Patrick Micka

HowTo: Install Mozilla Thunderbird 3 Beta

How To, Linux, Ubuntu

Update: Thunderbird 3 has moved out of testing and now has an official release. I’ve posted installation instructions here.

One of the things I’ve never really been fond of, on any computer, are desktop email clients. This is especially the case when they come preloaded on the machine. I find that using Gmail fulfills most of my needs, however, if you’re on a Linux machine and simply must have a desktop email client I highly recommend using Mozilla’s Thunderbird over Evolution.

First, grab the most recent release here.

Note: I will try to update this post regularly to reflect the most recent beta release.

Next, you’re going to need to open a terminal and enter the following two commands to extract the archive you just downloaded:

cd ~/Desktop
tar xfvj thunderbird-3.0rc2.tar.bz2

You don’t need the original archive any longer, so delete with the following command:

rm ~/Desktop/thunderbird-3.0rc2.tar.bz2

After you’ve unpacked the archive enter the following command to move it to a more convenient location:

sudo mv ./thunderbird /opt/

Everything should be in order now, so let’s move to the directory and make sure it works:

cd /opt/thunderbird/

Finally, run the following command to launch Thunderbird:

./thunderbird

If everything works fine and you’ve set up your email accounts with little frustration. Next, you may want to create a clickable icon on your desktop so you don’t have launch the program via the command line. To create a desktop icon, simply right-click and select “Create Launcher…” Then fill out the dialogue box with the following information:

Type: Application

Name: Thunderbird 3.0rc2

Command: /opt/thunderbird/thunderbird

Comment: This launches Thunderbird 3.0 Release Candidate 2.

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9 Comments

1. Brian | June 22, 2009 at 9:02 am

I want to install the beta BADLY, heard lots of good things about it. Do you think it can work with a 64-bit, if I install the ia32-libs first?

Thanks…
2. Patrick Micka | June 22, 2009 at 11:36 am

I’m not sure, I’ve only got a single processor here. I’d go ahead and try it. If it works be sure to let me know and I’ll update this post.
3. Carlos | July 23, 2009 at 12:18 am

Here’s a better solution:

http://pagesofinterest.net/blog/2009/05/thunderbird-3-beta-in-jaunty/
4. Smith | December 1, 2009 at 4:58 pm

Great article thank you!
5. Patrick Micka » Moz&hellip | December 9, 2009 at 3:06 pm

[...] that it had officially released Thunderbird 3 its open source mail client. I’ve written about Thunderbird 3 before. New features to the client include tabs, and an impressive search [...]
6. Paul Booker | January 2, 2010 at 5:48 pm

Hey Patrick. Nice article!

Best,
Paul Booker
7. Rishan | January 15, 2010 at 11:17 pm

Why hassle ?

Install it from mozilla-daily ppa, follow the simple tutorial here,
http://techspalace.blogspot.com/2010/01/thunderbird-3-in-ubuntu.html
8. Patrick Micka | January 16, 2010 at 4:22 pm

Rishan I’ve posted directions on how to install from the PPA here, with a few reasons why one might not want to as well.
9. Faisal | January 17, 2010 at 7:31 am

Thanks Patrick Micka.
Above guide worked well on Ubuntu hardy

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