Dove is a suite of configurations & advanced modifications for Mozilla Thunderbird, designed to put the user first - with a focus on privacy, security, freedom, functionality, & usability.
Dove works by leveraging Thunderbird's AutoConfig & Enterprise Policies functionality, and is installed on top of your standard, official Thunderbird installation. This allows us to go above and beyond what a simple user.js file can offer, without the security risks of using a fork. For example, forks often fall behind on Thunderbird updates, which can leave users open to severe, detrimental vulnerabilities. Dove's approach allows users to continue receiving immediate updates, directly from Mozilla.
Dove's approach also provides users with a seamless experience that is accessible and easy to use. Gone are the days of creating override files, manually keeping track of updates, & resetting old preferences. Not only is Dove the most effective & comprehensive approach to configuring Thunderbird, it is also the most accessible & easiest to use.
Dove's settings & changes to Thunderbird are carefully considered based on extensive research & studying of Thunderbird's inner workings. For an incomplete, non-exhaustive list of Dove's features & enhancements, see here.
Dove is designed to maintain compatibility with email providers and to avoid breakage as much as possible, while still substantially improving privacy & security compared to vanilla Thunderbird & most other email clients.
You should also see here for a comparison between Dove, standard Thunderbird, thunderbird-user.js, & other projects of similar nature.
Dove also disables various anti-features & strives to put the user back in control of their email experience. Additionally, Dove includes quality of life enhancements, performance improvements, and other 'goodies' where possible and where it doesn't compromise user privacy or security.
At the end of the day, above all else:
Dove is designed from the ground up to always put the user first.
Important
Note
This project is hosted on both Codeberg (which is the primary & preferred place to contribute) & GitHub.
Note
Firefox users should consider taking a look at Phoenix - Dove's sister project
Dove currently provides official support for:
- Arch Linux
- Fedora Linux (39-41)
- macOS
Important
App Management Permission.
Important
Other platforms have unfortunately proven difficult to support, though progress is being made. Contributions are always welcome and appreciated.
If your platform is supported, simply run the following command in your terminal to install Dove:
bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://dove.celenity.dev/install.sh)"If you would like to use Dove on an unsupported platform, see 📛Manual Installation.
If Dove isn't right for you - no worries!
Simply run the following command in your terminal to uninstall Dove:
bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://dove.celenity.dev/uninstall.sh)"Please leave us feedback on the way out, so we can improve for the future!
Caution
This is NOT recommended for most users.
By default, Dove is installed & updated via your operating system's package manager. This allows for fast, easy updates & fixes as needed, right with the rest of your system!
However, if this is not desirable for you & your situation, or you would simply like to use Dove on an unsupported operating system, you can manually install Dove with the following steps:
1: Download dove.cfg file 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/dove.cfg2: Download dove.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/defaults/pref/dove.js3: Download policies.json 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/policies.json4: 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 dove.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 dove.cfg /usr/lib64/thunderbird/dove.cfg6: For macOS & Flatpak users: If it does not already exist, in the root of your installation directory, create a folder named defaults, and inside this new defaults folder, create another folder titled pref. You can do this manually through your file explorer, or assuming /usr/lib64/thunderbird is your installation directory (it won't be), you could run the following command:
sudo mkdir -p /usr/lib64/thunderbird/defaults/prefFor GNU/Linux users: If it does not already exist, you will want to create a folder named thunderbird located in your system's etc directory. Inside this thunderbird folder, create a new folder named defaults, and inside this new defaults folder, create another folder titled pref. This will work regardless of your distribution - even Snaps are supported. You can also just run the command below:
sudo mkdir -p /etc/thunderbird/defaults/prefOn macOS & GNU/Linux, you'll also want to ensure that the folder you created has proper permissions:
For macOS users: - assuming /usr/lib64/thunderbird is your installation directory (it won't be)
sudo chmod 744 /usr/lib64/thunderbird/defaults/prefFor all non-Flatpak GNU/Linux users:
sudo chmod 655 /etc/thunderbird/defaults/pref7: Move dove.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 dove.js /usr/lib64/thunderbird/defaults/pref/dove.jsFor all non-Flatpak GNU/Linux users:
sudo mv dove.js /etc/thunderbird/defaults/pref/dove.js8: On macOS & Windows, 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/distributionGNU/Linux users should instead create a policies folder inside of a thunderbird folder located in /etc. This will work regardless of your distribution, and even for Snaps.
sudo mkdir -p /etc/thunderbird/policiesOn macOS & GNU/Linux, you'll also want to ensure that the folder you created has proper permissions:
For macOS users: - assuming /usr/lib64/thunderbird is your installation directory (it won't be)
sudo chmod 744 /usr/lib64/thunderbird/distributionFor all non-Flatpak GNU/Linux users:
sudo chmod 655 /etc/thunderbird/policies9: Finally, those on Windows & macOS should 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.jsonGNU/Linux users should instead move policies.json to their /etc/thunderbird/policies folder they just created.
sudo mv policies.json /etc/thunderbird/policies/policies.jsonCongratulations, you're done. Enjoy Dove, and be sure to keep up with updates!
Huge thank you to the following projects & individuals for making Dove possible. Please show them support!
Also see Phoenix's Attribution page here.
-
- 🪪 Samuel FORESTIER + Daniel Nathan Gray
- ⚖️ MIT
- Discovered various prefs & learned from their very nice documentation
-
- 🪪 Thorin-Oakenpants + earthlng + claustromaniac
- ⚖️ MIT
- Discovered various prefs - Also learned lots from their excellent research & documentation
-
- 🪪 Divested Computing Group
- ⚖️ GPLv3
- 💸 Donate
- Where I first learned of the idea to leverage policies & package them... + inspiration
-
- 🪪 bgstack15 + fxbrit + Malte Jürgens + ohfp + James McClain + threadpanic + Guillaume
- ⚖️ MPL-2.0
- Inspiration + certain preferences & policies
-
- 🪪 rusty-snake
- ⚖️ CC0
- Inspiration + certain preferences
-
- 🪪 postmarketOS
- ⚖️ MPL-2.0
- 💸 Donate
- Inspiration
-
- 🪪 Raymond Hill + ItsProfesssional + MasterKia + peace2000 + Peter Lowe + PiQuark6046 + stephenhawk8054
- ⚖️ GPLv3
- Pre-installed extension - provides content blocking
-
- 🪪 Quad9 Team
- 💸 Donate
- Default DNS Over HTTPS Resolver
And of course...