When I write an e-mail, and want to change the spellchecker language from the default `English (United States)`, I find that the sliding menu is cluttered with an overwhe… (funda kabanzi)
When I write an e-mail, and want to change the spellchecker language from the default `English (United States)`, I find that the sliding menu is cluttered with an overwhelming number of undesirable variants of English, from `English (Antigua and Barbuda)` to `English (Zimbabwe)`, including `English (Denmark)`, `English (Jamaica)`, etc.
- They do not appear to have been installed via the usual add-on/extension way. In the `Thunderbird Add-ons Manager`, there is no metion of them on the `Dictionaries` section. The only Dictionaries there are ones I installed recently using the [usual page](https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/language-tools/), such as `Spell checker for es-ES`.
- While I can find the English variants I want to get rid of listed in said page, it only gives me the option to install dictionaries and language packages, not remove them.
- In the `Languages` section of the `Thunderbird Add-ons Manager`, there are a bunch of language packs installed that I do not need, including Afrikaans, Arabic, etc. I have no recollection of why I have them or how or when I got them.
I'm using Fedora release 37 (Thirty Seven), Kernel version `6.3.8-100.fc37.x86_64`
According to `dnf info` my current version of Thunderbird is:
```
Name : thunderbird
Version : 102.12.0
Release : 1.fc37
Architecture : x86_64
Size : 276 M
Source : thunderbird-102.12.0-1.fc37.src.rpm
Repository : @System
From repo : updates
Packager : Fedora Project
Installed by : User <user>
```
As for `localectl status`, it returns
```
System Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8
LC_NUMERIC=sv_SE.UTF-8
LC_TIME=sv_SE.UTF-8
LC_MONETARY=sv_SE.UTF-8
LC_PAPER=sv_SE.UTF-8
LC_MEASUREMENT=sv_SE.UTF-8
VC Keymap: es
X11 Layout: es
```
Which is exactly as I want it, for my own reasons.
- Mozzilla's support website has [a page ostensibly explaining how to uninstall add-ons](https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/policies-extensions-locked) if [the usual way](https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/thunderbird-add-ons-frequently-asked-questions#w_how-do-i-uninstall-an-add-on) doesn't work. I followed it as best I could, going to the `Help` menu, entering `Troubleshoot mode...`, pressed `Restart`, and went to `Troubleshooting information`, and found out the following:
- The binaries are stored in `/usr/lib64/thunderbird/thunderbird`
- The profile folder is stored in `~/.thunderbird/i0olk7xh.default-release/`
- The add-ons listed do not include the excessive English variant dictionaries as `dictionary`. They do, however, list all those unnecessary locales, under the `Type` `locale` and the `version` `102.12.0buildid20230604.001933`, currently with the `Enabled` flag set to `false`.
- However, the extension names they are listed as, such as `langpack-af@thunderbird.mozilla.org` for Afrikaans or `langpack-br@thunderbird.mozilla.org`, are not present in the folder `/.thunderbird/i0olk7xh.default-release/extensions/`, where they should normally be, and where the other extensions I did install myself are. Instead, there is an extension archive named {139a120b-c2ea-41d2-bf70-542d9f063dfd}.xpi which contains the following file structure:
```
background.js common.js _locales manual.html preferences.js
changelog.html icons manifest.json preferences.html
```
In turn, `_locales` contains
```
bg da es_ES fr it nl pt_PT sr uk_UA
ca_AD de fa_IR hr_HR ja_JP pl ru_RU sv_SE zh_CN
cs_CZ en_US fi hu_HU ko_KR pt_BR sk_SK tr zh_TW
```
I tried deleting those and restarting Tunderbird. In fact, I even accidentally deleted the whole `.xpi` archive. _There was no discernable effect._ Even though the locales are deactivated, when I try to write a new message, the same problem persists: an overwhelming number of English variants in the spellcheck menu.