Dove

Dove is a suite of configurations & advanced modifications for Mozilla Thunderbird, designed to put the user first.

It is not a simple user.js like you might expect - but it is not a fork either. It is installed on top of your standard Thunderbird installation.

Dove strives to create the best email experience possible, and does so through significantly hardening user privacy & security, and protecting user freedom. We also include various other QOL tweaks, performance enhancements, & nice-to-have features where possible.

Dove is built off of & heavily based on its sister project, Phoenix, which you should also check out.

Note

This project is hosted on both Codeberg (which will be the primary & preferred place to contribute), & GitHub.

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📖Glossary

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• Dove
• 📖 Glossary
• 🚀 Install
  • 🐧 GNU-Linux
  • 🍎 macOS
  • 🪟 Windows
• 👋 Uninstall
  • 🐧 GNU-Linux
  • 🍎 macOS
• 📛Manual Mode (Not recommended)
• 💜 Attribution

🚀Install

Dove offers easy to use install scripts for various platforms. All you have to do is have Thunderbird installed & ready, paste the command that corresponds to your platform of choice in your terminal, and you should be good to go. :)

🐧GNU-Linux

Important

⚠️ Thunderbird Flatpak & Snap packages are currently not supported.

Arch

yay:

bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://dove.celenity.dev/arch_install_yay.sh)"

paru:

bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://dove.celenity.dev/arch_install_paru.sh)"

Debian/Ubuntu & Derivatives

sudo bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://dove.celenity.dev/debian_install.sh)"

Fedora

sudo bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://dove.celenity.dev/fedora_install.sh)"

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🍎macOS

Important

⚠️ You must have Homebrew installed

bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://dove.celenity.dev/macos_install.sh)"

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🪟Windows

See upstream Codeberg issue here & GitHub issue here

HELP WANTED!!

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👋Uninstall

If Dove isn't right for you - no worries! We also have easy to use uninstall scripts. Please be sure to leave us feedback though so we can improve for the future!

🐧GNU-Linux

Arch

yay:

bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://dove.celenity.dev/arch_uninstall_yay.sh)"

paru:

bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://dove.celenity.dev/arch_uninstall_paru.sh)"

Debian/Ubuntu & Derivatives

sudo bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://dove.celenity.dev/debian_uninstall.sh)"

Fedora

sudo bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://dove.celenity.dev/fedora_uninstall.sh)"

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🍎macOS

bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://dove.celenity.dev/macos_uninstall.sh)"

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📛Manual Mode (Not recommended)

By default, Dove leverages Mozilla's Centralized Management feature to automatically update its configurations. This allows fast, easy updates & fixes as needed, regardless of your platform. Dove's Policies are updated separately, through the AUR on Arch Linux, COPR on Fedora, the MPR on Debian/Ubuntu/Derivatives, & our Homebrew Tap on macOS.

Caution

This is typically set-up & handled through our install scripts, and this is the set-up we would recommend most users stick to.

However, if this is not desirable for you & your situation, you can manually install Dove with the following steps:

1: Download our base.cfg file here. You can right click and select Save page as from your browser, or you can run the following command in your terminal:

wget https://dove.celenity.dev/base.cfg

2: Download local-settings.js from here. You can right click and select Save page as from your browser, or you can run the following command in your terminal:

wget https://dove.celenity.dev/manual/defaults/pref/local-settings.js

3: Download policies.json from here if you're on macOS/Windows, or here if you're on Linux. You can right click and select Save page as from your browser, or you can run the following command in your terminal:

macOS/Windows

wget https://dove.celenity.dev/Policies/policies.json

GNU/Linux

wget https://dove.celenity.dev/Policies/Linux/Policies/policies.json

4: Locate your Thunderbird installation directory. This will vary depending on your platform, you can generally find it by navigating to Help (Located on top bar) -> Troubleshooting information & checking the directory next to Application Binary. For example, on Fedora Linux, I see /usr/lib64/thunderbird/thunderbird next to Application Binary. This means our installation directory is /usr/lib64/thunderbird.

Caution

Unless you're on Fedora Linux, your directory will probably be different, and you should replace this path on the following steps with your actual installation directory's path.

5: Move base.cfg to the root of your installation directory. You can either drag and drop it manually, or run the following command, assuming /usr/lib64/thunderbird is your installation directory:

sudo mv base.cfg /usr/lib64/thunderbird/base.cfg

6: If it does not already exist, in the root of your installation directory, create a folder named defaults, and inside this new defaults, create another folder titled pref. You can do this manually through your file explorer, or assuming /usr/lib64/thunderbird is your installation directory, you can run the following command:

sudo mkdir -p /usr/lib64/thunderbird/defaults/pref

On macOS & Linux, you'll also want to ensure that the folder you created has proper permissions:

sudo chmod 755 /usr/lib64/thunderbird/defaults/pref

7: Move local-settings.js to the pref folder that you just created. Assuming your installation directory is /usr/lib64/thunderbird, you can run the following command:

sudo mv local-settings.js /usr/lib64/thunderbird/defaults/pref/local-settings.js

8: In the root of your installation directory, create a folder named distribution. You can do this manually through your file explorer, or assuming /usr/lib64/thunderbird is your installation directory, you can run the following command:

sudo mkdir -p /usr/lib64/thunderbird/distribution

On macOS & Linux, you'll also want to ensure that the folder you created has proper permissions:

sudo chmod 755 /usr/lib64/thunderbird/distribution

9: Finally, move policies.json to the distribution folder that you just created. Assuming your installation directory is /usr/lib64/thunderbird, you can run the following command:

sudo mv policies.json /usr/lib64/thunderbird/distribution/policies.json

Congratulations, you're done. Enjoy Dove, and be sure to keep up with updates!

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💜Attribution

Huge thank you to the following projects & individuals for making Dove possible. Please show them support!

• thunderbird-user.js

  • 🪪 Samuel FORESTIER + Daniel Nathan Gray
  • ⚖️ MIT
  • Discovered various prefs & learned from their very nice documentation

• Arkenfox

  • 🪪 Thorin-Oakenpants + earthlng + claustromaniac
  • ⚖️ MIT
  • Discovered various prefs - Also learned lots from their excellent research & documentation

• Betterfox

  • 🪪 yokoffing
  • ⚖️ MIT
  • 💸 Donate
  • Various performance-related prefs

• Narsil's mozilla.cfg

  • 🪪 Narsil
  • ⚖️ GPLv3
  • Certain prefs & some inspiration

• Brace

  • 🪪 Divested Computing Group
  • ⚖️ GPLv3
  • 💸 Donate
  • Where I first learned of the idea to leverage policies & package them... + inspiration

• LibreWolf

  • 🪪 bgstack15 + fxbrit + Malte Jürgens + ohfp + James McClain + threadpanic + Guillaume
  • ⚖️ MPL-2.0
  • Inspiration + certain preferences & policies

• firefox-config

  • 🪪 rusty-snake
  • ⚖️ CC0
  • Inspiration + certain preferences

• mobile-config-firefox

  • 🪪 postmarketOS
  • ⚖️ MPL-2.0
  • 💸 Donate
  • Inspiration

• uBlock Origin

  • 🪪 Raymond Hill + ItsProfesssional + MasterKia + peace2000 + Peter Lowe + PiQuark6046 + stephenhawk8054
  • ⚖️ GPLv3
  • Pre-installed extension - provides content blocking

• Quad9

  • 🪪 Quad9 Team
  • 💸 Donate
  • Default DNS Over HTTPS Resolver

And of course...

• Firefox
  • 🪪 Mozilla
  • ⚖️ MPL-2.0
  • 💸 Donate