Just updated from SM 2.49.4.
Discovered that SM 2.53.17 does *NOT* offer to search more than 7 days.

The *VAST MAJORITY* of my searches need to go back at least months.
What can I do.
*HELP* please.

On 13/02/2024 13:27, Richard Owlett wrote:
> Just updated from SM 2.49.4.
> Discovered that SM 2.53.17 does *NOT* offer to search more than 7 days.
>
> The *VAST MAJORITY* of my searches need to go back at least months.
> What can I do.

Carry on using it until you have more than 7 days of history?

SM 2.53.18 classifies browser history like this (specifying the
**maximum** age of the listed URLs, so each one includes its predecessor):

Today
Yesterday
Last 7 days
This month
<name of last month, with year if not this year>
<1st preceding ditto>
....
<5th preceding ditto>
Older than 6 months

But if there isn't enough history to make one of the older categories
different from the preceding one, I expect that it isn't shown.

No doubt there is s good reason why the updated installation is using
2.53.17 but I'm sure it works the same in this respect.

/df

--
London
UK

On 2/13/2024 5:27 AM, Richard Owlett wrote:
> Just updated from SM 2.49.4.
> Discovered that SM 2.53.17 does *NOT* offer to search more than 7 days.
>
> The *VAST MAJORITY* of my searches need to go back at least months.
> What can I do.
> *HELP* please.
>

Several versions ago, a change was made to expire entries in the history
according to the number of entries instead of the age of the entries.
Enough users were upset about this that Marco Bonardo created the
extension "Expire history by days".

Downloaded, the current version of this extension is now a webextension
for Firefox. However, I archived an old .xpi version that was converted
for SeaMonkey compatibility. That converted version seems to still work
even with SeaMonkey 2.53.18.1. If you want a copy of that version,
reply in this newsgroup thread; and I will make it available.

--
David E. Ross
<http://www.rosde.com/>

Paris mayor quits X platform, calling it a 'gigantic global sewer'.
Others characterize X (previously known as Twitter) as the place
where truth goes to die.

On 2/13/24 10:48 AM, David E. Ross wrote:
> On 2/13/2024 5:27 AM, Richard Owlett wrote:
>> Just updated from SM 2.49.4.
>> Discovered that SM 2.53.17 does *NOT* offer to search more than 7 days.
>>
>> The *VAST MAJORITY* of my searches need to go back at least months.
>> What can I do.
>> *HELP* please.
>>
>
> Several versions ago, a change was made to expire entries in the history
> according to the number of entries instead of the age of the entries.
> Enough users were upset about this that Marco Bonardo created the
> extension "Expire history by days".
>
> Downloaded, the current version of this extension is now a webextension
> for Firefox. However, I archived an old .xpi version that was converted
> for SeaMonkey compatibility. That converted version seems to still work
> even with SeaMonkey 2.53.18.1. If you want a copy of that version,
> reply in this newsgroup thread; and I will make it available.
>

Thank you for your response.
I don't understand what's going on.

I observed two things:
1. I'm forced to chose the "age" of a history hit.
I want to *ALWAYS* search *ALL* available history.
2. SeaMonkey appears to have wiped out my existing history.
Is there any way to "import" history from backup copy of profile?

I'm a senior citizen who came to SeaMonkey following path from Netscape
Navigator. Years ago I abandoned Windows for Debian Linux as it allows
me to define what I consider important. I've never used any extensions.

What are my choices and their implications?
What should I be reading?
TIA

Richard Owlett wrote:
> On 2/13/24 10:48 AM, David E. Ross wrote:
>> On 2/13/2024 5:27 AM, Richard Owlett wrote:
>>> Just updated from SM 2.49.4.
>>> Discovered that SM 2.53.17 does *NOT* offer to search more than 7 days.
>>>
>>> The *VAST MAJORITY* of my searches need to go back at least months.
>>> What can I do.
>>> *HELP* please.
>>>
>>
>> Several versions ago, a change was made to expire entries in the history
>> according to the number of entries instead of the age of the entries.
>> Enough users were upset about this that Marco Bonardo created the
>> extension "Expire history by days".
>>
>> Downloaded, the current version of this extension is now a webextension
>> for Firefox.  However, I archived an old .xpi version that was converted
>> for SeaMonkey compatibility.  That converted version seems to still work
>> even with SeaMonkey 2.53.18.1.  If you want a copy of that version,
>> reply in this newsgroup thread; and I will make it available.
>>
>
> Thank you for your response.
> I don't understand what's going on.
>
> I observed two things:
>  1. I'm forced to chose the "age" of a history hit.
>        I want to *ALWAYS* search *ALL* available history.
>  2. SeaMonkey appears to have wiped out my existing history.
>        Is there any way to "import" history from backup copy of profile?
>
> I'm a senior citizen who came to SeaMonkey following path from Netscape
> Navigator. Years ago I abandoned Windows for Debian Linux as it allows me to
> define what I consider important. I've never used any extensions.
>
> What are my choices and their implications?
> What should I be reading?
> TIA
>

Basically mozilla changed the programming interfaces to the history and
bookmarks database over time. SeaMonkey got severly broken by it and even in
2.49.x. you can nuke your complete history pretty fast if you pick the wrong
delete by date option or loose bookmarks if you try to cut and paste folders.
There were tons of bugs open against the old history and bookmarks manager.
Solution was to port the library over from Firefox. It has its limitations but
at least works. Need to go forward so the last of the old so called sync
places apis will be gone in 2.53.19. They are already deactivated and what is
in there now should continue to work. No time for enhancements. As usual
Volunteers welcome.

Migration from 2.49 worked once but not sure if history also got migrated to
the new place db format. One thing for sure. If you used 2.49 to access the
2.53 database history is gone. Might still be there in a places.corrupt db in
your profile but don't count on it.

In any case there is a reason why automatic updates from 2.49.x are disabled
and the release notes stat that you should do a backup before upgrading.

2.53.17 has some unrelated problems and you should update to 2.53.18.1
immediately.

FRG

frg wrote:
> Richard Owlett wrote:
>> On 2/13/24 10:48 AM, David E. Ross wrote:
>>> On 2/13/2024 5:27 AM, Richard Owlett wrote:
>>>> Just updated from SM 2.49.4.
>>>> Discovered that SM 2.53.17 does *NOT* offer to search more than 7 days.
>>>>
>>>> The *VAST MAJORITY* of my searches need to go back at least months.
>>>> What can I do.
>>>> *HELP* please.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Several versions ago, a change was made to expire entries in the history
>>> according to the number of entries instead of the age of the entries.
>>> Enough users were upset about this that Marco Bonardo created the
>>> extension "Expire history by days".
>>>
>>> Downloaded, the current version of this extension is now a webextension
>>> for Firefox.  However, I archived an old .xpi version that was converted
>>> for SeaMonkey compatibility.  That converted version seems to still work
>>> even with SeaMonkey 2.53.18.1.  If you want a copy of that version,
>>> reply in this newsgroup thread; and I will make it available.
>>>
>>
>> Thank you for your response.
>> I don't understand what's going on.
>>
>> I observed two things:
>>   1. I'm forced to chose the "age" of a history hit.
>>         I want to *ALWAYS* search *ALL* available history.
>>   2. SeaMonkey appears to have wiped out my existing history.
>>         Is there any way to "import" history from backup copy of profile?
>>
>> I'm a senior citizen who came to SeaMonkey following path from
>> Netscape Navigator. Years ago I abandoned Windows for Debian Linux as
>> it allows me to define what I consider important. I've never used any
>> extensions.
>>
>> What are my choices and their implications?
>> What should I be reading?
>> TIA
>>
>
> Basically mozilla changed the programming interfaces to the history and
> bookmarks database over time. SeaMonkey got severly broken by it and
> even in 2.49.x. you can nuke your complete history pretty fast if you
> pick the wrong delete by date option or loose bookmarks if you try to
> cut and paste folders. There were tons of bugs open against the old
> history and bookmarks manager. Solution was to port the library over
> from Firefox. It has its limitations but at least works. Need to go
> forward so the last of the old so called sync places apis will be gone
> in 2.53.19. They are already deactivated and what is in there now should
> continue to work. No time for enhancements. As usual Volunteers welcome.
>
> Migration from 2.49 worked once but not sure if history also got
> migrated to the new place db format. One thing for sure. If you used
> 2.49 to access the 2.53 database history is gone. Might still be there
> in a places.corrupt db in your profile but don't count on it.
>
> In any case there is a reason why automatic updates from 2.49.x are
> disabled and the release notes stat that you should do a backup before
> upgrading.
>
> 2.53.17 has some unrelated problems and you should update to 2.53.18.1
> immediately.
>
> FRG
>
>
>
>
>

My oldest dated "History" entry is from late March 2012 and that is
w-a-a-y before any 2.49.x level, it precedes 2.20 by 16 months.
The machine it is running on was built early 2018 so it will have been
copied from the system I was running before that.

Don Vito Martinelli wrote:
> frg wrote:
>> Richard Owlett wrote:
>>> On 2/13/24 10:48 AM, David E. Ross wrote:
>>>> On 2/13/2024 5:27 AM, Richard Owlett wrote:
>>>>> Just updated from SM 2.49.4.
>>>>> Discovered that SM 2.53.17 does *NOT* offer to search more than 7 days.
>>>>>
>>>>> The *VAST MAJORITY* of my searches need to go back at least months.
>>>>> What can I do.
>>>>> *HELP* please.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Several versions ago, a change was made to expire entries in the history
>>>> according to the number of entries instead of the age of the entries.
>>>> Enough users were upset about this that Marco Bonardo created the
>>>> extension "Expire history by days".
>>>>
>>>> Downloaded, the current version of this extension is now a webextension
>>>> for Firefox.  However, I archived an old .xpi version that was converted
>>>> for SeaMonkey compatibility.  That converted version seems to still work
>>>> even with SeaMonkey 2.53.18.1.  If you want a copy of that version,
>>>> reply in this newsgroup thread; and I will make it available.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Thank you for your response.
>>> I don't understand what's going on.
>>>
>>> I observed two things:
>>>   1. I'm forced to chose the "age" of a history hit.
>>>         I want to *ALWAYS* search *ALL* available history.
>>>   2. SeaMonkey appears to have wiped out my existing history.
>>>         Is there any way to "import" history from backup copy of profile?
>>>
>>> I'm a senior citizen who came to SeaMonkey following path from Netscape
>>> Navigator. Years ago I abandoned Windows for Debian Linux as it allows me
>>> to define what I consider important. I've never used any extensions.
>>>
>>> What are my choices and their implications?
>>> What should I be reading?
>>> TIA
>>>
>>
>> Basically mozilla changed the programming interfaces to the history and
>> bookmarks database over time. SeaMonkey got severly broken by it and even in
>> 2.49.x. you can nuke your complete history pretty fast if you pick the wrong
>> delete by date option or loose bookmarks if you try to cut and paste
>> folders. There were tons of bugs open against the old history and bookmarks
>> manager. Solution was to port the library over from Firefox. It has its
>> limitations but at least works. Need to go forward so the last of the old so
>> called sync places apis will be gone in 2.53.19. They are already
>> deactivated and what is in there now should continue to work. No time for
>> enhancements. As usual Volunteers welcome.
>>
>> Migration from 2.49 worked once but not sure if history also got migrated to
>> the new place db format. One thing for sure. If you used 2.49 to access the
>> 2.53 database history is gone. Might still be there in a places.corrupt db
>> in your profile but don't count on it.
>>
>> In any case there is a reason why automatic updates from 2.49.x are disabled
>> and the release notes stat that you should do a backup before upgrading.
>>
>> 2.53.17 has some unrelated problems and you should update to 2.53.18.1
>> immediately.
>>
>> FRG
>>

> My oldest dated "History" entry is from late March 2012 and that is w-a-a-y
> before any 2.49.x level, it precedes 2.20 by 16 months.
> The machine it is running on was built early 2018 so it will have been copied
> from the system I was running before that.

Thanks. I was pretty sure migration works/worked but it was such a (now) long
time ago that I did this code.

FRG

frg wrote:
>
> Thanks. I was pretty sure migration works/worked but it was such a (now)
> long time ago that I did this code.
>
> FRG

Uh, no, thank *you* for all the code, und überhaupt.

Don Vito Martinelli wrote on 15/2/24 5:36 am:
> frg wrote:
>>
>> Thanks. I was pretty sure migration works/worked but it was such a
>> (now) long time ago that I did this code.
>>
>> FRG
>
> Uh, no, thank *you* for all the code, und überhaupt.

Here!! Here!
--
Daniel

On 2/14/2024 4:04 AM, Richard Owlett wrote:
> On 2/13/24 10:48 AM, David E. Ross wrote:
>> On 2/13/2024 5:27 AM, Richard Owlett wrote:
>>> Just updated from SM 2.49.4.
>>> Discovered that SM 2.53.17 does *NOT* offer to search more than 7 days.
>>>
>>> The *VAST MAJORITY* of my searches need to go back at least months.
>>> What can I do.
>>> *HELP* please.
>>>
>>
>> Several versions ago, a change was made to expire entries in the history
>> according to the number of entries instead of the age of the entries.
>> Enough users were upset about this that Marco Bonardo created the
>> extension "Expire history by days".
>>
>> Downloaded, the current version of this extension is now a webextension
>> for Firefox. However, I archived an old .xpi version that was converted
>> for SeaMonkey compatibility. That converted version seems to still work
>> even with SeaMonkey 2.53.18.1. If you want a copy of that version,
>> reply in this newsgroup thread; and I will make it available.
>>
>
> Thank you for your response.
> I don't understand what's going on.
>
> I observed two things:
> 1. I'm forced to chose the "age" of a history hit.
> I want to *ALWAYS* search *ALL* available history.
> 2. SeaMonkey appears to have wiped out my existing history.
> Is there any way to "import" history from backup copy of profile?
>
> I'm a senior citizen who came to SeaMonkey following path from Netscape
> Navigator. Years ago I abandoned Windows for Debian Linux as it allows
> me to define what I consider important. I've never used any extensions.
>
> What are my choices and their implications?
> What should I be reading?
> TIA

There are few more seior than I am (82). I retired more than 20 years
ago from a career mostly involving testing software used by the US
military to fly its space satellites.

The following is based on Windows 7 (x64) and SeaMonkey 2.53.18.1. I
would hope that your Linux configuration has the equivalent.

I use [Ctrl > H] to open a window named Library with history and
bookmarks. On the menu bar of that window, selecting [View > Sort >
Unsorted] does NOT merge the displays of history. The best I can do is
select This Month or a previous month by name. Thus, I do not know if a
display merged over all months is possible.

I set "Expire history by days" to delete entries older than 30 days.
Any entries in January prior to 15 Jan are gone, which tells me that
extension is still working.

--
David E. Ross
<http://www.rosde.com/>

Paris mayor quits X platform, calling it a 'gigantic global sewer'.
Others characterize X (previously known as Twitter) as the place
where truth goes to die.

David E. Ross wrote:
> On 2/14/2024 4:04 AM, Richard Owlett wrote:
>> On 2/13/24 10:48 AM, David E. Ross wrote:
>>> On 2/13/2024 5:27 AM, Richard Owlett wrote:
>>>> Just updated from SM 2.49.4.
>>>> Discovered that SM 2.53.17 does *NOT* offer to search more than 7 days.
>>>>
>>>> The *VAST MAJORITY* of my searches need to go back at least months.
>>>> What can I do.
>>>> *HELP* please.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Several versions ago, a change was made to expire entries in the history
>>> according to the number of entries instead of the age of the entries.
>>> Enough users were upset about this that Marco Bonardo created the
>>> extension "Expire history by days".
>>>
>>> Downloaded, the current version of this extension is now a webextension
>>> for Firefox. However, I archived an old .xpi version that was converted
>>> for SeaMonkey compatibility. That converted version seems to still work
>>> even with SeaMonkey 2.53.18.1. If you want a copy of that version,
>>> reply in this newsgroup thread; and I will make it available.
>>>
>>
>> Thank you for your response.
>> I don't understand what's going on.
>>
>> I observed two things:
>> 1. I'm forced to chose the "age" of a history hit.
>> I want to *ALWAYS* search *ALL* available history.
>> 2. SeaMonkey appears to have wiped out my existing history.
>> Is there any way to "import" history from backup copy of profile?
>>
>> I'm a senior citizen who came to SeaMonkey following path from Netscape
>> Navigator. Years ago I abandoned Windows for Debian Linux as it allows
>> me to define what I consider important. I've never used any extensions.
>>
>> What are my choices and their implications?
>> What should I be reading?
>> TIA
>
> There are few more seior than I am (82). I retired more than 20 years
> ago from a career mostly involving testing software used by the US
> military to fly its space satellites.
>
> The following is based on Windows 7 (x64) and SeaMonkey 2.53.18.1. I
> would hope that your Linux configuration has the equivalent.
>
> I use [Ctrl > H] to open a window named Library with history and
> bookmarks. On the menu bar of that window, selecting [View > Sort >
> Unsorted] does NOT merge the displays of history. The best I can do is
> select This Month or a previous month by name. Thus, I do not know if a
> display merged over all months is possible.
>
> I set "Expire history by days" to delete entries older than 30 days.
> Any entries in January prior to 15 Jan are gone, which tells me that
> extension is still working.
>

The OP is not saying he wants older entries deleted, he's saying his
older entries *are* missing and he's not happy about that.

On 2/14/24 11:00 AM, frg wrote:
> Richard Owlett wrote:
>> On 2/13/24 10:48 AM, David E. Ross wrote:
>>> On 2/13/2024 5:27 AM, Richard Owlett wrote:
>>>> Just updated from SM 2.49.4.
>>>> Discovered that SM 2.53.17 does *NOT* offer to search more than 7 days.
>>>>
>>>> The *VAST MAJORITY* of my searches need to go back at least months.
>>>> What can I do.
>>>> *HELP* please.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Several versions ago, a change was made to expire entries in the history
>>> according to the number of entries instead of the age of the entries.
>>> Enough users were upset about this that Marco Bonardo created the
>>> extension "Expire history by days".
>>>
>>> Downloaded, the current version of this extension is now a webextension
>>> for Firefox.  However, I archived an old .xpi version that was converted
>>> for SeaMonkey compatibility.  That converted version seems to still work
>>> even with SeaMonkey 2.53.18.1.  If you want a copy of that version,
>>> reply in this newsgroup thread; and I will make it available.
>>>
>>
>> Thank you for your response.
>> I don't understand what's going on.
>>
>> I observed two things:
>>   1. I'm forced to chose the "age" of a history hit.
>>         I want to *ALWAYS* search *ALL* available history.
>>   2. SeaMonkey appears to have wiped out my existing history.
>>         Is there any way to "import" history from backup copy of profile?
>>
>> I'm a senior citizen who came to SeaMonkey following path from
>> Netscape Navigator. Years ago I abandoned Windows for Debian Linux as
>> it allows me to define what I consider important. I've never used any
>> extensions.
>>
>> What are my choices and their implications?
>> What should I be reading?
>> TIA
>>
>
> Basically mozilla changed the programming interfaces to the history and
> bookmarks database over time. SeaMonkey got severly broken by it and
> even in 2.49.x. you can nuke your complete history pretty fast if you
> pick the wrong delete by date option or loose bookmarks if you try to
> cut and paste folders. There were tons of bugs open against the old
> history and bookmarks manager. Solution was to port the library over
> from Firefox. It has its limitations but at least works. Need to go
> forward so the last of the old so called sync places apis will be gone
> in 2.53.19. They are already deactivated and what is in there now should
> continue to work. No time for enhancements. As usual Volunteers welcome.
>
> Migration from 2.49 worked once but not sure if history also got
> migrated to the new place db format. One thing for sure. If you used
> 2.49 to access the 2.53 database history is gone. Might still be there
> in a places.corrupt db in your profile but don't count on it.
>
> In any case there is a reason why automatic updates from 2.49.x are
> disabled and the release notes stat that you should do a backup before
> upgrading.
>
> 2.53.17 has some unrelated problems and you should update to 2.53.18.1
> immediately.
>
> FRG

I updated to 2.53.18.1 first thing this morning.
I had backed up my 2.49 profiles before using 2.53
[need to check its integrity as the were some local hardware issues]

Above FRG said
> Need to go forward so the last of the old so called sync places apis
> will be gone in 2.53.19. They are already deactivated and what is in
> there now should continue to work. No time for enhancements.
> As usual Volunteers welcome.

What and where are these apis and related instructions.
I have an old Sony laptop with 32 bit Debian 9.0 and not yet any
SeaMonkey installed. I'm a retiree with avail time. Have background in
engineering support [primarily analog]. How can I help?

On 2/14/24 5:57 PM, David E. Ross wrote:
> On 2/14/2024 4:04 AM, Richard Owlett wrote:
>> On 2/13/24 10:48 AM, David E. Ross wrote:
>>> On 2/13/2024 5:27 AM, Richard Owlett wrote:
>>>> Just updated from SM 2.49.4.
>>>> Discovered that SM 2.53.17 does *NOT* offer to search more than 7 days.
>>>>
>>>> The *VAST MAJORITY* of my searches need to go back at least months.
>>>> What can I do.
>>>> *HELP* please.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Several versions ago, a change was made to expire entries in the history
>>> according to the number of entries instead of the age of the entries.
>>> Enough users were upset about this that Marco Bonardo created the
>>> extension "Expire history by days".
>>>
>>> Downloaded, the current version of this extension is now a webextension
>>> for Firefox. However, I archived an old .xpi version that was converted
>>> for SeaMonkey compatibility. That converted version seems to still work
>>> even with SeaMonkey 2.53.18.1. If you want a copy of that version,
>>> reply in this newsgroup thread; and I will make it available.
>>>
>>
>> Thank you for your response.
>> I don't understand what's going on.
>>
>> I observed two things:
>> 1. I'm forced to chose the "age" of a history hit.
>> I want to *ALWAYS* search *ALL* available history.
>> 2. SeaMonkey appears to have wiped out my existing history.
>> Is there any way to "import" history from backup copy of profile?
>>
>> I'm a senior citizen who came to SeaMonkey following path from Netscape
>> Navigator. Years ago I abandoned Windows for Debian Linux as it allows
>> me to define what I consider important. I've never used any extensions.
>>
>> What are my choices and their implications?
>> What should I be reading?
>> TIA
>
> There are few more seior than I am (82). I retired more than 20 years
> ago from a career mostly involving testing software used by the US
> military to fly its space satellites.
>
> The following is based on Windows 7 (x64) and SeaMonkey 2.53.18.1. I
> would hope that your Linux configuration has the equivalent.
>
> I use [Ctrl > H] to open a window named Library with history and
> bookmarks. On the menu bar of that window, selecting [View > Sort >
> Unsorted] does NOT merge the displays of history.

Linux responds similarly to [Ctrl > H].
I assumed the Sort was being applied to Bookmarks *NOT* History.

> The best I can do is
> select This Month or a previous month by name. Thus, I do not know if a
> display merged over all months is possible.
>
> I set "Expire history by days" to delete entries older than 30 days.

I do *NOT* see anything resembling "Expire history by days".
Or is that something in the extension you spoke of?

> Any entries in January prior to 15 Jan are gone, which tells me that
> extension is still working.
>

On 2/15/24 4:02 AM, R Daneel Olivaw wrote:
> David E. Ross wrote:
>> On 2/14/2024 4:04 AM, Richard Owlett wrote:
>>> On 2/13/24 10:48 AM, David E. Ross wrote:
>>>> On 2/13/2024 5:27 AM, Richard Owlett wrote:
>>>>> Just updated from SM 2.49.4.
>>>>> Discovered that SM 2.53.17 does *NOT* offer to search more than 7
>>>>> days.
>>>>>
>>>>> The *VAST MAJORITY* of my searches need to go back at least months.
>>>>> What can I do.
>>>>> *HELP* please.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Several versions ago, a change was made to expire entries in the
>>>> history
>>>> according to the number of entries instead of the age of the entries.
>>>> Enough users were upset about this that Marco Bonardo created the
>>>> extension "Expire history by days".
>>>>
>>>> Downloaded, the current version of this extension is now a webextension
>>>> for Firefox.  However, I archived an old .xpi version that was
>>>> converted
>>>> for SeaMonkey compatibility.  That converted version seems to still
>>>> work
>>>> even with SeaMonkey 2.53.18.1.  If you want a copy of that version,
>>>> reply in this newsgroup thread; and I will make it available.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Thank you for your response.
>>> I don't understand what's going on.
>>>
>>> I observed two things:
>>>    1. I'm forced to chose the "age" of a history hit.
>>>          I want to *ALWAYS* search *ALL* available history.
>>>    2. SeaMonkey appears to have wiped out my existing history.
>>>          Is there any way to "import" history from backup copy of
>>> profile?
>>>
>>> I'm a senior citizen who came to SeaMonkey following path from Netscape
>>> Navigator. Years ago I abandoned Windows for Debian Linux as it allows
>>> me to define what I consider important. I've never used any extensions.
>>>
>>> What are my choices and their implications?
>>> What should I be reading?
>>> TIA
>>
>> There are few more seior than I am (82).  I retired more than 20 years
>> ago from a career mostly involving testing software used by the US
>> military to fly its space satellites.
>>
>> The following is based on Windows 7 (x64) and SeaMonkey 2.53.18.1.  I
>> would hope that your Linux configuration has the equivalent.
>>
>> I use [Ctrl > H] to open a window named Library with history and
>> bookmarks.  On the menu bar of that window, selecting [View > Sort >
>> Unsorted] does NOT merge the displays of history.  The best I can do is
>> select This Month or a previous month by name.  Thus, I do not know if a
>> display merged over all months is possible.
>>
>> I set "Expire history by days" to delete entries older than 30 days.
>> Any entries in January prior to 15 Jan are gone, which tells me that
>> extension is still working.
>>
>
> The OP is not saying he wants older entries deleted, he's saying his
> older entries *are* missing and he's not happy about that.

And that retrieval by date is at best silly.
I always want to search *ALL* available history.

On 2/15/2024 2:02 AM, R Daneel Olivaw wrote:
> David E. Ross wrote:
>> On 2/14/2024 4:04 AM, Richard Owlett wrote:
>>> On 2/13/24 10:48 AM, David E. Ross wrote:
>>>> On 2/13/2024 5:27 AM, Richard Owlett wrote:
>>>>> Just updated from SM 2.49.4.
>>>>> Discovered that SM 2.53.17 does *NOT* offer to search more than 7 days.
>>>>>
>>>>> The *VAST MAJORITY* of my searches need to go back at least months.
>>>>> What can I do.
>>>>> *HELP* please.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Several versions ago, a change was made to expire entries in the history
>>>> according to the number of entries instead of the age of the entries.
>>>> Enough users were upset about this that Marco Bonardo created the
>>>> extension "Expire history by days".
>>>>
>>>> Downloaded, the current version of this extension is now a webextension
>>>> for Firefox. However, I archived an old .xpi version that was converted
>>>> for SeaMonkey compatibility. That converted version seems to still work
>>>> even with SeaMonkey 2.53.18.1. If you want a copy of that version,
>>>> reply in this newsgroup thread; and I will make it available.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Thank you for your response.
>>> I don't understand what's going on.
>>>
>>> I observed two things:
>>> 1. I'm forced to chose the "age" of a history hit.
>>> I want to *ALWAYS* search *ALL* available history.
>>> 2. SeaMonkey appears to have wiped out my existing history.
>>> Is there any way to "import" history from backup copy of profile?
>>>
>>> I'm a senior citizen who came to SeaMonkey following path from Netscape
>>> Navigator. Years ago I abandoned Windows for Debian Linux as it allows
>>> me to define what I consider important. I've never used any extensions.
>>>
>>> What are my choices and their implications?
>>> What should I be reading?
>>> TIA
>>
>> There are few more seior than I am (82). I retired more than 20 years
>> ago from a career mostly involving testing software used by the US
>> military to fly its space satellites.
>>
>> The following is based on Windows 7 (x64) and SeaMonkey 2.53.18.1. I
>> would hope that your Linux configuration has the equivalent.
>>
>> I use [Ctrl > H] to open a window named Library with history and
>> bookmarks. On the menu bar of that window, selecting [View > Sort >
>> Unsorted] does NOT merge the displays of history. The best I can do is
>> select This Month or a previous month by name. Thus, I do not know if a
>> display merged over all months is possible.
>>
>> I set "Expire history by days" to delete entries older than 30 days.
>> Any entries in January prior to 15 Jan are gone, which tells me that
>> extension is still working.
>>
>
> The OP is not saying he wants older entries deleted, he's saying his
> older entries *are* missing and he's not happy about that.
>

History and bookmarks are saved in the profile file places.sqlite which
is initially set at 5 MB. Looking at their properties, I see that
places.sqlite does not get updated during a browsing session. Instead,
the session's history appears to be placed in places.sqlite-wal. When
SeaMonkey is terminated, it seems that the accumulation in
places.sqlite-wal is then transferred to places.sqlite; and then the
file places.sqlite-wal is deleted. Maintenance of places.sqlite is to
remove the oldest history entries when the file is filled by that
transfer.

As I recall, the Mozilla developer who implemented the above insisted
that no one needs places.sqlite to be greater than 5 MB and that no one
needs to delete old history if there is still room in that file. That
pile of manure was the motivation for Marco Bonardo to develop the
"Expire history by days" extension.

--
David E. Ross
<http://www.rosde.com/>

Paris mayor quits X platform, calling it a 'gigantic global sewer'.
Others characterize X (previously known as Twitter) as the place
where truth goes to die.

On 2/15/2024 7:58 AM, Richard Owlett wrote:
> On 2/14/24 5:57 PM, I previously wrote:

[snipped]

>> I set "Expire history by days" to delete entries older than 30 days.
>
> I do *NOT* see anything resembling "Expire history by days".
> Or is that something in the extension you spoke of?

[snipped}
Yes, it is a feature of that extension.

Otherwise, the oldest history is deleted when the places.sqlite file in
your profile is full. The file-size is fixed at 5 MB. If you never
reach that limit, you will never be rid of old history. I do not know
what might happen if you attempt to force the file-size larger. I know
that I use the speedyfox.exe application to reduce the file-size just
before I do a complete system backup, but the next time I launch
SeaMonkey, the file is restored to 5 MB.

--
David E. Ross
<http://www.rosde.com/>

Paris mayor quits X platform, calling it a 'gigantic global sewer'.
Others characterize X (previously known as Twitter) as the place
where truth goes to die.

David E. Ross wrote:
> On 2/15/2024 7:58 AM, Richard Owlett wrote:
>> On 2/14/24 5:57 PM, I previously wrote:
>
> [snipped]
>
>>> I set "Expire history by days" to delete entries older than 30 days.
>>
>> I do *NOT* see anything resembling "Expire history by days".
>> Or is that something in the extension you spoke of?
>
> [snipped}
>
> Yes, it is a feature of that extension.
>
> Otherwise, the oldest history is deleted when the places.sqlite file in
> your profile is full. The file-size is fixed at 5 MB. If you never
> reach that limit, you will never be rid of old history. I do not know
> what might happen if you attempt to force the file-size larger. I know
> that I use the speedyfox.exe application to reduce the file-size just
> before I do a complete system backup, but the next time I launch
> SeaMonkey, the file is restored to 5 MB.
>

Mine is 76MB. I don't think there is a fixed limit. 5MB is the initial size.

FRG

David E. Ross wrote:
> On 2/15/2024 7:58 AM, Richard Owlett wrote:
>> On 2/14/24 5:57 PM, I previously wrote:
>
> [snipped]
>
>>> I set "Expire history by days" to delete entries older than 30 days.
>>
>> I do *NOT* see anything resembling "Expire history by days".
>> Or is that something in the extension you spoke of?
>
> [snipped}
>
> Yes, it is a feature of that extension.
>
> Otherwise, the oldest history is deleted when the places.sqlite file in
> your profile is full. The file-size is fixed at 5 MB. If you never
> reach that limit, you will never be rid of old history. I do not know
> what might happen if you attempt to force the file-size larger. I know
> that I use the speedyfox.exe application to reduce the file-size just
> before I do a complete system backup, but the next time I launch
> SeaMonkey, the file is restored to 5 MB.
>

After frg's post I checked mine, just under 21MB.
I do remember that bad things happen if this file grows too large (or
maybe that was the equivalent file for older releases) but don't know
how large "too large" is. Those problems may also be the reason for the
change in the database format between 2.49.x and 2.53.x.

If I want to reduce the size of the file, I tend to nuke everything with
https://www.google.com/maps/place/
because a few minutes spent playing with Google Maps can create hundreds
of entries. (it may not be www.google.com in your location, open Maps
and see what it's using).

On 2024-02-15, Richard Owlett wrote:

> On 2/15/24 4:02 AM, R Daneel Olivaw wrote:
>> David E. Ross wrote:
>>> On 2/14/2024 4:04 AM, Richard Owlett wrote:
>>>> On 2/13/24 10:48 AM, David E. Ross wrote:
>>>>> On 2/13/2024 5:27 AM, Richard Owlett wrote:
>>>>>> Just updated from SM 2.49.4.
>>>>>> Discovered that SM 2.53.17 does *NOT* offer to search more than
>>>>>> 7 days.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The *VAST MAJORITY* of my searches need to go back at least months.
>>>>>> What can I do.
>>>>>> *HELP* please.
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Several versions ago, a change was made to expire entries in the
>>>>> history
>>>>> according to the number of entries instead of the age of the entries.
>>>>> Enough users were upset about this that Marco Bonardo created the
>>>>> extension "Expire history by days".
>>>>>
>>>>> Downloaded, the current version of this extension is now a webextension
>>>>> for Firefox.  However, I archived an old .xpi version that was
>>>>> converted
>>>>> for SeaMonkey compatibility.  That converted version seems to
>>>>> still work
>>>>> even with SeaMonkey 2.53.18.1.  If you want a copy of that version,
>>>>> reply in this newsgroup thread; and I will make it available.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Thank you for your response.
>>>> I don't understand what's going on.
>>>>
>>>> I observed two things:
>>>>    1. I'm forced to chose the "age" of a history hit.
>>>>          I want to *ALWAYS* search *ALL* available history.
>>>>    2. SeaMonkey appears to have wiped out my existing history.
>>>>          Is there any way to "import" history from backup copy of
>>>> profile?
>>>>
>>>> I'm a senior citizen who came to SeaMonkey following path from Netscape
>>>> Navigator. Years ago I abandoned Windows for Debian Linux as it allows
>>>> me to define what I consider important. I've never used any extensions.
>>>>
>>>> What are my choices and their implications?
>>>> What should I be reading?
>>>> TIA
>>>
>>> There are few more seior than I am (82).  I retired more than 20 years
>>> ago from a career mostly involving testing software used by the US
>>> military to fly its space satellites.
>>>
>>> The following is based on Windows 7 (x64) and SeaMonkey 2.53.18.1.  I
>>> would hope that your Linux configuration has the equivalent.
>>>
>>> I use [Ctrl > H] to open a window named Library with history and
>>> bookmarks.  On the menu bar of that window, selecting [View > Sort >
>>> Unsorted] does NOT merge the displays of history.  The best I can do is
>>> select This Month or a previous month by name.  Thus, I do not know if a
>>> display merged over all months is possible.
>>>
>>> I set "Expire history by days" to delete entries older than 30 days.
>>> Any entries in January prior to 15 Jan are gone, which tells me that
>>> extension is still working.
>>>
>>
>> The OP is not saying he wants older entries deleted, he's saying his
>> older entries *are* missing and he's not happy about that.
>
> And that retrieval by date is at best silly.
> I always want to search *ALL* available history.

I think the search field on the top right corner of the places/Library
window (focusable with ctrl+F) does that, even if you're viewing, for
example, the "Today" history "folder".

So, unless I tested this wrong, it searches all history as far as you
are in a history folder (as opposed to a bookmarks folder, where it will
search across all bookmarks).

To see all entries at once, try searching for :

(Or is there any sort of scheme-less history entry that can be missed by
this search?)

--
Nuno Silva

David E. Ross wrote:
> History and bookmarks are saved in the profile file places.sqlite which
> is initially set at 5 MB. Looking at their properties, I see that
> places.sqlite does not get updated during a browsing session. Instead,
> the session's history appears to be placed in places.sqlite-wal. When
> SeaMonkey is terminated, it seems that the accumulation in
> places.sqlite-wal is then transferred to places.sqlite; and then the
> file places.sqlite-wal is deleted. Maintenance of places.sqlite is to
> remove the oldest history entries when the file is filled by that
> transfer.

The wal stands for write ahead logging, sorta like a journal. So at
worse during a crash, only the wal file gets corrupted.
It may also get finalized during long periods of inactivity, I forget.
My places-sqlite-wal is exactly 64KB currently.

>
> As I recall, the Mozilla developer who implemented the above insisted
> that no one needs places.sqlite to be greater than 5 MB and that no one
> needs to delete old history if there is still room in that file. That
> pile of manure was the motivation for Marco Bonardo to develop the
> "Expire history by days" extension.

Crap like this is what has driven users from Firefox, the attitude that
the developer knows better then the user. On 2.42.9, my places.sqlite is
currently almost 42MB.
Dave

Dave Yeo wrote:
> David E. Ross wrote:
>> History and bookmarks are saved in the profile file places.sqlite which
>> is initially set at 5 MB.  Looking at their properties, I see that
>> places.sqlite does not get updated during a browsing session.  Instead,
>> the session's history appears to be placed in places.sqlite-wal.  When
>> SeaMonkey is terminated, it seems that the accumulation in
>> places.sqlite-wal is then transferred to places.sqlite; and then the
>> file places.sqlite-wal is deleted.  Maintenance of places.sqlite is to
>> remove the oldest history entries when the file is filled by that
>> transfer.
>
> The wal stands for write ahead logging, sorta like a journal. So at
> worse during a crash, only the wal file gets corrupted.
> It may also get finalized during long periods of inactivity, I forget.
> My places-sqlite-wal is exactly 64KB currently.
>
>>
>> As I recall, the Mozilla developer who implemented the above insisted
>> that no one needs places.sqlite to be greater than 5 MB and that no one
>> needs to delete old history if there is still room in that file.  That
>> pile of manure was the motivation for Marco Bonardo to develop the
>> "Expire history by days" extension.
>
> Crap like this is what has driven users from Firefox, the attitude that
> the developer knows better then the user. On 2.42.9, my places.sqlite is
> currently almost 42MB.
> Dave

If you read frg's post below, you will see that David was incorrect in
his assertion. Mind you, Firefox has repeatedly made decisions which
have annoyed the hell out of me.