The latest Thunderbird version is 141. When I downloaded Thunderbird from the COSMIC Store, I got version 128.11. How do I get the latest version?
You will need to install it manually from the Thunderbird site. There was a thread about this very topic just a few months ago. I still use the ESR release, but I’d support getting the latest release in Fedora.
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I downloaded a tar.xz file from the Mozilla site. How do I install it?
You will want to follow Mozilla’s instructions as a guide.
I noticed that although the download from their website is a tar.xz, the documentation references tar.bz2 as the compression format. I found that the Files app is the easiest to use (it was automatic on my system) but you can also decompress tar.xz files with the following command:
tar xf [filename]
The rest of their instructions seem fine to me.
I hope that helps! Just out of curiosity, what is in version 141 that makes it the choice over the Fedora package?
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Thanks for the link! Isn’t it better to be running the latest version?
It really comes down to personal preference. For me, I prefer to install GUI applications in this order: Flatpak first, then system packages, and lastly whatever upstream provides. But go with whatever works best for you.
For me, it’s just a case of Fedora is supposed to be the latest and greatest without being a rolling release distro. I’m fine on the ESR release. But if it was put to a vote, I’d definitely vote in favour of having the latest version in Fedora’s repos.
From the previous thread I linked above and the thread rabbit hole from it, it looks that ESR was recommended by the Thunderbird team themselves, which they’ve only just changed recently as @l-c-g pointed out here.
So I think there is definitely a discussion to be had with regards to moving in line with Thunderbird’s official release recommendation.
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And even the Thunderbird devs seem to cautious about the ‘Release’ channel recommendation, at least for existing users. There is bug in their Bugzilla about the Flatpak (which they maintain themselves) being ESR and not the Release channel. In it, one of the developers commented at the beginning of June that there are still some concerns with regards to extension compatibility, that’s why they are holding back from updating the Flatpak just yet. And a few hours ago the same developer clarified that they had a staged rollout for updating ESR users to the Release channel, to see if any issues crop up. They hope to have all users migrated to the Release channel by mid-August, at which point they are going to switch the Flatpak and Snap to it as well.
To me, especially this last comment seems to be a sensible position to follow with the Fedora RPM, too, switch to the Release channel once the staged rollout is complete and the update has proven to work without issues.
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And even the Thunderbird devs seem to cautious about the ‘Release’ channel recommendation, at least for existing users.
FWIW, I installed the Release channel Thunderbird (version 141) on my Mac Mini and it seems to run just fine. Maybe there are some differences with the macOS version, but I would also like to see Fedora make the latest version available in its repos.
Why? Is there something in the present version you are using that doesn’t work, are you missing a feature you desperately need, or is it just that version 141 exists and Fedora should have it?
Sometimes I don’t understand people: they always want the latest and what they call the greatest, but as soon as they have it and something is wrong with it they start complaining. Let Thunderbird do its thing, let them create a solid version and when it is ready, and what I see in @l-c-g 's post it won’t be long now.
Honestly, yeah. Fedora 141 exists and its the latest and greatest. Fedora should have it. Thats what I think.
Have you read any of the background information from the Thunderbird developers that I quoted and linked to in my post? TL;DR: They are currently performing a staged rollout for existing users and have not updated the Flatpak or Snap either, so they can stay on top of any issues that might come up.
From my perspective, it only makes sense for a downstream distribution to follow the developers’ lead when it comes to packaging, they should know their software best. So, relax, Fedora will get Thunderbird from the Release channel sooner or later. Or you can install the Flatpak as soon as the Thunderbird developers switch that to the Release channel.
And if you feel so strongly about it, you can always get the Release build from the Thunderbird website and put that in /opt. Or you can build it yourself from their main branch in case you really want the latest and greatest, after all, it only takes one commit for a release to become outdated again. 
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Yes,
there is a serious bug in version 128 ESR (at least one).
It is impossible to print messages, and the preview loops continuously. And the workaround of exporting the message to be printed as an eml file to open it in Firefox for printing generates the creation of hundreds of empty tabs.
It seems to me that, in this situation, there is no reason to insist on keeping an obsolete version (the term is appropriate) that contains corrected anomalies after.
In this case, I performed the test using a snap version on the stable channel (version 140.1.0 ESR).
According to the release notes, the bug I mentioned was fixed before this version tested.
Ten years ago, when I chose Fedora as my distribution, one of the reasons I decided on it was Fedora’s ability to integrate stable versions of software without too much delay. Stable versions are not unreasonable, after all.
Especially when the version available on Fedora’s official repositories is not working (printing a message is not an accessory function…).
Thanks to accept to make this upgrade. Many people ask it. It’s probably not just for fun.
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The Flatpak version of Thunderbird has just been updated to 140.2esr. This should be a solution for anybody who wants a newer version.
Can we now all please stop going in circles in this thread?