[Evolution] "Unable to open address book" on half of local address books.

[Nick Jenkins <nickpj gmail com>]

Hi all,

Sometime after I upgraded from Evo 2.32 to Evo 3.2.2, I noticed that
there are some local address books that I could no longer view.
Specifically, when clicking on them, it doesn't show any contacts, but
it shows the following error message in red:
--------------------------------------------
  Unable to open address book

  This address book cannot be opened.  This either means that an
incorrect URI was entered, or the server is unreachable.

  Detailed error message: Invalid source
-------------------------------------------

And if I start evolution from a console, I see this in the console when
the above error appears:
-------------------------------------------
  (evolution:7449): libebook-WARNING **: e_book_client_new: Cannot get
book from factory: Invalid source
-------------------------------------------

There are 12 local address books: 6 where this happens, and another 6
that work fine.

And in terms of what's on the file system, the 12 directories for the 12
local address books all look reasonably similar:
--------------------------------------------
$ ls -Ral ~/.local/share/evolution/addressbook/
/home/nickj/.local/share/evolution/addressbook/:
total 56
drwx------ 14 nickj nickj 4096 2011-06-15 09:34 .
drwx------  8 nickj nickj 4096 2012-03-16 12:17 ..
drwx------  2 nickj nickj 4096 2012-02-23 16:12 1220503344 8082 1 redux
drwx------  2 nickj nickj 4096 2012-02-13 13:20 1220589553 14241 3 redux
drwx------  2 nickj nickj 4096 2012-02-23 16:12 1220589571 14241 4 redux
drwx------  2 nickj nickj 4096 2012-02-23 16:12 1220589651 14241 6 redux
drwx------  2 nickj nickj 4096 2012-02-23 16:12 1220589678 14241 7 redux
drwx------  2 nickj nickj 4096 2012-01-14 16:18 1220589710 14241 8 redux
drwx------  2 nickj nickj 4096 2012-02-23 16:12 1220589758 14241 9 redux
drwx------  2 nickj nickj 4096 2012-01-14 16:18 1220589766 14241 10 redux
drwx------  2 nickj nickj 4096 2012-01-14 16:18 1267677591 2477 7 redux
drwx------  2 nickj nickj 4096 2012-02-23 16:12 1268345403 3506 3 redux
drwx------  2 nickj nickj 4096 2012-02-23 16:12 1301312958 6975 3 redux
drwx------  2 nickj nickj 4096 2012-01-30 21:01 system

/home/nickj/.local/share/evolution/addressbook/1220503344 8082 1 redux:
total 232
drwx------  2 nickj nickj   4096 2012-02-23 16:12 .
drwx------ 14 nickj nickj   4096 2011-06-15 09:34 ..
-rw-r--r--  1 nickj nickj 311296 2011-06-09 11:32 addressbook.db
-rw-r--r--  1 nickj nickj   5838 2011-06-09 11:32 addressbook.db.summary
-rw-r--r--  1 nickj nickj  26624 2012-02-23 16:12 contacts.db

/home/nickj/.local/share/evolution/addressbook/1220589553 14241 3 redux:
total 80
drwx------  2 nickj nickj  4096 2012-02-13 13:20 .
drwx------ 14 nickj nickj  4096 2011-06-15 09:34 ..
-rw-r--r--  1 nickj nickj 45056 2012-02-13 13:20 addressbook.db
-rw-r--r--  1 nickj nickj  4306 2011-12-13 10:36 addressbook.db.summary
-rw-r--r--  1 nickj nickj 22528 2012-02-13 13:20 contacts.db

/home/nickj/.local/share/evolution/addressbook/1220589571 14241 4 redux:
total 168
drwx------  2 nickj nickj  4096 2012-02-23 16:12 .
drwx------ 14 nickj nickj  4096 2011-06-15 09:34 ..
-rw-r--r--  1 nickj nickj 98304 2011-03-14 18:48 addressbook.db
-rw-r--r--  1 nickj nickj 15042 2011-03-14 18:48 addressbook.db.summary
-rw-r--r--  1 nickj nickj 45056 2012-02-23 16:12 contacts.db

/home/nickj/.local/share/evolution/addressbook/1220589651 14241 6 redux:
total 80
drwx------  2 nickj nickj  4096 2012-02-23 16:12 .
drwx------ 14 nickj nickj  4096 2011-06-15 09:34 ..
-rw-r--r--  1 nickj nickj 45056 2010-03-04 15:42 addressbook.db
-rw-r--r--  1 nickj nickj  4647 2010-03-04 15:42 addressbook.db.summary
-rw-r--r--  1 nickj nickj 22528 2012-02-23 16:12 contacts.db

/home/nickj/.local/share/evolution/addressbook/1220589678 14241 7 redux:
total 88
drwx------  2 nickj nickj  4096 2012-02-23 16:12 .
drwx------ 14 nickj nickj  4096 2011-06-15 09:34 ..
-rw-r--r--  1 nickj nickj 81920 2010-08-25 12:39 addressbook.db
-rw-r--r--  1 nickj nickj  3118 2010-08-25 12:39 addressbook.db.summary
-rw-r--r--  1 nickj nickj 16384 2012-02-23 16:12 contacts.db

/home/nickj/.local/share/evolution/addressbook/1220589710 14241 8 redux:
total 40
drwx------  2 nickj nickj  4096 2012-01-14 16:18 .
drwx------ 14 nickj nickj  4096 2011-06-15 09:34 ..
-rw-r--r--  1 nickj nickj 12288 2008-09-06 17:44 addressbook.db
-rw-r--r--  1 nickj nickj  1148 2008-09-06 17:45 addressbook.db.summary
-rw-r--r--  1 nickj nickj 14336 2012-01-14 16:18 contacts.db

/home/nickj/.local/share/evolution/addressbook/1220589758 14241 9 redux:
total 52
drwx------  2 nickj nickj  4096 2012-02-23 16:12 .
drwx------ 14 nickj nickj  4096 2011-06-15 09:34 ..
-rw-r--r--  1 nickj nickj 24576 2009-11-06 16:32 addressbook.db
-rw-r--r--  1 nickj nickj   972 2009-11-06 16:32 addressbook.db.summary
-rw-r--r--  1 nickj nickj 14336 2012-02-23 16:12 contacts.db

/home/nickj/.local/share/evolution/addressbook/1220589766 14241 10 redux:
total 84
drwx------  2 nickj nickj  4096 2012-01-14 16:18 .
drwx------ 14 nickj nickj  4096 2011-06-15 09:34 ..
-rw-r--r--  1 nickj nickj 49152 2010-03-12 09:07 addressbook.db
-rw-r--r--  1 nickj nickj  6326 2011-12-06 20:29 addressbook.db.summary
-rw-r--r--  1 nickj nickj 26624 2012-01-14 16:18 contacts.db

/home/nickj/.local/share/evolution/addressbook/1267677591 2477 7 redux:
total 100
drwx------  2 nickj nickj  4096 2012-01-14 16:18 .
drwx------ 14 nickj nickj  4096 2011-06-15 09:34 ..
-rw-r--r--  1 nickj nickj 49152 2010-09-07 10:19 addressbook.db
-rw-r--r--  1 nickj nickj  8392 2010-09-07 10:19 addressbook.db.summary
-rw-r--r--  1 nickj nickj 31744 2012-01-14 16:18 contacts.db

/home/nickj/.local/share/evolution/addressbook/1268345403 3506 3 redux:
total 36
drwx------  2 nickj nickj  4096 2012-02-23 16:12 .
drwx------ 14 nickj nickj  4096 2011-06-15 09:34 ..
-rw-r--r--  1 nickj nickj 12288 2010-03-12 09:12 addressbook.db
-rw-r--r--  1 nickj nickj   360 2010-03-12 09:12 addressbook.db.summary
-rw-r--r--  1 nickj nickj 12288 2012-02-23 16:12 contacts.db

/home/nickj/.local/share/evolution/addressbook/1301312958 6975 3 redux:
total 180
drwx------  2 nickj nickj  4096 2012-02-23 16:12 .
drwx------ 14 nickj nickj  4096 2011-06-15 09:34 ..
-rw-r--r--  1 nickj nickj 98304 2011-04-01 20:41 addressbook.db
-rw-r--r--  1 nickj nickj 20856 2011-04-01 20:41 addressbook.db.summary
-rw-r--r--  1 nickj nickj 56320 2012-02-23 16:12 contacts.db

/home/nickj/.local/share/evolution/addressbook/system:
total 320
drwx------  2 nickj nickj   4096 2012-01-30 21:01 .
drwx------ 14 nickj nickj   4096 2011-06-15 09:34 ..
-rw-r--r--  1 nickj nickj 258048 2012-01-30 21:01 addressbook.db
-rw-r--r--  1 nickj nickj   6397 2011-12-06 20:29 addressbook.db.summary
-rw-r--r--  1 nickj nickj  27648 2012-01-30 21:01 contacts.db
-rw-r--r--  1 nickj nickj  12288 2009-03-02 23:45 evolution-n95.changes.db
-rw-r--r--  1 nickj nickj  12288 2009-03-17 17:31 sync4jevolutionhttpmy.funambol.comsyncaddressbook.changes.db
-rw-r--r--  1 nickj nickj  12288 2009-05-08 09:46 
sync4jevolutionhttpsync.scheduleworld.comfunamboldsaddressbook.changes.db
$ 
----------------------------------------------------------

For some reason, the 6 address books that have stopped working seem to
be the 6 that I use the least. This might be a fluke, or it might be a
symptom. For example, perhaps the act of using them changes them
somehow, making the used ones be okay after the upgrade, and the
infrequently used ones not okay.

And whilst I can cope okay if the contact data is gone, I do have a
preference for keeping it. Needless to say, I don't have backups. Or to
be more exact, I have automated daily backups, kept for 60 days, but it
took me more than 60 days to notice the problem.

So my question is: Is there anything that I might try to get the 6
non-working local address books back?

-- All the best,
Nick.