Re: [Evolution] Migrate data from 2.28,3 to 3.10.4

[Pete Biggs <pete biggs org uk>]

On Fri, 2014-10-03 at 20:34 -0700, Alexander Miller wrote:
> > First, make sure you backup your filesystem, don't just rely on the
> > backup created within Evolution.
>
> I guess you mean the Evolution files, not the entire filesystem?

Well I sort of meant your whole home directory, including all the .*
files and directories.

> That would be just everything in ~/.local/share/evolution? Sorry,

Evo uses more than .local/share/evolution - although I can't recall the
exact ones for 2.28.  That's why I said to backup everything.

The backup file created within Evo tars up all the requisite files plus
information on the configuration - then the restore process just untars
the file and leaves Evo to upgrade what's necessary when it restarts.
So you can do all this with just the Evo backup file, but it's safer if
you have another copy of the files elsewhere.

> I'm a novice user so I need fairly detailed step-by-step help.
>
> > Evo should upgrade an old file structure the first time its run - be
> > careful not to run Evo without the old files in place because it will
> > create all the necessary things and not do the upgrade when the files
> > are put in place....
> >   I've never had any problems ever with the Evo upgrade
> > process, but I've never done such a fairly large jump of versions.
>
> I'm not really talking about an Evolution upgrade process - rather about
> doing a fresh install of Mint 17 after deleting v.14; then installing Evo
> via the package manager, which would use Evo 3.10.4 (or maybe later.)
> My question then is how to save the data now, from 2.28.3, and later load
> it into the newer version.

The file structure where Evo keeps all the data and account info changes
over time to take account of efficiency and improvements.  When a new
version of Evo runs and it detects an old style file structure, the
first thing it does is to upgrade all the files and directories to the
new format(s).  It is that upgrade process I'm talking about, not the
upgrade of the Evolution application.

If you do a large jump in versions, the upgrade process must go through
multiple procedures to get the data files to the most recent formats.
Some of those conversions are more monumental than others.  There is
more scope for things to go wrong if you are doing 5 upgrade procedures
rather just one.

> > But nevertheless, even if the automatic upgrade fails, the mail folders
> > will still all exist in the backup.  Evo stores the mail in standard
> > formats - whether that be mbox or Maildir - so all you need do is to
> > find the mail folders and copy the mail over by hand within Evo.  Yes,
> > it's a pain having to do that, but it is possible to do.  I, and many
> > others, have detailed the process for doing this on the mailing list
> > many times over the last few years.
>
> I've been searching the mailing list archives but find it a bit difficult
> to locate posts that a) I fully understand and/or b) help me. 

Here's one I posted from Aug 2013

===========

Whatever the case, get your old mail into a temporary directory (copy
from the backup or untar the backup file), find the exact unix directory
that your files are in - if they are from your F16 system, I think that
already used maildir format, so they will be in
<tmp>/.local/share/evolution/mail/local (where <tmp> is the directory
you untarred the backup into - DON'T do it in your home folder).

Now within Evolution, create a new account - the email address you enter
doesn't matter, you won't be using it - and for "Server Type" select
"Maildir format mail directories" and point it at the directory you
located above (i.e. <tmp>/.local/share/evolution/mail/local),

There will now be a new account in the left hand side bar containing all
the backed up mail.  Copy that mail to the required location in
Evolution - either under "On This Computer" or a remote folder.  Once
you have copied everything you want, then delete the account in
Evolution and delete the files from the temporary directory.  Please
don't be tempted to just leave the temporary account in place and keep
using it - it won't be backed up by Evolution and it is better to let
Evo look after its data in its own private folders.

==========


> As for IMAP I
> don't feel a need for it and don't understand how it would help if I were
> to switch to it now.

Because IMAP mail is held on a server somewhere so you don't have to
worry about migrating the data to a new version.

>  I've been perfectly happy with POP and 2.28.3. I
> wouldn't be thinking of upgrading Mint to the current LTS if it weren't for
> the recent publicity about bash vulnerability.

It's vulnerable certainly - but it's only critically exploitable if you
run externally facing services that call a shell.  But yes, you should
run a version that isn't vulnerable.

P.