[kdepim-users] Re: Backup Akonadi data

[David Goodenough]

On Friday 08 October 2010, Anne Wilson wrote:
> On Thursday 07 October 2010 22:26:46 David Goodenough wrote:
> > On Thursday 07 October 2010, Anne Wilson wrote:
> > > On Thursday 07 October 2010 12:40:37 David Goodenough wrote:
> > > > If I want to move from one machine to another, but keep all my
> > > > address book info etc (and in future all my emails), is there a
> > > > backup/restore facility in Akonadi?  If not I would suggest that one
> > > > is needed - is there any documentation as to what gets stored 
where
> > > > so that one
> > 
> > could
> > 
> > > > be written?
> > > > 
> > > > Similarly if I want to synchronise my akonadi data between say a
> > > > laptop and a desktop is there a way to do this?
> > > 
> > > I think you'll find the answers you need in
> > > http://userbase.kde.org/Akonadi_and_AddressBook - it was written by 
one
> > 
> > of
> > 
> > > the addressbook developers.
> > > 
> > > > Also is the format the same independent of the database that is 
used.
> > > > If so can this be used to migrate from MySql to Postgresql?
> > > 
> > > I believe some people do use Postgresql.  There is no migration path 
as
> > > such, though, to my knowledge.  It is expected that if you want to do
> > > that you will know what needs doing.
> > > 
> > > Anne
> > 
> > OK, so now I know which page you were talking about.  What this seems 
to
> > say is that such things as backup are not really part of the plan.  There
> > are bits and pieces all over the place, and even this addressbook
> > developer does not know what the plan is, or even if there is one. 
> > Frankly having read it I am only a little closer to what is needed.
> > 
> > As to doing the migration oneself, without knowing how the application
> > uses the data you can only make assumptions about how to move it.
> > 
> > Many users started with the non-Akonadi storage, were forced to MySql
> > as it was the only option, and now want to reduce their DB manager 
count
> > back to their preferred DB option - in my case Postgresql.
> > 
> > If there is no utility I will write one, but it will be written in my
> > preferred language - Java.  Then I will publish it and the community can
> > do with it what they like.  But it would be so much easier if there was
> > some kind of document that described the data and how it was used.
> > Lacking that I will guess but it will slow me down.
> 
> And frankly you are making unsubstantiated complaints about the 
developers,
> to whom you have not talk, not hear speak, and wouldn't listen to if you
> did. There are not, for a start, bits and pieces all over the place.  The
> data is stored according to an ISO - I don't recall the number - unlike
> earlier versions.  I've no doubt that someone will write about using
> Postgreslql at some point, but you would be wiser to learn to understand
> the system as it is set up by default before trying to be clever and write
> your own version. After all, it is only 4 years or so that a team of
> developers, some of them full-time on this project, have been working on
> it, so go ahead.  Write your this weekend.
> 
> Anne
I asked a question (is there a backup/migration utility) and you replied
(and only you) with an answer which told me that there was a partial
utility (the one in the task bar) and that there was some documentation
which when I read it basically said that the backup only backed up some
of the information and that there was a whole lot I had to do myself.  The
comment about bits and pieces all over the place seems quite justified
to me when you read the link you gave me and find that the person who
wrote it said that he did not know where all the places where.  If the
developers had answered my question then I would have been 
delighted to talk to them.

That says to me that either no-one designed a backup process (I would
be quite happy if there was a design but no implementation as it could 
then be implemented) or that its design is hidden somewhere that neither 
of us can find.  In the latter case then this can easily be fixed by publishing 
the docs, in the former case I think I have a reasonable case that the 
developers should answer.

I have no intention reinventing wheels, I just fill in wheels where I can not
find them.

I have written the first cut of the code, and I am currently testing it.  So
far it seems to work.

David
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