SOLVED: Thunderbird hangs up on printing

dynosaw · 2026-04-08 16:08:14

SOLVED

Until the last update on 4 april 2026 Thunderbird worked well.

Then the new version 149.0.1-1 refused to prepare attachments and would not send them either.

So I downgraded to Thunderbird v. 148.0.1-3 using pacman -U. But the cure created a new fault!
Now T-bird prepares attachments and sends them, but it hangs up on PRINT, failing to create a preview.

Background info: Printer is hp-LJ-P1102-W, USB connection, hplip + hplip-plugin (AUR), CUPS manager.
OpSys: ArchLinux LTS 6.18.21-1 GUI: Cinnamon Motherboard: ASUS Prime H510ME (Intel 64-bit chip set)

Question: How do I get out of this mess? And get a Thunderbird thatprints and sends attachment like it used to.

Thanks in advance for any help
Dynosaw
--

Last edited by dynosaw (Today 06:47:46)

mpan · 2026-04-08 18:38:01

With 149.0.1-1 I can add and send attachments without issues.

Don’t be vague: what do you mean by “refuse”? How does it refuse? What is the exact refusal message? What does it mean to “not send them”? Exactly, what happens?

dynosaw · 2026-04-09 09:06:26

mpan wrote > "Exactly, what happens?"

First thanks for your reaction. I appreciate that very much, coz these bugs are causing
a lot of annoyance here and I need a solution.

(At the risk of boreing "managerisers" with details).
1. I write an eMail text in Thunderbird which includes the word "attachment".
2. Thunderbird reacts with a message."Found an attachment keyword 'attachmenty' "
on a yellow panel at the bottom of the monitor along with two buttons labeled
"Add attachment" and "Remind me later" respecively.
3. I click on "Add attachment".
4. A directory structure appears, I navigate this to the (PDF) file I want to send. (i.e. the
file and the path exist and have been found)
5. I highlight the file and click on "Open", bottom right on the monitor.
6. Thunderbird ignores the "Open" command; i.e. no diagnostic message appears, and
there is no confirmation of an attachment being added to the eMail, normally found at
the end of the text: specifically the name and size of the file are not reported in a "box".
7. Attempts to add the attachment by clicking on the button "Attach" (monitor, top right.)
produce no result either (i.e. they are 'refused') and no diagnostic message is issued.
8. I send the eMail to myself and download the incoming eMail. The eMail contains
the text but there is no attachment to be found. Also no diagnostic messages found.
Hope this helps.
Dynosaw
--

mithrial · 2026-04-09 09:20:58

This looks like thunderbird doesn't have access to the file because it's either a weird network storage or running as a "sandboxed" flatpak.
Where is the PDF stored?

dynosaw · 2026-04-09 10:28:48

Thanks for your reaction, Mithrial
I don't use network storage, clouds, or any of that stuff.
All my data is stored internally in my desktop; in this case it
was the main solid state drive that contains the entire Linux
installation.

Flying a kite by ignorance, it could be a configuration problem;
But I also wonder if the problem has something to do with
dependencies or incompatibilites between T-Bird and
other software. But that sort of thing is too much for my latin.
Dynosaw.
--

seth · 2026-04-09 13:22:00

mithrial wrote:

running as a "sandboxed" flatpak

Is this a flatpak or from the repos?
Regardless, the most likely cause is the xdg-desktop-portal implementation

pacman -Qs portal

Postal invocation and troubles will typically also show up in your journal.
Then see https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Firefo … ntegration resp. open about:config and search for "portal" to disable it there.

Edit: disabling portal won't be a viable solution if this is a flatschpak

Last edited by seth (2026-04-09 13:22:28)

dynosaw · 2026-04-09 18:41:18

Thank you for your reaction, Seth.
The problem is not solved yet, but your posting pointed me to
"dig" for more data and do some reading which, alas, I don't
fully understand. I have made up a text file of data/results which
is about 5.1 kB and runs to 116 lines. There is a way to upload
such stuff, but I don't remember it. Can you help there please?

But in summary:
pacman -Qs shows three installed XDG-portal programs:
local/xdg-desktop-portal 1.20.3-2
local/xdg-desktop-portal-gtk 1.15.3-1
local/xdg-desktop-portal-xapp 1.1.3-2
There also
local/libportal 0.9.1-2
local/libportal-gtk3 0.9.1-2
local/libportal-gtk4 0.9.1-2

The selective listing of about:config shows 5 widget.use-xdg-portal.*
variables being set to "2" = automatic and one exception,
widget.use-xdg-portal.native-messaging
which is set to "0" Which of the 5 portal settings must I disable??

I recreated the print hangup and then called a 'tail' of systemctl
but it told me nothing.

I hope this all helps you, because I've run out of steam.
Please tell me how to upload the full story txt file.
Thanks again,
Dynosaw
--

seth · 2026-04-09 18:46:03

There is a way to upload such stuff, but I don't remember it. Can you help there please?

Already did - 1st link in my signature

Are you running cinnabun? And GDM as DM?
Did you use to run an X11 session?

dynosaw · 2026-04-10 08:29:54

Again, thanks Seth.
My attempt to upload the results file I mentioned to 0x0 failed with the message:

"uploads disabled because it’s been almost nothing but AI botnet spam
for the past few months. will be back with a few changes at some point.
no ETA."

Sorry.

Neither GDM not cinnabun have ever been installed or used.

Display manager here has been 'lightdm' since Linux was first installed
on an empty SSD in January 2021. Current version is 1:1.32.0-6, installed
17 Feb 2026. GUI since first installation is 'cinnamon'; current version is
6.6.7-2, from update 28 March 2026. X-windows software is xorg.
Hope this helps.
Dynosaw
--

mithrial · 2026-04-10 08:32:33

Can you start Thunderbird in a terminal and check the output? There should be errors. Also, you can open Thunderbird's error console with Ctrl+Shift+J and check for errors there.

V1del · 2026-04-10 08:42:53

Under the link seth has in the signature two other options are mentioned, replace 0x0.st with paste.c-net.org for example

Last edited by V1del (2026-04-10 08:43:06)

seth · 2026-04-10 15:16:52

Cinnamon, I just sometimes call it Cinnabun to be cute
Try to remove

pacman -Rdd xdg-desktop-portal-xapp

to force xdg to use the gtk implementation.

dynosaw · 2026-04-10 16:30:40

Thanks V1del, Seth and Mithrial.
1. Alternative upload address noted.

2. Cinnamon is the GUI on this platform. Removing it would be tantamount to a complete system re-install.
Whilst that may always be an option, it is capitulation and I am trying to avoid that.

3. I started T-Bird in a terminal and tried to print an eMail. Got the same failure again. The program hangs
up trying to create a print preview. During the hang-up I ran CTL+SHFT+J and got the following in the
message tab:

" 1775837572441 addons.xpi WARN Checking /usr/lib/thunderbird/distribution/extensions for addons
Window.fullScreen attribute is deprecated and will be removed in the future. messenger.js:947:9
Layout was forced before the page was fully loaded. If stylesheets are not yet loaded this may
cause a flash of unstyled content. print.html
Missing resource in locale en-GB: devtools/client/toolbox.ftl "

Afterwards, pressing ESCape terminated the hangup and I closed T-Bird.

Is the Ctl+Shft+J output is relevant to the problem in hand?

Thanks,
Dynosaw

seth · 2026-04-10 16:55:04

Nobody said anything about removing cinnamon, but it's xdg-desktop-portal implementation.
Next to noting upload addresses using them to provide the journal would be a good idea.

dynosaw · 2026-04-11 10:19:21

Thanks again Seth.
De-install xdg-desktop-portal-xapp did not solve the problem:
In detail:
1. I de-installed xdg-desktop-portal-xapp and shut the computer down. Power off.
2. Wait a while and then reboot. (Reboot completed normally as far as I can tell)
3. Open Thunderbird and tried to print an eMail, without success. Same result as
before: Thunderbird hangs up with blank screen and message "preparing preview".
In the centre a continuously rotating logo -- waiting!! --;
4. Terminate PRINT by pressing "ESC" and exit Thunderbird.
5. Get journal from the last boot. sudo journalctl -S 11:40 > ~/<filename>.txt
6. <filename>.txt uploaded to c-net.
Hope this helps.
Dynosaw
--

seth · 2026-04-11 12:33:04

1. "print"? I thought we were talking about attaching files (using a file selection dialog)
2. You'll still have to post the c-net url w/ your journal.

dynosaw · 2026-04-11 15:44:14

Seth wrote:
> 1. "print"? I thought we were talking about attaching files (using a file selection dialog)

In my initial posting I wrote
" ../.. Now T-bird prepares attachments and sends them, but it hangs up on PRINT, failing to create a preview. ../.."
The File attachment problem was solved by the downgrade. This created a new problem: hang-up on print.

Seth wrote:
> 2. " You'll still have to post the c-net url w/ your journal."

I thought I sent it around 11:50 this morning. Maybe I used the wrong command form; I've never used curl before.
The command I used was curl -F file=@~/FILENAME.TXT http://paste.c-net.org
where "~/FILENAME.TXT" was the path/name of the text file in my home (~) directory.
It seemed to work.

After your last posting, I checked the curl MAN-page. I found the -F option but what follows is as clear as mud to me.
I can send the file again --- but what exactly must the curl command be??

It was much easier in the 1960's with a switch register, an ASR-33 and punched tape!
Thanks for your patience
Dynosaw
--

seth · 2026-04-11 18:40:49

The File attachment problem was solved by the downgrade. This created a new problem: hang-up on print.

Sorry, I thought this was a misunderstanding: no (partial) downgrading - that's pointless.
Update the system and check the behavior wrt the file attachments after removing the xapp portal implementation.

As for uploading the journal
Please post your complete system journal for the boot:

sudo journalctl -b | curl -s -H "Accept: application/json, */*" --upload-file - 'https://paste.c-net.org/'

will get you a link and a key that allows you to delete the post later.
(Just uploading is a simpler command)

It was much easier in the 1960's with a switch register, an ASR-33 and punched tape!

And 3 days to a week latency, 3 weeks overseas

dynosaw · 2026-04-12 17:18:02

Seth.
Finally. I have sent the file you want; well almost. The entire journal is very
big, so I output just the last section from the last boot up and saved
it in a text file. Partition UUIDs have been edited to make it clear what the
function of each partition is. Further, no changes made.
Sending was: cat <~/filename> | curl .... etc. I noted the key.

A long day ... in between domestic commitments.
1. First a general update of the entire system i.e. pacman -Syu.
What surprised me was the large number of packages -- 170. I update once a
week. Last week end there were 103 packages and the week before 175 packages
Normally 60 or 70 packages is the rule.
2. The update is always followed by a backup and reboot.
3. After the reboot I opened Thunderbird.
4. I sucessfully ent myself an eMail with an attachment; that problem has gone.
5. Attempts to print an eMail, failed, as before. T-bird hung up "trying to make a preview".
6. After 60 seconds or so, I pressed ESC, thus stopping the print attempt.
7. Running CTL+SHFT+J yielded: "Missing resource in locale en-GB devtools/client/toolbox.ftl"
8. Closed down T-Bird and dumped journal since last boot.

Hope this helps. Again thanks for your assistance.
Dynosaw
--

seth · 2026-04-12 19:20:39

You'll still have to share the link you got from c-net

Attempts to print an eMail, failed, as before. T-bird hung up "trying to make a preview".

To be clear, this is with the updated t-bird? You initially have attachment issues after the update, then downgraded what broke printing, then update and now the attachment problem is gone but the printing issue remains??

dynosaw · 2026-04-13 09:07:53

Following general system update yesterday, Thunderbird is currently version: 149.0.2-1.
That is the latest version as far as I know. The results reported yesterday (#19) were
taken with this version and it is still installed.

> You'll still have to share the link you got from c-net
Do you mean the part of the reply "link":" name-of-someone", ??
What information do you need? Exactly?
I've never used c-net before and I don't know how it works.
Sorry.

Dynosaw
--

seth · 2026-04-13 12:43:58

apr 12 16:45:14 tuxbox systemd-coredump[2377]: Process 1930 (thunderbird) of user 1000 terminated abnormally with signal 11/SEGV, processing...
apr 12 16:45:14 tuxbox systemd[1]: Created slice Slice /system/systemd-coredump.
apr 12 16:45:14 tuxbox systemd[1]: Started Process Core Dump (PID 2377/UID 0).
apr 12 16:45:14 tuxbox systemd-coredump[2378]: Resource limits disable core dumping for process 1930 (thunderbird).
apr 12 16:45:14 tuxbox systemd-coredump[2378]: Process 1930 (thunderbird) of user 1000 terminated abnormally without generating a coredump.

crashed? But you seem to have disabled https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Core_d … core_dumps ?

If you re-install https://archlinux.org/packages/extra/x8 … rtal-xapp/ does the problem move back from printing to attaching files?

dynosaw · 2026-04-13 15:52:03

I re-installed xdg-desktop-portal-xapp and then rebooted. But (in short) it changed nothing at all.
1. An attachment was appended to an eMail, sent to myself, and on reception, opened it and read it. pico bello.
2. Printout still hangs up trying to create a print preview.
So what now??

BTW other applications (FireFox, LibreOffice, Gedit, Okular, GIMP, and more... ) continue print to paper
(or PDF-file) with no trouble. Only T-bird gives problems.

> But you seem to have disabled core_dumps;
Yes. In /etc/sysctl.d/99-sysctl.conf kernel.cure_uses_pid=1.
I followed a paper by Vivek Gite <https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/linux-ker … hardening/>

seth · 2026-04-13 19:29:11

So what now??

Notably if trhunderbird still segfaults, re-establish coredumps so we can see what's failing/going on there.

You can also

dbus-monitor --system

the print attempt - maybe an avahi-related issue?

dynosaw · 2026-04-14 19:37:13

Thanks for the suggestions. Sorry for the delay, there were
'social commitments'.

Avahi was updated on 4 April 2026, version 1:0.9rc4-1
and shortly afterwards the trouble arose.

For several years avahi has been disabled/masked for hardening.
Thus running systemctl list-units | grep avahi yielded:
avahi-daemon.service disabled.
avahi-dnsconfd.service disabled
avahi-daemon.socket masked.

So then 'unmasked' and 'enabled' avahi-daemon.socket
and 'enabled' avahi the .services, then 'started' all three.
For good luck, a reboot.

Listing units again was surprising and disapointing:
all three were "loaded" "failed" "failed"
And T-bird didn't print.
I despair.
--
Dynosaw
--

Arch Linux

#1 2026-04-08 16:08:14

SOLVED: Thunderbird hangs up on printing

#2 2026-04-08 18:38:01

Re: SOLVED: Thunderbird hangs up on printing

#3 2026-04-09 09:06:26

Re: SOLVED: Thunderbird hangs up on printing

#4 2026-04-09 09:20:58

Re: SOLVED: Thunderbird hangs up on printing

#5 2026-04-09 10:28:48

Re: SOLVED: Thunderbird hangs up on printing

#6 2026-04-09 13:22:00

Re: SOLVED: Thunderbird hangs up on printing

#7 2026-04-09 18:41:18

Re: SOLVED: Thunderbird hangs up on printing

#8 2026-04-09 18:46:03

Re: SOLVED: Thunderbird hangs up on printing

#9 2026-04-10 08:29:54

Re: SOLVED: Thunderbird hangs up on printing

#10 2026-04-10 08:32:33

Re: SOLVED: Thunderbird hangs up on printing

#11 2026-04-10 08:42:53

Re: SOLVED: Thunderbird hangs up on printing

#12 2026-04-10 15:16:52

Re: SOLVED: Thunderbird hangs up on printing

#13 2026-04-10 16:30:40

Re: SOLVED: Thunderbird hangs up on printing

#14 2026-04-10 16:55:04

Re: SOLVED: Thunderbird hangs up on printing

#15 2026-04-11 10:19:21

Re: SOLVED: Thunderbird hangs up on printing

#16 2026-04-11 12:33:04

Re: SOLVED: Thunderbird hangs up on printing

#17 2026-04-11 15:44:14

Re: SOLVED: Thunderbird hangs up on printing

#18 2026-04-11 18:40:49

Re: SOLVED: Thunderbird hangs up on printing

#19 2026-04-12 17:18:02

Re: SOLVED: Thunderbird hangs up on printing

#20 2026-04-12 19:20:39

Re: SOLVED: Thunderbird hangs up on printing

#21 2026-04-13 09:07:53

Re: SOLVED: Thunderbird hangs up on printing

#22 2026-04-13 12:43:58

Re: SOLVED: Thunderbird hangs up on printing

#23 2026-04-13 15:52:03

Re: SOLVED: Thunderbird hangs up on printing

#24 2026-04-13 19:29:11

Re: SOLVED: Thunderbird hangs up on printing

#25 2026-04-14 19:37:13

Re: SOLVED: Thunderbird hangs up on printing

Board footer