On Monday 20 April 2009 16:23:43 Stan Goodman wrote:
> At 16:20:20 on Monday Monday 20 April 2009, Will Stephenson
>
> <wstephenson@suse.de> wrote:
> > On Sunday 19 April 2009 14:45:25 Stan Goodman wrote:
> > > At 13:22:38 on Sunday Sunday 19 April 2009, "Carlos E. R."
> > >
> > > <robin.listas@telefonica.net> wrote:
> > > > On Saturday, 2009-04-18 at 23:37 +0300, Stan Goodman wrote:
> > > > > I am running openSuSE v10.3, and want to install v11.1 on a
> > > > > separate drive. I will want to carry over, among other things,
> > > > > the mail folders, the settings, and the filters from KMail to the
> > > > > new OS, but I do not find a way to export these things from the
> > > > > present mailer, nor for that matter, to import them. What am I
> > > > > overlooking?
> > > >
> > > > In Linux, you can simply move over the mail folder from probably
> > > > any mail client to any mail client -- if they are mbox type, and
> > > > kmail by default uses a type of maildir. At least, you can move
> > > > them from kmail to kmail.
> > >
> > > In that case, presumably the mail folders would come across with the
> > > home directory, so there is no problem.
> > >
> > > > Configuration data (and addresses) is different.
> >
> > No, it's not - copying all of .kde[4] on one computer to the other will
> > import your mail and addresses, provided they are in the default
> > locations under .kde[4].
> >
> > > Addresses are in KAddressbook, which DOES know how to export and
> > > import, so this too is no problem, unless KDE4's "paradigm shift"
> > > makes it impossible. Personally, I am very suspicious of the need or
> > > desirability of far-reaching paradigm shifts that make life difficult
> > > for users; it has a Redmond taste. But Redmond has the excuse that
> > > they have to coerce customers to replace apps yearly, else the Sultan
> > > of Brunei would again be the wealthiest man on the planet. I am not
> > > sure what the motivation would be for KDE.
> > >
> > > > Should be a request to devs, export/import all data.
> > >
> > > One would think that would have been self-understood.
> >
> > There was no significant[*] paradigm shift for kmail or kaddressbook's
> > storage - no conspiracy, developer arrogance or eye candy fixation here
> > - the difficulty arises because although upstream KDE automatically
> > migrates all data to KDE3, we took the conservative route of keeping
> > .kde for KDE3 and .kde4 for KDE4 so that users can freely switch
> > between versions. We do not automatically migrate PIM data in 11.1
> > because we wanted to make sure the migration process was watertight for
> > 11.2.
> >
> > Will
>
> Having installed v11.1 in apparently good order and installed KMail, I
> just tried to bring over the address data from Kaddressbook. This looked
> like a good starting place because the File menu indicates that there is
> a straightforward way to Export from the source OS (the v10.3
> partitions). It turns out to be not quite so.
>
> I chose to export as Vcard v3; the utility informed me that, since I have
> several data resources (although I use only one), I must decide whether I
> want several files or only one. I interpreted this as meaning a separate
> file for each resource (although I think now that the utility has in mind
> something else entirely). and I chose separate files, because I did NOT
> want all the existing resources in a single file.
>
> After a few seconds, I was told that it would not be possible to perform
> the Export (without clue about why not). A glance in the folder that I
> had defined for a target showed there there is a separate file for each
> and every one of the hundreds of contacts that Kaddressbook knows. When I
> click on any one of these files, a dialog comes up asking me if I want
> the corresponding contact to be exported (I do, and that's why I started
> the export). When I answer in the affirmative, the dialog, the file, and
> the entire folder collapse -- which is just as well, because I am not
> about to go through that for each and every contact.
>
> My guess, though I can't be sure of anything, is that I should have chosen
> the "single file" option, because "separate files" seems to mean per
> contact. But what I have seen makes it seem that the Export option, and
> probably the Import option at the other end as well, may not be what I
> expected at all.
>
> My question, then, is: What have other people done to bring over their
> Kaddressbook information from v10.3 KDE3 to v11.1 KDE4?

The Export function in KAddressbook is intended for exporting to other applications. I would just tar up my .kde dir from one installation and untar it in the other. This has the advantage that if you have multiple address books, the structure is always maintained. Exporting all contacts flattens them into one file.

If you then want to start using KDE 4, on first run, kde4-migrate will copy
~/.kde/share/apps/kabc/*.vcf to the equivalent location in ~/.kde4. This includes the 'standard addressbook'.

What we do not migrate automatically yet is the addressbook resource configuration. You can do this manually by copying

~/.kde/share/config/kresources
to
~/.kde4/share/config

and you should be alright when you start KDE 4 kaddressbook.

NB this also copies calendar configuration. The calendar data is in ~/.kde/share/apps/korganizer/std.vcf, by default and can be copied to the equivalent location in .kde4.

There you have a load of my 11.2 TODO written up as manual migration instructions.

> > [*] The default storage of mail distribution lists changed from a text
> > file on disk to a synthetic contact in the addressbook. This allows
> > the dist list to be stored on groupware servers and therefore behave
> > the same way as regular contacts from a user's perspective. This is
> > not handled automatically by upstream KDE. I'm working on automating
> > this conversion for 11.2.
>
> I am not at all sure what implications, if any, the paragraph above has
> for me as a single user in a non-enterprise environment, or for the
> upgrade transition in which I am engaged at the moment.

If you're migrating KDE3 to KDE3, none, if you're migrating KDE3 to KDE4 currently you will have to recreate your distlists manually after the migration.
These are stored in ~/.kde/share/apps/kabc/distlists.

HTH

Will