakin' runaround.

I would never have discovered this except rsync was choking on the "permission denied" aspect of this folder. If they had made it "user" friendly it would still be there and I probably would have shared crash reports with them - now they can take a flying leap off "pick a place, any place, as long as it's the height of The London Eye (443 feet (135 m)) or taller"

Probably one of those files I'll have to check every time Thunderbird updates.

I see from that link that Firefox is the same: CRASH - FF Phone Home. I see another S11 fix coming.

Thank you once again HoaS. You know if I bought you a beer for every correct answer you've given me you be drunk until at least 2525.

johnraff · 2017-05-10 02:30:20

^FWIW my ~/.thunderbird/Crash Reports is not root owned. It belongs to me, but permissions are 700 - ie no-one else can even look in it. I guess that's intended to make potentially private info there safe from intruders? Anyway, that's how TB created it.

Maybe if you're running rsync as root, then 700 would deny even root the right to open that folder? I'm overdue an rsync backup, so I'll do one today and report back on whether that directory causes a problem.

Sector11 · 2017-05-10 13:01:18

Well ain't that a kick in the butt. Wonder why mine is (was when it existed)?

/home/sector11/.mozilla/firefox/Crash Reports is mine however.

Also I should not need to run rsync as root on my ~/ and that's the whole point!
How did you make out?

johnraff · 2017-05-11 06:33:08

My rsync backup went fine, and my TB Crash Reports is in there too.

I always run it as root because I want to backup things like /etc at the same time, but rsync's -a option preserves ownerships and permissions, so my stuff in the backup still belongs to me.

I've no idea why your Thunderbird's Crash Reports was root owned though.

#1 2017-05-09 20:10:46

[SOLVED] Icedove to Thunderbird and Crash Reports are a "No Option"

#2 2017-05-09 20:23:51

Re: [SOLVED] Icedove to Thunderbird and Crash Reports are a "No Option"

#3 2017-05-09 22:29:43

Re: [SOLVED] Icedove to Thunderbird and Crash Reports are a "No Option"

#4 2017-05-10 02:30:20

Re: [SOLVED] Icedove to Thunderbird and Crash Reports are a "No Option"

#5 2017-05-10 13:01:18

Re: [SOLVED] Icedove to Thunderbird and Crash Reports are a "No Option"

#6 2017-05-11 06:33:08

Re: [SOLVED] Icedove to Thunderbird and Crash Reports are a "No Option"

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