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[papabearak]

Barry, I cannot imagine why you are having the problems you are having. The procedure i described for pointing Thunderbird to a remote mail folder is precisely the method I used to set mine up successfully. My mail folder is stored on a remote reiserfs partition on my regular computer, which is broken at the moment. On the spare I am using at the moment, I copied the mail folder from the reiserfs partition on to my 1 gigabyte flash drive, plugged the flash drive into my spare computer, and used the Edit/ Account Settings technique to direct Thunderbird to the flash drive. It works perfectly, just as it did on my regular computer. As to your inability to cut and paste, you might try the following: I don't claim to understand Groups on Xandros, but I learned by trial and error, that by adding my user to virtually every available group enables me to use my computer normally without being sabotaged by the OS every time I turn around. Go to Control Center > System Administration > User Manager , click the Administrator button, and enter your Administrator password. Click on your user account to select it, then click the Properties button. In the User Properties window, click the Groups tab. In the Groups window, scroll down the list, and put a check in the box next to the name of each group. Once they are all checked, click OK. Close the Control Center, and see if your ability to cut and paste has been improved. I know it fixed a number of other problems for me, not sure about the cut and paste. Ben
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[shengchieh]

I repeat.

You're having a permission problem. Use chmod and chown
(w/ -R option) as needed on a console. For more see

man chmod
man chown

Console is at

launch
-> applications
-> system
-> console

Also be familiar with ls (list directory) so you can see what
you are doing. i.e., use

ls -l

between commands. Some other basic helpful console commands
for your problem are

cd (change directory)
pwd (find out current directory0

Again, use the manpage.

Sheng-Chieh
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[papabearak]

Barry, one thing that did not occur to me, for which I apologize profusely, is that in your normal user account, you can open an Administrator File Manager window, and then you can perform most any file management task you desire, just as if you were logged on as root. This should get you around the permissions issues. To open an Administrator XFM, click Launch > Applications > System > Administrator Tools > Xandros File Manager (Administrator). Enter your root password when prompted, then do your file moving, cut-and-pasting, etc. Hope this helps. Ben
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[BarryGarsson]

Thanks for the recent input, Ben and Sheng-Chieh,

but wait a minute ... I'm not sure which problem you are addressing here.

I am not sure if the inability to paste in the user mode is related to the inability ot access my local folders.

Let's back-track a moment...I really do not have a problem having to switch to administrator mode (root) to paste this one folder. I can copy and paste almost everything else in my user mode (in V3 - have not yet gotten to V4 on this but I would assume it will not be any different in V4).

It's not the problem, other than the inconvenience (minor) of switching to root. And I only mentioned it because it was one of several portions of the instructions I received that failed to work as described.

And, in a way, so is the "inability" of V4 to even see the .mozilla-thunderbird folder in V3 (much less its mail folder within). I simply managed to copy the folder into a separate partition (FAT32) that was easily "seen" following "Edit -> Account Settings -> Local Folders -> etc." - I just wondered again why the directions I received failed to work.

No, the real issue for me is the inability to open any of the subfolders in the local folders which IS now visible in the left pane in Thunderbird 2 in V4. Why am I able to see all of my local folders and not be able to open any of them. THAT is my problem.

Is it somehow related to permissions? In my structured ignorance of the software, I must confess that I would be surprised to learn that it related.

So, again, I have the local folders in the left pane of Thunderbird 2 in V4 but cannot access them.

BTW, how do I prevent Thunderbird 2 from opening new mail before I ask it to? I cannot find a preference for that.

Finally, what would be accomplished by deleting Thunderbird 2 altogether and reinstalling Thunderbird 1.5 from XN? Do you think that might work?

I am still confined to V3 if I cannot solve this problem. And I am spending more time on it than if I had simply stayed with V3 and not bothered with V4, to the exclusion of other important business.

Barry

[papabearak]

Barry, I think the problem with viewing your folder contents is permissions related. If you navigate to your Mail folder, the copy you made, as root, and right click it, select properties, change group ownership to "user" and check the box next to "Apply Ownership to all folders and sub-folders. I suspect that You have permissions set to view the contents of the main folder, i.e. the sub-folders themselves, but you don't have permission to view the contents of the sub-folders. I have had the same thing happen to me. I don't claim to be an expert on this permissions business, far from it, but I know what has worked for me, by trial and error.. So under Properties, on the Permissions tab, make sure that under permissions, Group has the permission to read, write and Execute, and check the box that reads apply permissions to all folders and sub-folders, and as I said above, do the same at the bottom of the window in the ownership section. See if that doesn't solve the problem. Also, in Xandros File Managerin the View menu, make sure that Show all file systems is checked. That could be why you can't see your X-3 partition from X4. Ben
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[papabearak]

Barry, under Edit > Account Settings in Thunderbird, for each account, under Sever Settings, there is a check box to check this account for new messages every XX minutes. If you uncheck the box, it will download mail for that account only when you click the Get Mail button. Ben
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[BarryGarsson]

I appreciate your patience with me on this, but am I the only person who cannot bring up the local mail folders? I cannot believe others would put up with this.

I have all of the permissions checked (even added the sharing Windows option), and checked "apply permissions to all folders and sub-folders" but to no avail. The ownership cannot be changed, not in the user nor in the root mode. Trust me, it cannot be changed.

Re: the chmod and chwon commands: I am in over my head in console windows, have no idea how to use those commands unless someone walks me thru them. But - why do I have to use the console window? Are you suggesting that the permissions tab in the properties window doesn't work anyway (if so, I can easily believe that).

Nothing I do changes anything (is the inability to change the ownership a factor, if so, I cannot change the ownership).

So far, I wish I had not purchased V4 - my problems with V3 were nothing compared to this.

BTW: I tried booting into XP - first time I tried that since installing V4 in its own partition. Guess what? I cannot get in. I get an error message asking if I want to use safe mode, or the settings used the last successful time I used XP, or "open windows normally" - and no matter what I set, it reboots back into the Xandros Boot screen.

Barry

[shengchieh]

Is the local folder readable by user? If so, copy it as an user (copy the local folder to a temporary folder, then move it into your profile folder). After everything
works, deleted it as the old user in V3.

If not readable, we need to figure out another workaround. It may be that
the "libraries" are different (between v3 and v4). Maybe the easiest way then
is to reconfigure your mail in V4, but do NOT download your new mails (i.e.,
open up TB in v4 and define all the account settings. Then copy the
Inbox/Sent/Trash from TB/v3 into the respective files in TB/v4.

If you are doing console commands, post what your outputs. Maybe we can
help step by step?!

Sheng-Chieh
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[papabearak]

Barry, the only other thing I can suggest, if you have not tried it already is to boot into X3, log on as root, navigate to your mail folder and try to change the ownership and partitions there. It could be that in X4, you do not own the X3 partition, and that is why you are not allowed to change permissions and ownership. If you are running X3, and logged in as root, that problem should not exist. If you are able to change ownership, then boot back into X4 and see if the permission changes are visible there, and try your mail again. If it still does not work, then from X4, you could unmount, then remount the X3 partition in Xandros Storage Manager. That will give you ownership of the partition, and you should then have full adminstrator priveleges on every file on that partition. If none of those suggestions help, I'm just gonna crawl in my closet, and quietly suck my thumb for a few years until this blows over. Ben
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[BarryGarsson]

I have been "playing" with the settings and I discovered a few flaws or barriers to getting this to work as you tell me it should work.

First of all, in "File manager -> View -> Show All File Systems" - in V3 (and I suppose in V4) checking it to turn it on does not result in a permanent change. Did you know that? Check it on, then exit out of File Manager, then reenter File manager -> View, etc. and it will be unchecked! It only remains on as long as the File Manager is "on."

That means, of course, that in V4, I am unable to see the folder "/home/user/.mozilla-thunderbird" (and any other folders beginning with the "." like ".mozilla") in V3 because File Manager (in V3) doesn't leave it turned on after it's been checked.

I am also a little confused by what may be a communications problem in your replies: my user name is my name (i.e.: "/home/barry/") - when you tell me to change the ownership to "user" I scrolled down through the choices and found "users" as one of them - but now I think you simply meant to tell me to use my own user name which is what it always was in the first place - or am I wrong?

BTW: in V3 I can change the ownership from "barry" to "users" (even if that is not what you intended), but I am not able to change the ownership in the copy of the mail folder I pasted into my FAT32 partition which is, of course, visible in both V3 and V4.

BTW: I also tried deleting Thundrerbird 2 and reinstalling 1.5 from XN but no better.

I am no further along in this, but my inability to open the local folders in it's original location because it's hidden bothers me (and, if you are wondering, in file manager in V4 I can see /home/barry/.mozilla-thunderbird" in V3 quite nicely).

Any thoughts?

Sheng-Chieh, I think I will need you to walk me thru the console commands. I don't have a clue as to where to start.

Barry

[papabearak]

[shengchieh]

Thinking about it, I think it's better to try the GUI approach first - probably
easier for you.

Do you mind if you lose all your settings and extensions, i.e., do the
edit -> preferences again and add extension, if any? If not, let's start
again and move ONLY the Inbox/Sent/Trash files (instead of messing
around with the entire TB folder).

First, in V3, copy your Inbox/Sent/Trash files to a floppy disk. They
are

$HOME/.thunderbird/[junk].default/Mail/Local Folder/Inbox
$HOME/.thunderbird/[junk].default/Mail/Local Folder/Sent
$HOME/.thunderbird/[junk].default/Mail/Local Folder/Trash

Warning: If you are using Xandros's TB instead of Mozilla's TB,
it's

.mozilla-thunderbird

Also if you specified the folder for your mails, it's that folder
instead of "Local Folder".

Use XFM with view -> show hidden files.

-----

Next, go to v4 and REMOVE any TB profile folders. I.e., open up XFM
with hidden files showing. Delete

$HOME/.thunderbird
$HOME/.mozilla-thunderbird

folders.

Then start TB. It will opens up like it is the first time and ask for the account
settings. Go ahead and enter all your account settings, but DO NOT
DOWNLOAD any new mails (i.e., a window will pops up near the end
and offer to download your mails. Un-click that option).

Close TB.

Next, go to into the TB profile folder it just created. Specifically, use
XFM and wiggle to

$HOME/.thunderbird/[junk].default/Mail/Local Folder/

(or .mozilla-thunderbird)

Copy over the Inbox/Sent/Trash files from the floppy to this folder.

Next, make sure the permissions of these files are okay. In XFM, right-click
Inbox/Sent/Trash file - > properties. -> permissions and be sure that
the owner has write permission.

You should be finished.

Let's check your work. Start TB again, but do NOT download any new mails. You should see all your mails. If everything looks correct, then go ahead
and use it (download new mails, edit preferences, add extensions, etc).

Sheng-Chieh
_________________

[BarryGarsson]

Thanks, Sheng-Chieh.

Just got in (it's almost midnight here in Florida) and looked at your response.

I will go for it in the morning when I am alert.

Will let you know how I made out.

Barry

[BarryGarsson]

Sheng-Chieh,

I followed your instructions to the letter. Was able to copy the six files (there are two files each for each "folder", right? - one with no suffix, and one with .msf as a suffix - I copied both) as a user and not in root. I didn't copy the inbox.spd and sent.spd folders in the parent mail folder as they are empty (there is no .spd folder for trash). Should I have?

Got the permissions all checked, everything, "apply to all...." checked, and ownership to show "users" access.

End result: nothing better than before, that is, nothing.

I have no idea where to go from here.

What about profiles.ini and user.js and prefs.js? Should they be changed?

Barry

[shengchieh]

Hmm. I'm stumped. You did exactly what I often do when I changed OS
(like recently I changed to PCLinuxOS 0.94).

The Inbox/Sent/Trash files with no suffix are the only ones you need.
Also, user.js and pref.js need no change. Those are your preference
files that you change after the fact.

Let's do some double checking.

In

- v3/TB (wiggle to ...../Local Folder)
- floppy disk (use left side of XFM -> Floppy)
- v4/TB (wiggle to ..../Local Folder)

What are the file size of the Inbox/Sent/Trash? I.e., use XFM with
view -> detailed list and you'll see size as one of the column.
They all should be sizable and the same size. If not, that's your error
- start there.

Sheng-Chieh
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