syncevolution/README

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Introduction
------------
sync4jevolution synchronizes Evolution's contact and calender items
with a SyncML server. The items are exchanged in the vCard and
vCalender formats and via the Funambol Sync4j C++ client API library,
which should make sync4jevolution compatible with the majority of
SyncML servers. Full, one-way and incremental synchronization of items
are supported.
sync4jevolution does not synchronize with another SyncML capable
device directly: a SyncML server that that device and sync4jevolution
can talk to is needed. The remainder of this document assumes that
Funambol's Sync4j server bundle for Linux V2.3 was installed using the
default configuration.
Usage
-----
Currently sync4jevolution comes as a simple command line tool which is
configured via files. A graphical interface via an Evolution plugin
would also be possible, but is not implemented yet. As command line
parameters sync4jevolution only supports one option which specifies the
configuration file that drive the synchronization run:
sync4jevolution <server>
The SyncML <server> has to specified. Selection of sources of
Evolution data which are to be synchronized with that server is done
via configuration files. It is possible to configure sources without
activating their synchronization, see the "disabled" property below.
Progress and error messages are both sent to stdout. In case of an
error the synchronization run is aborted and sync4jevolution returns a
non-zero value. If one data source fails, synchronization of the
remaining sources is not attempted. Recovery from failed
synchronization is done by forcing a full synchronization during the
next run, i.e. by sending all items and letting the SyncML server
compare against the ones it already knows.
After a successful synchronization the server's configuration file is
updated so that the next run can be done incrementally. If the
configuration file has to be recreated e.g. because it was lost, the
next run recovers from that by doing a full synchronization.
Configuration
-------------
The configuration file of a certain <server> is stored in
$HOME/.sync4j/evolution/<server>/spds/syncml/config.txt
The format is a simple list of
<property> = <value>
pairs with one pair per line. Leading spaces and space around the
equals character are skipped. <value> then runs until the the end of
the line. In other words, it cannot start with spaces nor contain line
breaks. Do not put quotation marks around <value>, they would be
treated as part of the value itself. Lines starting with a hash (#)
after optional leading spaces are treated as comments and skipped.
The server configuration file should contain the following entries:
# the base URL of the SyncML server
syncURL = http://localhost:8080/sync4j/sync
# the SyncML gets this string and will use it to keep track
# of changes that still need to be synchronized; when multiple
# users access the server, this should be set to something unique
deviceId = sc-api-nat
# authorization for the SyncML server
username = guest
password = guest
# ???
firstTimeSyncMode = 0
# set to T to enable an HTTP proxy
useProxy = F
# proxy URL (http://<host>:<port>)
proxyHost =
# used by the SyncML library internally; do not modify
begin =
end =
# obsolete?
serverName =
Each data source is configured in
$HOME/.sync4j/evolution/<server>/sources/<source>/config.txt
Here is a file which would be used to synchronize the default
Evolution contacts with the Sync4j server:
# name of the source
name = card
# set to T if this source is not to be synchronized
disabled =
# requests a certain synchronization mode:
# refresh = only exchange modified items if possible
# slow = exchange all items
# two-way-one-way = ???
sync = refresh
# overrides the supported synchronization modes
syncModes = slow,two-way-one-way,refresh
# specifies the format of the data
# text/x-vcalendar = Evolution calender data
# text/x-vcard = Evolution contact data
type = text/x-vcard
# picks one of Evolution's data sources, leave empty for default
evolutionurl =
# this is appended to the server's URL to identify the
# server's database
uri = briefcase
# authentication for Evolution source
evolutionuser =
evolutionpassword =
# used by the SyncML library internally; do not modify
last = 1128964758
Each data source corresponds to one database at the SyncML server, so
two entries have to be added for each Evolution calendar as it stores
both events/appointments and todo items. The Evolution data source is
determined by the type of data given in "type" and uniquely identified
with the "evolutionurl" property. Not giving an url implies that
Evolution's default contact or calender is to be used.
If the Evolution data source requires authentication, the
"evolutionuser" and "evolutionpassword" are used as credentials. In
this case the directory that contains the source's config.txt should
only be accessible by the user.
Compiling from Source
---------------------
To compile the code the 3.x version of the Sync4j C++
client library is needed. Also needed are the Evolution
development files. The code was tested with Evolution
2.0.4 and it is unclear which other versions it is
compatible with.
The build system is the normal autotools system.
See INSTALL for general instructions how to use that
and "./configure --help" for Sync4jEvolution specific
options.