Hi,
I have just upgraded my Linux desktop PC from Mint 17.3 to 18.3. I then re-installed General Sync and re-connected with my Android smartphone. The pairing was successful and the calendar and address book have re-appeared in the new version of Thunderbird that came with the upgrade (60.9.1), with apparently all the original data intact. However, when I attempt to add a new event in the calendar I get a message saying "The calendar APA Calendar is momentarily not available", and if I try to edit a contact in the address book I get "An error occurred while communicating with General Sync: unknown application ID".
What do I need to do to restore the connection/s?
Thanks
Andrew
unknown application ID
This message occurs if you attempt to start a Thunderbird with metadata created for a different GeneralSync installation. Your situation thus sounds like you did preserve Thunderbird's data during the update (including GeneralSync's metadata there), but did not preserve GeneralSync's data. That also matches your description that you needed to pair your devices again, which should not happen when preserving GeneralSync's data.
What do I need to do to restore the connection/s?
To fix the issue, you need to delete GeneralSync's metadata in Thunderbird: Open the settings of the Add-on "GeneralSync Integration" ("Menu | Add-ons | GeneralSync Integration" or "Menu Bar | Tools | Add-on Settings | GeneralSync Integration") and click on "Reset connection information". That should clear out all stale data and re-create all calendars and address books currently visible in the GeneralSync dashboard.
Hi,
I did as you told me to and regained my connection, but have since been doing other things within the File Manager and lost it again. I get the same "momentarily not available" message in the Calendar, but in the Address Book, if I try to edit a contact, I get "An error occurred while communicating with GeneralSync. Application has an outdated data set, the object was changed since the last time the application pulled it. Abort". What do I need to do now?
Andrew
Application has an outdated data set, the object was changed since the last time the application pulled it.
This message states that Thunderbird has valid metadata, but that metadata is outdated. As the metadata is still valid, it is possible that the problem will get resolved automatically after restarting the computer.
As I don't understand what you did (directly editing Thunderbird's or GeneralSync's files can lead to various issues), I cannot reasonably guess why you see this message or if a restart will help in your case. If a restart does not solve the issue, you should try to reset the connection information again. If that also fails or doesn't fix the problem, you might have damaged the GeneralSync add-in itself: in that case, try manually re-installing the Add-in.
I hope one of these options helped. If not, can describe what you did "within the File Manager"?
I was trying to read an SD card via a usb connection in File Manager, but it didn't work and when I tried to unmount it, it got stuck and said something about writing data to my Data Storage partition, so I exited File Manager. Anyway, I have now re-started the computer and got this message when trying to re-start Thunderbird; "Your Thunderbird profile cannot be loaded. It may be missing or inaccessible". Do I need to re-install Thunderbird? I have the profile saved in my separate Data Storage partition, but maybe something has been accidentally deleted from there?
I was trying to read an SD card via a usb connection in File Manager, but it didn't work and when I tried to unmount it, it got stuck and said something about writing data to my Data Storage partition, so I exited File Manager. Anyway, I have now re-started the computer and got this message when trying to re-start Thunderbird; "Your Thunderbird profile cannot be loaded. It may be missing or inaccessible". Do I need to re-install Thunderbird? I have the profile saved in my separate Data Storage partition, but maybe something has been accidentally deleted from there?
Ugh. Sounds like something went very wrong there, but it does not sound as if GeneralSync was involved in any way. As this issue seems to be within your data and/or configuration, it is very unlikely that re-installing Thunderbird will fix the issue.
I'd first verify that you have a recent backup (and if not, urgently make one and disconnect it from your PC – before attempting anything else!). Afterwards, open Thunderbird's profile manager and check if your profile is registered correctly. If not, re-add it and try starting Thunderbird again.
If it is correctly registered, double-check that the profile folder still exists at the correct location.
If that does not help, create a new profile and try starting with that. If that fails, you might indeed need to re-install Thunderbird. Otherwise, try to import your mails and other non-GeneralSync data from the old profile and/or a backup. You can then re-install your add-ons (including the GeneralSync add-on using the manual installation method). If GeneralSync is still starting normally, installing the add-on should be sufficient to restore your calendars and contacts.
I hope that got you back up and running?
I have now re-installed Thunderbird replacing the old profile.ini file with a new one pointing to the saved profile in the correct directory on my separate hard drive partition (as before). General Sync seemed to have disappeared so I downloaded it and re-started it again, after which the dashboard icon duly re-appeared. Furthermore, the phone and the PC remain paired and are synchronising. However when I try to re-set the connection in Thunderbird I get "Connection information has been cleared". I then removed and re-started GeneralSync and re-installed Lightning, in the Add-ons page, but when I go back to re-set the connection I get the same message about the connection information being cleared. Where would that information have been and how can I restore it? Fortunately, all the previous calendar and address book data remains in place.
Sorry to be a nuisance but I don't know what to try next.
Andrew
when I try to re-set the connection in Thunderbird I get "Connection information has been cleared".
Not sure if that was part of your question, but that is intended to happen and not an error. The message only describes that the operation (resetting the connection information) succeeded and any connection information currently stored is gone.
I then removed and re-started GeneralSync and re-installed Lightning, in the Add-ons page, but when I go back to re-set the connection
I'm not sure why you do that. The idea of resetting the connection information is to enable Thunderbird to re-connect to GeneralSync. If you proceed by removing GeneralSync it seems like you tried to do something else?
Normally it is sufficient to just reset the connection information (while GeneralSync is running in the background). Your problem should then either disappear immediately or shortly after the next restart of Thunderbird (you will usually notice some activity of your PC while GeneralSync is looking at every single contact and event in order to fix potential issues – for big calendars and address books the process may take a few minutes). You should not have to alter anything else – don't reset the connection information again, don't uninstall GeneralSync.
If the issue persists even after a restart and waiting a few minutes, double-check you use the latest version of GeneralSync (0.9.2.1b), the GeneralSync Integration Add-in (1.0.0.2), Thunderbird and Lightning (68.7.0 – or 68.6.0/68.6.1 on some Linux distributions).
If you are on the latest versions, the only remaining option I'd see is looking in Thunderbird's error console: press Ctrl+Shift+J while Thunderbird's main window is focused. You should now see a window with tons of internal messages from Thunderbird, and at least one red error describing your failed attempt to edit an event. Some messages will have a little triangle in front of them, which you can click to expand more information. Expand everything, then copy the whole log into a mail to the contact email for GeneralSync (right click any message, there should be an option to copy every displayed message) . Feel free to redact any personal/identifying information, just make sure that it is clearly visible where you redacted something.
(If you are fine publishing your whole log file you can of course also reply here.)
Where would that information have been and how can I restore it?
I kind of answered this above, but to answer this question directly: the information was in your Thunderbird profile but must not get restored, as it refers to your old GeneralSync installation. The most important parts are automatically generated directly after resetting the connection information, while some other parts will be regenerated after the next restart of Thunderbird.
I didn't knowingly remove GeneralSync - it just disappeared and I couldn't find it in File Manager. My Thunderbird is v 60.9.1, GeneralSync is 0.9.2.1b and GeneralSync add-on is 1.0.0.1.
All that shows up on the Browser Console is;
"Could not read chrome manifest 'file:///usr/lib/thunderbird/chrome.manifest'.
While creating services from category 'profile-after-change', could not create service for entry 'calendar-backend-loader', contract ID 'service,@mozilla.org/calendar/backend-loader;1'
Use of Mutation Events is deprecated. Use MutationObserver instead. calendar-widgets.xml:512:20
1586449821747 addons.xpi WARN Can't get modified time of /usr/lib/thunderbird/features/wetransfer@extensions.thunderbird.net"
Does this explain anything to you?
My Thunderbird is v 60.9.1, GeneralSync is 0.9.2.1b and GeneralSync add-on is 1.0.0.1.
Note that Thunderbird 60.9.1 has known bugs and security issues, although it really seems to be the most recent version provided by Linux Mint / Ubuntu. The rest looks ok, the GeneralSync add-on 1.0.0.1 is fine (1.0.0.2 is already released through the forums for early adopters but not yet through automatic updates – sorry for the confusion).
Does this explain anything to you?
If that is the only message then yes, that explains a lot: editing an event no longer yields the 'An error occurred while communicating with GeneralSync'-Message, as that very same message would otherwise have been logged in the browser console.
That means that I do not understand what your problem is and tried to help you based on wrong expectations. I thought that there is something not working within Thunderbird. But as everything is working there, I don't really understand what isn't working as expected?
Maybe it helps if you can answer the following three questions with as many details as possible:
What did you attempt to do (ideally step-by-step instructions from rebooting your machine)?
What did you expect to happen?
What happened instead?
Eureka!
When I removed and restored GeneralSync Integration within the Add-ons page (see #7 above), I should have done your (recommended) manual installation from the downloaded .xpi file instead. I have now done that and it all works fine....
Sorry to be such a dummkopf, but many thanks for you help. I'll try not to bother you again.
Andrew
Glad to hear you were able to resolve the issue 
