A pesky send-message window pops up whenever I try to open an instance of File Manager

Could you better explain the problem please? It looks like a bad configuration of the file manager (Trisquel 8's default?).

Whenever I try to open a folder (right- or left-click) that pesky Icedove send mail window
appears, trying to send that folder as an attachment. That's before I have even started Icedove.

I installed a different file manager (PCManFM) and uninstalled the former File Manager
(xfce.org) but that had no effect.

This instance of flidas is in the USB-connected 1TB HDD, and that is the one with which
I had trouble migrating Icedove's profile (since successfully completed). While that
effort was in progress I was experiencing the send-mail window popping up whenever I was
trying to start Icedove, but I thought it was some application trying to sign me up to
send & receive emails ... kinda like Windows of yore, getting set to call the mother ship.

Alongside this annoyance, the "new" T420's Win10 installation will _not_ be turned off;
it so persistently comes back on that I have to unplug it and remove the battery. That
will be rectified by returning the T420 to the store, probably to get another T420 with
a blank, unformatted HDD.

Probably the pesky "send Home to the mother ship" problem is best addressed by uninstalling
Icedove and reinstalling it ... ?

In the interim I am using the terminal to manage my files.

Thanks,
George Langford

Update: I returned the Win-10 T420 for credit and set about solving the pop-up email
problem.

Here's what didn't work: Move the profiles.ini file and gibberish.default folder to
a safe place (to a folder I called IceDoveFiles in another HDD inside the "old" T420)
with terminal's mv command, using two open terminal windows side-by-side to reduce
the chance of sending something to oblivion. Uninstall icedove; restart the 'puter;
reinstall icedove. Alas, as soon as I try to open a folder with trisquel's file
manager, that pesky window pops up again. As an interesting aside, that caused another
profiles.ini file to appear in .icedove before I has a chance to move the correct
profiles.ini file back where it belongs; I renamed the intervening profiles.ini file
to avoid any conflict.

Here's my workaround: The pesky email window does _not_ appear with the alternative
file manager, PCManFM, so I have a working file manager.

Thoughts on cleansing trisquel's default file manager ?

Thanks
George Langford

Something like this has happened before:
https://trisquel.info/en/forum/home-folder-places-points-disk-usage-analyzer
but it went unresolved ...

I was poking around in ~/.config/dconf/user where it seems rather corrupted,
but in my other installations of Trisquel (both TQ7 and TQ8) "user" is similar.

Then I went to ~/.config/plank/dock1/launchers and /usr/share/applications/
were I am confronted with vast arrays of configuration files.

One such file is /usr/share/applications/pcmanfm.desktop; there is no file named libfm.desktop.
Others are ~/.config/libfm/libfm.conf and ~/.config/pcmanfm/pcmanfm.conf.

The following seems like good places to look:

~/.config/libfm$ cat libfm.conf (which might be what invokes "send folder as attachment"):

# Configuration file for the libfm version 1.2.4.
# Autogenerated file, don't edit, your changes will be overwritten.

[config]
single_click=0
use_trash=1
confirm_del=1
confirm_trash=1
advanced_mode=0
si_unit=0
force_startup_notify=1
backup_as_hidden=1
no_usb_trash=1
no_child_non_expandable=0
show_full_names=0
only_user_templates=0
template_run_app=0
template_type_once=0
auto_selection_delay=600
drop_default_action=auto
defer_content_test=0
quick_exec=0
show_internal_volumes=0
terminal=x-terminal-emulator %s
thumbnail_local=1
thumbnail_max=2048
smart_desktop_autodrop=1

[ui]
big_icon_size=48
small_icon_size=24
pane_icon_size=24
thumbnail_size=128
show_thumbnail=1
shadow_hidden=0

[places]
places_home=1
places_desktop=1
places_root=0
places_computer=0
places_trash=1
places_applications=1
places_network=0
places_unmounted=1

The corresponding configuration file for pcmanfm (which behaves properly when I click
on the Home folder) is:

~/.config/pcmanfm/default$ cat pcmanfm.conf
[config]
bm_open_method=0

[volume]
mount_on_startup=1
mount_removable=1
autorun=1

[ui]
always_show_tabs=0
max_tab_chars=32
win_width=640
win_height=480
splitter_pos=150
media_in_new_tab=0
desktop_folder_new_win=0
change_tab_on_drop=1
close_on_unmount=1
focus_previous=0
side_pane_mode=places
view_mode=icon
show_hidden=1
sort=name;ascending;
toolbar=newtab;navigation;home;
show_statusbar=1
pathbar_mode_buttons=0

Is there another file manager that I should be looking for ?

Online I find linux file listings which include "libfm-pref-apps.desktop"
but my TQ8 does not have that file or even a libfm.desktop file, but for pcmanfm
there is such a file: pcmanfm.desktop.

See: https://packages.debian.org/sid/i386/libfm-tools/filelist

Thanks,
George Langford

XFE, X File Explorer, has no dependencies with Gnome. I've been using it a lot in BSD.

http://roland65.free.fr/xfe/

sudo apt install xfe

loldier suggested another file manager, xfe.

My observation: XFE is free of the present libfm "feature."

My other instances of TQ8 are also free of the libfm Home-click sendmail bug.

It's just the one exposed to Win10 during operation of the "new" T420.

Thanks,
George Langford

Here's what's happening:

When I go to the menu item "Places" and select "Home Folder" from the file menu,
after a delay of several seconds a new window appears. It's got "Write" in the
title line, my file:///home/username/ folder as a file attachment, and my email
and username from a legitimate (but inactive) email account that's in my Icedove page.

That delay of several seconds is the time it takes to load Icedove.

I've never used the sendmail and address book features of Icedove, so the new
sendmail page is expecting me to supply the appropriate mail-handling servers.

What I really want, of course, is to see what's in my file:///home/username/
folder, and not to send the entire contents of file:///home/username/ to
anyone. Fortunately, XFE and PCmanFM both behave correctly.

By the way, the same pesky popup appears for just about any other entry in the
Places menu, such as Desktop or Recent Documents ...

In the other thread, that same originating action brought up an instance of the
disk usage analyzer. They couldn't figure it our either.

Thanks,
George Langford

Two attempts to eliminate the pesky sendmail popup weren't effective.

(1) A new username & login eliminates the pesky popup, but it also eliminates
access to all my files.

(2) I used "sudo mv libfm libfm-save" to hide the libfm folder. No effect.

Other candidates for exclusion from ~/.config:

caja, gtk-3.0, menus, tilda, caja-actions, ibus, mimeapps.list, Trolltech.conf,
classicmenu-indicator, leafpad, pcmanfm, update-notifier, dconf, libfm-save, plank,
user-dirs.dirs, folder-color, libreoffice, pulse, user-dirs.locale, gtk-2.0,
mate-session synapse, xfe

Might one of these other configuration files be the culprit ?

Thanks,
George Langford

As often happens, Magic Banana's constructive suggestion solved the Pesky-Popup
problem. I went to my .config file: cd /home/username/.config, then listed its
contents. Next, I plodded through the list of files and directories, each time
entering sudo mv filename filename.bak, followed by clicking on either my Home
folder or my Desktop folder. Unsuccessful, I'd change each one back again before
going on to the next one.

Halfway through the file listing, sudo mv mimeapps.list mimeapps.list.bak was
the key: No more sendmail popup ! I was shocked to see the contents of the chosen
folder instead, for the first time in a couple of weeks ...

I "fixed" mimeapps.list by commenting out the four lines:

> cat mimeapps.list
> [Default Applications]
> # inode/directory=icedove.desktop
> # text/plain=abrowser.desktop
>
> [Added Associations]
> # inode/directory=icedove.desktop;
> # text/plain=abrowser.desktop;

Now I can view the contents of those folders as well as many others without
any roundabout workarounds.

There was still a mystery why one or more of these lines was invoking those popups,
so I uncommented them one at a time.

Here's the end result, which keeps the pesky popup from appearing:

> cat mimeapps.list
> [Default Applications]
> # inode/directory=icedove.desktop
> text/plain=abrowser.desktop
>
> [Added Associations]
> inode/directory=icedove.desktop;
> text/plain=abrowser.desktop;

As the offending line of mimeapps has icedove in it, it almost makes sense ...
The added associations are identical to the default applications, so should I
prepare myself for a hassle with abrowser ?

Thanks,
George Langford

What I did was extremely simple to do ... and I found the offending setting on the first try.
Nevertheless, I checked that none of the others contributed in any way ... all in less than
half an hour.

I've used the binary search on my 300kB .htaccess file; that's where it was appropriate.

All the best,
George Langford