TIP Thunderbird components fix

From Gentoo Linux Wiki

[edit] Problem

You have emerged thunderbird 0.7.3 or 0.7.3-r1 and you can't get the forumzilla plug-in to work. If you open the javascript window, you see that you have the following errors:

Error: XMLSerializer is not defined
Source File: chrome://forumzilla/content/global.js
Line: 53

Error: appDirectoryService has no properties
Source File: chrome://forumzilla/content/FeedService.js
Line: 285

[edit] Cause

The xmlextras component is not installed with these releases, so scripts that rely on XML component features will raise errors.

[edit] Fix

Note that this fix is only for the situation and build versions described above.

[edit] Backup your profiles

Before messing around with builds it's always a good idea to backup your data. Your profile is in your .thunderbird folder in your home directory. You can back it up with the copy command (cp), the -r option makes it copy all the subdirectories:

#cp -r .thunderbird thunderbird.backup

[edit] Un-install the forumzilla plug-in

• open thunderbird
• select the Extensions option from the Tools menu.
• select the forumzilla plug-in from the list.
• push the un-install button
• close thunderbird

You may need to repeat this for each profile that you have the extension installed under.

[edit] Remove Thunderbird

• open a console and switch to root:

#su - root

• then enter the command:

#emerge unmerge mozilla-thunderbird

[edit] Modify the build settings

• open the file /usr/portage/eclass/mozilla.eclass in an editor:

#nano -w /usr/portage/eclass/mozilla.eclass

• find the section that looks like this:

 # Setup extensions.
 # This is a little strange because "configure" is the same for moz/ff/tb but
 # the extensions don't work everywhere.  In particular we don't want to
 # start the ff/tb lists with "default"
 if ${MOZ}; then
 	myext="default"
 	use mozdevelop && myext="${myext},venkman"
 	use gnome && myext="${myext},gnomevfs"
 	use moznoirc && myext="${myext},-irc"
 	use mozxmlterm && myext<="${myext},xmlterm"
 elif ${FF}; then
 	# note that help is broken, and irc doesn't work
 	myext="cookie,inspector,negotiateauth,pref,transformiix,typeaheadfind,universalchardet,webservices,xmlextras,xml-rpc"
 	use mozdevelop && myext="${myext},venkman"
 	use gnome && myext="${myext},gnomevfs"
 else
 	myext="pref,spellcheck,universalchardet,wallet"
 fi

The {$MOZ} block is for mozilla itself, ${FF} is for firefox, so for thunderbird you need to add to the line myext="..." after the last else, so that it looks like this:

 myext="pref,spellcheck,universalchardet,wallet,xmlextras"

Then save the file.

[edit] Re-install

• still as root:

#emerge mozilla-thunderbird

• open thunderbird
• select the Extensions option from the Tools menu.
• push the install button
• select the forumzilla installation file (.xpi)
• close thunderbird

[edit] Troubleshooting

Your extension should now work. To verify that the xmlextras component has been installed:
#ls /usr/lib/MozillaThunderbird/components

should display the following files:

libxmlextras.so<br> xmlextras.xpt

This shows that the files have been installed by the build. If not, check that mozilla.eclass still contains your modification.

#grep XMLSerializer /usr/lib/MozillaThunderbird/components/xpti.dat

should return something like:

846,nsIRDFXMLSerializer,{8ae1fbf8-1dd2-11b2-bd21-d728069cca92},26,-1,1

The numbers don't matter so much as the line existing which means the component has been registered with xpcom. If this line is not there you could try rebuilding the xpti.dat file: