[Evolution] migrating from PINE

[dpeterso ne orst edu]

> Aaron Weber responded:
>
> Subject: Re: [Evolution] migrating from PINE
> From: Aaron Weber <aaron ximian com>
> To: dpeterso ne orst edu
> Cc: evolution ximian com
> Date: 17 Aug 2001 15:46:59 -0400
>
> On 17 Aug 2001 12:06:49 -0700, dpeterso ne orst edu wrote:
>
> > 1) Is there any way to incorporate/import PINE's .addressbook?  I really
> > don't want to go through the hassle of entering some 100 new contacts by hand.
>
> Try File-->Import File... does that work?

No.  "No importer that supports .addressbook".

However, in looking at the rpm listing I see that there's an executable
called "load-pine-addressbook" so maybe I'll mess with that?  Evolution
itself doesn't seem to know about it or recognize the format.

> > 2) Is there a compose functionality akin to PINE's lists?  That is, can I
>
> That'd be mail to an "addressbook group"-- so, yes, that's in there.
> For an address card, decide which groups it's in, then when you send
> mail to the group ("Friends") it'll go to all contacts with that group

Ahhh.  Had missed the "New List" under "Contacts".  Seems to work (except
for the advertised drag-N-drop, but I gather that's a known issue from the
FAQ.

> > 3) Can I get Evo to:
> >      a) read my existing pine saved mail folders
> >      b) write to those existing folders
>
>
> Yes.  This is in the FAQ... under Tools-->Mail Settings, select or
> create an account and set the mail server to be
> UNIX mbox files, then enter the path to your pine mbox.  PINE checks
> your mail, and Evolution can read and write it.

The FAQ (and this solution) doesn't really solve the problem.  Here one has
to (re)create by hand each and every pine folder inside Evo, rather than
letting it find them itself (by giving a mail direcotory where the folders
sit).  Not something to be lightly undertaken with >50 folders.  Also, when
Evo writes to such a folder, the added message is not recognized as a new
message, but rather extra text to the last message that was in the folder.

> > checks for new mail) I get an error popup: "Error while synchronizing
> > folder: /home/donald/evolution/path/to/some/mailfolder//mbox:  Too many
> > open files."  As best as I can tell, this does not affect the operation of
> > Evolution, but none-the-less still appears on a regular basis.
>
> Not sure about this one, but it sounds like a bug to me!  Is there a bug
> filed on this in bugzilla.ximian.com?

No bugs reported.  I'll file this.

> > (Almost finally), an honest effort should be made to include documentation
> > with the rpms.  This program is really difficult to figure out without
>
> We've been working on it.  Believe me, I have learned more about
> makefiles than I ever wanted to know.

:-)  Documentation is a thankless job.  I was commenting more to the point of
including at least what docs exist with rpms, rather than having to get the
source for them.  Even some sort of notice about the web page with these
docs would be useful.  Sheesh, I can't even find a hint about documentation
from the evolution web pages at Ximian!

> A) they should be in the nightly builds now, and B) if they're not, go
> to http://primates.ximian.com/~aaron/evolution-guide/index.html, and let
> me know what you think of them.

They look good.  I would like to see a bit more about "roles" or
"identities", but that should come later, after the usage basics are flushed
out to where you are happy with them.  A comparison of evolution to other
*nix mail clients like pine, mutt, (or even emacs? ;_) would be useful.  Even
something as droll as a jargon table comparing terms could be quite useful.
Also, just as a nitpick, but the description of moving mail to a folder and
copying mail to a folder are exactly the same, yet the two actions are
different :-)

Thanks for the response,
-Don
_________________________________________________
Donald A. Peterson       | dpeterso engr orst edu
Ph.D. Research Associate |
Dept. of Chemistry       | PH:  (541) 737-7079
Oregon St. University    | FAX: (541) 737-0480
-------------------------------------------------