Bug: Can't change local mail folder location in thunderbird

[Rudi von Staden]

As a legacy from using a dual-boot machine (and to aid backup), I keep
my mail in a non-default directory. I have two email accounts that are
checked by thunderbird, and I move these emails into archive folders
under 'Local Folders'. The problem is that I can't change where the
'Local Folders' directory is located. A Google search seems to
indicate that this is a 0.8 bug (I didn't have this issue under
Windows):

----8<------------
Note: there is a bug in Thunderbird version 0.8 which prevents the
directory setting for Local Folders from being changed in this manner.
This bug has apprently been fixed and should not affect subsequent
versions.
----8<------------

I think this is filed in bugzilla as:
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=259230

It seems there is a patch there. Is there some way to fix this bug in
Ubuntu? I'm not too familiar with how to actually apply a patch from
bugzilla. I've tried manually editing the prefs.js file but that
doesn't do the trick. I'd rather not have to move all my local mail to
the default location, but it seems the only other option would be to
downgrade, and I don't know that's possible in ubuntu anyway?

Thanks,
Rudi