Re: [Evolution] Near showstopper problem in Evolution

[Vern McGeorge <evolution VernMcGeorge com>]

On Tue, 2010-01-26 at 00:08 -0430, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
> On Mon, 2010-01-25 at 17:41 -0800, Vern McGeorge wrote:
> > There seems to be a problem in Evolution that is only being seen by
> > users or quad-core CPUs and this problem is, as best I can tell from
> > several web searches, not resolved or even particularly well
> > characterized. 
>
> Why do say this is only on quad-core cpus? Do you have references?

I really should bookmark more pages. This is all I could find today ...

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=8719565#post8719565

... although I specifically remember a GNOME Bugzilla report that had been dismissed for lack of actionable evidence. Can't find it now to save my life.

> > Too bad, since even though I like Evolution so far (and do NOT like
> > Thunderbird - for reasons that I will mention below) this bug may be
> > enough to force me to switch to another client.
> > 
> > The problem is that I many email accounts defined in Evolution. When I
> > "Send/Receive" email, I get problems with multiple threads hanging
> > while "Fetching Mail" and multiple pop-ups asking for the password for
> > many of my accounts. The only way I can work around this is to close
> > down Evolution completely, load my password into the clip-board,
> > re-run Evolution, hit "Send/Receive", and Ctrl-v/Enter my way through
> > a third of the accounts that pop up a dialog box asking for the
> > password even though all accounts are configured to remember the
> > password.
>
> Do you have gnome-keyring? If so, is it correctly configured and
> working? Evo should be using it to store your passwords and not asking
> you all the time.
Yes (seahorse 2.28.1) and I think so. I did go into the GUI and delete a handful of badly formed entries, but all the remaining entries looked okay to me.

Strangely enough, while all the entries looked okay, not all of my accounts had entries. After cleaning up my keyring, I did "Send/Receive" again, got prompted for passwords as expected, and then found new entries. All as expected.

What was really strange was that even after these entries were created, I still got asked for passwords. For some of these accounts, I do receive email. For one of them, I didn't which I eventually traced to a junk non-printing character in the configuration of that account.

Clearly, I have more work to do to tease out each of these problems in detail. The gnome-keyring GUI has given me an extra vantage point from which to look at the details.

Thanks for the heads-up.

> [...]
>
> > Why don't I just switch to Thunderbird? Because I've looked it it
> > don't like it. Thunderbird (and many other email clients) maintain an
> > account-centric focus - you set up multiple accounts - each with
> > separate in-boxes, out-boxes, file-folders, etc. The left hand panel
> > then allows/forces you to work on each account in turn.
>
> TB3 allows you to have a unified Inbox. Just so you know.

I'll take your word for it, but out of the box it still looks like a square peg trying to fit in a round hole.
> [...]
>
> > In reality, I sort these emails into the A-list, B-list, C-list, and
> > D-list and Evolution supports this adequately. I'd say perfectly if
> > only could do case-insensitive comparisons because while I put out
> > email addresses that end in @VernMcGeorge.com, I very often get back
> > @vernmcgeorge.com.
>
> The message search box is case-insensitive. I'm surprised that the
> filter criteria are any different.

So am I. Sendmail, HTML, and the rest of the Internet don't enforce case sensitivity in domain names. Why should Evolution? All I know is that I have to filter on both forms or I leave messages behind in my in box.

> > Evolution maintains a folder focus that allows me to keep all the
> > messy account details while sorting all my incoming email into an
> > orderly folder tree. The only feature I do wish I had was the ability
> > to go check email on a specific account manually - like right after I
> > sign up on a new website and am expecting an activation email
> > momentarily.
>
> This is a long-standing request (*very* long-standing). I cannot
> comprehend why no devel has taken it seriously enough to implement it.
>
> > If I can't get this resolved, or at least get some kind of a
> > work-around, I may end up switching to KMail, Claws Mail, or some
> > other as yet TBD client even though I don't want to.
>
> I think you'll find that "all the others are so much worse". I have
> periodic fits of frustration with Evo, especially when it freezes up
> (thankfully this happens a lot less now). I try some other client for a
> while, including all the above, but I always come back.

I learned long ago to try to use the products that have the most market share (Internet Explorer being an exception that proves the rule). The popular choices get to be, and stay, popular because they are more stable and better supported. I might like one of the other products better - until I found a show-stopper problem and no solution at all.

BTW, Thanks for all your help to date.
> poc
>
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