[maemo-users] [ANN] SyncEvolution 0.6pre1 for addressbook and calendar synchronization

Tue Mar 27 23:36:11 EEST 2007

Hello,

I am happy to announce the first 0.6 prerelease of SyncEvolution for
Maemo and the DBus Evolution Data Server. I have prepared a .deb package
in the hope that this will make it easier for people to try it out
before the 0.6 release.

What does it do?
        SyncEvolution [1] synchronizes the Maemo system address book via
        SyncML [2]. In theory calenders managed by the "Dates"
        application can also be synchronized, but see below.

        Other PIM suites are currently not supported. It wouldn't be
        difficult to write backends for them, though. 

        SyncEvolution is a command line tool. You need to invoke it via
        an xterm or when logged into the device via ssh.

        If someone feels like developing a GUI or adding support for
        other backends, I'd be happy to accept patches.

Why would you want/not want to use it?
        The advantage of SyncEvolution is that it works with existing
        SyncML servers available as free services in the Internet,
        without needing a PC or special software on the PC. The drawback
        is that these servers have to be trusted. Alternatively one can
        install the Funambol SyncML server [3] on a private PC or
        server.

        SyncEvolution for the desktop Evolution has been around for over
        a year with a steady number of downloads and hardly any problem
        reports - it seems to get the job done...

Installation
        The .deb package was compiled for Maemo 2.0, so it should work
        with any IT OS >= 2006 and even the Nokia 800, but it was only
        tested on a Nokia 770 with the latest IT OS2006. Backends for
        address book and calendar access are compiled as loadable
        modules. They will be enabled automatically if the required
        libraries are installed: the address book is part of the base OS
        installation, but the Evolution Data Server (EDS) packages for
        calendar support have to be installed separately from the o-hand
        repository [4].

        I had problems getting these calendar packages to run. The
        latest "Dates" application did not install due to a missing
        dependency, so I chose an older version. But then the EDS
        calendar server crashed after importing all events from the
        SyncML server during the initial synchronization => feel free to
        try out calendar syncs, but do not expect them to work at this
        time.

Getting Started
        SyncEvolution and ScheduleWorld [4] work well together. These
        instructions are for synchronizing the address book with
        ScheduleWorld - see the README for further information.

        - install the Maemo _armel.deb from the SF project page:
          http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=146288
        - get an account on ScheduleWorld [4]
        - open a shell window (xterm or ssh session)
        # mkdir -p ~/.sync4j/evolution
        # cp -r /usr/share/doc/syncevolution/scheduleworld_1 ~/.sync4j/evolution
        # edit ~/.sync4j/evolution/scheduleworld_1/spds/syncml/config.txt
          - choose a "deviceId" which is unique among all clients that you want
            to synchronize with ScheduleWorld
          - enter your "username/password"
        - edit ~/.sync4j/evolution/scheduleworld_1/spds/sources/addressbook_1/config.txt
          - set "evolutionsource" to "<<system>>"
        - edit ~/.sync4j/evolution/scheduleworld_1/spds/sources/[memo_1|calendar_1|todo_1]/config.txt
          - set "sync" to "none" to disable syncing for them
        # syncevolution scheduleworld_1

        The initial synchronization will do a "slow sync" which sends
        all items on the client to the server and returns those that the
        client does not have yet. Any further synchronization will do a
        "two-way" sync which only exchanges modifications: updated
        items, deletions, additions.

        To synchronize your calendar, set "sync" to "two-way" again in
        spds/sources/calendar_1/config.txt and "evolutionsource" to
        "Personal". "syncevolution" without parameters will show all
        available data sources.

Caveats
        Under /var/tmp/SyncEvolution-user-scheduleworld a dump of the
        address book before and after synchronization is created
        together with a log of the last synchronization. This log is
        rather verbose and can get large (several MB for many items), so
        beware! The directory can be configured in the
        spds/syncml/config.txt. Configuring the verbosity level is on
        the todo list.

        This release is not as well-tested as full releases normally
        are; in particular only manual tests were run because the
        automated test suite does not yet work under Maemo.

        The package probably does not quite follow Maemo standards and
        cannot be updated via the package manager because it is not part
        of a proper repository.

Reporting Problems
        Please use the SF [6] tracker for reporting problems and
        requesting features. For discussion of the Maemo package please
        reply on this list.

Further Reading
        The README in the .deb package contains the full user
        documentation. Compiling for Maemo requires several hacks which
        are described in the source and the HACKING document in the
        source distribution.

[1] http://www.estamos.de/projects/SyncML/
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SyncML
[3] http://www.funambol.com/
[4] http://maemo.o-hand.com/
[5] http://sync.scheduleworld.com
[6] http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=146288&atid=764733

-- 
Bye, Patrick Ohly
--  
Patrick.Ohly at gmx.de
http://www.estamos.de/