Re: [Evolution] NFS folder on network attached storage

[Pete Biggs <pete biggs org uk>]

> > > It has been said many times on this list that it is unwise to muck about
> > > > with Evo's internal private storage locations because something will
> > > > break horribly if you do.
> > Yes, but this is just a message that won't "stick" for some people.
> > There is something almost pathological about a segment of the LINUX user
> > community that they must flail about with settings and configuration...
> > eventually they storm off and write a BLOG post about how everything is
> > so unstable, the software is broken, etc...  sigh.
>
> If I can't back up entire home directories and restore a SINGLE
> APPLICATION such as Evolution using rsync, then Evolution is horribly
> broken.

You can.  What I suspect you are grouching about is not being able to
rsync a single directory to do what you want.  That's not an Evo issue,
it's a Gnome file structure thing.

> If I can't back up from version 2 and restore to version 3.X and have it
> convert forward CORRECTLY then Evolution is also horribly broken.

You can.  It should work.

> If I have to retype BY HAND every single vfolder / search folder /
> filter definition instead of using file sync between systems Evolution
> is also horribly broken.

That's a different issue and is because Evo uses UUIDs for account
information and there is no guarantee UUIDs will be the same between
systems (unless the config files are duplicated).  If there is no way of
recreating the link between UUIDs and accounts, then there is no
automated way of recreating the filters, vfolders, searches etc.

I did see a while ago that UUIDs were going to be removed and replaced
with account names, which should be more portable.  I don't know if it
happened (or is happening). 

> Forcing us to do it any other way is something EVEN MICROSOFT learned
> not to do. Look at MSDN. I found three pages with all the information
> you need to handle Outlook PST files or Exchange data stores.

Is that you volunteering to write the documentation pages ...

Before you start comparing OpenSource programs with Microsoft, I suggest
you investigate the relative size and budgets of the development teams
of, say, Outlook and Evolution.

>  These days
> you can script nearly anything you want to do with a Microsoft product
> in Powershell.

That's very nice for people who use Microsoft products then.

> If we can't "muck about" with the configuration and data files then
> Evolution has become WORSE than Microsoft. That really isn't anything to
> be proud of.

Why "WORSE than Microsoft" when in the previous paragraph you've been
extolling the virtues of Microsoft products.  

Look, you can muck about with things as much as you want - but if you do
so, then things may break because Evolution assumes that it knows the
state of it's own private storage areas - an assumption that is
necessary for the sake of speed.  If you know what you are doing, then
it is probably OK, but it is not something that can be recommended.

If you have problems because you have done something unusual (like
sharing the data store between two versions of Evo), then if it doesn't
work, it's not because Evolution is "horribly broken", it's because it's
not designed to work like that.  If you want that functionality, then
submit an enhancement request, or, even better, write the enhancement
yourself and submit it for inclusion.

> Now actually, I recall finding some decent documentation on Evolution
> data files and configuration at one point. So instead of telling people
> not to muck with it, just give them a link to what they need for doing
> it correctly.
>
> The following link is all I can find at the moment. The
> developer.gnome.org search functions aren't all that helpful.
>
> https://help.gnome.org/users/evolution/3.12/data-storage.html.en

Documentation is always a problem - with a limited dev team their time
is always at a premium, so what would you want them to do?  Would it be
acceptable to stop the development and bug fixes for, say, a release
cycle in order to document the data file structure?  Or would you prefer
them to continue to make Evolution better at the expense of detailed
documentation that only a few people will ever be interested in?

Of course it would be way better to have everything written down like
Microsoft does, but things in the Open Source world aren't always ideal
like that.

P.