[Users] CM crashed and burned

[Michael Schwendt]

On Sat, 21 Dec 2024 08:23:54 -0700, Duke Normandin wrote:

> > Had not noticed this attachment before. You have various files with
> > root:root ownership in your Claws Mail home directory, especially the
> > main clawsrc config fille. All dated Dec 20th, so that indicates you
> > may have created a mess there accidentally.
>
> I know! But I didn't do it

100% your user account didn't turn into root:root all of a sudden.
You must have done something to become root while keeping runtime
environment variables about your home directory location.

> - all of a sudden I got a bunch of error
> msgs saying permission denied  do you want to use a "backup" file
> instead - or some such. I said yes, and it choked again!

Obviously, that method cannot work anymore, if backup files are not
owned by your user.

> Anyway, I reinstalled claws in a blank .claws-mail dir. How do I now
> recover my mail/folders etc?

Either by reconfiguring your email accounts within Claws Mail. Or by
copying the older config files to the .claws-mail dir while the program
is NOT running.

> CM choked on me twice in the last, 3rd time will be its last time. Thx
> for all your input!!

I'm just a user of CM and a packager. I've been a Sylpheed user before,
too, but that has been many, many years ago. CM certainly does not mess
with its config files and does not get root ownership out of nowhere.