I ended up getting so frustrated with the new version 78 (not just because of the missing add-ons, but also reliability issues with my IMAP connections to the server at work) that I reinstalled the previous version...

https://archive.mozilla.org/pub/thunderbird/releases/68.12.0/

That led to this issue with the profile...

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/unable-launch-older-version-profile

... which I was able to work around with the "--allow-downgrade" option...

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/dedicated-profile-thunderbird-installat...

After that, it was just a matter of reinstalling my old (pre-upgrade) add-ons that had gotten updated or simply deleted (e.g. Lightning).

I've disabled automatic-updates now, of course!

Gilbert

On 2020-09-15 9:18 p.m., Bradford C. Vokey wrote:

*** WARNING ***

Anyone running Thunderbird 68.x.x , please be aware, automatics upgrades to 78.2.2 have now started.

This is highly likely a mistake by the development team, as the release notes for the latest version 78.2.2 state:

...

*Thunderbird version 78.2.2 is only offered as direct download fromthunderbird.net https://www.thunderbird.net/and not as an upgrade from Thunderbird version 68 or earlier.*A future release will provide updates from earlier versions. Automatic updates are available for users already running version 78.0 or higher.

Add-on support: As of version 78.0, Thunderbird only supports MailExtensions. Your favorite add-ons may not have been updated for compatibility.

*** TURN OFF AUTOMATIC UPDATES TO THUNDERBIRD 68.x.x if you still want to keep your existing extensions working. ***

Further reading:

https://www.ghacks.net/2020/09/15/automatic-thunderbird-upgrade-to-version-7...

-- Bradford C. Vokey

Treasurer Manitoba Unix User Group ===