Need to restore Evolution after syst rebuild whithout backuop available

Did you copy paste what was in your /home/XXXX/.gconf/apps/evolution/calendar folder?

Yes, I did

Ok, I was too lazy, it's not so easy to import gconf configuration like that. It's really a pain to reimport the Evolution configuration.

If you press ALT+F2 and type "gconf-editor" as the command, can you check what is in "Apps", "Evolution", "Calendar"? Do you have a "sources" entry with some values? That's where should be all the calendars. If there are none, we must re-import from the old Home folder.

To do that:

Force evolution to shutdown (alt+F2, enter this command):
evolution --force-shutdown

Force Gconf to shutdown too:
gconftool-2 --shutdown

Then copy paste the elements from your old .gconf/apps/evolution/ that you want to import in your new Home.

Then you can start Evolution and check if you see your calendars.

Start

Francois
Sorry, I did not read your first question correctly. No, I copied only the /home/baronipc/.evolution/ NOT the /home/baronipc/.gconf/apps/evolution/calendar

As per above I have now copied these over except for tasks, as I had just updated these

I tried the above and did NOT find a "sources" entry. There are only the following folders and 1 x xml file:
date_navigator
display
memos
notify
other
tasks and
%gconf.xml

Then in each of THESE folders there is a %gconf.xml file and that is it.

As a note I just tried it with Addresses and Auto Addresses folders and that worked - so many thanks for that tip. Just need the calander

Spoke too soon. The addresses did NOT return, just a few, so I assume they are from the auto complete or something..... GGGrrrr!

Did you copy paste what was in your home/XXXX/.gconf/apps/evolution/addressbook folder using the same method as above?

Also, if you have your old home on a harddrive installed in your computer, you don't always need to copy paste everything in the new partition. You can "simply" (if the data are not corrupted) use your old /home folder in the new system. All the other files are using the new installation, but your user files would come from your previous installation, so all the settings would be kept.
Of course, it works only if you are reinstalling on the same version (like Ubuntu 9.10 on the broken system, and Ubuntu 9.10 on the new system). That's also a way to easily "move" all your data and settings from a computer to another, or if you want to upgrade to a new version with a complete new system.

Another interesting solution to export the configuration of Evolution: if you cannot boot your broken system, I think it's possible to use a LiveCD to boot your computer, temporarily mount your old home, start Evolution, export the settings, then reinstall Ubuntu and import the settings of Evolution.

Those solutions requires to know what you are doing or to get some help, but I think that's better than to do the manual import which is way too annoying in Evolution in my opinion...

Maybe you already know all this, but just in case, I prefer to tell you, for next time maybe ;)

Francois
Many thanks for all this. In answer to your questions and statements:

"Did you copy paste what was in your home/XXXX/.gconf/apps/evolution/addressbook folder using the same method as above?"

YES, I did

"Also, if you have your old home on a harddrive installed in your computer, you don't always need to copy paste everything in the new partition. You can "simply" (if the data are not corrupted) use your old /home folder in the new system. All the other files are using the new installation, but your user files would come from your previous installation, so all the settings would be kept.
Of course, it works only if you are reinstalling on the same version (like Ubuntu 9.10 on the broken system, and Ubuntu 9.10 on the new system). That's also a way to easily "move" all your data and settings from a computer to another, or if you want to upgrade to a new version with a complete new system." HOW do you do this because when you install it creates a HOME directory and the new aps will create their own configs etc....

"Another interesting solution to export the configuration of Evolution: if you cannot boot your broken system, I think it's possible to use a LiveCD to boot your computer, temporarily mount your old home, start Evolution, export the settings, then reinstall Ubuntu and import the settings of Evolution."

OK, this is starting to sound VERY interesting, how do I go about it? Also, I have migrated a lot of my eMail folders to the Google domain for off line storage and access. I avoided this in the past because Google Apps has very poor folder naming (limited in length) and so folders have silly short names... That said my point being that if I do this I do not want to change the eMail folders element.

"Those solutions requires to know what you are doing or to get some help, but I think that's better than to do the manual import which is way too annoying in Evolution in my opinion..".

I agree.... Maybe we can talk directly on Skype or eMail, if it is quicker and easier. I am NOT about tomorrow, so will pick up on Friday AM.

"Maybe you already know all this, but just in case, I prefer to tell you, for next time maybe ;)"

No worries. I appreciate all this lots!

That's odd, but great!!!. Just opened Evolution and all the meetings are there. Great. Must have fixed it but taken time to recognise the data.

OK, still interested in the how as in your last eMail....

Also, there are still outstanding issues:
1. I still do not have the full list of contacts.
2. Evolution does not sync with Google....

Hi Jonners59

ok, so one by one:

-you don't have your full list of contacts. You mean some are back, some are still missing ? Weird... Did you create them in a local address book? Or did you have a Google account too maybe?
-same question more or less for your "sync with Google". What did you mean by sync? Emails? Contacs ? Calendars ?

Then about how to keep your old home:
-the easiest solution is to use a partition specifically for /home. For instance, if you have a 250Gb hard drive, you can create a 20Gb partition for the system (=OS+softwares), and 230Gb for the user files (= /home). Of course, you will NOT see 2 partitions when you are using Ubuntu, you just see one file system, even if the files are on different partitions. You can set this when you install, it requires to go in "advanced mode" during the partition step, but it's quite easy. This way, you can reinstall a complete fresh system whenever you want and keep the same /home. You can even install it on a different harddrive, it makes the system a bit faster as both drives will be used at the same time.

-this idea can be used for whatever you want in fact, not just /home. That's what is called "mount point" in the installer, you just tell Ubuntu "this partition should appear at this location in my file system".

-of course, if you already have your /home in the same partition as the system, it's a bit more complicated, you cannot simply say "use this partition as /home", as you don't have only /home in it, but more files... I would then instead use a LiveCD to boot the computer, rename your current /home into something different, and copy paste your old /home in your new system. BUT, it requires that you are running the same version of Ubuntu ! And you should be careful when doing that. Especially as you said that your previous system was "broken", so what i'm explaining here is just theory, do NOT apply this without checking if it would be working...

-then if you just want to mount your old home temporarily, it's maybe possible from a LiveCD (but i'm not sure, as you already have a /home mounted when you are using the CD, i'm not sure if you can replace it that easily). Or maybe in a virtual machine... There are always tons of solutions, it's just about choosing the easiest one ;)

I know all this is maybe not clear, but it's a bit complicated to explain. There are probably tons of websites explaining all this in details. I don't think it's necessary to know all the solutions and technical details, but it's nice to know enough to avoid reinstalling everything when you can sometimes easily use your previous /home in a few clicks. Don't hesitate to ask me any question !

Francoise
Many thanks for this.....

"-you don't have your full list of contacts. You mean some are back, some are still missing ? Weird... Did you create them in a local address book? Or did you have a Google account too maybe?"

I saved them in Personal, which is local.

"-same question more or less for your "sync with Google". What did you mean by sync? Emails? Contacs ? Calendars ?"

Did not sync contacts..... But sync to me means that I have a google apps account (domain is maintained by Google) and the calendar and emails synchronize using IMAP. So when I add anything to me calendar it appears in my off-line google calendar and when I add anything to my Google calendar it appears in my Evolution..... But not anymore.

Re the HOME folder. This sounds interesting and very useful. I do not save very much in the form of documents in HOME as I use a separate directory (from my Windows days) and the bulk is on a different PC stored else-where on my LAN... However, I with all the prefs and configs stored there it has always been a pain when I have upgraded or had to repair starting from scratch. I always do a manual (Advanced) install because I have experienced a number of "out of memory" errors messages so prefer to save the install where and to the size I want. When I do I tend to create my own SWAP partition and then do a ROOT partition.... I am then lost what to do with the rest, so let it do its own thing. What should I do to use the existing HOME?????

It maybe easier to talk off line, can I contact you via your personal eMail address?

Francois
Sorry I have not been in touch. I landed a contract which is full time and hectic, and my wife is due to have a baby, as of today!...

I have my Evolution working now and have learnt only a couple of days ago how I SHOULD have set up the Google sync!!!! However, on one machine I still have it crashing, and far too often. It just simply shuts down.

The others are all OK.