Suggestion: Work Offline from password dialog

[Navigator]

I have a minor feature suggestion. It would be useful to have a "Work Offline" button on the password dialog.

Sometimes when I start Epyrus I just want to check the content of an existing message without putting in my password. If I click Cancel I get hit with another password dialog for each account, which I must also dismiss with more Cancel clicks. I would like to be able to dismiss all of them with a single click, which "Work Offline" logically should do.

I know there is an option for asking whether to start On-line or Off-line but this requires dismissing that dialog the 90% of the time I am starting Epyrus normally and just want to get on with entering my password.

To put this suggestion another way, I think the password dialog should have three options: enter password, cancel, cancel for all accounts (work offline).

[Moonchild]

Isn't it possible to just start the client with a command-line parameter to start offline? if so you could just make a shortcut to that

[athenian200]

Doesn't sound like it would be difficult to implement... I've encountered that problem myself a couple of times with Epyrus installs that have multiple non-working accounts that I'm trying to debug, but just worked around it by clicking cancel as you've said. Sometimes I want to leave the accounts configured but find it annoying that I get prompted for all their passwords on every start.

I just wonder if "Work Offline" is the best name for the feature when presented this way. It makes sense when presented as a checkbox, but less so in a password dialog, because it doesn't really trigger the "Work Offline" feature, but rather just cancels all the remaining password prompts for unsaved passwords and accounts that have failed to connect. I'm leaning towards "Cancel All" if I can figure out how to do this, because there's always the chance that the user could just click "Cancel All" after entering one or more passwords, but then not wanting to deal with the rest of their e-mail accounts.

[Navigator]

Isn't it possible to just start the client with a command-line parameter to start offline? if so you could just make a shortcut to that

I was not aware of this. That should work fine with only a little care. Where do I find command line parameters documented?

I just wonder if "Work Offline" is the best name for the feature when presented this way. It makes sense when presented as a checkbox, but less so in a password dialog, because it doesn't really trigger the "Work Offline" feature, but rather just cancels all the remaining password prompts for unsaved passwords and accounts that have failed to connect.

I was proposing triggering the actual Work Offline mode with the button, but if Epyrus connects to any non-password-protected accounts while waiting on the dialog I guess that is confusing. Cancel All makes more sense in that case. This is a low priority suggestion, and perhaps not even needed assuming the command line parameter is available as described. Nevertheless since it's something you've experienced too there are probably others who would also benefit from the inclusion.

[Moonchild]

I just tested it. it works:

Code: Select all

epyrus --offline

will start the client in off-line mode.

[Navigator]

I just tested it. it works:

Code: Select all

epyrus --offline

will start the client in off-line mode.

This does not seem to work on Linux Mint. I still get the password pop-up on launch with: /opt/Epyrus/epyrus --offline

[Moonchild]

FTR I tested this on Windows. No master password popup and it started offline. Clicking the offline icon in the status bar switching it back to online mode and then subsequently clicking to "get mail" popped up the password dialog, not before.

[athenian200]

Yeah, I just tested this on Linux, and apparently the feature is busted. The --offline switch only works on Windows. Also, the Linux version of Epyrus feels a lot worse than the Windows version overall... very slow.

[Kris_88]

The --offline switch only works on Windows.

What about -offline (single minus)?

https://udn.realityripple.com/docs/Mozi ... ne_Options

[Navigator]

What about -offline (single minus)?

Still prompts for password.

[Navigator]

Also, the Linux version of Epyrus feels a lot worse than the Windows version overall... very slow.

I cannot say that I've noticed it being slow. Which actions in particular seem slow? There are a few glitches with messages appearing and disappearing in the inbox, but so far it always clears up after a Get Messages.

[athenian200]

The weird thing is, other command line options like -p work on Linux. It seems to be just this one that's broken.

[athenian200]

Update, I found something that seems to make a difference...

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1179779#c7

For some reason, on Linux (and probably Unix in general), the --offline flag requires a particular pref to be set.

network.manage-offline-status has to be set to false, but defaults to true.

If I set that pref to false, then using the command line flag works on Linux. But on Windows, it seems to work regardless? So weird...

I'm thinking as a workaround, I might just want to do something like this in all-thunderbird.js...

Code: Select all

#ifdef XP_UNIX
// The offline status cannot be controlled via the command line in Unix,
// unless this pref is false. Works without it in Windows though, no
// no need to change existing behavior there.
pref("network.manage-offline-status", false);
#endif

Though it might be simpler to just set this false in general, assuming there are no negative side-effects from doing so. I was checking and found this in Pale Moon's preferences...

https://repo.palemoon.org/MoonchildProd ... on.js#L669

So it's possible it would be safe to just set this false in Epyrus too.

[Moonchild]

IIRC this pref is a concession to user control to automatically go back to online mode after a new connection was established, and is likely a holdover from dial-up use (going on-line when a dial-up connection is established). It does not seem to play nice with the way modern Linux handles its networking and thinks all connections there are "on-demand"? I know in Windows they are/were treated distinctly differently.
It's probably safe to just set it to false, regardless.