Title: CardBook 104.7 folder pane frozen ~40 minutes at every startup - TB 140.8.1 ESR - Linux Mint 22.3
Environment:
- Thunderbird: 140.8.1 ESR 64-bit
- CardBook addon: … (read more)
Title: CardBook 104.7 folder pane frozen ~40 minutes at every startup - TB 140.8.1 ESR - Linux Mint 22.3
Environment:
- Thunderbird: 140.8.1 ESR 64-bit
- CardBook addon: 104.7
- OS: Linux Mint 22.3 Cinnamon 64-bit
- Fresh install of both Thunderbird and CardBook
- 3 Gmail IMAP accounts
- 5 CardBook address books, all local FILE type (.vcf files in /home/nesko/cardbook/), no CardDAV or remote server involved. Largest address book has approximately 1500 contacts.
Symptom:
At every cold startup, the CardBook folder pane (address book list) is completely frozen and unresponsive for approximately 40 minutes. Thunderbird itself starts quickly and all email accounts and other addons function correctly. Only the CardBook folder pane is affected. After approximately 40 minutes CardBook becomes responsive without any user intervention.
Error console output at startup consistently shows:
- TypeError: can't access property "addEventListener", currentWindow is null (implementation.js:28:13)
- TypeError: can't access property "document", currentWindow is null (implementation.js:567:15)
- CardBookXULNotifyListener.js:599:13
- Content process is not responsive while sending DevToolsProcessParent:watchTargets
Additional observations:
- On one startup, 8 duplicate CardBook tabs appeared simultaneously when TB's content process finally became responsive, suggesting CardBook was retrying initialization multiple times while waiting for TB's window
- Running TB in Troubleshoot Mode (all addons disabled) confirms TB itself is healthy and starts quickly
- The errors reference CardBook's own initialization code (CardBookXULNotifyListener.js) attempting to access Thunderbird's window (currentWindow) before it is fully ready
- TB's content process unresponsive message appears during the same startup window
Steps taken so far:
- Unchecked "Keep messages in all folders" in Synchronization & Storage for all 3 IMAP accounts — this improved overall TB startup time
- Unchecked "Run synchronization at Thunderbird startup" in CardBook Preferences → Sync — this reduced the CardBook freeze from over 1 hour to approximately 40 minutes
- Reported to CardBook developer at cardbook.thunderbird@gmail.com
Question for TB support:
Is there a known issue with TB 140 ESR's content process initialization timing that could cause addons to fire before TB's window is fully ready? The currentWindow is null errors suggest CardBook is initializing at a point where TB's window object does not yet exist. Is there a TB-side fix or workaround for this timing issue?