Re: [Evolution] Request advice on how to work around total failure of Evolution

[Pete Biggs <pete biggs org uk>]

On Wed, 2014-03-19 at 11:19 +0100, Ralf Mardorf wrote:
> On Wed, 2014-03-19 at 09:49 +0000, e-mail shaky.start wrote:
> > Any advice on a work around? Is there any other app. which will
> > understand Evolution's back-up file format?
>
> Perhaps there's a live CD/DVD that comes with Evolution. Can't you
> temporarily install a second Linux or install another distro running as
> guest in VBox on your Mint and use Evolution on that other distro to
> extract the backup and export the mails? Did you already try to open a
> Evolution backup? Perhaps it's just a tar archive or similar.

Yes, it is just a compressed tar file - but the mail folders will be in
Maildir format and the OP needs them in MBOX format.

As others have said, fire up a Live USB distro (Fedora 20 would be a
good option) and read the backup file with the version of Evo on that.
You can then export the mail into mbox format.  Don't forget to allow
space for user files on the USB distro when you create it (or mount a
hard disk from within the Live version) in order to accommodate the
files you are creating.

P.