Memory leak with Thunderbird 140.6.0esr thru 140.12.1esr, and in Troubleshoot Mode. (14 active accounts, limited to 60 days messages)

Resolve with the new version of Thunderbird

Resolve with the new version of Thunderbird

do you mean version 152 ?

Actually not resolve

I downloaded the latest version available on the official website : Thunderbird 152.0.1

and it's the same, except it starts a little later

I've tried troubleshoot mode > same I've removed all contact book > same

this version has a memory bug

Best Olivier

Did the problem occur in 140.12.1esr, which you mentioned in your first message?

Yes, I've updated with 152.0.1 , same issue.

I have 140.12.1esr running on an M1 Mac with macOS 15.7.7. I do not have this problem. So I assume that there is something unusual in your system.

You already know that the problem occurs in troubleshooting mode.

The next thing that I would try is running the Mac in safe mode. See if the problem occurs then.

Then I might try, without optimism, uninstalling Thunderbird (the app, not your profiles), and re-installing it. Re-installing fixes problems only very rarely. It may be worth trying in this case.

Sometimes we technical people can push our systems into difficulty. What's unusual about your system?

Hi Rick

Thanks for your answer and appology for the delay, this incident has slowned down my work tremendously.

Well, also I've been programming and using Mac since the 1986, I avoid using anything exotic cause I'm mainly focused on using my device to do my job which requires stability.

In the exact same environement (NO MacOS update, NO new software) : Version 140.6.0esr was perfectly stable. I probably missed a couple of updates. Memory leakage started when I upgrade to 140,12,0esr

The software behavior is typically a memory leakage from the software itself.

Here is the history

I've been using 140.6.0esr for ages without incidents.

One day I realise auto update was not activate so I updated it, jumping to 140,12,0esr.

140,12,0esr, behave the same way (freeze, then huge memory leakage) as soon as you launch it.

So I updated to 140,12,1esr which behave this way but 2-3 mn after launch.

Last Friday I reinstalled 140.6.0esr from my Time Machine and let it run. 2 days later and it works perfectly. Memory usage plateau at 2,68Gb (whichi is 10x what Mail from MacOS use, so not optimal).

I’m going to wait till the core dev team fix it to upgrade, cause i lack time to test.

What's the process so the core dev team take care of it. NOTA: while reintalling from time machine, I saw there was a crash folder, it's available if needed.

Best Olivier

PS: I read that you are part of the Top25 contributor, but I'm unsure if its interacting with the community or developping or both.

Hi Olivier,

The memory usage still seems high. It is much higher than mine. But I keep few messages in Thunderbird. I do not know how memory use increases with more messages.

Have you tried running the Mac in safe mode?

I am a user, not a developer.

You can report bugs here: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=Thunderbird&component=Untriaged

Please post contents of help > troubleshooting information

High memory like this tends to be a bad mail folder or calendar item. So if your time machine restore put back old Thunderbird data, then you will have effectively erased what may be the source of the problem.

Also, I skimmed the few bug reports that were "fixed" in that time period and none seem likely causes of high memory.

Hi Rick

Thanks for the feedback. I'll prepare a full report for the dev team. I'll try Mac in safe mode before that.

About context. I'm using >19 mailboxes: - 14 are active but limited to 60 days messages downloaded - 5 are inactive (only sync upon request) No calendar or contact sync at the time.

NOw that more aware of this memory lekeage issue, Thunderbird 140.6.0esr have the same issue but more discreet, it opens at 256M, after downloading messagges it jumps to 600M but if I leave it a full weekend with no activity it ends up at 2-3Go.

Best Olivier

So you have 14 imap accounts, all with "Disk Space" set to 60 (not 30) for "Synchronize the most recent" ?

I'll try Mac in safe mode before that.

I suggested safe mode on a hope that it would help because it can sometimes fix odd problems. I have no reason more specific than that to expect it to.