SyncEvolution project update and 0.9 beta 2 release

Project Update
==============

While I was away on my family vacation [1], the SyncEvolution branch with
the new GTK GUI and various other improvements was published as part
of the Moblin 2.0 beta release.

Since then we have added some minor fixes and improvements and later
released the source as SyncEvolution 0.9 beta 2. Several developers are
working on it now, so 0.9 is fairly close to being released.

The design for the next big step, direct synchronization with mobile
devices via a "personal" SyncML server, is already vailable [2] for
discussion.

I will attend the Gran Canaria Desktop Summit 2009 and give a talk
about the project on Monday as part of the GUADEC track. It is not
part of the published schedule yet, but I've been told that I
have a slot. While the project is currently mostly targeting
Moblin+Evolution, it was always meant to be open for other
contributions, so I hope non-GNOME developers will also attend
the talk.


Changes in 0.9 beta 2
=====================

A GTK GUI! The "sync-ui" program depends on a backend D-Bus service
("synevo-dbus-server") and several auxiliary files. Therefore it only
runs without hacks after "sudo make install", in contrast to the
normal command line which can be invoked directly.

New configuration templates can be added to
/etc/default/applications/syncevolution. These templates may contain
icons which are used by the GUI (no icons shipped right now).

Information about previous synchronization sessions is now stored in a
machine-readable format and can be accessed via the new
--print-sessions options. The output of this information is more
complete and more nicely formatted.

--status now not only shows data changes since the last sync, but also
the item changes (see README for the difference between the two).

The new --restore option allows restoring local data to the state as
it was before or after a sync. For this to work, "logdir" must be set
(done by default for new configurations). The format of database dumps
was changed to implement this feature: instead of in a flat file,
items are now saved as individual files in a directory. To get the
previous format back (for example, to import as one .vcf or .ics file
manually) concatenate these files.

With --remove one can remove configurations. It leaves data files and
the local databases untouched.

Various bug fixes and improvements:

  * compiles and works again on Debian Etch if Boost 1.35 is installed
    from www.backports.org (without GUI, see Bugzilla #3358 [3])

  * uses XDG_CACHE_HOME (= ~/.cache) for logs and database dumps to
    avoid interfering with .desktop search in XDG_DATA_HOME; the
    directory there is automatically moved when running syncevolution
    (Bugzilla #3309 [4])

  * re-enabled certain config options (clientAuthType, maxMsgSize,
    maxObjSize); normally it shouldn't be necessary to modify those
    (Bugzilla #3242 [5], #2784 [6])

  * fixed error handling of unexpected server reply in libsoup
    transport (Bugzilla #3041 [7])

  * message logging is enabled at logLevel 3 (XML translation) and 4
    (also original XML or WBXML message)

  * GTK GUI fixes since initial Moblin 2.0 beta: only start it once if
    libunique is available (Bugzilla #3154 [8]), wrap text in
    change sync service" button (Bugzilla #2064 [9]), sort
    sources alphabetically in UI (Bugzilla #2070 [10])


Next Steps
==========

The goal right now is to work towards a stable 0.9 as quickly as
possible. Primarily that involves interoperability testing with
several different servers. The issue tracker contains a complete list
of known issues that we would like to address. Some of them might have
to be postponed, though.

Translation of the GTK GUI will be coordinated as part of the Moblin
translation project [11], which will be open for external
contributors. The Italian GNOME/Translation Project has already
contributed a translation, many thanks! It has not been included in
beta 2 only because we are still figuring out how the translation
process will work.

Other contributions are also welcome. The Bugzilla contains a long
list of ideas for enhancements: anything currently assigned to the
team mail alias is fair game for anyone who wants to start hacking on
something.

Not covered with specific work items is the implementation of a SyncML
server mode in SyncEvolution. A design document for that is available [2],
join the SyncEvolution mailing list [12] if you are interested.


Source, Installation, Further Information
=========================================

See 0.9 beta 1: SyncEvolution 0.9 beta 1: Full-time Project, using
Synthesis SyncML Engine [13]
http://moblin.org/projects/syncevolution/
http://www.estamos.de/projects/SyncML/



Links:
------
[1] http://www.estamos.de/blog/2009/05/15/a-different-kind-of...
[2] http://moblin.org/documentation/syncevolution/direct-sync...
[3] http://bugzilla.moblin.org/show_bug.cgi?id=3358
[4] http://bugzilla.moblin.org/show_bug.cgi?id=3309
[5] http://bugzilla.moblin.org/show_bug.cgi?id=3242
[6] http://bugzilla.moblin.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2784
[7] http://bugzilla.moblin.org/show_bug.cgi?id=3041
[8] http://bugzilla.moblin.org/show_bug.cgi?id=3154
[9] http://bugzilla.moblin.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2064
[10] http://bugzilla.moblin.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2070
[11] http://moblin.org/community/blogs/margie/2009/lets-get-st...
[12] http://moblin.org/documentation/syncevolution-mailing-list
[13]
http://www.estamos.de/blog/2009/05/13/syncevolution-09-be...

http://www.estamos.de/blog/2009/07/01/syncevolution-0-9-b...

-- 
Bye, Patrick Ohly
--  
Patrick.Ohly@gmx.de
http://www.estamos.de/