Installing previous version of Thunderbird

Question

I'm anxious to install the new version of Elementary Juno but it has Thunderbird 60 in its repos which has killed some of the extensions that I rely on. I currently have that package on hold with Freya. How do I install, or does Elementary provide, older packaged versions of Thunderbird? I know I can download older versions from Mozilla directly, but I always run into issues when I do that and the integration doesn't seem work correctly. I've been holding off upgrading Thunderbird due to this change so I'll have to wait and hope that the extensions I need are updated soon.

Answer 1

is pretty simple, first you need to check if there's a version available through apt (in your case exists)

$ apt policy thunderbird
thunderbird:
  Instalados: (ninguno)
  Candidato:  1:60.2.1+build1-0ubuntu0.18.04.2
  Tabla de versión:
     1:60.2.1+build1-0ubuntu0.18.04.2 500
        500 http://cl.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates/main amd64 Packages
        500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security/main amd64 Packages
        500 http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntu-mozilla-security/ppa/ubuntu bionic/main amd64 Packages
     1:52.7.0+build1-0ubuntu1 500
        500 http://cl.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic/main amd64 Packages

then you install the older version with the command

$ sudo apt install thunderbird=1:52.7.0+build1-0ubuntu1

and finally you tell apt to hold on that pakage (that way you can do upgrades on the system and thunderbird will stay on that version)

$ sudo apt-mark hold thunderbird

Answer 2

There are also ways to « force » use of not compatible extensions in TB…

https://forum.ubuntu-fr.org/search.php?search_id=447160902

In TB go to edit → preferences → advanced → advanced settings

( it's the « about config » like in Firefox )

There look for extensions.strictCompatibility and set it from true to false by double-clicking on it.

That may temporarily help you for the time before such extensions get updated but it's just a not-so-safe workaround, remember to set it again to true once your favorite extensions are compatible anew.