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<article id="index">
<artheader>
<authorgroup>
<author>
<firstname>Ettore</firstname>
<surname>Perazzoli</surname>
</author>
<author>
<firstname>Duncan</firstname>
<surname>Mak</surname>
</author>
</authorgroup>
<title>Evolution Frequently Asked questions</title>
<abstract>
<para>
This is a FAQ list and yadda yadda.
</para>
</abstract>
</artheader>
<!-- Section: Getting and compiling -->
<sect1>
<title>
Getting and compiling
</title>
<!-- -->
<sect2>
<title>
Where can I get the latest Evolution release?
</title>
<para>
There are two main ways to install the latest Evolution
release:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
If you have Ximian GNOME installed, you can start Red
Carpet, Ximian's software updating system, and subscribe
to the Evolution channel. This will let you install a
binary for the latest release, and will also warn you
when a new version has been made available.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
If you want to compile from source, you can download the
latest official Evolution tarball from:
</para>
<para>
<ulink url="ftp://ftp.gnome.org/pub/GNOME/unstable/sources/evolution">
ftp://ftp.gnome.org/pub/GNOME/unstable/sources/evolution
</ulink>
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
<!-- -->
<sect2>
<title>
Are binary snapshots available?
</title>
<para>
Yes, if you have Ximian GNOME installed. Just run Red
Carpet and subscribe to the Evolution Snapshot channel.
</para>
<para>
The snapshot builds are logged at <ulink
url="http://primates.ximian.com/~snapshot">http://primates.ximian.com/~snapshot</ulink>.
</para>
</sect2>
<!-- -->
<sect2>
<title>
Why isn't a new snapshot available today?
</title>
<para>
Sometimes the build might fail because of problems with the
source on CVS. In this case, just wait for next day's
snapshot.
</para>
</sect2>
<!-- -->
<sect2>
<title>
How do I get Evolution from CVS?
</title>
<para>
If you already have <ulink url="http://cvs.gnome.org">GNOME
CVS</ulink> access, simply checkout the following modules:
evolution, gtkhtml, gal.
</para>
<para>
If you don't have a CVS account, you could use anoncvs
instead. Bear in mind that anoncvs is only synchronized once a
day, and code received from anoncvs may not be latest version
available.
</para>
<para>
Before using the anoncvs server, you have to log into it.
This only needs to be done once.
</para>
<programlisting>
cvs -z3 -d :pserver:anonymous@anoncvs.gnome.org:/cvs/gnome login
</programlisting>
<para>
Then you can retrieve the modules needed to compile Evolution
using the following command:
</para>
<programlisting>
cvs -z3 -d :pserver:anonymous@anoncvs.gnome.org:/cvs/gnome co evolution gtkhtml gal
</programlisting>
</sect2>
<!-- -->
<sect2>
<title>
How should I compile Evolution avoiding conflicts with my
existing GNOME installation?
</title>
<para>
The best way is to install Evolution into a separate prefix.
In order to specify a non-default installation prefix, you can
pass the <parameter>--prefix</parameter> option to
<filename>configure</filename> or <filename>autogen.sh</filename>. For
example:
</para>
<programlisting>
cd /cvs/evolution
./autogen.sh --prefix=/opt/gnome
</programlisting>
<para>
If you install Evolution and the Evolution libraries in a
non-standard prefix, make sure you set the appropriate
environment variables in your shell's startup script:
</para>
<programlisting>
export PATH=/opt/gnome:$PATH
export GNOME_PATH=/opt/gnome:/usr
</programlisting>
<para>
You may also need to add <filename>$prefix/lib</filename>
(e.g. <filename>/opt/gnome/lib</filename>) to your
<filename>/etc/ld.so.conf</filename>. <!-- FIXME portable? -->
</para>
</sect2>
<!-- -->
<sect2>
<title>
I get <computeroutput>make: *** No rule to make target
`all-no-@BUILD_INCLUDED_LIBINTL@'</computeroutput>
</title>
<para>
You probably have <filename>gettext</filename> 0.10.36 or
later installed. Try downgrading to 0.10.35; unfortunately,
0.10.36 introduced some incompatibilities with the current
<filename>xml-i18n-tools</filename>.
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1> <!-- End Section: Getting and compiling -->
<!-- Section: Troubleshooting -->
<sect1>
<title>Troubleshooting</title>
<!-- -->
<sect2>
<title>
I get <computeroutput>Cannot initialize the Evolution
shell</computeroutput>.
</title>
<para>
Check that:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
<filename>oafd</filename> is listen in your <envar>PATH</envar>
environment variable.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<filename>GNOME_Evolution_Shell.oaf</filename> and
the other
<filename>GNOME_Evolution_*.oaf</filename> files are
readable and installed in
<filename>$prefix/share/oaf</filename>, where
<filename>$prefix</filename> is one of the prefixes
listed in <envar>GNOME_PATH</envar> or
<envar>OAF_INFO_PATH</envar>. (These variables are
supposed to contain $PATH-like colon-separated lists of
paths. If the installation prefix for Evolution is
different from that). Run `oaf-slay' once before running
`evolution' again if you change $GNOME_PATH or
$OAF_INFO_PATH.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<filename>evolution</filename>,
<filename>evolution-mail</filename> and the other
<filename>evolution-*</filename> executables are in your
$PATH.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
<!-- -->
<sect2>
<title>
I get <computeroutput>Cannot open composer window</computeroutput>.
</title>
<para>
This actually means that Evolution cannot activate the HTML
editor component from GtkHTML. The comments in the previous
answer still apply; also make sure that
<command>gnome-gtkhtml-editor</command> is in your
<envar>PATH</envar>.
</para>
</sect2>
<!-- -->
<sect2>
<title>
I updated my Evolution, but my addressbook contacts are no
longer there, what should I do?
</title>
<para>
Evolution uses the <filename>libdb</filename> library to
handle the addressbook database. Two versions of
<filename>libdb</filename> can be used with Evolution: version
1.88 and version 2.
</para>
<para>
Unfortunately, an Evolution executable that is linked against
a certain version of <filename>libdb</filename> will only be
able to read addressbook files written by another Evolution
executable that is linked with the same version of the
library. If your addressbook is not readable by Evolution
anymore, it probably means that you used to have Evolution
linked with a certain version of <filename>libdb</filename>,
but now it gets linked to a different version.
</para>
<para>
Because of the way <filename>libdb</filename> is designed, it
is not easy for Evolution to automatically do the conversion
between the two formats. But, if your Evolution used to be
linked against version 1.85 and now is linked to version 2,
there is a very simple way to convert the database and recover
your data.
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
First of all, check the format of the database using the
<command>file</command> command:
</para>
<programlisting>
file ~/evolution/local/Contacts/addressbook.db
</programlisting>
<para>
You want version 1.85 there. If your version is 2, then
your current Evolution is probably linked against
version 1.85 and you cannot convert the database to the
old format. To do that, follow these instructions:
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Quit Evolution.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make a copy of the addressbook database for backup
purposes.
</para>
<programlisting>
cd ~/evolution/local/Contacts
cp addressbook.db addressbook.db.backup
</programlisting>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Convert the contacts to the new format using
<command>db_dump185</command> and
<command>db_load</command>:
</para>
<programlisting>
db_dump185 ~/evolution/local/Contacts/addressbook.db.backup | db_load ~/evolution/local/Contacts/addressbook.db
</programlisting>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Restart Evolution.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
<!-- -->
<sect2>
<title>
Evolution crashes reporting that it couldn't allocate N
billion bytes; how do I fix this?
</title>
<para>
This usually happens when a component tries talking a
certain version of a CORBA interface to another component
that supports a different version. For example, this can
happen when you recompile and install a single component
without recompiling/installing the rest of Evolution.
</para>
<para>
So, if this occurs to you, make sure all the components are
compiled and installed at the same time. This also applies
to GtkHTML upgrades; after upgrading and installing a newer
GtkHTML, always re-compile and re-install Evolution against
it.
</para>
</sect2>
<!-- -->
<sect2>
<title>
What is <command>killev</command> and why do I need to use it?
</title>
<para>
Evolution is actually made up of several components that run
as separate processes. Evolution's shell is not very good
at cleaning up stale processes, so it is possible that
sometimes already-running components cause unexpected and/or
broken behavior.
</para>
<para>
It's always a good idea to run <command>killev</command>
after a crash in Evolution, especially if the Evolution
shell itself crashed. (If a component crashes instead, you
should try to exit the shell cleanly first, so you give a
chance to the other components to clean things up properly.)
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>
What is <command>oaf-slay</command> and why do I need to use it?
</title>
<para>
<command>oaf-slay</command> is an utility which comes with
OAF, the Object Activation Framework that is used in the
GNOME Desktop to activate components. It will kill the
object activation daemon (<command>oafd</command>) as well
as all the active components on the system.
</para>
<para>
Normally, you shouldn't need to run
<command>oaf-slay</command>, unless <command>oafd</command>
gets stuck or confused. For example, it might help in case
Evolution cannot activate components.
</para>
<para>
Using <command>oaf-slay</command>
<command>oaf-slay</command> is quite drastic and can cause
problems with other programs that use oaf, especially with
<application>Nautilus</application>. To avoid problems, do
not run <command>oaf-slay</command> while you are in GNOME.
</para>
</sect1> <!-- End Section: Troubleshooting -->
<!-- Section: Debugging -->
<sect1>
<title>
Debugging
</title>
<!-- -->
<sect2>
<title>
Where should I report bugs for Evolution?
</title>
<para>
You should report bugs about Evolution into the Ximian bug
reporting system (Bugzilla), located at <ulink
url="http://bugzilla.ximian.com">http://bugzilla.ximian.com</ulink>.
</para>
<para>
Please use the query function to check if a bug has been
submitted already before submitting it.
</para>
</sect2>
<!-- -->
<sect2>
<title>
Can I just use Bug-Buddy?
</title>
<para>
No. The Ximian bug tracker does not yet have an email-based
interface, so Bug Buddy cannot talk to it. This will be
fixed eventually.
</para>
</sect2>
<!-- -->
<sect2>
<title>
What is a stack trace (backtrace) and how do I get one?
</title>
<para>
A stack trace is a list of the chain of function calls that
lead to some point in the program. Typically, you want to
get a stack trace when Evolution crashes or hangs and you
want to try to figure out where in the code that happened
and why. For this reason, stack traces are extremely useful
for the Evolution developers, so it's important that you
learn how to get them, and always include them in crash
reports.
</para>
<para>
First of all, in order to get a stack trace, your executable
(and possibly the libraries) must be compiled with debugging
symbols. Debugging symbols are created by default if you
compile from CVS, and are included in the snapshot builds.
If you decide to compile by yourself with some custom CFLAGS
value, make sure <command>-g</command> is included in them.
</para>
<para>
Finally, you must put the component that crashes through
<command>gdb</command>. Make sure all the components are
dead (exit Evolution and <command>killev</command>), then
run the following command:
</para>
<programlisting>
gdb name-of-component
</programlisting>
<para>
Then, at the gdb prompt, type <userinput>r</userinput> (for
"run") and wait a few seconds to make sure the component has
registered with the name service. Then start Evolution
normally from a different terminal.
</para>
<para>
Then, reproduce the crash, and go back to the terminal where
you ran <command>gdb</command>. If the component crashed,
you should have a prompt there; otherwise, just hit
<keycombo action=simul>
<keycap>Control</keycap>
<keycap>C</keycap>
</keycombo>.
At the prompt, type:
</para>
<programlisting>
info threads
</programlisting>
<para>
This will give you a list of the current running threads,
e.g.
</para>
<screen>
(gdb) info threads
8 Thread 6151 (LWP 14908) 0x409778fe in sigsuspend () from /lib/libc.so.6
7 Thread 5126 (LWP 14907) 0x409778fe in sigsuspend () from /lib/libc.so.6
6 Thread 4101 (LWP 1007) 0x409778fe in sigsuspend () from /lib/libc.so.6
5 Thread 3076 (LWP 1006) 0x409778fe in sigsuspend () from /lib/libc.so.6
4 Thread 2051 (LWP 1005) 0x409778fe in sigsuspend () from /lib/libc.so.6
3 Thread 1026 (LWP 1004) 0x409778fe in sigsuspend () from /lib/libc.so.6
2 Thread 2049 (LWP 1003) 0x40a10d90 in poll () from /lib/libc.so.6
1 Thread 1024 (LWP 995) 0x40a10d90 in poll () from /lib/libc.so.6
</screen>
<para>
(Notice that, normally, only
<command>evolution-mail</command> will have more than one
thread.)
</para>
<para>
Now, for each of the thread listed, type the following
commands:
</para>
<programlisting>
thread N
bt
</programlisting>
<para>
Where `N' is the thread number. (In this example, you would
have to do it with N as 1, 2, 3... 8.) Then cut and paste
all the output into some text file, and quit
<command>gdb</command> by typing
<userinput>quit</userinput>.
</para>
<para>
You can also get a stack trace from a running component or a
component that has just crashed. Just start
<command>gdb</command> normally and, instead of using the
<userinput>r</userinput> command, use
<userinput>attach</userinput> to attach to the running
process:
</para>
<programlisting>
attach PID
</programlisting>
<para>
Where <userinput>PID</userinput> is the PID of the
component. Notice that this also works if you attach right
after a crash dialog appears, before hitting "OK" or "Submit
bug report".
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1> <!-- End Section: Debugging -->
<!-- Section: Features -->
<sect1>
<title>
Features
</title>
<!-- -->
<sect2>
<title>
How can I remove a folder?
</title>
<para>
Currently there is no command in Evolution to remove a
folder, so you have to remove it by hand.
</para>
<para>
All the folders are stored in
<filename>~/evolution/local</filename>. Each folder is a
directory containing the data files, as well as a
<filename>subfolders</filename> directory that contains all
its subfolders. So for example if you have a subfolder of
the <filename>Inbox</filename> called
<filename>Foo</filename>, you can run the following command
to get rid of it (and all it subfolders):
</para>
<programlisting>
rm -rf ~/evolution/local/Inbox/subfolders/Foo
</programlisting>
<para>
You should do this after exiting Evolution.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>
Why doesn't drag and drop between folders seem to work?
</title>
<para>
The implementation isn't finished, although it's planned to
be finished soon.
</para>
<para>
In the meantime, you can copy the folders' contents by hand
from the shell (please do this after quitting Evolution).
For example:
</para>
<programlisting>
cp -r ~/evolution/local/Inbox/subfolders/Foo ~/evolution/local/Inbox/subfolders/Bar
</programlisting>
<para>
Likewise, you can use <command>mv</command> to rename or
move folders.
</para>
</sect2>
<!-- -->
<sect2>
<title>
Can I read mail from a mailbox file created by some other
application (e.g. Mutt) without importing mail from it?
</title>
<para>
No, but it's a planned feature.
</para>
</sect2>
<!-- -->
<sect2>
<title>
Can Evolution sync to my Palm OS (tm) device?
</title>
<para>
Yes. Evolution needs to be compiled with Palm syncing
support for this to work though. Please refer to the
<filename>README</filename> file for additional information
on the requirements.
</para>
</sect2>
<!-- -->
<sect2>
<title>
What is the difference between a virtual folder (vfolder)
and a regular folder?
</title>
<para>
A virtual folder is like a saved search: it is a view of
your mail. Regular folders actually contain the mail
messages. You can have one message be in multiple virtual
folders, but only in one regular folder. See the section in
the Evolution manual about virtual folders for more
information.
</para>
</sect2>
<!-- -->
<sect2>
<title>
Can Evolution spell-check the messages while I compose them?
</title>
<para>
Yes. The Evolution composer is able to highlight
mis-spelled word on the fly as you type them, and also give
you suggestions for possible corrections. In order for this
to work you need the <filename>gnome-spell</filename>
component, which is not shipped with Ximian GNOME yet.
</para>
<para>
If you are brave enough, you can check out module
<filename>gnome-spell</filename> from the GNOME CVS and
compile it yourself. Check out its README file for a list
of <filename>gnome-spell</filename>'s requirements for
compilation.
</para>
<para>
Note that you don't need to recompile Evolution after
installing <filename>gnome-spell</filename>; it will be
picked up automatically.
</para>
</sect2>
<!-- -->
<sect2>
<title>
I cannot see the images that are contained in some HTML mail
message I am getting. Why?
</title>
<para>
Evolution currently doesn't support this, but it's a planned
feature.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>
Can I change the font that Evolution uses for compose and
displaying mail messages?
</title>
<para>
You have to change the GtkHTML settings for that: in the
GNOME Control Center, go to the "HTML Viewer" configuration
page, which is under the "Document Handlers" category.
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1> <!-- End Section: Features -->
</article>
