Calibrating permissions

[Eadwine Rose]

Why are you asking an English question related to a technical issue in a Danish forum as a social question?? Of course you are not getting help.

Ask in a proper spot. Start here:

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/products/thunderbird

[Jakob77]

@Eadwine Rose

Since you always recommend me to ask mozilla questions about the Thunderbird backup and restore in MX because it is so much better, maybe you could try it please. I can't find my way, and all I got out of it so far is trouble and wasting a lot of time.
I suppose you have also seen but maybe forgotten this example:
viewtopic.php?p=756161#p756161

[Eadwine Rose]

I am not your assistant, my answer was given, and that is all I know.

[Jakob77]

I finally managed to find a better way back into Mozilla.
So with a backpack loaded with all the good knowledge I got from this subject I have asked about .thunderbird permissions again.
If I am not the only Thunderbird user in the whole world who ever messed up the .thunderbird permissions with a wrong backup disk and want to fix it we can hope the final solution comes from them:
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1435505

[Eadwine Rose]

As a side note, reading the post on the mozilla forum. I use ntfs on my backup disk, and I have been doing so for years and years. I need those files to also be accessible to Windows.

So I doubt that in itself is the cause.

[CharlesV]

I finally managed to find a better way back into Mozilla.
So with a backpack loaded with all the good knowledge I got from this subject I have asked about .thunderbird permissions again.
If I am not the only Thunderbird user in the whole world who ever messed up the .thunderbird permissions with a wrong backup disk and want to fix it we can hope the final solution comes from them:
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1435505

Exactly what "final" solution are you looking for here? The question was answered QUITE a while back... copying files to an ntfs volume *looses* all linux rights, and as such, when you copy them back, you are pretty assured it will have lost rights there.

So.. this is NOT a "thunderbird issue" .. this is user issue. Your crossing two different file platforms and without a little adjustment .. yup.. problems. ( ie if that usb drive was fat32.. you would not have this issue - and even better ext4 ;-/ )

The reason Eadwine get's away with this is that she is doing it correctly for windows use and not bringing those files back into her linux system.

[Eadwine Rose]

True.. files that I need on Windows are basically text files and docs and such, IFFFF I need them.


TB doesn't get loaded in there at all, that is a Linux exclusive.

[Jakob77]

CharlesV

This subject is about a lot more than Thunderbird. Thunderbird is just the last issue that has not been clarified to the bone.
Back in the good old Ubuntu days the users were told to use Windows to format USB-drives for backup.
Changing permissions was also something we were told to be very careful with.
Ubuntu software could not do the format well enough.
And about two years ago I had a USB-drive that Mint could not format but Windows did it.
For many years format has been the only good reason for me to keep a Windows computer in my house.
In MX it looks like that eventually can change because the format tool is better.
You can always blame the user for not knowing enough so this is not an excuse, just an explanation.

You have claimed before that Thunderbird is stronger than we might think, and I am tempted to agree.
After all the mess it still works, and a few days ago I searched for a mail from 2019 and found it.
However it is still a mess, and I think it needs clarification, if not for functionality then for safety.

Thunderbird seems so close to be compatible with Linux backup to ext4, fat32 AND ntfs.
What I hope this will bring is that the Thunderbird developers build in a code that automatically will fix the rest.
With the great codes provided for this subject it looks like a task it should be possible to overcome.
Can't you imagine how much good it will do for Thunderbird to be able to make that official instead of leaving the users to feel unsafe.?
I can.! :-)

[CharlesV]

CharlesV

This subject is about a lot more than Thunderbird. Thunderbird is just the last issue that has not been clarified to the bone.

Sorry, I disagree. Thunderbird HAS been clarified 'to the bone' as far as permissions go! It is NOT a software's job to maintain permissions across operating systems - and for many reasons, including security!

Back in the good old Ubuntu days the users were told to use Windows to format USB-drives for backup.
Changing permissions was also something we were told to be very careful with.
Ubuntu software could not do the format well enough.
And about two years ago I had a USB-drive that Mint could not format but Windows did it.
For many years format has been the only good reason for me to keep a Windows computer in my house.
In MX it looks like that eventually can change because the format tool is better.
You can always blame the user for not knowing enough so this is not an excuse, just an explanation.

Not sure what 'good old days' your referring too, but formatting drives has pretty much been just that. Now, the TYPE of format and where it can and cannot be used is an entirely different thing - with both linux and windows 'catching up' a bit when formatting - and you have always had to do it a certain way to get compatibility.

You have claimed before that Thunderbird is stronger than we might think, and I am tempted to agree.
After all the mess it still works, and a few days ago I searched for a mail from 2019 and found it.
However it is still a mess, and I think it needs clarification, if not for functionality then for safety.

Thunderbird seems so close to be compatible with Linux backup to ext4, fat32 AND ntfs.
What I hope this will bring is that the Thunderbird developers build in a code that automatically will fix the rest.
With the great codes provided for this subject it looks like a task it should be possible to overcome.
Can't you imagine how much good it will do for Thunderbird to be able to make that official instead of leaving the users to feel unsafe.?
I can.! :-)

Again, it is NOT Thunderbird devs that should ever be in charge of changing permissions or rights etc for a drive or area. What if I WANT my email folders to be locked down and not have the ability to change? (As in a simple method to archive and not modify files.) Or what if those files are restricted to a certain user...

The issue of a users rights belongs at the drive level. And when you toss in compatibility issues, like what this topic started off on.. you have to realize as the user when your messing up. Moving files to a drive that destroys the linux rights, then moving them back is a PERFECT example of what a user needs to be aware of - not the software, not the OS, the user. (It might help to have a warning message that rights are being removed - but otherwise - this is PEBKAC ! ( And I *NEVER* use that term! )

[Jakob77]

CharlesV

I understand the Thunderbird developers has to be careful with what they do for a skilled user like you.
But if they want to supply my demand they also have to think about how they up to some degree can make Thunderbird foolproof.

I don't know how many conditions it takes but I guess a prompt can solve it.? :

Thunderbird can see that some permissions for files and folders are changed.
If you want the permissions changed back to normal private default, Thunderbird can do it for you.
Do you want that.?

Yes or No

Oh yes I want that. :-)


In fact I want it so much that I am already beginning to test the result of these two Terminal commands:

Code: Select all

find ~/.thunderbird -type d | while read DIR ; do chmod 700 "${DIR}" ; done

Code: Select all

find ~/.thunderbird -type f | while read DIR ; do chmod 600 "${DIR}" ; done

I want Mozilla to verify it but as far as I can see Thunderbird still works well afterwards.




And I might have discovered something about ext4 that makes it even more relevant.
If I move .thunderbird to another folder and move it back again the permission is still 700
But if I copy it back to ~/ then the .thunderbird folder is changed to 755
No, I don't really believe my own eyes yet.