[Testing - Trixie] [solved] Evolution 3.50.3-1 address book is read only

[PsychoHermit]

Greetings folks,

The address book in Evolution 3.50.3-1 is read only.

Any clues?

Thanks,
--glenn

[arzgi]

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ls -la $address-book

or what ever is your address-book

[PsychoHermit]

Ok, here it is

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glenn@LinuxBox:~$ ls -la $address-book
total 1508
drwx------ 33 glenn    4096 Feb 25 14:09 .
drwxr-xr-x  3 root     4096 Jan 23 12:52 ..
-rw-r--r--  1 glenn      24 Feb 17  2023 .aspell.en.prepl
-rw-r--r--  1 glenn      22 Feb 17  2023 .aspell.en.pws
-rw-------  1 glenn   45686 Feb 25 14:09 .bash_history
-rwx------  1 glenn     220 Aug 15  2022 .bash_logout
-rwx------  1 glenn    3526 Aug 15  2022 .bashrc
drwxr-xr-x  4 glenn    4096 Apr 28  2023 .bluefish
drwx------  2 glenn    4096 May 14  2023 .bogofilter
drwx------ 22 glenn    4096 Feb 18 06:31 .cache
drwxr-xr-x  3 glenn    4096 Jun 13  2023 .cert
drwxr-xr-x  6 glenn    4096 May 11  2023 .clamtk
drwx------ 38 glenn    4096 Feb 23 09:45 .config
-rw-r--r--  1 glenn 1271310 Dec 20 09:27 Debian.jpg
drwx------  2 glenn    4096 Jun  1  2023 Desktop
drwx------  4 glenn    4096 Feb 25 08:29 Documents
drwxr-xr-x  2 glenn    4096 Feb 23 09:48 Downloads
drwxr-xr-x  3 glenn    4096 Feb  2 10:43 .eclipse
-rw-r--r--  1 glenn    5290 Jan 13 13:28 .face
lrwxrwxrwx  1 glenn       5 Jan 13 13:28 .face.icon -> .face
drwx------  3 glenn    4096 Jan  1 14:00 .fltk
drwx------  3 glenn    4096 Sep 13  2022 .gftp
drwx------  5 glenn    4096 Dec 20 07:02 .gkrellm2
drwx------  3 glenn    4096 Feb 24 12:06 .gnupg
drwxr-xr-x  2 glenn    4096 May 21  2023 .gphoto
drwx------  2 glenn    4096 Oct  7 17:26 .grsync
drwxr--r--  2 glenn    4096 Feb 22 18:52 .hardinfo
-rw-------  1 glenn      20 Feb 23 09:51 .lesshst
drwx------  4 glenn    4096 Oct  2  2022 .local
drwx------  5 glenn    4096 Aug 15  2022 .mozilla
drwx------  3 glenn   45056 Oct 28 08:32 Music
drwx------  5 glenn    4096 Aug  2  2023 Pictures
drwx------  3 glenn    4096 Aug 18  2022 .pki
-rwx------  1 glenn     807 Aug 15  2022 .profile
drwx------  2 glenn    4096 Aug 15  2022 Public
drwx------  2 glenn    4096 Feb 18  2023 .putty
-rwx------  1 glenn     629 Aug 27  2022 .reportbugrc
-rwx------  1 glenn      66 Aug 27  2022 .selected_editor
drwx------  2 glenn    4096 Aug 15  2022 .ssh
-rwx------  1 glenn       0 Aug 20  2022 .sudo_as_admin_successful
drwxr-xr-x  2 glenn    4096 Feb  2 11:10 .swt
drwxr-xr-x  6 glenn    4096 Feb  2 10:07 .tableplus
drwx------  2 glenn    4096 Aug 15  2022 Templates
drwx------  6 glenn    4096 May 25  2023 .thunderbird
drwx------  2 glenn    4096 Aug 15  2022 Videos
-rw-r--r--  1 glenn     255 Dec 27 07:42 .wget-hsts
drwx------  3 glenn    4096 Feb 19 12:39 www
-rw-------  1 glenn       0 Jan  9 08:28 .Xauthority

I can't find the damn address book

Thanks,
--glenn

[bin]

~/.local/share/evolution/addressbook/system/contacts.db

You might be able to force this to work by creating an empty text file with the above name and location. Evolution doesn't seem to be very good at creating its own environment - have to manually create ~/.local/share/evolution/preview-plugins in 3.46.x

Question. When you set up Evolution did you go direct to the application to configure your email account or did you use gnome-online-accounts?
I found that by using GOA I was unable to import backups of my evolution address books. I had to create the accounts through the application instead. That may have been because I do not want to use my gmail address book / synchronisation, just a small set of addresses held locally. So I did not enable 'Contacts' in the setup wizard for gmail in GOA.

[PsychoHermit]

When I set up evolution I let it do all of the configuring. Supposedly the data is in .config/share/evolution but I'll be damned if I can find the address book file. I have scrounged up an SQLite GUI app to change it from read only if I could just find it.

Thanks,
--glenn

[bin]

The address book is in ~/.local/share/evolution/addressbook/system/contacts.db

That means it is in /home/glenn/.local/share/evolution/addressbook/system/contacts.db

The entries in ~/.config/evolution/..... tell evolution about itself, the DATA is in ~/.local/....... as previously stated.

Run evolution from a terminal. Open a terminal and type

Code: Select all

evolution

Look for any warnings about missing folders and manually create them if needed.

Please provide a screen shot of the error message about the read only status of the address book.

[PsychoHermit]

Sorry it took so long. I changed my email and was unable to get the activation email from the forum.

Thanks,--glenn

[bin]

OK. I suggest that you delete the Evolution folders in ~/.cache ~/.config and ~/.local

Now, I do not know if you are using the gnome-accounts-online app for storing your accounts info. If you are then remove your mail account - I'm guessing gmail.

I hope you are actually using a normal password login to your machine and thus avoiding all the silliness with keyring workarounds.

Open terminal end type

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evolution

as previously requested - does it show any error messages about missing folders - if so create them. Close terminal and evolution then start evolution from the menu.

Normally the wizard is well behaved. However, if you are using Gmail, watch for the 2 check boxes bottom left for synching contacts and calendar. Uncheck the contacts box.

Proceed through the rest of the wizard and once the account is set up, reboot.

Try creating a new conact in your Personal Contacts Book and lets see how we go. I'm sure that if your Contacts Book was set up as a web based resource you would have mentioned this.

[PsychoHermit]

I removed the evolution folders in .cache .config and .local Than did apt purge evolution and evolution-data-server. Then did apt install evolution and typed evolution in the cli. It remembered the accounts and address book, and it's still read only. I'm not using a contacts book so there's nothing to delete there. It never fired the configuration wizard.

Frustrated,
--glenn

[Dai_trying]

Sometimes I find that after removing caches and config files a reboot (or maybe logout - login) is required for the remnants to be discarded, this should result in data being cleared better.

HTH

[PsychoHermit]

I'll give the reboot a go.

That did the trick.

Thanks,
--glenn

[Dai_trying]

You're welcome, happy to help