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sshfs mount remote ~/.thunderbird for remote access

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  • Last reply by christ1

JonLaBadie
JonLaBadie
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On my desktop system I pull mail from the server with POP and use mutt to read the messages. Thunderbird also pulls copies for those times I want to view the rich, html content of a message.

When I'm away from my desk, working on a laptop, I'd like to view the mail in TB without pulling a 3rd copy from the server. But my websearching says remote viewing is not possible. Then I tried something that seems to be working quite well but I'd like to hear if there are any 'gotchas' that I might encounter.

I used sshfs to mount my desktop's ~/.thunderbird on the laptop's ~/.thunderbird. When I started TB it came up with all my folders and I could read, search, and send mail with excellent performance.

Are there potential problems I've not yet encountered? BTW my uid and gid are the same on both systems. Also, while there is an instance of TB always running on the desktop, I would only be active on one system at a time.

Thanks, Jon

On my desktop system I pull mail from the server with POP and use mutt to read the messages. Thunderbird also pulls copies for those times I want to view the rich, html content of a message. When I'm away from my desk, working on a laptop, I'd like to view the mail in TB without pulling a 3rd copy from the server. But my websearching says remote viewing is not possible. Then I tried something that seems to be working quite well but I'd like to hear if there are any 'gotchas' that I might encounter. I used sshfs to mount my desktop's ~/.thunderbird on the laptop's ~/.thunderbird. When I started TB it came up with all my folders and I could read, search, and send mail with excellent performance. Are there potential problems I've not yet encountered? BTW my uid and gid are the same on both systems. Also, while there is an instance of TB always running on the desktop, I would only be active on one system at a time. Thanks, Jon

All Replies (1)

christ1
christ1
  • Top 25 Contributor
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But my websearching says remote viewing is not possible.

I'm not sure what that means, and how it is related to Thunderbird.

Are there potential problems I've not yet encountered?

A potential issue could be that you'd always have to mount the remote profile folder before starting Thunderbird on the laptop computer. Otherwise you may get a 'profile not found' error. Also make sure to always run the same version of Thunderbird on both computers. Beyond that I don't really see a problem with your set up.

Also, while there is an instance of TB always running on the desktop, I would only be active on one system at a time.

Only one system active at a time is key, otherwise you'll be in trouble. You should create backups of your Thunderbird profile on a regular basis. https://support.mozilla.org/kb/profiles-where-thunderbird-stores-user-data#w_backing-up-a-profile