Revised / reformatted blog post.

David Bryant davidbryant at gvtc.com
Thu Aug 26 17:52:06 BST 2021 

In response to feedback, I have made a few changes to the text only version of the draft I 
sent around yesterday. Here is the revised version, in rich text format. The updated .txt file 
is attached.


--------------------
*July/August in KDE PIM*
2021-09-xx * David Bryant
 
Since the last report, dated the third of July, Version 21.08 (aka 5.18) of all the PIM 
applications was released. 31 contributors made more than 1,500 updates in the GitLab 
repos. And work continued apace on preparations for the new release of the QT backbone 
on which KDE software relies.


Here is the news about recent activity affecting various components of the Personal 
Information Management system.


*== Akonadiconsole ==*

Glen Ditchfield continues to improve this tool for developers.
     *  The Database Browser now fetches tables as soon as the user selects them.
     *   The Job Tracker display of job creation timestamps has been revamped.


*== Common Libraries ==*

Friederich W. H. Kossebau made the following notable improvement to common core logic 
in release 21.08.
     *  CreateResource class: ensure that all created resources & agents store the new 
settings data before reconfiguring themselves, so those data are available/accessible 
everywhere.
A similar patch was applied to the KMail Account Wizard. Friederich has also been working 
to bring the automated unit tests for PIM components up to date. That effort is still in its 
early stages. If you enjoy a challenge, you may wish to help him verify that the revised unit 
tests are working correctly.


*== KAlarm ==*
David Jarvie has been busy this summer.


     *  Added a date selector option so the alarm list view can be filtered for a particular 
date.
     *  KAlarm now shows a hamburger menu when the menu bar is hidden. The 
hamburger menu provides access to all KAlarm functions.
     *  Fixed various issues when using right-to-left languages like Hebrew.
     *  Patched the 'Choose sound file' dialog to make it work right on the XFCE desktop. The 
bug was caused by QFileDialog filters acting differently on different desktops. (Bug 
437217)
     *  Fixed alarms not triggering when a reminder has been configured. Also fixed follow-
up reminders coming after the main event, which were not being deleted.(Bug 440200)
     *  Repaired crash on KAlarm start-up when using multiple screens on Wayland.  (Bug 
439853)


*== Kalendar ==*


Claudio Cambra continues to improve the appearance and functionality of the Kalendar 
component of PIM. Thank you, Claudio! Please stick with us after the Google Summer of 
Code project has been completed.


*== KDE PIM Runtime ==*


Krzysztof Nowicki made a number of improvements and bug fixes to the Exchange (EWS) 
resource.


     *  Implemented "chunked requests" for most operations on multiple items. Internally,  
Exchange doesn't allow a single request to operate on more than 100 items. This  has 
caused failures when trying to delete hundreds of e-mails in one operation, for  example. 
With this change the operation is split into multiple requests.
     *  Reworked server-triggered updates. These now run in the background, and don't  
block the resource's state machine interface with the Akonadi server. This makes the 
Exchange mailbox much more responsive.
     *  Reduced the number of forced collection synchronizations resulting from conflicts 
with locally modified items. This significantly reduces unnecessary communication with 
the server, especially for large collections.
     *  Added basic handling of the "server busy" state, which is encountered when 
Exchange receives too many requests from the EWS resource and needs to throttle back. 
Instead of hammering the server with requests, the resource now gracefully goes offline 
for a little while, then retries the operation later.
     *  Temporary failures during collection syncs no longer result in a fallback to a full sync. 
Normallya failure during an incremental sync escalates to a full sync, but unrelated errors 
such as expired OAuth authentications or server is too busy should not trigger a full sync.
     *  Collection sync state was moved from the configuration file to a list of per-collection 
attributes.
     *  Implemented progress reporting for many operations, including the long-lasting full 
collections sync job.
     *  Fixed device key OAuth authentication, which was broken by Microsoft® server-side 
changes.


 
*== Kleopatra ==*


Ingo Klöcker says that the main focus of development work in Kleopatra was on usability 
and accessibility improvements. Noteworthy changes include:


     *  Let the user easily mark a certification key as their own when using it to certify 
another key.
[1]
[2]


     *  Use the default OpenPGP keyserver from gpg[3] (instead of a local hardcoded value) 
for the default in the settings dialog.
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July/August in KDE PIM
2021-09-xx * David Bryant

Since the last report, dated the third of July, Version 21.08 (aka 5.18) of all
the PIM applications was released. 31 contributors made more than 1,500 updates
in the GitLab repos. And work continued apace on preparations for the new release
of the QT backbone on which KDE software relies.

Here is the news about recent activity affecting various components of the
Personal Information Management system.

== Akonadiconsole ==

Glen Ditchfield continues to improve this tool for developers.

* The Database Browser now fetches tables as soon as the user selects them.

* The Job Tracker display of job creation timestamps has been revamped.



== Common Libraries ==

Friederich W. H. Kossebau made the following notable improvement to common
core logic in release 21.08.

* CreateResource class: ensure that all created resources & agents store the
new settings data before reconfiguring themselves, so those data are 
available/accessible everywhere.

A similar patch was applied to the KMail Account Wizard. Friederich has also
been working to bring the automated unit tests for PIM components up to date.
That effort is still in its early stages. If you enjoy a challenge, you may wish
to help him verify that the revised unit tests are working correctly.


== KAlarm ==

David Jarvie has been busy this summer.

* Added a date selector option so the alarm list view can be filtered for a 
particular date.

* KAlarm now shows a hamburger menu when the menu bar is hidden. The hamburger
menu provides access to all KAlarm functions.

* Fixed various issues when using right-to-left languages like Hebrew.

* Patched the 'Choose sound file' dialog to make it work right on the XFCE desktop.
The bug was caused by QFileDialog filters acting differently on different 
desktops. (Bug 437217)

* Fixed alarms not triggering when a reminder has been configured. Also fixed follow-up
reminders coming after the main event, which were not being deleted. (Bug 440200)

* Repaired crash on KAlarm start-up when using multiple screens on Wayland. (Bug 439853)



== Kalendar ==

Claudio Cambra continues to improve the appearance and functionality of the Kalendar
component of PIM. Thank you, Claudio! Please stick with us after the Google Summer of
Code project has been completed.



== KDE PIM Runtime ==

Krzysztof Nowicki made a number of improvements and bug fixes to the Exchange (EWS)
resource.

 * Implemented "chunked requests" for most operations on multiple items. Internally,
 Exchange doesn't allow a single request to operate on more than 100 items. This
 has caused failures when trying to delete hundreds of e-mails in one operation, for
 example. With this change the operation is split into multiple requests.
 
 * Reworked server-triggered updates. These now run in the background, and don't
 block the resource's state machine interface with the Akonadi server. This makes the
 Exchange mailbox much more responsive.
 
 * Reduced the number of forced collection synchronizations resulting from conflicts with
 locally modified items. This significantly reduces unnecessary communication with the
 server, especially for large collections.
 
 * Added basic handling of the "server busy" state, which is encountered when Exchange
 receives too many requests from the EWS resource and needs to throttle back. Instead
 of hammering the server with requests, the resource now gracefully goes offline for a
 little while, then retries the operation later.
 
 * Temporary failures during collection syncs no longer result in a fallback to a full
 sync. Normally a failure during an incremental sync escalates to a full sync, but
 unrelated errors such as expired OAuth authentications or server is too busy should
 not trigger a full sync.
 
 * Collection sync state was moved from the configuration file to a list of per-collection
 attributes.
 
 * Implemented progress reporting for many operations, including the long-lasting full
 collections sync job.
 
 * Fixed device key OAuth authentication, which was broken by Microsoft® server-side changes.


 
== Kleopatra ==

Ingo Klöcker says that the main focus of development work in Kleopatra was on usability
and accessibility improvements. Noteworthy changes include:

* Let the user easily mark a certification key as their own when using it to certify
another key.
[Image: https://files.gnupg.net/file/data/ozbwpwx2hq2jw5ezbdtb/PHID-FILE-tnbimqgadjvgd33po4en/Screenshot_20210630_184505.png]
[Image: https://files.gnupg.net/file/data/yaoqc7jh6u6kuxzun34y/PHID-FILE-2f7ianvp7abipn2g55ub/Screenshot_20210630_184519.png]

* Use the default OpenPGP keyserver from gpg (instead of a local hardcoded value) for
the default in the settings dialog. (https://dev.gnupg.org/T5514)

* Rectify progress indication for large files (≳ 2 GiB). (https://dev.gnupg.org/T5481)

* When encrypting files, (via the context menu in Dolphin, for instance), select
symmetric encryption (a password) by default when the user has no local keys. (https://dev.gnupg.org/T5545)
[Image: attachment "Kleopatra-Sign-Encrypt-files-with-no-local-keys.png"]

* Add shortcuts for all UI elements of the file encryption dialog. (https://dev.gnupg.org/T5544)

* Made various usability/accessibility improvements in the file encryption dialog:
use proper tab order, move focus to next (or previous) recipient field when removing
a recipient, and make tooltips available to screen readers. (https://dev.gnupg.org/T5535)

* Usability and accessibility improvements for Pinentry-qt:
  
  * Make it work on Wayland. (https://dev.gnupg.org/T3659)
  
  * Replace "Generate Passphrase" action with an easily accessible button. (https://dev.gnupg.org/T5543)
  
  * Show short hint for pass phrase constraints if constraints are enforced by gpg. (https://dev.gnupg.org/T5532)
    [Image: attachment "pinentry-qt-generate-button-and-constraints-hint.png"]
  
  * Optionally, display generated pass phrase in five-character blocks, for enhanced readability. (https://dev.gnupg.org/T5517)
    [Image: attachment "pinentry-qt-formatted-generated-passphrase.png"]
  
  * Show warning if Caps Lock is on. (https://dev.gnupg.org/T4950)
    [Image: attachment "pinentry-qt-caps-lock-warning.png"]



== KMail ==

Laurent Montel has been busy. Besides the normal administrative tasks (creating
new branches in the repo, etc.) he has

* Continued to prepare for KF6 (migrating deprecated code).

* Continued to implement "confirm delete email". This new plugin helps to ensure
that users do not inadvertently delete messages they really wish to keep.
[Image: attachment "confirmdeleteemailconfiguredialog.png"]
[Image: attachment "confirmdeleteemaildialog.png"]

* Updated PIM Data Exporter to include the configuration file for the new plugin.

* Continued to patch some bugs.
   
   * Fixed bug 439218 - Quoted strings containing commas or brackets are not 
     parsed correctly, causing message sending to fail.
   
   * Fixed bug 440041 - Sieve editor does not show the line numbers correctly.
   
David Bryant has at long last finished rewriting the KMail Handbook. It was a big
job, because the last time anybody revised the Handbookwas back in 2013. If
there are any PIM components that could use some new or revised documentation,
please let David (mailto:davidbryant at gvtc.com) know.


   
== KOrganizer ==

Volker Krause informs me that there's [a proposal](https://mail.kde.org/pipermail/
kde-pim/2021-August/047780.html) for reworking how event reminders are handled. The
proposal aims to unify this process in all our calendaring applications, and also
for both desktop and mobile platforms. If the proposed changes affect you, feedback
[on the kde-pim mailing list](https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-pim) is very
welcome! There is also a Reddit thread where you can weigh in.
https://www.reddit.com/r/kde/comments/p7kb0g/thinking_of_removing_some_korganizer_reminder/



Carl Schwan has been busy improving various and sundry user dialogs.

Glen Ditchfield also made several notable contributions to KOrganizer.

* A to-do's completion status can now be changed after the item has been marked 
"complete". (bug 397721)

* The month print-out can now color events using their tags' colors.

* Journal entries can be marked "private" or "confidential".

* The journal print-out can exclude private and confidential entries.

* The journal print-out is now sorted by date.

* The Agenda view shortens holiday names to fit in the column headers when the 
columns are narrow. (bug 225498)

* The Search dialog accepts more keyboard shortcuts. (bug 315894)



== Help us make Kontact even better! ==

Take a look at some of the junior jobs that we have! They are simple, mostly
programming tasks that don’t require any deep knowledge or understanding of Kontact,
so anyone can work on them. Feel free to pick any task from the list, then get in
touch with us! We’ll be happy to guide you and answer all your questions. Read more here …
(https://www.dvratil.cz/2018/08/kde-pim-junior-jobs-are-opened/)

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