Re: [Evolution] location of data files

[Patrick O'Callaghan <poc usb ve>]

On Fri, 2008-07-18 at 14:08 -0400, Paul Smith wrote:
> On Fri, 2008-07-18 at 13:23 -0430, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
> > On Fri, 2008-07-18 at 12:11 -0400, Paul Smith wrote:
> > > On Fri, 2008-07-18 at 11:29 -0430, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
> > > > Look at the archives of this list. The same question has been answered
> > > > countless times.
> > > >
> > > > Once more with feeling:
> > > > http://www.go-evolution.org/FAQ#How_can_I_transfer_all_my_Evolution_data_between_computers.2Fto_a_new_partition.2Fto_a_new_computer.3F
> > >
> > > Heh.  Maybe we should edit the list description page to have this link
> > > in it :-)
> >
> > I've asked for the pointer to the FAQ to be included in the standard
> > footer that all the list messages have, but nothing's happened so far.
> >
> > However there *is* a pointer to the FAQ under the Help menu in recent
> > versions of Evo, which is an improvement.
>
> Ideally it would be somewhere people would see it BEFORE they sent their
> email, but pointers to the FAQ would definitely help.

Of course it could easily be in both places, though I tend to assume
that people look at least glancingly at a mailing list contents before
deciding to post to it. Maybe I'm an optimist ...

> However, I do have to say I feel Jimmy's pain a bit here.  It does seem
> like, if we can document the process to do this recovery in the FAQ we
> should be able to create some easier-to-use facility for doing it.  A
> shell script _at least_, if not something more integrated into
> Evolution.  Maybe a script that can be run to "bundle up" all the
> relevant info from the old system (having it be a script instead of/in
> addition to an option from a menu or something allows for it to be run
> in situations like Jimmy's, where you can't run Evolution anymore on the
> old environment), then an option on the Evo "Import" menu that would
> import that bundle.

File->Backup/Restore Settings does at least some of the work from within
Evo. I'm not sure how much else is required.

> I honestly don't know enough about gconf etc. to understand how many of
> the steps (such as "shut down gconfd completely" etc.) are absolutely
> required and don't have a "nicer" way of implementation.

I think the exhortation to shut Gconf down is rather like the MS
requirement for rebooting Windows any time anything at all changes in
the system. It's a hammer to crack a nut (actually in the MS it's more
like a workaround for an inadequate filesystem, but anyway) when what's
really required is to freeze certain data while it's being copied or
restored, in order to preserve consistency. I've no idea how practical
that is.

poc