Installing from tar balls with synaptic

You will find here:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SoftwareManagement

quite a lot of info on how to manage software in your Ubuntu system.
I'm quite sure you will find the answer to your question, but feel free to come back to us with any specific question you may have.

Happy Ubunting!

Thank you. i appreciate.your response. Are you saying I didn't ask a specific question? I'll repeat more clearly then:

1. How to download and install thunderbird 2.0 via synaptic, which will result in a good clean install and replacement of 1.5, which will result in the Gnome Application Panel having an updated launching choice for 2.0 and not 1.5.

But, thanks again. I'll go to the link you offered.

You can download it from mozilla site and install from tgz file, this the istruction:

$: mkdir thunderbird && cd thunderbird

$: wget http://releases.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/thunderbird/releases/2.0.0.0/linux-i686/fr/thunderbird-2.0.0.0.tar.gz

$: sudo mv thunderbird-2.0.0.0.tar.gz /opt/

$: cd /opt

$: sudo tar xvzf thunderbird-2.0.0.0.tar.gz

$: sudo rm thunderbird-2.0.0.0.tar.gz

$: sudo dpkg-divert --divert /usr/bin/mozilla-thunderbird.ubuntu --rename /usr/bin/mozilla-thunderbird

$: sudo ln -s /opt/thunderbird/thunderbird /usr/bin/mozilla-thunderbird

thanks
sudo ln -s /opt/thunderbird/thunderbird-bin /opt/thunderbird/mozilla-thunderbird-bin

First of all, please don't follow the instruction given above. Installing tarballs is likely to damage or destabilise your system.
This is why I pointed you to that link, please try to understand how to install and manage software in your Ubuntu system first.

If you really want an answer to your specific question:

How to download and install thunderbird 2.0 via synaptic, which will result in a good clean install and replacement of 1.5, which will result in the Gnome Application Panel having an updated launching choice for 2.0 and not 1.5.

The answer is: You cannot install thunderbird 2.0 via Synaptic unless thunderbird 2.0 is available in the ubuntu repository.
Again, read the link and you will understand why.

Thank you again: I have begun reading through the material on the link you gave, and I appreciate it. I also appreciate the above from Massimo.

Well, Massimo, I did exactly what you said to do. It worked perfectly. BUT.... it installed the French language version. Am I hosed? Or can I repeat this with an English version?

Sorry, this is the link ok:

$: wget http://releases.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/thunderbird/releases/2.0.0.0/linux-i686/en-GB/thunderbird-2.0.0.0.tar.gz

Thanks many

Thanks Massimo Forti, that solved my question.

Massimo: I was able to figure out the right language link (en-US) and run your commands again. All is well, and I have Thunderbird 2.0 running exactly the way I want it to. Thanks for your assistance.

Thunderbird 2.0 is being packaged for Ubuntu (see https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/mozilla-thunderbird/+bug/107691).
I suggest you use that one when available.

To give you an idea about the difference between the Mozilla version and the Ubuntu one, these are the Ubuntu/Debian specific changes in version 1.5:

  * debian/rules: use --disable-strip in configure to make noopt effective;
    add -g to OPTFLAGS even for noopt; dbgsym packages can now be generated
    (LP#101923).
  * debian/control: fix outdated Suggest entry to firefox (LP# 82805)
  * debian/mozilla-thunderbird-restart-required.update-notifier,
    debian/mozilla-thunderbird.install, debian/mozilla-thunderbird.postinst:
    install restart-required hook for "restart required on update2 notification
    (LP#90624).
  * debian/mozilla-thunderbird.desktop: support gnome startup notification,
    contributed by John Vivirito <email address hidden> (LP#11463).
  * 77_ubuntu-look-and-feel-report-a-bug-menuitem.dpatch: add 'Report a bug ...'
    menu entry, which invokes /usr/bin/ubuntu-bug -pmozilla-thunderbird
  * debian/rules: make thunderbird DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS=noopt aware
  * New upstream security update:
    - CVE-2007-0008, MFSA 2006-06: SSLv2 Client Integer Underflow
      Vulnerability
    - CVE-2007-0009, MFSA 2006-06: SSLv2 Server Stack Overflow
      Vulnerability
    - CVE-2007-0775, CVE-2007-0776, CVE-2007-0777, MFSA 2007-01:
      Crashes with evidence of memory corruption
  * drop patches applied upstream: 90_ppc64-build-fix
  * debian/control: Taking over maintainer field.
  * archives/thunderbird-1.5.0.10-source.tar.bz2: use original
    upstream tarball to build official branding
  * debian/rules: update tarball name; drop code that replace
    official branding with free branding.
  * debian/fhunderbird-branding.tmpl, debian/fhunderbird-icons,
    debian/gen-fhunderbird-branding.sh: remove free branding
    generation.
  * debian/patches/91_replytolist.dpatch: added patch to allow
    reply to list extension (bz#45715)
  * New upstream security update:
    - CVE-2006-6505, MFSA 2006-74: Mail header processing heap overflows.
    - CVE-2006-6503, MFSA 2006-72: XSS by setting img.src to javascript: URI.
    - CVE-2006-6502, MFSA 2006-71: LiveConnect crash finalizing JS objects.
    - CVE-2006-6501, MFSA 2006-70: Privilege escallation using watch point.
    - CVE-2006-6497, CVE-2006-6498, CVE-2006-6499, MFSA 2006-68: Crashes
      with evidence of memory corruption.
  * Upstream security updates from 1.5.0.8:
    - CVE-2006-5463, MFSA 2006-67: Running Script can be recompiled.
    - CVE-2006-5462, MFSA 2006-66: RSA signature forgery (variant).
    - CVE-2006-5464, CVE-2006-5747, CVE-2006-5748, MFSA 2006-65: Crashes with
      evidence of memory corruption.
  * New upstream security update:
    - MFSA 2006-64, CVE-2006-4571: Crashes with evidence of memory corruption
      (rv:1.8.0.7)
    - MFSA 2006-63, CVE-2006-4570: JavaScript execution in mail via XBL
    - MFSA 2006-60, CVE-2006-4340: RSA Signature Forgery
    - MFSA 2006-59, CVE-2006-4253: Concurrency-related vulnerability
    - MFSA 2006-58, CVE-2006-4567: Auto-Update compromise through DNS and SSL
      spoofing
    - MFSA 2006-57, CVE-2006-4565, CVE-2006-4566: JavaScript Regular Expression
      Heap Corruption
  * New upstream security update:
    - MFSA 2006-46, CVE-2006-3113: Memory corruption with simultaneous
      events [does not affect 1.0]
    - MFSA 2006-47, CVE-2006-3802: Native DOM methods can be hijacked
      across domains [does not affect 1.0]
    - MFSA 2006-48, CVE-2006-3803: JavaScript new Function race
      condition [does not affect 1.0]
    - MFSA 2006-49, CVE-2006-3804: Heap buffer overwrite on malformed
      VCard
    - MFSA 2006-50, CVE-2006-3805, CVE-2006-3806: JavaScript engine
      vulnerabilities
    - MFSA 2006-51, CVE-2006-3807: Privilege escalation using
      named-functions and redefined "new Object()"
    - MFSA 2006-53, CVE-2006-3809: UniversalBrowserRead privilege
      escalation
    - MFSA 2006-54, CVE-2006-3810: XSS with XPCNativeWrapper
      (window).Function(...) [does not affect 1.0]
    - MFSA 2006-55, CVE-2006-3811: Crashes with evidence of memory
      corruption (rv:1.8.0.5)
    - MFSA 2006-56, CVE-2006-3812: chrome: scheme loading remote
      content
  * debian/patches/10_pangoxft_linkage.dpatch: Adapted to new upstream
    version.
  * Bumped maxVersion of extensions to 1.5.0.99. (see LP#48084)
  * New upstream incremental security and bugfix release:
    - MFSA 2006-42, CVE-2006-2783: Web site XSS using BOM on UTF-8
      pages
    - MFSA 2006-40, CVE-2006-2781: Double-free on malformed VCard
    - MFSA 2006-38, CVE-2006-2778: Buffer overflow in
      crypto.signText()
    - MFSA 2006-37, CVE-2006-2776: Remote compromise via
      content-defined setter on object prototypes
    - MFSA 2006-35, CVE-2006-2775: Privilege escalation through XUL
      persist
    - MFSA 2006-33, CVE-2006-2786: HTTP response smuggling
    - MFSA 2006-32, CVE-2006-2779, CVE-2006-2780: Fixes for crashes with
      potential memory corruption
    - MFSA 2006-31, CVE-2006-2787: EvalInSandbox escape (Proxy
      Autoconfig, Greasemonkey)
  * Ship SVG and PNG icons alongside the XPM icons for window managers that
    can deal with those. Also, use the SVG icon internally, rather than
    the XPM, making the taskbar icon less ugly (closes: launchpad.net/45492)
  * Include a slightly tweaked profile-manager icon for the (still disabled)
    mozilla-thunderbird profile manager desktop entry, based on tango icons.
  * New upstream incremental security and bugfix release (launchpad.net/41096):
    - MFSA 2006-28, CVE-2006-1726: Security check of js_ValueToFunctionObject()
      can be circumvented
    - MFSA 2006-27, CVE-2006-0748: Table Rebuilding Code Execution Vuln
    - MFSA 2006-26, CVE-2006-1045: Mail Multiple Information Disclosure
    - MFSA 2006-25, CVE-2006-1727: Privilege escalation through Print Preview
    - MFSA 2006-24, CVE-2006-1728: Privilege escalation using
      crypto.generateCRMFRequest
    - MFSA 2006-22, CVE-2006-1730: CSS Letter-Spacing Heap Overflow Vuln
    - MFSA 2006-21, CVE-2006-0884: JavaScript execution in mail when
      forwarding in-line
    - MFSA 2006-20, CVE-2006-1529, CVE-2006-1530, CVE-2006-1531,
      CVE-2006-1723, CVE-2006-1724: Crashes with memory corruption.
    - MFSA 2006-08, CVE-2006-0299: "AnyName" entrainment and access control
      hazard
    - MFSA 2006-07, CVE-2006-0298: Read beyond buffer while parsing XML
    - MFSA 2006-06, CVE-2006-0297: Integer overflows in E4X, SVG and Canvas
    - MFSA 2006-05, CVE-2006-0296: Localstore.rdf XML injection through
      XULDocument.persist()
    - MFSA 2006-04, CVE-2006-0295: Memory corruption via QueryInterface on
      Location, Navigator objects
    - MFSA 2006-02, CVE-2006-0294: Changing postion:relative to static
      corrupts memory
    - MFSA 2006-01, CVE-2006-0292: JavaScript garbage-collection hazards
  * New upstream should have restored the ability to send attachments
    via the command line interface (launchpad.net/35690)
  * Add the (at this point, very well-tested) GNOME/MIME handling patch
    from Firefox, so we get GNOME MIME definitions (launchpad.net/30375)
  * Sync 91_fontsfix_359763.dpatch from Debian, to use the generic font
    aliases instead of demanding "Times", "Courier", and "Helvetica".
  * Sync isolated arch build failure fixes from Debian as well, for people
    who feel the urge to port dapper after it's released: 50_arch_*.dpatch
  * Drop all references to mozilla-thunderbird-update-chrome, and the *.d
    directories in /var/lib/mozilla-thunderbird and stop shipping them, as
    they've been obsolete and broken since 1.5 (launchpad.net/{35465,25997})
  * Stop shipping /tmp in the typeaheadfind package (launchpad.net/43470)
  * Rework the Debconf www-browser selection so it automatically chooses to
    use gnome-control-center's choice if it detects it installed, otherwise
    falling back to x-www-browser (launchpad.net/{31841,34546,41706,25704})
  * Drop suggests on xprint, which we stopped using (launchpad.net/33307)
  * Depend on "myspell-en-us | myspell-dictionary", since we now appear to
    require it unconditionally for operation (launchpad.net/{35212,37825})
  * Fix the default theme so it shows up in themes list, so you can remove
    added themes, since they're not the "last one" (launchpad.net/43022)
  * Hide the Profile Manager menu icon by default (launchpad.net/12874)
  * Add proper branding (Yay, we're Thunderbird again, not Mail/News, and we
    have an icon and an about box, oh my!), icon thanks to Andy Fitzsimon,
    integration mangling thanks to Alexander Sack. (launchpad.net/19439)
  * debian/mozilla-thunderbird.desktop:
    - change menu title from "Thunderbird Mail Client" to "Thunderbird Mail"
  * debian/global-config.js: Set intl.locale.matchOS by default to make locale
    packages work.
  * Re-enable patch 20_mailnews_mime_makefile_in.dpatch to export proper
    headers to our -dev package so we can get engimail building again.
  * Re-enable pango support, adding 10_pangoxft_linkage.dpatch, which
    fixes the build to link pangoxft, which we directly include and use.
  * Revert pango support for now. We appear to be calling into libpangoxft
    without linking to it, and I don't have time this week to sort it out.
  * Bring back some changes from previous versions, to improve the build:
    - Compile with "-fno-strict-aliasing" by default.
    - Disable Xprint support, it's ancient, deprecated, and broken.
    - Enable Xinerama support (and adjust build-deps accordingly)
  * Enable pango font rendering, since we use it everywhere else in GNOME.
  * Add 10_visibility_hidden_patch.dpatch, stealing a fix from firefox
    for the powerpc build failure triggered by wrapping system includes.
  * Add -fno-unsigned-char, since the source seems heavily x86-centric.
  * Special thanks to Alexander Sack for help with this upload of 1.5:
    - Removed extension template bits from packaging directories.
    - Removed -offline extension; this is now completely integrated.
    - Disable all patches except for those that are obviously needed,
      please file bugs if run into any nasty regressions due to this.
    - Use upstream startup script in the hope that it's now fixed.
    - Branding removed for now; will sort out Debian/Ubuntu branding
      in the build system between UVF and Feature Freeze.
  * New upstream version also fixes the following security vulnerabilities:
    - MFSA 2006-19, CVE-2006-1731: Cross-site scripting using .valueOf.call()
    - MFSA 2006-18, CVE-2006-0749: Mozilla Firefox Tag Order Vulnerability
    - MFSA 2006-17, CVE-2006-1732: cross-site scripting through
      window.controllers
    - MFSA 2006-16, CVE-2006-1733: Accessing XBL compilation scope via
      valueOf.call()
    - MFSA 2006-15, CVE-2006-1734: Privilege escalation using a JavaScript
      function's cloned parent
    - MFSA 2006-14, CVE-2006-1735: Privilege escalation via XBL.method.eval
    - MFSA 2006-11, CVE-2006-1737, CVE-2006-1738, CVE-2006-1739,
      CVE-2006-1790: Crashes with evidence of memory corruption (rv:1.8)
    - MFSA 2006-10, CVE-2006-1742: JavaScript garbage-collection hazard audit
    - MFSA 2006-09, CVE-2006-1741: Cross-site JavaScript injection using event
      handlers

Last but not least, the one you installed is an i686 version.

Cesare, wow! Your point is well-taken. That is quite a difference. Thank you for sharing this. I'm learning alot about how this open source culture works.

Cesare, just a quick question about software updates; I think I understand how this works, but here's question: Once the Ubuntu-Thunderbird 2.0 is released b Ubuntu, it will eventually show up in the Synaptic repositories by doing a "reload." At that point, I can just select it, mark it for installation, and hit "apply." Is this basically correct?

In principle yes. I don't know if the installation of the mozilla version has broken something, it could have. Well, we will cross that bridge when it will be the time.

PS. If you want you can enable automatic updates, but I guess you know that already.

Your point is "well-taken." I hope nothing broke. But... if it did, I'm just getting started with Ubuntu. It won't hurt anything to start over with a fresh installation on this laptop and then "do it right at the beginning." Thanks for being so kind.

this message is for Cesare Tirabassi,
I am glad you helped stevenkpayne in the end,
but a proactive approach would have been much better from the get go, if you really want to help.
I probably would have taken Massimo Forti advise too.

thanks for understanding :)