Betterbird conflicts with Thunderbird when both running simultaneously

[LinuxMason]

Describe the bug

Betterbird cannot run independently of Thunderbird when both are installed and running. Betterbird thinks it's Thunderbird and loads all of its data. Using profile manager to create a new profile and changing the profile directory does not solve the issue of running both applications at the same time independently of each other. This is not an issue on other distros such as Arch and Debian. Users like myself who use one for personal use and the other for work cannot do so because of this conflict.

Steps To Reproduce

Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Install Thunderbird and set it up.
2. Install Betterbird and launch it while Thunderbird is also running.
3. Use profile manger to change betterbird profile name and path and re-launch while thunderbird is still running.

Expected behavior

I expected Betterbird to be able to run while Thunderbird is installed and running simultaneously without any conflict.

Additional context

Add any other context about the problem here.

Notify maintainers

@SuperSandro2000

[SuperSandro2000]

We probably need to configure betterbird to use a different "identity" to differentiate itself from Thunderbird. Can you okay around with variables for that? Otherwise I won't invest any time in this.

[LinuxMason]

We probably need to configure betterbird to use a different "identity" to differentiate itself from Thunderbird. Can you okay around with variables for that? Otherwise I won't invest any time in this.

If you specify and direct me on what to do, I can most likely figure it out. I just need some direction. I am new to Nix, but I am learning very quick because of my overall Arch/Linux experience.

[MatthewCash]

What exactly isn't working? I just tested Thunderbird and Betterbird and they both seem to work fine at the same time using separate profiles created by the profile manager.

[LinuxMason]

What exactly isn't working? I just tested Thunderbird and Betterbird and they both seem to work fine at the same time using separate profiles created by the profile manager.

Are they both running at the same time? That's where the issue comes into play for me. Betterbird thinks it's Thunderbird and loads all of Thunderbird's data, despite using the profile manager and setting a different profile path to it.

The changing profile part appears to work at first, but they still can't be run at the same time.

I installed them both via configuration file.

[MatthewCash]

After creating the second profile, when I launch either Thunderbird or Betterbird the profile manager asks which profile to start with and if I choose different profiles for each they can both be run at the same time and the data is different.

Are you doing anything special to manage your profiles? home-manager? And have you tried explicitly specifying the profile on the command line with betterbird -P profile-name?

[LinuxMason]

After creating the second profile, when I launch either Thunderbird or Betterbird the profile manager asks which profile to start with and if I choose different profiles for each they can both be run at the same time and the data is different.

Are you doing anything special to manage your profiles? home-manager? And have you tried explicitly specifying the profile on the command line with betterbird -P profile-name?

Not using home-manager and nothing fancy. Just simply adding them to my config file in the user packages part.

I can manage to use the command line to pull up the profile manager for both to make new profiles, but I still can't get both to launch side by side.

Here's what I see:

[MatthewCash]

That's the error that shows up when you try to launch two separate processes with the same profile. It seems like something is going wrong in profile selection. Just to clarify, these are the steps your are taking to launch each application after both profiles have been created, right?

1. Open thunderbird, "Choose User Profile" dialog appears
2. Uncheck "Use the selected profile without asking at startup"
3. Click your thunderbird profile then "Start Thunderbird"
4. Open betterbird, "Choose User Profile" dialog appears
5. Click your betterbird profile, then "Start Betterbird"

[LinuxMason]

That's the error that shows up when you try to launch two separate processes with the same profile. It seems like something is going wrong in profile selection. Just to clarify, these are the steps your are taking to launch each application after both profiles have been created, right?

1. Open thunderbird, "Choose User Profile" dialog appears
2. Uncheck "Use the selected profile without asking at startup"
3. Click your thunderbird profile then "Start Thunderbird"
4. Open betterbird, "Choose User Profile" dialog appears
5. Click your betterbird profile, then "Start Betterbird"

I literally did that by chance a second before you sent this reply.

Now they seem to launch together, which is a relief. Thanks for helping.

That makes me wonder, though, will I be able to use home-manager to create a modified desktop entry? The purpose being to add the profile variable to the 'exec' line so it launches the proper profile when I click the apps icon in my icons only taskbar in KDE? Hoping to avoid the profile manager prompt when launching the app.

[MatthewCash]

Yes! Use the -P flag to choose the profile by name without the profile manager, I do this to manage multiple Firefox profiles and it works great.

[LinuxMason]

Yes! Use the -P flag to choose the profile by name without the profile manager, I do this to manage multiple Firefox profiles and it works great.

Sweet. Thanks!