How to install Thunderbird 3.0 or above in Ubuntu

I am a great fan of Thunderbird. I use it to handle all my mails. Since, I have Ubuntu 9.10, Karmic Koala installed I was using Thunderbird 2.0 by default. A few days back, I thought, why not use the latest version. May be I loved its codename, shredder , but if you are a Thunderbird user then you should upgrade to this release. It has so many new features.

Thunderbird 3.0 should be available as default in Lucid stable release. But in order to install it in Ubuntu 9.10 or any earlier release we will first have to add the personal package archives (ppa) into the source list and then install the latest version.

Either run the following command to add the ppa

[shredder12]$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-mozilla-daily/ppa

or, open the file and /etc/apt/sources.list

[shredder12]$ sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

and add these 2 lines at the end of the file

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntu-mozilla-daily/ppa/ubuntu karmic main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntu-mozilla-daily/ppa/ubuntu karmic main

If you have a distribution other than Ubuntu 9.10, Karmic Koala then you should use its codename in place of karmic in the above 2 lines. e.g. If you are using Ubuntu 9.10, Jaunty Jackalope then use jaunty in place of karmic. The 2 lines willl look something like this.

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntu-mozilla-daily/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntu-mozilla-daily/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main

similarly use the following names for other distributions.

Ubuntu 8.04      hardy
Ubuntu 8.10      intrepid
Ubuntu 9.04      jaunty
Ubuntu 9.10      karmic
Ubuntu 10.04    lucid

Now, add the PGP key to authenticate the PPA.

[shredder12]$ sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys 247510BE

Once you have updated the file /etc/apt/sources.list, run update

[shredder12]$ sudo apt-get update

Once the update is finished, you can install the latest Thunderbird 3.0 or 3.1.

[shredder12]$ sudo apt-get install thunderbird-3.0  # or thunderbird-3.1

Now, enjoy the new Thunderbird 3.0. Take a note that, this will not overwrite your current Thunderbird installation(of older versions). Instead you will see a separate option of Shredder 3 Mail/News in Application -> Internet. If you are having any trouble following this howto, feel free to comment.