Mozilla Releases Thunderbird 3

How To, Linux, Ubuntu

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Mozilla Messaging announced on Tuesday 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 component. I’ve gotten a few emails asking how to install via apt. So I’ll post those instructions too.

You can install Thunderbird 3 via apt if you add the Mozilla Daily Build Team PPA found here: http://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-mozilla-daily/+archive/ppa

Then:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install thunderbird-3.0

That’s it for installing via apt. However, the branding will be different, it will be installed as Shredder 3 (its developmental codename).
Or, you can simply download/extract a folder and run it:

To install head over to the Mozilla Messaging website and download the release. Make sure to back up your profile if you remove any previously installed version of Thunderbird before upgrading.

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

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

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

rm ~/Desktop/thunderbird-3.0.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:

thunderbird_beta_icon.png

Type: Application

Name: Thunderbird 3.0

Command: /opt/thunderbird/thunderbird

Comment: This launches Thunderbird 3.0.

Alternately, here’s another method for creating a link. Open a terminal and enter the following command:

sudo gedit /usr/share/applications/thunderbird3.desktop

Once the text editor is open, paste the following text into the editor (which should be blank):

[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Name=Thunderbird 3.0
Comment=Check Your Mail
Exec=/opt/thunderbird/thunderbird
Icon=/opt/thunderbird/chrome/icons/default/default48.png
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Categories=Application;Network;

13 Comments

  • 1. Patrick Micka » How&hellip  |  December 10, 2009 at 9:08 pm

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

  • 2. Alex  |  December 12, 2009 at 6:49 am

    well i thought you would post how to install thunderbird via apt.

  • 3. Patrick Micka  |  December 12, 2009 at 4:17 pm

    You can install Thunderbird 3 via apt if you add the Mozilla Daily Build Team PPA found here: http://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-mozilla-daily/+archive/ppa

    Then:

    sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install thunderbird-3.0

    However, the branding will be different, it will be installed as Shredder 3 (its developmental codename).

  • 4. zooz  |  December 19, 2009 at 8:09 am

    thanks for the effort

    but I have one question:

    when I reach the step where we move the folder to “/opt” directory
    I have the following message :
    “mv: cannot stat `/thunderbird-3.0′: No such file or directory” !!

    any idea ??

    i am using Ubuntu and i am a newbie … any help would be highly appreciated.

  • 5. Patrick Micka  |  December 19, 2009 at 12:14 pm

    @zooz, I’ve corrected a few errors in the instructions I’ve posted, everything should work for you now. Thanks for pointing that out.

  • 6. How To: Install Thunderbi&hellip  |  January 4, 2010 at 7:41 pm

    [...] out to Parick Micka for his post which got me started, as the official Thunderbird install/upgrade instructions for linux – [...]

  • 7. Richard  |  January 10, 2010 at 9:28 pm

    Patrick, many thanks for the informative post. One issue: the shortcut/launcher created disappears – even after I restore it from the trash and mark as trusted – Can you amend your launcher instructions so the launcher created stays put? Thank you.

  • 8. Patrick Micka  |  January 13, 2010 at 8:18 pm

    Hi Richard, I’ve followed through the steps for setting up the launcher again and couldn’t recreate the issue you mentioned. Could you provide a little more info? What sort of computer are you using?

  • 9. Richard  |  January 14, 2010 at 9:41 pm

    Patrick, thank you very much for responding via email to my question AND providing a solution (which Patrick said he’ll add above). Kudos.

  • 10. qubitsu  |  January 28, 2010 at 2:23 am

    Thanks for these directions! Additional question: If I extract the tarball from Mozilla Messaging and move thunderbird into /opt/, does the apt system know that I have Thunderbird 3? Will I receive future security updates through the standard Update Manager process?

  • 11. Patrick Micka  |  February 16, 2010 at 6:27 pm

    The apt system will only manage packages that it installs as far as I know.

  • 12. Frank  |  March 22, 2010 at 7:52 am

    Thank you for this. Everyone was using the ./configure command and it wouldn’t work for me. I’m new to linux, terminal and all this so it was of great help to me. I appreciate it.

  • 13. Dan Roach  |  April 5, 2010 at 3:11 pm

    Thanks for this. I have created the launcher on Jolicloud but I do not have icons shown in the Thunderbird folder. How can i install the icon?

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