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Thunderbird still has a critical bug open that literally deletes your email. I have been bitten by it once and lost hundreds of email permanently. Not fun. I am

Thunderbird still has a critical bug open that literally deletes your email. I have been bitten by it once and lost hundreds of email permanently. Not fun. I am subscribed to the ticket and every month or so someone posts an outraged "me too". https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=462156 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=462156

ArrayList 8y ago
Holy damn that's bad! The bug's been open 10 years too!
classichasclass 8y ago
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=462156#c141 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=462156#c141: "This bug has lasted this long because there is no reproducible test case, so thus no way for an engineer to diagnose the problem and test a patch." I sympathize, but I'm not sure what you expect the team to do. The bug seems highly intermittent even when it does occur and there doesn't seem to be anything in common between the systems that are affected.
- ben509 8y ago
  Normal troubleshooting for intermittent issues is to add logging and diagnostics around possible areas it's happening and have users send in traces when it bites them again.
  - classichasclass 8y ago
    Sure, if you have some idea what the set of "possible areas" are. If you read the comments, it's possible there are several multiple overlapping bugs. And I don't see a whole lot of traces from those afflicted. I agree such bugs are at best obnoxious and at worst cataclysmic. But having been on the receiving end of such nebulous intermittent reports myself, I'm not going to simply conclude the team is incompetent or uninterested.
  - arkh 8y ago
    Got biten by this bug. One time after more than a decade of Thunderbird use. The mails were still on the server but having to create a new profile and redownload everything and retrain the spam filter was not fun. It is not what I'd call an intermittent issue: it is a black swan. Happens very rarely but with huge consequences for the user. If it happens a second time thunderbird is being uninstalled and put on a blacklist of software to avoid.
- hnbroseph 8y ago
  > I sympathize, but I'm not sure what you expect the team to do. i mean, as a user this would suggest that the product is outright not fit for purpose. i would expect the team to include a clear and obvious warning on the homepage (preferably near the download link) that emails are subject to deletion due to this bug.
lioeters 8y ago
Thanks for posting this link - that's scary! There are people who have lost thousands of mails due to this bug.. I've been using Thunderbird for years and have never encountered this issue (cross fingers, knock on wood) but reading that thread makes me seriously consider whether I should migrate to another email client. Or at least have regular reliable backup.

ArrayList 8y ago

Holy damn that's bad! The bug's been open 10 years too!

classichasclass 8y ago

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=462156#c141 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=462156#c141: "This bug has lasted this long because there is no reproducible test case, so thus no way for an engineer to diagnose the problem and test a patch." I sympathize, but I'm not sure what you expect the team to do. The bug seems highly intermittent even when it does occur and there doesn't seem to be anything in common between the systems that are affected.

ben509 8y ago
Normal troubleshooting for intermittent issues is to add logging and diagnostics around possible areas it's happening and have users send in traces when it bites them again.
- classichasclass 8y ago
  Sure, if you have some idea what the set of "possible areas" are. If you read the comments, it's possible there are several multiple overlapping bugs. And I don't see a whole lot of traces from those afflicted. I agree such bugs are at best obnoxious and at worst cataclysmic. But having been on the receiving end of such nebulous intermittent reports myself, I'm not going to simply conclude the team is incompetent or uninterested.
- arkh 8y ago
  Got biten by this bug. One time after more than a decade of Thunderbird use. The mails were still on the server but having to create a new profile and redownload everything and retrain the spam filter was not fun. It is not what I'd call an intermittent issue: it is a black swan. Happens very rarely but with huge consequences for the user. If it happens a second time thunderbird is being uninstalled and put on a blacklist of software to avoid.
hnbroseph 8y ago
> I sympathize, but I'm not sure what you expect the team to do. i mean, as a user this would suggest that the product is outright not fit for purpose. i would expect the team to include a clear and obvious warning on the homepage (preferably near the download link) that emails are subject to deletion due to this bug.

lioeters 8y ago

Thanks for posting this link - that's scary! There are people who have lost thousands of mails due to this bug.. I've been using Thunderbird for years and have never encountered this issue (cross fingers, knock on wood) but reading that thread makes me seriously consider whether I should migrate to another email client. Or at least have regular reliable backup.