Migrating Thunderbird personalized settings to another machine:
Hi, machine here openSUSE Tumbleweed 20241002. I would like to migrate Thunderbirds personalized/settings and mail accounts to another machine. Instead of going through and manually setting things up from default on the other machine. Is this a fairly common and straightforward procedure? Can you tell me how preferred to do this? The other machine is same TW snapshot also. -Best Regards
On Friday 04 October 2024, Knurpht-openSUSE wrote:
I would normally do something like: sudo rsync -a --one-file-system -HAX --sparse --progress /home/ host:/home/ -a: archive mode (recursive and permission preserving) -H: preserve hardlinks (so hardlinked files don't get duplicated), -A: copy Access Control Lists (if any), -X: copy extended attributes (if any) --sparse: recreate sparse files, files with sequences of non allocated blocks in them. This would prevent a 10GB file full of zeros but with no blocks actually allocated, from being replicated as a real 10GB file. I always put the trailing / on the home/ in both source and destination to force them to be precisely as stated (or you end up with /home/home). Michael
Le 04/10/2024 à 01:35, -pj via openSUSE Users a écrit :
I would simply copy the .thunderbird folder. In fact, I rarely add or remove mail accounts, so I have an old copy of this folder and use this one. All my accounts are imap, so the sync is done automatically this can be done in various ways, depending of the size of the folder, but a tar file is a good option I don't want to sync all the home, because I use my computers with various configurations jdd -- https://dodin.org
On 10-04-2024 01:47AM, jdd@dodin.org wrote:
Beginning I attempted copying the .thunderbird folder to a USB flash drive with fat16 filesystem. There was a failure message due to fat16 not supporting symlinks. I used a USB HDD with ntfs filesystem next and there were no problems copying then. Then, after copying .thunderbird folder over and attempting to open Thunderbird it would fail with message > Another Thunderbird instance is already opened, please close. I renamed the .thunderbird folder and reopened Thunderbird. Filled out form by entering username, email account and then password. After doing that I closed Thunderbird and copied .thunderbird to ~/home/username. After doing this things seem to be working well. Now I would like to continue questions about copying entire /home over. I have not used rsync before and Michael's post seems to be a good thing for me to understand more about. I will respond there eventually. Thanks for help with this. 🙂
On 2024-10-05 01:09, -pj via openSUSE Users wrote:
...
You should have used a stick with a Linux filesystem. Failing that, create in Linux first a tar.gz archive of .thunderbird, and copy that one to the stick. Then expand the artchive at destination.
Thunderbird at origin was running when you made the copy. ... -- Cheers / Saludos, Carlos E. R. (from 15.5 x86_64 at Telcontar)
On 10-05-2024 04:03AM, Carlos E. R. wrote:
That's a good suggestion. I should repeat the exercise doing so. I use a stick with luks encryption. If I desire a stick with encryption which linux filesystem can you recommend I use? In my limited gzip notes I believe simply passing gzip .thunderbird would have been sufficient and given me .thunderbird.tar.gz ? To unzip tar -xzvf .thunderbird.tar.gz can you add any more important details that are missed to this?
For me to understand the above sentence more clearly. You say, when the .thunderbird folder was copied, Thunderbird itself was started? -Best Regards
On 2024-10-05 17:42, -pj via openSUSE Users wrote:
That's not an easy question. Problem is, USB sticks are actually optimized for FAT. Use any filesystem you like. ext4 with journal removed is a good option: mke2fs -t ext4 -O ^has_journal -L pincho /dev/sdXY https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxquestions/comments/scrbxm/does_usb_flash_drive... https://lwn.net/Articles/428584/ That said, there was a filesystem designed for usb sticks, I forget its name. It has not gained traction. f2fs? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F2FS
tar -czvf thunderbird_copy.tgz ~/.thunderbird/* on destination: tar -xzvf thunderbird_copy.tgz https://www.howtogeek.com/248780/how-to-compress-and-extract-files-using-the...
You failed to exit/stop thunderbird before making the copy of the folder, thus on restore it thinks there is another instance running. Otherwise, there is a lock flag file somewhere. -- Cheers / Saludos, Carlos E. R. (from 15.5 x86_64 at Telcontar)
I sometimes use a machine at another location with an older 6.8 lts series kernel installed. While reading a bit on the F2FS filesystem. https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/F2FS Warning: The data contained on F2FS partitions can become unusable if the kernel version on the running machine is older than the kernel version used to create the partition. For example, this limitation can manifest if the F2FS partition was created on a mainline kernel provided by linux yet the system has a need to downgrade to an older series of kernels provided by linux-lts. See FS#69363. - This situation could arise using a F2FS usb between a Tumbleweed system and the latter? - Can you give anymore insight on F2FS at all? I understand there is plenty to read on my end about it. I went through the wiki page on it. -Greatest Hopes
On 10-05-2024 09:38PM, -pj via openSUSE Users wrote:
I have created on the USB flash drive a msdos partition with gparted. Then F2FS filesystem mkfs.f2fs -l mylabel -f -i -O extra_attr,inode_checksum,sb_checksum /dev/sdb Unable to mount in Dolphin and receiving this error message > An error occurred while accessing 'mylabel', the system responded: The requested operation has failed: Error mounting /dev/sdb at /run/media/paul/mylabel: Filesystem type f2fs not configured in kernel. Then I have read this comment > openSUSE doesn't support F2FS, unless you recompile the kernel manually, as far as I know. You might try exFAT with your phone and openSUSE instead. From here > https://www.reddit.com/r/openSUSE/comments/enlu5b/speaking_of_lack_of_f2fs_s... Your insight please?
06.10.2024 07:01, -pj via openSUSE Users wrote:
Then I have read this comment > openSUSE doesn't support F2FS, unless you recompile the kernel manually,
Huh? bor@tw:~> /usr/sbin/modinfo f2fs filename: /usr/lib/modules/6.11.0-1-default/kernel/fs/f2fs/f2fs.ko.zst softdep: pre: crc32 license: GPL description: Flash Friendly File System ... suserelease: openSUSE Tumbleweed ... signer: openSUSE Secure Boot CA
On 10-06-2024 12:44AM, Andrei Borzenkov wrote:
Hi, machine here > :~> /usr/sbin/modinfo f2fs filename: /usr/lib/modules/6.11.0-1-default/kernel/fs/f2fs/f2fs.ko.zst softdep: pre: crc32 license: GPL description: Flash Friendly File System author: Samsung Electronics's Praesto Team alias: fs-f2fs suserelease: openSUSE Tumbleweed srcversion: 6934334EE838F391A7A22A5 depends: retpoline: Y intree: Y name: f2fs vermagic: 6.11.0-1-default SMP preempt mod_unload modversions sig_id: PKCS#7 signer: openSUSE Secure Boot CA sig_key: FA:BE:D8:BF:40:9A:5E:65 sig_hashalgo: sha256 signature: Well, can you tell me why I am unable to mount the USB with f2fs in Dolphin? Message displayed > An error occurred while accessing 'mylabel', the system responded: The requested operation has failed: Error mounting /dev/sdc at /run/media/paul/mylabel: Filesystem type f2fs not configured in kernel. Screenshot of Dolphin error message displayed > https://paste.opensuse.org/pastes/111552fe5806
On 2024-10-06 08:24, -pj via openSUSE Users wrote:
Well, can you tell me why I am unable to mount the USB with f2fs in Dolphin
Probably because you have not inserted the module. try lsmod | grep f2fs and if nothing "grepped" do sudo modprobe f2fs -- /bengan
On 10-06-2024 02:29AM, Bengt Gördén wrote:
Thank you Bengan, this helps alot! I am able to see the drive in Dolphin now (no error message displayed) but right click, create new is blanked out. Am now able to create a test file from Konsole on the F2FS USB *but* not using Dolphin. Is this because the module is loading to late for Plasma to recognize, (manually being loaded, after boot)? I have reviewed > https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Kernel_module#Automatic_module_handling and https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Dracut#Early_kernel_module_loading It's lengthy, there are many options. /etc/modules-load.d/fsf2.conf for systemd to load the module also a dracut early kernel module loading approach, and more... Now asking about what the preferred way in this situation is to load the f2fs module? -Thankyou
Hi, I went into /run/media/paul and then saw that root was assigned user and group. I chown paul:paul mylabel and now I can create folders. This is good. f2fs has built in file-based encryption support. Are you aware if I can use f2fs inside a luks container? I was having problems earlier attempting to do that. Please feel free to comment. Thank you for your help with this also. 🙂
On 10-06-2024 05:38AM, Bengt Gördén wrote:
systemctl status udisks2.service
systemctl status udisks2.service ● udisks2.service - Disk Manager Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/udisks2.service; disabled; preset: disabled) Active: active (running) since Sun 2024-10-06 04:10:44 CDT; 9h ago Invocation: 47427a1e4afa40d59fc94da7dcf5469f Docs: man:udisks(8) Main PID: 2123 (udisksd) Tasks: 6 (limit: 9137) CPU: 10.240s CGroup: /system.slice/udisks2.service └─2123 /usr/libexec/udisks2/udisksd Oct 06 05:09:15 paul-Thinkcentre-M57p udisksd[2123]: Cleaning up mount point /run/media/paul/EF83-7994 (device 254:3 is not mounted) Oct 06 05:09:15 paul-Thinkcentre-M57p udisksd[2123]: Unmounted /dev/dm-3 on behalf of uid 1000 Oct 06 05:10:38 paul-Thinkcentre-M57p udisksd[2123]: Mounted /dev/dm-3 at /run/media/paul/WORLDWIDE on behalf of uid 1000 Oct 06 05:25:48 paul-Thinkcentre-M57p udisksd[2123]: Cleaning up mount point /run/media/paul/mylabel (device 8:16 is not mounted) Oct 06 05:25:48 paul-Thinkcentre-M57p udisksd[2123]: Unmounted /dev/sdb on behalf of uid 1000 Oct 06 05:26:04 paul-Thinkcentre-M57p udisksd[2123]: Unmounted /dev/sdb on behalf of uid 1000 Oct 06 05:28:24 paul-Thinkcentre-M57p udisksd[2123]: Mounted /dev/sdb at /run/media/paul/WORLDWIDE-F2FS on behalf of uid 1000 Oct 06 05:29:51 paul-Thinkcentre-M57p udisksd[2123]: Cleaning up mount point /run/media/paul/WORLDWIDE-F2FS (device 8:16 no longer exists) Oct 06 05:30:22 paul-Thinkcentre-M57p udisksd[2123]: Mounted /dev/sdb at /run/media/paul/WORLDWIDE-F2FS on behalf of uid 1000 Oct 06 05:31:57 paul-Thinkcentre-M57p udisksd[2123]: Cleaning up mount point /run/media/paul/WORLDWIDE-F2FS (device 8:16 no longer exists) It appears that the service is active. - cryptsetup -v -y luksFormat /dev/sdb WARNING! ======== This will overwrite data on /dev/sdb irrevocably. Are you sure? (Type 'yes' in capital letters): YES Enter passphrase for /dev/sdb: Verify passphrase: Key slot 0 created. Command successful. - mkfs.f2fs -l WORLDWIDE-FSF2 -i -f -O extra_attr,inode_checksum,sb_checksum /dev/sdb F2FS-tools: mkfs.f2fs Ver: 1.16.0 (2023-04-11) Info: Disable heap-based policy Info: Debug level = 0 Info: Label = WORLDWIDE-FSF2 Info: Trim is enabled Info: [/dev/sdb] Disk Model: /dev/sdb appears to contain an existing filesystem (f2fs). Info: Segments per section = 1 Info: Sections per zone = 1 Info: sector size = 512 Info: total sectors = 7831552 (3824 MB) Info: zone aligned segment0 blkaddr: 512 Info: format version with "Linux version 6.11.0-1-default (geeko@buildhost) (gcc (SUSE Linux) 14.2.0, GNU ld (GNU Binutils; openSUSE Tumbleweed) 2.43.1.20240828-2) #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Wed Sep 25 07:09:20 UTC 2024 (b87e886)" Info: [/dev/sdb] Discarding device Info: This device doesn't support BLKSECDISCARD Info: This device doesn't support BLKDISCARD Info: Overprovision ratio = 2.520% Info: Overprovision segments = 48 (GC reserved = 46) Info: format successful - I can then mount the filesystem but it is not encrypted with luks container. Could the difficulty creating a persistent luks container and putting sfs2 filesystem into it be from possible issues with superblock being overwritten? I was experiencing (appear to be) similar behavior with ext3 also. exfat works (encrypted volume) same as fat32 and fat16 (I am aware of these 3 working).
On 2024-10-06 20:59, -pj via openSUSE Users wrote:
Because you don't do mkfs.f2fs on sdb, but on the /dev/mapper/ device that appears AFTER opening the luks device. There is a missing step in there. cryptsetup -v -y luksFormat /dev/sdb cryptsetup luksDump /dev/sdb info... cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/sdb cr_name mkfs.f2fs -l WORLDWIDE-FSF2 -i -f -O \ extra_attr,inode_checksum,sb_checksum /dev/mapper/cr_name cryptsetup status cr_name cryptsetup remove cr_name edit fstab and /etc/crypttab, or not. -- Cheers / Saludos, Carlos E. R. (from 15.5 x86_64 at Telcontar)
On 10-06-2024 07:57PM, Carlos E. R. wrote:
What is \ above for above? How to look up a man-page for \ what's it under? mkfs --help does not include it and has brief options shown. How to locate mkfs man page? https://manpages.opensuse.org/jump?q=f2fs&suite=Tumbleweed&binarypkg=util-li... Sorry, the manpage “f2fs” was not found! Did you spell it correctly?
Is it then typical to have to chown the /run/media/username label from root? I have done this on ext4 and f2fs now. Setting up fat16, fat32 and exfat does not have this need (at least on this machine) it appears. Thank you for catching this and responding above. This is very helpful!
On 2024-10-07 04:09, -pj via openSUSE Users wrote:
What is \ above for above? How to look up a man-page for \ what's it under?
Since we are using a shell, you should look up _your_ shell. Probably bash. man bash "A non‐quoted backslash (\) is the escape character. It preserves the literal value of the next character that follows, with the exception of <newline>. If a \<newline> pair appears, and the backslash is not itself quoted, the \<newline> is treated as a line continuation (that is, it is removed from the input stream and effectively ignored)." PS. A bit of caution here. Treading into the realm of line breakers and how to interpret them will keep you up at night for the foreseeable future. It is a Sisyphus task. -- /bengan
On 10-07-2024 04:12AM, Bengt Gördén wrote:
Good of you to share and respond. I saw Carlos' example > mkfs.f2fs -l WORLDWIDE-FSF2 -i -f -O \ extra_attr,inode_checksum,sb_checksum /dev/mapper/cr_name Command differs from Arch Wiki Page example of mkfs.f2fs -l mylabel -i -O extra_attr,inode_checksum,sb_checksum /dev/sdxY in reference to the \ https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/F2FS With FSF2 a, '-f' flag..is that the correct term? Seems to be also necessary, Arch Wiki do not show that in the example. And was curious about the '\' now I see it's a bash and not a F2FS filesystem flag. Why is it helpful/important "to preserve the literal value of the next character that follows in this case? Thanks🙂
On 2024-10-07 18:36, -pj via openSUSE Users wrote:
Because you want it encrypted. It is not "/dev/sdxY" but "/dev/mapper/cr_something" if you want to use LUKS. That's the only important part of my example, the device. The rest is up to you.
in reference to the \
The "\" is not part of any man page like that. It simply means that the line continues below, that it is not two lines. At least while using bash.
a long line ending in \x is not a continuation. The x, or an space, or any character, visible or not, breaks the continuation. -- Cheers / Saludos, Carlos E. R. (from 15.5 x86_64 at Telcontar)
06.10.2024 09:24, -pj via openSUSE Users wrote:
Because f2fs is blacklisted by default /usr/lib/modprobe.d/60-blacklist_fs-f2fs.conf To disable blacklist touch /etc/modprobe.d/60-blacklist_fs-f2fs.conf
Screenshot of Dolphin error message displayed > https://paste.opensuse.org/pastes/111552fe5806
On 10-06-2024 06:57AM, Andrei Borzenkov wrote:
Very very good to know of this. I commented out /etc/dracut.conf.d/f2fs.conf contents to > # ... # force_drivers+=" f2fs " # ... - I created file /etc/modprobe.d/60-unblacklist_fs-f2fs.conf with content of > # DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE! # # The f2fs file system is blacklisted by default because it isn't actively # supported by SUSE. f2fs # The filesystem can be un-blacklisted by running "modprobe f2fs". # See README.md in the suse-module-tools package for details. install f2fs /usr/lib/module-init-tools/unblacklist f2fs; /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install f2fs - Then passed > dracut --regenerate-all --force and powercycled. - There is a "DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE!" warning in the file. I have edited the file though now. Is this bad practice or incorrect way? File /usr/lib/modprobe.d is left without modification. /usr/lib/modprobe.d> cat 60-blacklist_fs-f2fs.conf # DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE! # # The f2fs file system is blacklisted by default because it isn't actively # supported by SUSE. blacklist f2fs # The filesystem can be un-blacklisted by running "modprobe f2fs". # See README.md in the suse-module-tools package for details. install f2fs /usr/lib/module-init-tools/unblacklist f2fs; /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install f2fs - Module appears to be loading > lsmod | grep f2fs f2fs 983040 0
Screenshot of Dolphin error message displayed > https://paste.opensuse.org/pastes/111552fe5806
On 10-06-2024 06:57AM, Andrei Borzenkov wrote:
I have tried creating /etc/modprobe.d/60-blacklist_fs-f2fs.conf containing 'modprobe f2fs' without quotes. After powercycle 'lsmod | grep f2fs' displays nothing.
Screenshot of Dolphin error message displayed > https://paste.opensuse.org/pastes/111552fe5806
On 2024-10-06 06:01, -pj via openSUSE Users wrote:
Do not use f2fs in production. I gave the information as information to have, that there is an effort on making a better filesystem for sticks, but the unfortunate truth is that we can not use it. Use it only for experimenting. Yes, exFAT is the best practical filesystem to use on sticks and memory cards, but being a windows filesystem it does not support all Linux filesystem features. For that, the best alternative we have is ext4 without a journal. -- Cheers / Saludos, Carlos E. R. (from 15.5 x86_64 at Telcontar)
On 2024-10-06 17:23, Dave Howorth wrote:
Apparently there are some advantages with ext4, like extents. From my old notes: http://www.sysresccd.org/Sysresccd-manual-en_How_to_install_SystemRescueCd_o... If you are using SystemRescueCD-1.2 or more recent, it's recommended that you use an ext4 filesystem with the journal turned off (this is possible with Linux >= 2.6.29). USB sticks are Flash filesystems and this type of memory only supports a limited number of writes. Journaling filesystems will make many writes at the same location (where the journal is stored). Therefore, to extend the lifespan of the memory we should limit the number of writes. Here is how to use ext4 with the journaling turned off: mke2fs -t ext4 -O ^has_journal /dev/sdf1 Note 2016-03-12: tune2fs -O ^has_journal <ext3/4-device>. You could also use ext2 but it does not support extents, and then it requires more accesses to read/write large files to the disk. -- Cheers / Saludos, Carlos E. R. (from 15.5 x86_64 at Telcontar)
On 10-06-2024 08:01PM, Carlos E. R. wrote:
I understand that above is not a topic of this post but a brief answer would help alot for putting more together. USB sticks are Flash filesystems and this type of
In case of luks container then, open container and pass mke2fs -t ext4 -O ^has_journal -L pincho /dev/mapper/cr_name That is what I was not understanding (/dev/mapper/cr_name). Above is correct right?
Note 2016-03-12: tune2fs -O ^has_journal <ext3/4-device>.
That will pull the journal out of existing ext3/4 device?
You could also use ext2 but it does not support extents, and then it requires more accesses to read/write large files to the disk.
On 2024-10-07 04:39, -pj via openSUSE Users wrote:
Because that's a paragraph that does not pertain to an *SUSE installation media, it is some other OS that is designed differently. The only thing that matters is that they explain why it is a good idea to format usb sticks for use with Linux data with ext4 without a journal, and they explain how to create such a stick. I simply saved that paragraph in my notes a bunch of years ago.
Yes! :-)
Maybe. Dunno.
You could also use ext2 but it does not support extents, and then it requires more accesses to read/write large files to the disk.
-- Cheers / Saludos, Carlos E. R. (from 15.5 x86_64 at Telcontar)
On 10-06-2024 07:58AM, Carlos E. R. wrote:
Carlos, I found this link > https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Dm-crypt/Device_encryption#Cryptsetup_usage and it helped alot with luks over ext4, in section |5.3.1 Encrypt an existing unencrypted file system|. After powercycle it appears to be working, had to chown paul:paul WORLDWIDE-EXT4 to get permissions.🙂 It takes a bit of time to initially mount (or open) in Dolphin though. Appears to be working so far. Appears to be typo under command in link > # umount /mnt It should be # umount /mnt /sdXY ? lsblk sdb 8:16 1 3.7G 0 disk └─luks-1bcdbc03-c669-4866-a4ad-f2b7984a4e1f 254:3 0 3.7G 0 crypt How can I see if the EXT4 filesystem on /dev/sdb in luks-1bcdbc03-c669-4866-a4ad-f2b7984a4e1f has or does not have a journal? I followed > mke2fs -t ext4 -O ^has_journal -L WORLDWIDE-EXT4 /dev/sdXY < template you suggested.
On 2024-10-07 02:35, -pj via openSUSE Users wrote:
No, the system knows that /mnt is /dev/sdXY. cat /etc/mtab
First, you can no longer look at /dev/sdb, it contains a gibberish of data, it is encrypted. You have to look at the unencrypted filesystem, which is "/dev/mapper/cr_name" after opening it with "cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/sdb cr_name". Actually above it will be (I think): /dev/mapper/luks-1bcdbc03-c669-4866-a4ad-f2b7984a4e1f -- Cheers / Saludos, Carlos E. R. (from 15.5 x86_64 at Telcontar)
I believe you are correct in your statement "you failed to exit/stop thunderbird before making the copy of the folder, thus on restore it think there is another instance running. I was not considering the Thunderbird I left running while copying the directory to USB. Thank you for pointing this out.
participants (8)
-
-pj -
Andrei Borzenkov -
Bengt Gördén -
Carlos E. R. -
Dave Howorth -
jdd＠dodin.org -
Knurpht-openSUSE -
Michael Hamilton