SyncEvolution 1.2 - now with CalDAV/CardDAV
===========================================
The major new feature of the 1.2 release is support for non-SyncML
protocols in general and CalDAV/CardDAV in particular. ActiveSync
support is in development and will be in 1.3. These protocols are
implemented as backends which are combined with other backends by
SyncEvolution in a so called "local sync". The GTK sync-ui does not
yet support configuring non-SyncML protocols. See the README.rst and
man page for more information on how to use the new feature via the
command line (online at
http://syncevolution.org/documentation/syncevolution-usage).
Properties not supported by SyncML servers can now be preserved
locally in two-way synchronization (BMC #15030). This depends on
information about what properties a SyncML server supports ("CtCap"),
which is typically not provided by servers. SyncEvolution contains a
copy of that information for Google Contacts (BMC #15029).
Akonadi backend and KWallet support were merged. They are not included
yet in
syncevolution.org binaries. To use them compile from source.
The configuration format was updated to solve a conceptual problem
inherited with the legacy property names: the "type" property had
multiple, sometimes conflicting roles. For example, setting the
preferred data format for sync with one peer might have changed the
backend selection for some other peer (BMC #1023). Now
"backend/databaseFormat/syncFormat/forceSyncFormat" replace
"type". "type" is still accepted by the command line as alias.
Upgrading from releases before 1.2
-----------------------------------
Old configurations can still be read. But writing, as it happens
during a sync, must migrate the configuration first. Release 1.2
automatically migrates configurations. The old configurations
will still be available (see "syncevolution --print-configs") but must
be renamed manually to use them again under their original names with
older SyncEvolution releases.
Other changes
-------------
* Using the --sync-property and --source-property command line options is
optional, just specifying the property assignment is enough.
* syncevo-http-server was enhanced considerably. See
http://syncevolution.org/wiki/http-server-howto
* support NetworkManager API >= 0.9 (BMC #19470)
*
syncevolution.org binaries: now compatible with Debian Testing/libnotify.so.4 (BMC
#22668)
libnotify is not linked directly into syncevo-dbus-server in the
syncevolution.org binaries. Instead libnotify.so.1 till .so.4
(current Debian Testing) are opened opened dynamically and the
necessary functions are looked up via dlsym(). Not finding the
libraries or the functions silently disables this notification
mechanism.
* Sync mode is recorded when running in SyncML server mode (BMC #2786).
* syncevo-dbus-server automatically stops when some of its libraries
are updated and restarts if auto-syncing is on (BMC #14955).
* Added code for Buteo, mKCal and QtContacts in MeeGo.
Buteo and mKCal were removed again from MeeGo, so the code
is obsolete. The QtContacts backend may be still be useful
to access items via that API, but for syncing on MeeGo
the normal EDS backend is used since MeeGo reverted back
to EDS as PIM storage.
* "databasePassword" source property: lookup failure in keyring (BMC #22937)
The databasePassword also wasn't looked up at all when doing item operations
via the command line.
When configuring sources for an HTTP server, the config name typically
is just the context (@foo). When using the config in the HTTP server,
the config name is the peer inside that context (client@foo). Because
the GNOME keyring lookup keys for the "databasePassword" (more
specifically, the object name) contained the full config name which
was different in both cases, looking up the saved password failed.
The solution is to normalize the config name (to accomodate for
different ways of spelling it) and use only the context, with @ as
before. This will break existing setups where the object name in the
keyring (incorrectly) includes the full config name. In that case just
configure the source again to set the password anew.
* Evolution Calendar: fixed detached recurrence support (BMC #22940)
When manipulating a meeting series with more than one detached
recurrence certain sequences of operations could incorrectly fail
with "UID already exists".
* iCalendar 2.0: must set VALUE in EXDATE (part of BMC #22940)
EXDATE has a VALUE parameter, which wasn't defined in the XML
profile. Didn't seem to matter at all in practice, but wasn't
standard-compliant.
* GTK sync-ui: wrap sync service descriptions (BMC #7199)
Descriptions of different sync services are not fully visible unless
word-wrapping gets enabled.
* CalDAV/CardDAV + local storage: avoid empty properties
The main motivation for this change is that a recent Apple Calendar
server rejects vCards with empty BDAY property. Another reason is that
keeping the data as small as possible is desirable by itself.
Sending an empty property serves as a hint for the peer that the
property is supported. This is not necessary when storing an item in a
backend. Therefore this commit disables empty properties for all
backends which do not themselves set the m_backendRule Synthesis info
value.
* Google Contacts: ensure that first/middle/name are set when storing in EDS (BMC #20864)
Evolution and the MeeGo UX assume that first/middle/last name are set.
That is not the case when a contact is created in the Google Contacts
web interface. Such contacts are sent by Google without the N
property.
SyncEvolution now tries to recreate the name components from the FN
string, by splitting at word boundaries and assuming "<first>
<middle> <last>" or "<last>, <first>" format.
Obviously this
heuristic fails for some locales.
* Evolution Calendar: fixed error handling for broken TZIDs
* Sony Ericsson: use ISO-8859-1 for all devices (BMC #14414)
Passing invalid UTF-8 strings into libecal caused glib to
abort syncevo-dbus-server.
* auto sync: show all failed syncs except for temporary network errors (BMC #21888)
Notifications were meant to be shown for all errors except temporary
ones. This has never been implemented correctly since the feature was
introduced: instead of hiding known temporary errors, all errors except
500 (fatal error) were suppressed.
* vCard: inline local photo data (BMC #19661)
Some platforms (Maemo, MeeGo) store photos in separate files. Now SyncEvolution
efficiently includes that photo data in the generated vCard right before sending
it to a peer; previously it sent a useless local file:// URI. The Maemo port
has a less efficient workaround for that which now should be obsolete.
* syncevo-dbus-server: online status wrong without Network Manager or ConnMan (BMC
#21543)
When neither Network Manager nor ConnMan are running, network presence was "not
online". This prevented running automatic syncs.
For developers:
* modified backend API
- ClientTestConfig modernized
- InsertItemResult::m_merged turned from boolean to enum
* testing and compilation changes; for example, the minimum version of
libsynthesis is now checked at configure time instead of failing at
runtime due to missing features in the Synthesis engine
SyncEvolution 1.1.99.7 -> 1.2, 13.10.2011
=========================================
Some more bug fixes and testing improvements.
* fixed potential invalid memory access in add<->add conflict handling
* fixed memory leak in workaround for EDS bug
* CalDAV/CardDAV: handle ETags without quotation marks (eGroupware)
* updated README: warning about sync direction moved to --sync option
Source, Installation, Further information
=========================================
http://syncevolution.org/blogs/pohly/2011/syncevolution-12-released
Source snapshots are in
http://downloads.syncevolution.org/syncevolution/sources
i386, lpia and amd64 binaries for Debian-based distributions are
available via the "stable"
syncevolution.org repository. Add the
following entry to your /apt/source.list, then install
"syncevolution-evolution":
deb
http://downloads.syncevolution.org/apt unstable main
These binaries include the "sync-ui" GTK GUI and were compiled for
Ubuntu 8.04 LTS (Hardy). Older distributions like Debian 4.0 (Etch) can
no longer be supported with precompiled binaries because of missing
libraries, but the source still compiles when not enabling the GUI (the
default).
The same binaries are also available as .tar.gz and .rpm archives in
http://downloads.syncevolution.org/syncevolution/evolution. In contrast
to 0.8.x archives, the 1.x .tar.gz archives have to be unpacked and the
content must be moved to /usr, because several files would not be found
otherwise.
After installation, follow the
http://syncevolution.org/documentation/getting-started steps.
--
Patrick Ohly, on behalf of everyone who has helped
to make SyncEvolution possible:
http://syncevolution.org/about/contributors