[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread] 

List:       kde-devel
Subject:    Re: Kmail 1.8 Doesn't see previous folders
From:       Ingo =?utf-8?q?Kl=C3=B6cker?= <kloecker () kde ! org>
Date:       2005-03-01 23:00:39
Message-ID: 200503020000.52584 () erwin ! ingo-kloecker ! de
[Download RAW message or body]

[Attachment #2 (multipart/signed)]


On Tuesday 01 March 2005 19:49, Steven Pasternak wrote:
> On Tuesday 01 March 2005 12:59 pm, David Faure wrote:
> > On Tuesday 01 March 2005 15:55, Erik Kjær Pedersen wrote:
> > > Mandag 28 februar 2005 20:51 skrev Mark A. Taff:
> > > > From the kde 3.4 feature list:
> > > >
> > > > Store mail in $KDEHOME/apps/kmail/mail instead of ~/Mail Ingo
> > > > Klöcker <kloecker@kde.org>
> > >
> > > Does that mean i have to explain to 200 users why their mail has
> > > disappeared when we upgrade to 3.4? Is that a feature? Is there a
> > > way to prepare to avoid the mess that will happen?
> >
> > Relax, $KDEHOME/apps/kmail/mail is only used for *new* users (who
> > never used kmail before).
>
> Well, there are a LOT of people who already use a distro with kde who
> will want to upgrade. Since 3,4 is still an rc1, it needs a tool to
> detect this after an upgrade when you start kmail. And, I had my mail
> in ~/Mail and kmail still used $KDEHOME/apps/kmail/mail and scared
> the crap out of me! That NEEDS to be fixed.

There's nothing that needs to be fixed. The official release of KMail 
always used ~/Mail, but it was always possible to use another folder by 
manually editting KMail's configuration file. (See the FAQ in the KMail 
handbook.)

So that's the situation before KDE 3.4. KMail 1.8 now does the following 
when it's started:
1.) KMail checks whether the location of the mail storage is stored in 
its configuration file. If this is the case then KMail uses this 
location. Otherwise 2.)
2.) KMail checks whether there's a ~/KMail folder. (This folder was used 
a very long time ago by KMail.) If there's such a folder then KMail 
uses this folder for the mail storage. Otherwise 3.)
3.) KMail checks whether there's a ~/Mail folder. If there is such a 
folder then KMail checks whether this folder was used before by KMail. 
This is done by checking whether the index file of the inbox folder 
(~/Mail/.inbox.index) exists. If this file exists then KMail uses 
~/Mail as mail storage. Otherwise 4.)
4.) Now KMail assumes that it hasn't been used before on this computer 
and therefore uses the new default $KDEHOME/apps/kmail/mail as mail 
storage.

As you can see in all normal situations upgrading to KDE 3.4 will be no 
problem because prior to upgrading only one of the following three 
situations can occur (with the official version of KMail):
a) The user uses the previous default mail storage ~/Mail. (In this case 
upgrade path 3 is chosen. No problem.)
b) The user still has the ancient ~/KMail mail storage. (In this case 
upgrade path 2 is chosen. No problem.)
c) The user used another mail storage _and_ told KMail about this other 
mail storage by setting the "folders" configuration key accordingly. 
(In this case upgrade path 1 is chosen. No problem.)

Now there can of course be a 4th situation. Let's assume some 
distributor, say Mandrake, chose to use ~/.Mail instead of ~/Mail for 
the mail storage. As long as they used the right way to do so, i.e. by 
setting the "folders" configuration key, there's no problem. But if 
they did something really stupid like patching KMail and hardcoding 
~/.Mail as default mail storage into their version of KMail then 
upgrading to a self-compiled version of KMail might fail because the 
self-compiled version of course can't know anything about the 
distributors change. But as a matter of fact the self-compiled version 
of KMail also wouldn't find the mail storage if the default still was 
~/Mail. Having that said I don't know whether Mandrake chose the 
correct solution or whether they chose the stupid solution.

The good thing is that solving the problem is easy. You just have to 
open KMail's configuration file (usually it's 
~/.kde/share/config/kmailrc) with an editor of your choice, search the 
[General] section, look for the "folders=" configuration key and change 
it's value to $HOME/.Mail (or whatever your mail storage is). Of 
course, KMail/Kontact must not run while you do this.

Please tell me which value the "folders" configuration key had before 
you editted it. Moreover, please tell me which folder you used as mail 
storage prior to upgrading. If I understand your first message 
correctly then you used ~/.Mail (because you restored a backup?). If 
you didn't also restore the old kmailrc then KMail had no way to know 
anything about ~/.Mail (because it's a non-official Mandrake-only 
thing) and thus your problem is completely unrelated to the upgrade to 
KDE 3.4.

Regards,
Ingo

[Attachment #5 (application/pgp-signature)]

>> Visit http://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-devel#unsub to unsubscribe <<


[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread]