[BUG] Can't download any attachment

[Dupond]

Describe the bug

Hello!

/* 5002: disable memory cache
 * capacity: -1=determine dynamically (default), 0=none, n=memory capacity in kibibytes ***/
user_pref("browser.cache.memory.enable", false);
user_pref("browser.cache.memory.capacity", 0);

Those 2 prefs prevent me from downloading any attachment; I have to comment them out.

Expected behavior
The thunderbird-user.js file shouldn't prevent me from downloading an attachment.

Environment

• Thunderbird version used: at least from Thunderbird 91.2 up to 102.2.0
• thunderbird user.js template version used: version 91.2; the problem remains using the Thunderbird 102 ESR version Thunderbird 102 ESR #24
• Operating system and version: Arch Linux 5.19.6

Checklist

• I can confirm the bug is due to thunderbird user.js template and not an overridden preference nor an add-on ;
• I have searched for [SETUP-*] tags and read them up ;
• I have searched the GitHub project (issues and Wiki) for my issue.

[HorlogeSkynet]

Hey back @Dupond !

That's strange, because I never had to tweak those to be able to download attachments (Windows and Linux).

Do you know if the issue is related to file extensions/MIME types ? i.e. the behavior is different depending on whether the file could be handled by TB internal Web browser (.PDF, .SVG, .HTML, ...) ?
Do you know if Arch Linux packaging enforces any TB runtime hardening, causing the software to fallback on something which ends up depending on browser.memory.cache feature (tricky question) ?

Have you tried playing with browser.download.forbid_open_with, browser.download.folderList or even browser.download.useDownloadDir (an Android known-issue exists for the latter) ?
Same question with browser.download.always_ask_before_handling_new_types ? Maybe it is broken on some systems (?).

Thanks ! Bye 👋

---

EDIT : what actually happens when you try to download an attachment ? Just nothing, or maybe an error is thrown ? Have you tried looking at the Web developer console for any "JavaScript" issue ? Would you be able to strace your TB to continue the debugging one step further ?

[Dupond]

OK, that's a LOT of questions ;)

Do you know if the issue is related to file extensions/MIME types ? i.e. the behavior is different depending on whether the file could be handled by TB internal Web browser (.PDF, .SVG, .HTML, ...) ?

No, it's not: it can't download any attachment. And if I click on a PDF attachment for example, it opens a new tab, but it stays blank. The PDF will never be displayed.

Do you know if Arch Linux packaging enforces any TB runtime hardening, causing the software to fallback on something which ends up depending on browser.memory.cache feature (tricky question) ?

Arch Linux does add some custom files inside of the Thunderbird package (they do this with Firefox too):

• usr/lib/thunderbird/defaults/pref/vendor-prefs.js
• usr/lib/thunderbird/distribution/distribution.ini
• and maybe a few other ones? You can check that here.

It doesn't seem to contain anything that could be related to my issue... What do you think? Anyway, I always prevent vendor-prefs.js and distribution.ini from being installed on my system, so it can't be that...

Have you tried playing with browser.download.forbid_open_with, browser.download.folderList or even browser.download.useDownloadDir (an Android known-issue exists for the latter) ?
Same question with browser.download.always_ask_before_handling_new_types ? Maybe it is broken on some systems (?).

I use Thunderbird 102.2.0 at the moment:

• I don't have browser.download.forbid_open_with nor browser.download.folderList
• browser.download.useDownloadDir is set to false (according to your user.js file)
• browser.download.always_ask_before_handling_new_types is set to true (following this new pref).

Should I try something else?

EDIT : what actually happens when you try to download an attachment ? Just nothing, or maybe an error is thrown ?

A 34 Kio file (I don't know why 34 Kio exactly...) is created on my hard drive, and a message is displayed in the status bar of Thunderbird: "me@me.com: downloading messages..."

Have you tried looking at the Web developer console for any "JavaScript" issue ?

No new message appears on the console when I try to download an attachment. But the console already contains a message (from the moment when Thunderbird is launched):

gloda.datastore: got error in _asyncTrackerListener.handleError(): 19: constraint failed GlodaDatastore.jsm:1922:27
handleError resource:///modules/gloda/GlodaDatastore.jsm:1922

Would you be able to strace your TB to continue the debugging one step further ?

I don't know how I could do that :(

[HorlogeSkynet]

I haven't yet read the whole thread, but I think your issue is related to https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1589649.
Last message 14 days ago !

[Dupond]

I think you're right! So, since it's indeed a Thunderbird bug, I think this issue should be closed.

Thanx for your time investigating on this and answering!