Re: [Evolution] Evolution forces conversion from mbox to maildir

[mwrsa web de]

> Gesendet: Mittwoch, 11. Dezember 2019 um 09:43 Uhr
> Von: mwrsa web de
> An: evolution-list gnome org
> Betreff: Re: [Evolution] Evolution forces conversion from mbox to maildir
>
> > Gesendet: Mittwoch, 11. Dezember 2019 um 09:17 Uhr
> > Von: "Milan Crha via evolution-list" <evolution-list gnome org>
> > An: evolution-list gnome org
> > Betreff: Re: [Evolution] Evolution forces conversion from mbox to maildir
> >
> > On Tue, 2019-12-10 at 21:45 +0100, Martin Wagner wrote:
> > > Do you have any solution for a working batch conversion please?
> >
> >     Hi,
> > which version did you update from, please? The only forced conversion
> > from mbox to Maildir is done for On This Computer account, located at
> >
> >    ~/.local/share/evolution/mail/local/
> >
> > No other accounts should be affected by it. The more importantly, the
> > switch to Maildir for On This Computer account had been done years ago,
> > even before 3.6.0 release (which is the second half of 2012).
> >
> > To know whether the migration is needed Evolution checks whether
> >
> >    ~/.local/share/evolution/mail/local/.Outbox/
> >
> > directory exists. If not, and if the local storage exists, then the
> > migration is needed. Is that directory gone in your installation?
> >     Bye,
> >     Milan
>
> Thank you for the responses. @Milan:
>
> ~/.local/share/evolution/mail/local/ is where all of my email is stored. I have five mail adresses and two 
> for work, and on top of that I have setup a number of folders in Evolution where I store a ton of emails I 
> need or want to keep. Out of these seven mail accounts, six are POP3. The one IMAP works flawlessly ofc., 
> it isn't local anyway. I have set a number of filters and rules to do a little of basic sorting of fetched 
> mails into folders, and spamassassin to get me rid of the spam, though that has more false positives for me 
> than filtered junk. Different story.
>
> Everything in there is gone now, aka moved to the inaccessible local mbox account, I started with a total 
> of zero mails after the failed conversion, only the newly fetched mails appeared after a few seconds.
>
> You say the conversion should have taken place years ago? Well in that case - how can Evolution mistake the 
> Maildir storage for mbox and force the conversion? That would explain the failed attempt though! Converning 
> the .Outbox folder, that has to wait until my lunchbreak or tonight. I am on my work laptop rn. I didn't 
> change anything there either, didn't delete it nor move it nor even look at it the wrong way >.<
>
> I will check later and report back.
>
> Thanks again, Martin

Ok this seems to be the initial issue really.  ~/.local/share/evolution/mail/local/.Outbox/ is missing. I 
manually unpacked my backup and replaced ~/.local/share/evolution/ completely, then I tried to just create 
the .Outbox - now Evolution starts correctly, but I still cannot access any other folder than the Inbox, all 
others cannot be read ("Not a valid maildir folder") or just appear empty.
One exception is the folder "Work Inbox" which is filled by the filters I mentioned earlier. It displays the 
error (not valid ...) but shows some unread messages. in the overview on the left.

Next I am gonna try and apply an older update to see if that fixes the issue. Replacing both 
~/.local/share/evolution/ and ~/.config/evolution/ from the latest backup had the very same result I just 
described.

I would be grateful for any further input. Thank you. Martin