akonadi/KDE PIM backup/restore

[Martin Steigerwald]

Am Freitag, 14. Oktober 2016, 08:36:56 CEST schrieb Daniel Vrátil:
> On Monday, October 10, 2016 9:53:46 AM CEST René J.V. Bertin wrote:
> > Hi,
> 
> Hi,
> 
> > Does anyone have a good overview what of the various *rc and other files
> > under ~/.config, ~/.local/share, ~/.kde/share/config, ~/.kde/share/apps
> > and
> > possible ~/.cache one should backup if one wants to be able to restore a
> > working Kontact/KMail set-up - accounts, folder settings, filters, UI
> > customisation etc?
> > 
> > What files hold crucial information, and which ones derived/downloaded
> > data
> > that will be regenerated anew after a restore?
> 
> I would argue that except for the search index, you want to preserve
> everything (including the massive file_db_data), see below.
> 
> > If this has changed from KDEPIM4 -> KDEPIM5, what are those changes?
> 
> With the exceptions of things in .config/akonadi/ and .local/share/akonadi/
> (which has always been there), all the files mentioned below where moved
> from .kde/share/config/ to .config/
> 
> > I'm mostly interested in KMail (handled via Kontact); I think that backups
> > of its configuration will probably contain most if not all of the crucial
> > information for the other PIM components as well?
> > 
> > Application: migration to another account or host, and where relevant,
> > being able to back out of an intemptestuous/premature version update.
> > 
> > It'd be very reassuring if someone from the dev team could corroborate the
> > information if it doesn't come from a PIM developer already.
> > 
> > The backup command I've compiled myself from educated guesses looks like
> > this (executed in $HOME):
> > 
> > tar -cjf "${ARCHIVE}"
> > .kde/share/config/{foldermailarchiverc,kaddressbook,email,mail,knode,konta
> > c
> > t,kmail,akonadi,kresource}* \
> > .kde/share/apps/{kaddressbook,kabc,knode,kmail,kontact}* \
> > 
> > 	.local/share/akonadi* \
> > 	.config/akonadi
> 
> This seems to be for KDE4? In KF5 ~/.kde is not user anymore at all, but the
> change is simple, just use ~/.config instead in your script. Otherwise it
> looks like you actually got them all. The only exception are
> .kde/share/apps, see below again.
> 
> In KF5 you can omit kresource*, that's long dead.
> 
> > but I've never actually tested whether this does the trick (and doesn't
> > include a lot of useless ballast).
> 
> the following should be a complete set of things to archive for Akonadi +
> KMail.
> 
> ~/.local/share/akonadi/

[…]

Wow, that is most comprehensive list I ever saw.

1) Anyone want to put this into Wiki? I may do so tomorrow if no one else 
beats me. I think this is a FAQ. I wrote down similar lists in at least a 
dozen of posts in various mailing lists. Is there any Akonadi/KDEPIM FAQ?

I think the info should go somewhere here:

https://userbase.kde.org/Akonadi#Where_is_my_data_now.3F

(and really be in the wiki and not just some blog post)

2) I sometimes wonder, whether it would be possible to stuff it more together. 
Its a lot of files and directories to consider. And moving things to ~/.config 
made it even worse. Now you can´t even tell KDE stuff apart from non KDE 
stuff.

3) There is a pimsettingsexporter thing made by Laurent. I think it copies a 
good portion of the stuff you mentioned. It wants KDEPIM applications to be 
closed in order to do that. What it does with the Akonadi DB I don´t know.


Thanks,
-- 
Martin