I don't think any of the files in a Thunderbird profile need execute permissions. Directories do need to have execute permissions for obvious reasons.

If it is just one permission set for files and just one for folders I have two Terminal commands for Linux that can fix it all in a second.

But I am afraid it is not.

I believe the command "chmod 700 ~/.thunderbird" will put the .thunderbird folder in the right state, and that is very important.

When I look at the data I restored from Fat32 after using Thunderbird for a while I find more folders with 700 but I mostly find 755

Among files I mostly find 600 but also 644

On the other hand it might be that simple because Thunderbird already has or is about to get code built in to put the permissions right. I don't know but in order to make and keep my mail database healthy I very much want to know how to fix it correctly.

When I look at the data I restored from Fat32 after using Thunderbird for a while I find more folders with 700 but I mostly find 755

Both is fine. With 755 you allow group and others to access those directories. It's up to you.

Among files I mostly find 600 but also 644.

Again, both is fine. With 644 you allow group and others to read those files.

it might be that simple because Thunderbird already has or is about to get code built in to put the permissions right.

No, Thunderbird does not mess with file system permissions.

I very much want to know how to fix it correctly.

With the permissions you mentioned I don't see anything wrong with it. So unless you do have a particular problem (which I doubt) just leave it alone.

When I look at the data I restored from Fat32 after using Thunderbird for a while I find more folders with 700 but I mostly find 755

Both is fine. With 755 you allow group and others to access those directories. It's up to you.

Among files I mostly find 600 but also 644.

Again, both is fine. With 644 you allow group and others to read those files.

it might be that simple because Thunderbird already has or is about to get code built in to put the permissions right.

No, Thunderbird does not mess with file system permissions.

I very much want to know how to fix it correctly.

With the permissions you mentioned I don't see anything wrong with it. So unless you do have a particular problem (which I doubt) just leave it alone.

Thank you.

So if I want the permissions to make my mail database as private and safe as possible I just make .thunderbird and all its sub folders 700 and all files 600, and Thunderbird will work well with that.?

What about the symbolic files ("lock" files) that I could not copy to fat32 and therefore also couldn't restore.?

So if I want the permissions to make my mail database as private and safe as possible I just make .thunderbird and all its sub folders 700 and all files 600, and Thunderbird will work well with that.?

Yes, however, it really depends on what you're trying to achieve. If you're the only one using that machine with your single user account, then locking it down won't change much.

What about the symbolic files ("lock" files) that I could not copy to fat32 and therefore also couldn't restore.?

The lock file is create when Thunderbird is running and using a profile. This will prevent another instance of Thunderbird using the same profile. There is no point backing up or restoring the lock file.

So if I want the permissions to make my mail database as private and safe as possible I just make .thunderbird and all its sub folders 700 and all files 600, and Thunderbird will work well with that.?

Yes, however, it really depends on what you're trying to achieve. If you're the only one using that machine with your single user account, then locking it down won't change much.

What about the symbolic files ("lock" files) that I could not copy to fat32 and therefore also couldn't restore.?

The lock file is create when Thunderbird is running and using a profile. This will prevent another instance of Thunderbird using the same profile. There is no point backing up or restoring the lock file.

Thank you very much.

I have never had more than one user for .thunderbird, so I go ahead.

To set the permissions 700 for folders and 600 for files I have now used these two Terminal commands:

find ~/.thunderbird -type d | while read DIR ; do chmod 700 "${DIR}" ; done

find ~/.thunderbird -type f | while read DIR ; do chmod 600 "${DIR}" ; done

You have approved the permissions, and Thunderbird shows no errors, so I trust this is the way for me to do it in the future.

Fat32 can't copy lock files but ntfs and ext4 can, and as I understand it, I don't have to think about that.

So actually this makes my backup of .thunderbird to ext4 , ntfs and fat32 all compatible with Thunderbird restore in Linux.

And in addition my mail database is even more private and safe than ever before.

You can't imagine how good it feels. :-)