No thunderbird package in Fedora 44

User Support General
1

I just realized that Thunderbird is no longer preinstalled in the f44 template. Of course I can just sudo dnf install thunderbird, but I am wondering:

  • Is there any reason for removing it from the default installation?
  • How could one easily check the packages that a Qubes template comes with? I tried reading GitHub - QubesOS/qubes-builderv2: Next generation of Qubes OS builder · GitHub but the build process is quite complex for someone that has no experience with it. I can’t easily find if there’s such a thing as a list of packages to be included in the template.
2

This is due to better aligning with Fedora defaults. Fedora ships Claws Mail as the main client in its Xfce spin.

3

And this is exactly the case where in-place upgrade might be preferred way to switch to a new version.

4

I wouldn’t necessarily say so. I’ve seen cases (not specifically on Qubes) where in-place upgrades have deleted software that had completely been removed from the repos.

For example, a while ago Kali had removed KeePassXC from its repos (it is now back).

Such things can always happen. I think it is important to see a new template version as an upgrade that needs to be checked and not as a blind drop-in replacement, no matter the way that you create these new versions.

5

I agree. Many things can happen. My comment was more in the context of an in-place upgrade after checking, and specifically Fedora, specifically on Qubes, specifically Thunderbird, because me personally have been through it when f44 is, and especially when I customize my templates starting from the minimal templates anyway.

EDIT: To provide the opposite example - it did happen to me with Signal template where it is even still not available for f44 in the repos when I was in-place upgrading to it, so I had to provide it the other way. That’s why I said might be in previous post.