Sync'ing Kmail/Kontact/Akonadi

[Chopstick]

Hi,
I'm in the process of upgrading my two systems (laptop and desktop) to 12.10 (from 11.04).
I like to synchronize the two systems, so I can easily switch between them (I use the desktop at work and the laptop mostly at home and for travel).
I used to do the synchronization with Unison (which uses rsync under the hood), and for general files and folders that is probably still OK. I also used to sync KDE config/rc files and mail folders the same way.
Now, I understand, a lot has changed in Kmail, and I am wondering if this approach is still advisable.
So here are two questions:

1. What would you recommend to sync your email, calendar, and some KDE configuration files?

2. If the synchronization method ends up being file based (like Unision/rsync), which files would I have to sync to have basically all of Kontact sync'ed? (Or is the a significant change to 11.04? - basically I used to ignore akonadi alltogether...)

I'm curious to hear some opinions!

[Chopstick]

I did some more search and came across OpenSync (and a KDE frontend called Kitchensync) - does anyone have experience with that? It does not seem to be well tested yet... but apparently the Akonadi plugin is supposed to be relatively stable...

And then there is also Kolab, but I don't know much about that...

[SteveRiley]

Like you, I use multiple laptops. The best approach I've found for keeping email, contacts, and calendars in sync is to set up my own server. An ancient HP Mini 2140 hosts the rileyz.net domain. It runs Ubuntu Server, Postfix, Dovecot, Roundcube, DAViCal, PostgreSQL, Apache, PHP, and Webmin. My two Kubuntu laptops, my Android phone, and my Ubuntu/Android tablet all are set up to use this server. Everything's published to the Internet via SSL.

[Chopstick]

Thanks for you input, SteveRiley! Setting up my own server with mail and all sounds like an aweful lot of work (since I am not really familiar with this stuff). Once I tried to set up a Kolab server on my workstation, but it defeated me (but that was years ago).
At the moment, sync'ing the .local folder seems to be the easiest way to synchronize two systems, but, admittedly, this will only work, if both installations are identical.
On my online searches I've also come across the option of using Evolution's sync tool to sync kontact... apparently that works, after some tweaking... can anyone recommend that?
Otherwise I will probably go back to unison...

[Chopstick]

I have to correct my previous assertion: copying .local does not do the trick! In fact this got me into a lot of trouble!
I've posted about that here: http://www.kubuntuforums.net/showthr...to-reset-kmail

Syncing the calendar is really easy (just copy the file), and IMAP email accounts don't really need to be synchronized manually. But my POP3 account is causing a lot of trouble, and I haven't looked into syncing the addressbook yet.
theoretically the POP3 mail should be stored in .local/share/local-mail (it goes into Local Folders/inbox in kmail), but sync'ing/copying this folder does not seem to sync/copy the emails in Local Folders/inbox (even when akonadi is stopped).

[SteveRiley]

Hm, I don't use POP3. But for IMAP4, Akonadi stores:

* Individual email messages in separate files in ~/.local/share/akonadi/file_db_data
* Indexes and databases in ~/.local/share/akonadi/db_data
* Resource definitions in ~/.config/akonadi

[kubicle]

theoretically the POP3 mail should be stored in .local/share/local-mail (it goes into Local Folders/inbox in kmail), but sync'ing/copying this folder does not seem to sync/copy the emails in Local Folders/inbox (even when akonadi is stopped).

Did you also copy "~/.local/share/.local-mail.directory" (on common configurations, that's actually where the data is stored...a tad confusing, but in-line with the maildir specs)

[Chopstick]

kubicle, I didn't copy this directory, because it does not exist on my system.
My current file/folder listing for .local/share is:
$ ls -la
total 80
drwxrwxr-x 9 me me 4096 Nov 30 08:29 .
drwxrwxr-x 3 me me 4096 Nov 26 20:46 ..
drwxrwxr-x 5 me me 4096 Nov 29 21:19 akonadi
drwxrwxr-x 2 me me 4096 Nov 29 21:19 calendar
drwxrwxr-x 2 me me 4096 Nov 26 22:12 contacts
drwxrwxr-x 2 me me 4096 Nov 27 10:09 icc
drwxrwxr-x 9 me me 4096 Nov 28 13:47 local-mail
drwxrwxr-x 9 me me 4096 Nov 26 21:27 local-mail-backup
-rw------- 1 me me 1209 Nov 29 08:59 recently-used.xbel
drwx------ 4 me me 4096 Nov 29 22:36 Trash
-rw-rw-r-- 1 me me 245 Nov 30 08:29 user-places.xbel
-rw-rw-r-- 1 me me 245 Nov 30 08:29 user-places.xbel.bak
-rw-rw-r-- 1 me me 0 Nov 30 08:29 user-places.xbel.tbcache

There is no "~/.local/share/.local-mail.directory" ... and never was. (Btw. I added the calandar folder myself, in case you were wondering.)

[kubicle]

kubicle, I didn't copy this directory, because it does not exist on my system.

That's also possible, AFAIK this depends whether the top level directory (~/.local/share/local-mail) is set up as a maildir in itself, or a container for maildirs. Last I checked, and IIRC, the former was the default and therefore the "common configuration", but the latter should also be possible (and seems to be what you have)

What are the contents of your maildir resource rc (~/.kde/share/config/akonadi_maildir_resource_#rc...'#' depends on how many times you've configured a maildir agent)?