Lightning will not install because Thunderbird cannot modify the needed file
Am using OpenSUSE with a shared .default file for Linux and Mint, where it works. Originally the file loaded but the calendat was unresponsive. Removed and tried to reinstall and now get the above message. What file does it need and how do I get it to be modifiable while using a common .default file?
All Replies (15)
You usually get this message when you install an extension that needs to be unpacked in order to function properly.
Do not understand how to unpack under Thunderbird. What terminal commands do I need to execute?
Was able to get Lightning to install by launching from terminal as super-user. But the calendar has the outline blocks grayed out. Cannot do anything. This was my original problem why I uninstalled and installed Lightning.
Was able to get Lightning to install by launching from terminal as super-user. But the calendar has the outline blocks grayed out. Cannot do anything. This was my original problem why I uninstalled and installed Lightning.
What is a 'a shared .default file'?
I assume what is meant is that the same Firefox profile folder is used for two different Operating System installations.
Note that his can cause problem because Firefox will want to initialize the profile folder with each start.
The problem is with Thunderbird. And yes, I am using the same profile. The email part works perfectly. The only problem is with Lightning.
I think we're talking about Thunderbird here. Sharing a Thunderbird profile between different OS installations is a silly idea IMV.
Based on the limited information available, this is most likely a permissions problem caused by accessing the profile from two different OS installations.
Installing Lightning as root for a non-privileged user account is even more silly.
The folder that both Thunderbird and Firefox used has the extension .default. By specifying that folder in the the profiles.ini file, you can use share common set-ups and email between several computers.
Modified by mrjacque
If you have dual boot on your computer, how do you read your email without having to reboot? It worked at one time. It is silly that Thunderbird email works perfectly when Lightning does not using the same file. My question is not foolish and what I am trying to do is normal for people who want to use several operating systems, like many Linux users.
Modified by mrjacque
For a dual boot system I'd set-up a Thunderbird profile for each OS. Set-up your accounts as IMAP to keep email in sync. Use a network calendar in connection with Lightning.
If you think a shared profile is the way to go, verify and fix your file system permissions so that the user account from either OS has full write access to the (shared) profile folder.
My email already works so why would I change that. Thunderbird mail has full priveleges to that file in all OSs. What is different for the email priveleges and the Lightning calendar priveleges?
Apparently it doesn't have write permissions to at least some files. Again, verify your file system permissions and file owners for files in your profile. It certainly makes sense to check those related to Lightning.
The folder has read and write permissions. There are 700 files and 144 subfolders. Which ones could cause a problem with Lightning but not email? I checked the calendar-data and it has the same protections. What else? Also, what is different in OpenSUSE than Ubuntu?
Check the file ownership, i.e. the user id which owns the file. There is a numeric value behind a user name. My best guess is that the numeric user ids are different for your OpenSUSE and Ubuntu installations.
Start in the extensions directory for Lightning of your Thunderbird profile. This should be something like:
/home/<user id>/.thunderbird/<profile name>/extensions/{e2fda1a4-762b-4020-b5ad-a41df1933103}