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  • Migration from Rocky Linux 9 to Debian 13 - problem with Thunderbird

    From Nicolas Kovacs@3:633/10 to All on Sunday, January 11, 2026 13:40:01
    Hi,

    I've been using Thunderbird since the first release more than two
    decades ago. I'm handling multiple mail accounts, address books, agenda
    and tasks with OwnCloud synchronization, RSS feeds, etc.

    Up until now, backing up and restoring Thunderbird was a no-brainer.
    Just transfer the whole ~/.thunderbird directory and its contents to an external hard disk, install or upgrade the system, and then restore the .thunderbird directory to its correct location in ~. I've done this
    hundreds of times for me and some others (I'm a sysadmin in our local
    school running Linux since 2010).

    Right now I have a weird and nasty surprise. I made a backup of my old
    Rocky Linux 9 installation, installed Debian 13 Trixie, restored the
    data, moved the .thunderbird directory (about 4 GB) to its correct
    location in ~, but instead of my mail accounts and my configuration, I
    just see Thunderbird's configuration assistant.

    Any suggestions ? Did the good folks at Debian change something under
    the hood for this release ?

    Cheers,

    Niki

    --
    Microlinux - Solutions informatiques durables
    7, place de l'‚glise - 30730 Montpezat
    Site : https://www.microlinux.fr
    Mail : info@microlinux.fr
    T‚l. : 04 66 63 10 32
    Mob. : 06 51 80 12 12

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Nicolas Kovacs@3:633/10 to All on Sunday, January 11, 2026 14:00:01
    Subject: Re: Migration from Rocky Linux 9 to Debian 13 - problem with Thunderbird

    Le 11/01/2026 … 13:31, Nicolas Kovacs a ‚crit˙:
    I've been using Thunderbird since the first release more than two
    decades ago. I'm handling multiple mail accounts, address books, agenda
    and tasks with OwnCloud synchronization, RSS feeds, etc.

    Up until now, backing up and restoring Thunderbird was a no-brainer.
    Just transfer the whole ~/.thunderbird directory and its contents to an external hard disk, install or upgrade the system, and then restore
    the .thunderbird directory to its correct location in ~. I've done this hundreds of times for me and some others (I'm a sysadmin in our local
    school running Linux since 2010).

    Right now I have a weird and nasty surprise. I made a backup of my old
    Rocky Linux 9 installation, installed Debian 13 Trixie, restored the
    data, moved the .thunderbird directory (about 4 GB) to its correct
    location in ~, but instead of my mail accounts and my configuration, I
    just see Thunderbird's configuration assistant.

    Any suggestions ? Did the good folks at Debian change something under
    the hood for this release ?

    I'll answer this myself, since I just found the solution.

    Start Thunderbird on the command line using the -ProfileManager option
    and then select the correct profile.

    Cheers,

    Niki

    --
    Microlinux - Solutions informatiques durables
    7, place de l'‚glise - 30730 Montpezat
    Site : https://www.microlinux.fr
    Blog : https://www.microlinux.fr/blog
    Mail : info@microlinux.fr
    T‚l. : 04 66 63 10 32
    Mob. : 06 51 80 12 12

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From songbird@3:633/10 to All on Sunday, January 11, 2026 15:20:01
    Subject: Re: Migration from Rocky Linux 9 to Debian 13 - problem with Thunderbird

    Nicolas Kovacs wrote:
    Le 11/01/2026 … 13:31, Nicolas Kovacs a ‚crit˙:
    ...
    I'll answer this myself, since I just found the solution.

    Start Thunderbird on the command line using the -ProfileManager option
    and then select the correct profile.

    i'm glad that worked. :)

    generally though in Debian upgrades from 9 to 13 would not
    normally be supported or expected to work.

    you happened to get lucky because the data and specific
    program you are using was stable enough through all those
    Debian versions as to not require a conversion.


    songbird

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Nicolas Kovacs@3:633/10 to All on Sunday, January 11, 2026 15:40:02
    Subject: Re: Migration from Rocky Linux 9 to Debian 13 - problem with Thunderbird

    Le 11/01/2026 … 14:55, songbird a ‚crit˙:
    generally though in Debian upgrades from 9 to 13 would not
    normally be supported or expected to work.

    I migrated from Rocky Linux 9 (Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 clone) to
    Debian 13, not from Debian 9 to Debian 13.

    :)

    --
    Microlinux - Solutions informatiques durables
    7, place de l'‚glise - 30730 Montpezat
    Site : https://www.microlinux.fr
    Blog : https://www.microlinux.fr/blog
    Mail : info@microlinux.fr
    T‚l. : 04 66 63 10 32
    Mob. : 06 51 80 12 12

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From rhkramer@3:633/10 to All on Sunday, January 11, 2026 18:00:01
    Subject: Re: Migration from Rocky Linux 9 to Debian 13 - problem with Thunderbird

    Note: cc'd to Nicolas as I'm not sure he's on the list.
    Le 11/01/2026 … 13:31, Nicolas Kovacs a ‚crit :
    Right now I have a weird and nasty surprise. I made a backup of my old Rocky Linux 9 installation, installed Debian 13 Trixie, restored the
    data, moved the .thunderbird directory (about 4 GB) to its correct
    location in ~, but instead of my mail accounts and my configuration, I
    just see Thunderbird's configuration assistant.
    Just for my edification (it's not clear to me) did you install Trixie "over" Rocky (I mean like an upgrade), or did you wipe out Rocky completely and then install Trixie "from scratch"?


    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From songbird@3:633/10 to All on Sunday, January 11, 2026 22:30:01
    Subject: Re: Migration from Rocky Linux 9 to Debian 13 - problem with Thunderbird

    Nicolas Kovacs wrote:
    Le 11/01/2026 … 14:55, songbird a ‚crit˙:
    generally though in Debian upgrades from 9 to 13 would not
    normally be supported or expected to work.

    I migrated from Rocky Linux 9 (Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 clone) to
    Debian 13, not from Debian 9 to Debian 13.

    :)

    that tells you how awake i was this morning that i didn't
    notice that. :)


    songbird

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Max Nikulin@3:633/10 to All on Monday, January 12, 2026 04:20:01
    Subject: Re: Migration from Rocky Linux 9 to Debian 13 - problem with Thunderbird

    On 11/01/2026 7:54 pm, Nicolas Kovacs wrote:
    Le 11/01/2026 … 13:31, Nicolas Kovacs a ‚crit˙:
    installed Debian 13 Trixie, restored the
    data, moved the .thunderbird directory (about 4 GB) to its correct
    location in ~, but instead of my mail accounts and my configuration, I
    just see Thunderbird's configuration assistant.
    [...]
    Start Thunderbird on the command line using the -ProfileManager option
    and then select the correct profile.

    I am curious what are differences in ~/.thunderbird/profiles.ini and ~/.thunderbird/installs.ini before and after profile manager run.

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)