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Nathaniel M. Beaver
Asked: 2021-10-11 12:25:32 +0800 CST

Read cron output with Thunderbird 91?

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On Ubuntu 21.10, Thunderbird 91 does not support movemail (Unix Mailspool) accounts:

Removed support for movemail

Support for movemail has been removed. Please set up an IMAP or POP3 account to access your email instead.

≡ > New > Existing Mail Account

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/new-thunderbird-91#w_removed-support-for-movemail

Previously, I was using exim4 and Thunderbird to view the output of my cron jobs. I would like to continue to use Thunderbird, but all the previous answers I have been able to find relied on its movemail support:

Requirements:

  • Receive the cron output for both root@hostname and $USER@hostname, although if these are separate accounts that would be acceptable.

  • Must be local to my machine without the need for an external network at all. I do not want to forward my cron output to a remote server.

  • Must have individual messages for each cron job (as with movemail).

  • Must use Thunderbird 91. I am aware that other clients support movemail.

Summary:

What are my options for viewing cron output in Thunderbird 91?

If running a full-blown IMAP or POP3 server is the only way, what is a robust, secure, and low-maintenance setup for serving cron output locally?

Edit: as Ubuntu 21.10 was released on October 14, this question is now on-topic.

cron

1 Answers

  1. source: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1625741

    excerpt from comment 35...

    Anyway, for whoever wants to know a slightly kludgy but likely "good enough" workaround, do this:

    - context-click on the "Local Folders" and find the "Local Directory" address
    - close thunderbird (maybe be paranoid and pgrep to ensure you don't have any persistent subprocess still running)
    - then create a symlink ln -s /var/mail/[SPOOL_FILE_NAME] /path/to/the/Local-Directory/address/you/found/above/Inbox (obviously ensure there isn't already an Inbox subfolder there, or otherwise create a differently named subfolder-symlink)

When I opened thunderbird it indexed it OK and after exiting and reopening thunderbird several times the symlink has stayed in place without problem.
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