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labbe5
Joined: 13 Nov 2013 Posts: 2082 Location: Canada
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Posted: Wed 24 Oct 2018, 12:09 Post subject:
How to configure Birdtray Thunderbird tray icon Subject description: Requires Qt5 |
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This utility is useful to show you received emails, and can be easily installed and configured whatever OS you use, Puppy or Dog, thanks to a deb file available for 32 & 64-bit systems.
To get your copy of Birdtray : http://ppa.launchpad.net/linuxuprising/apps/ubuntu/pool/main/b/birdtray/
Here is a tutorial to help you configure Birdtray : https://www.linuxuprising.com/2018/10/birdtray-thunderbird-tray-icon-with-new.html
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Mike Walsh

Joined: 28 Jun 2014 Posts: 5656 Location: King's Lynn, UK.
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Posted: Wed 24 Oct 2018, 12:17 Post subject:
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I was thinking this sounded like a useful FireTray replacement. But you know what?
As soon as I read that it wants Qt5....I lost interest. Just like that. Qt5 is a bloated, over-sized complex monstrosity, bigger than Puppy itself.
What's wrong with using GTK?
Mike.
_________________ MY 'PUPPY' PACKAGES

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Flash
Official Dog Handler

Joined: 04 May 2005 Posts: 13392 Location: Arizona USA
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Posted: Wed 24 Oct 2018, 13:44 Post subject:
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So, just to add a little icon in my system tray that informs me when I have mail, I'd have to install Qt5?
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norgo

Joined: 13 Nov 2015 Posts: 354 Location: Germany
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Posted: Wed 24 Oct 2018, 14:13 Post subject:
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@Flash
wow are you really so up to date ?
Quote: | /usr/bin/birdtray: /usr/lib/libQt5Core.so.5: version `Qt_5.11' not found (required by /usr/bin/birdtray)
libQt5X11Extras.so.5 => /usr/lib/libQt5X11Extras.so.5 (0xb749a000)
libQt5Widgets.so.5 => /usr/lib/libQt5Widgets.so.5 (0xb6e1b000)
libQt5Gui.so.5 => /usr/lib/libQt5Gui.so.5 (0xb681f000)
libQt5Core.so.5 => /usr/lib/libQt5Core.so.5 (0xb6352000) |
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Mike Walsh

Joined: 28 Jun 2014 Posts: 5656 Location: King's Lynn, UK.
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Posted: Wed 24 Oct 2018, 16:51 Post subject:
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Actually, having said what I did earlier, I've realised (like norgo did) that it does in fact only want 6 Qt5 'modules'. I know 'ldd' only shows 4 as being needed, but you also need Qt5DBus (without which it won't run), and also Qt5XcbQpa.....without which you get the never-ending saga of the
'can't find or load platform plug-in xcb...'
...despite that xcb is available & staring you in the face!
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I've run up a package for 64-bit 'Bionic'. I tried doing a package for 32-bit Bionic, but am currently having problems with an accidental mix of Qt5 versions, so I'm holding back on that for now.
It's quite neat, actually; you can set it to monitor as many email a/c's as you like (each one will give you notifications in a different colour if you want. The number that shows in the tray icon can be color-coded to the a/c, so you know exactly which one it is before you click the icon to open T-Bird). The icon flashes when you have mail (you can alter the speed at which it does this.)
Like FireTray, you can use the tray icon to display/hide T-Bird. If you accidentally close T-Bird, it can be set to auto-restart again.
If you want this to auto-run at boot-time, just drag/symlink /usr/bin/birdtray across to /root/Startup. I haven't added this to the pet, because not everyone will want it to autostart. There's a Menu Entry to start it manually; Menu->Internet->Birdtray.
You can find the 64-bit package here. Run at your own risk; the article at linuxuprising.com clearly states this is alpha-quality software, although it seems fairly stable, for all that. The .debs available are only for Bionic Beaver and Cosmic Cuttlefish anyway, so I can't guarantee they'll even run in any other 64-bit Pups, let alone any older ones.
Flash wrote: | So, just to add a little icon in my system tray that informs me when I have mail, I'd have to install Qt5?  |
Um....yeeah. Good job it only wants a few modules; the full Qt5 package is at least twice the size of whatever Pup you're running there..!
It annoys me, because everyone and his dog was happy with GTK2/3 for years & years (nice & simple). Then they all started using Qt3.....then Qt4.....and now it's Qt5, which is a monster. And now even teeny little apps (like this) are being written to need it.
Unfortunately, it's a sign of things to come.....and partly why Pups are getting bigger and bigger. Welcome to the world of Windows hyper-complexity!
Mike.
_________________ MY 'PUPPY' PACKAGES

Last edited by Mike Walsh on Fri 26 Oct 2018, 08:48; edited 2 times in total
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norgo

Joined: 13 Nov 2015 Posts: 354 Location: Germany
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Posted: Thu 25 Oct 2018, 17:45 Post subject:
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birdtray version 1.3
compiled under Slacko 700 RC3 and shared qt-5.6.1 libs
especially for Mike
dependencies:
libQt5Base
libQt5X11Extras
maybe you will have to edit config file manually
( ~/.config/ulduzsoft/birdtray.conf )
Description |
birdtray-1.3-qt5-i686.pet
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birdtray-1.3-qt5-i686.pet |
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Mike Walsh

Joined: 28 Jun 2014 Posts: 5656 Location: King's Lynn, UK.
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Posted: Fri 26 Oct 2018, 08:42 Post subject:
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Thanks for that, norgo. Ta very much...
Right. OK. Now, then:-
For anyone who'd like to use Birdtray as a Firetray replacement for Thunderbird 60 in Upup Bionic 18.05 32-bit, here's what you need to do:-
1) Update the PPM first (always a good idea).
2) Install the following:-
libqt5core
libqt5gui
libqt5widgets
libqt5x11extras
This will pull in libqt5dbus and libqt5network, plus libdouble-conversion, libxcb-xinerama, and one or two others.
3) Install norgo's pet from the above post, birdtray-1.3-qt5-i686.
All things being equal, it should fire up from Menu->Internet->Birdtray. If you want this to start at boot, sym-link /usr/bin/birdtray into /root/Startup.
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Configuration takes a bit of fiddling about. Birdtray works by reading the global-messages-db.sqlite database inside your Thunderbird profile; this makes it independent of T-Bird version, and should continue to work well into the future.
When it fires up for the first time, it'll ask if you want to set up the profile. OK this, and it'll take you into the settings.
The first tab to concern yourself with is the 'Monitoring' tab. First time you click on this, it'll tell you it can't find the profile, or something similar. Hit 'Cancel' at the bottom to exit the settings. If Birdtray is showing in the notification area (a Thunderbird icon, probably with a red cross through it), right-click->Quit.
There doesn't seem to be a way to correct the profile problem from within the app's settings (remember, this isn't 'stable' yet). So, open ROX; click on the 'eye' to show hidden files; and go into ~/.config->ulduzsoft (which norgo mentioned above. I had to use this in Bionic64, too). Open the 'birdtray.conf' file with Geany.
Scroll all the way down to the bottom, through tons of what looks like gibberish (coding? Not sure). You want the line starting 'profilepath='; it'll be empty.Add your T-Bird profile path; something like
Code: | /root/.thunderbird/xxxxxxxxx.default |
Make sure to copy those letters & numbers correctly. 'Save', and exit Geany. Now, re-start Birdtray. Once again, you'll asked to set things up.
In 'Settings', under the 'Monitoring' tab, the previously greyed-out text should now be black. It may still not want to behave itself, though. There may be a window with something about the 'parser needing to clear database/account'. Click 'No' to this.
Top-right corner, the 'Method to parse unread notifications' dropbox is probably showing 'Using Mork index files (recommended)'. Uh-uh. We don't want that, so change it to 'Using global search database'. That's better.
There should now be a box showing - 'Profile database to monitor' - with your T-Bird profile path in it.....and the 'Add/Edit/Remove' buttons are now active. Now you can use the 'Add' button to add whatever email 'Inboxes' you want it to work with. You can also set a different color for the tray icon's numbering for each a/c, so you can tell at a glance which one it is before you use the icon to open T-Bird.
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The other tab that needs setting up is the 'Hiding' tab. This configures if T-Bird hides when the icon is clicked, if T-Bird starts when Birdtray starts, quits when it quits, and re-starts if accidentally closed. Mine looks like this:-
A word of warning: Don't enable the inset line 4; 'Hide Thunderbird window when it is minimized'. Apparently this is a known 'bug', which its author acknowledges needs to be fixed. If you enable it, you'll crash the app, and you'll have no end of trouble getting it to run again!
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That's enough to be going on with. It should help you to get things working, anyway. I'm going to investigate whether there's any possibility of getting this to work with older 32-bit Pups running the T-Bird 60 packages I put together; might take a while, though.....
Mike.
_________________ MY 'PUPPY' PACKAGES

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