I've searched the internet and the forum archives thoroughly, but couldn't find an answer to my problem. Then I asked for help on #debian-kde, and someone redirected me here. This post is the closest discussion I've found to the issue affecting me, so instead of opening a new thread I think it may be more useful if I take the discussion from where it was interrupted. If you think otherwise, please tell me so. I'll try to be as detailed and informative as possible by answering the questions already posed.

I used Kubuntu with KDE 4.5.1 up to last month, when I switched to Debian Squeeze with KDE (currently frozen at 4.4.5). Before migrating, I used rsync (luckbackup) to backup the whole Home directory. Kontact version used here is now 4.4.6. While I could use the import feature successfully to retrieve all my e-mail messages by pointing it to ~/.kde/share/apps/kmail/, I couldn't find a way to do the same with contacts.

I don't have backups of my old ~/.local/share/contacts, the folder simply doesn't exist. However, I have ~/.local/share/akonadi. I never used Akonadi Tray Icon to create a backup. In KAddressBook, I have Personal Contacts, which is empty. While waiting for a solution, I filled Default Address Book with some contacts' e-mail addresses retrieved manually from archived past e-mails.

In ~/.kde/share/apps/kabc I have the following:
1) a folder named “lock”, containing a text file named _home_lelamal_.kde_share_apps_kabc_std.vcf4g7TNh8g and another called _home_lelamal_.kde_share_apps_kabc_std.vcfXASyTlNE. If opened, they show “1372 kontact”, and “1629 korgac” respectively.
2) A file named “std.vcf” of 0B size.
3) 8 files, numbered progressively, named “std.vcf__0” … “std.vcf__7”, all of which are also of 0B size.

I tried renaming the old /kabc to /kabc.old (in case it got modified in the process) and used a copy of it as a target for Default Address Book in KDE Resources, whose path was changed to point to it. Nothing changed, when I reopened KaddressBook there were still only the new contacts I manually created.

Akonadi Configuration shows Personal Contacts, and it correctly points to ~/.local/share/contacts/, but if the folder isn't there I'm not sure what it's pointing to. I also have a Default Address Book, and when I click on Modify, instead of showing a path like Personal Contacts did, it shows a blank field. When I click on Open File Dialog, it expects me to point it to a vCard Address Book File.

If I'm back to KAddressBook, and open the Personal Contacts addressbook to import the the only vCard I am aware of (the 0B sized std.vcf file in /kabc) nothing happens, it remains empty.

I'm at a loss here, and don't know what else to do. Can someone help me, please? Many thanks in advance!

I'm sorry to say that your backup efforts seem to have let you down. For future use, please check that it is set to include all dot-files. Meanwhile, let's see if we can help at all.

According to a recent ISO standard, Akonadi is putting everything under ~/.local. The fact that you didn't use the tray icon to create a backup isn't terribly important - since the backup system has failed, it would have lost that too. We'll make a few checks, but it may be that all we can do is make sure that you are correctly set up for the future.

First,

In ~/.kde/share/apps/kabc I have the following:
1) a folder named “lock”, containing a text file named _home_lelamal_.kde_share_apps_kabc_std.vcf4g7TNh8g and another called _home_lelamal_.kde_share_apps_kabc_std.vcfXASyTlNE. If opened, they show “1372 kontact”, and “1629 korgac” respectively.

Lockfiles should only be there if the file is open at the time. Make sure that kontact is closed, then delete the lock files if they are still there. They sometimes get left behind from a crash.

2) A file named “std.vcf” of 0B size.
3) 8 files, numbered progressively, named “std.vcf__0” … “std.vcf__7”, all of which are also of 0B size.

This is your addressbook together with seven backup files. Either your backup has failed for some time, or you don't have permission to read those files. This can happen if you have a different userID. Check, by opening konsole and typing "ls -al ~/.kde/share/apps/kabc/". Please post the output.

That should give you ownership details, and confirm the file size. If they really are zero-bytes long, you should check to see if you have any very old backups that would at least give you some of the addressbook back. If you can't find any at all, we can only start from that set that you've gathered from mails.

Akonadi Configuration shows Personal Contacts, and it correctly points to ~/.local/share/contacts/, but if the folder isn't there I'm not sure what it's pointing to. I also have a Default Address Book, and when I click on Modify, instead of showing a path like Personal Contacts did, it shows a blank field. When I click on Open File Dialog, it expects me to point it to a vCard Address Book File.

In Kontact, try "akonadictl status". If it is not running use "akonadictl start". Check to see whether that creates the directories under ~/.local.

With the information you gather from all this, we can look at what should be the next steps.

Hi annew, thanks for replying and for moving my post. I'll try to reply as best as I can.

I'm sorry to say that your backup efforts seem to have let you down. For future use, please check that it is set to include all dot-files.

Are you referring to the hidden files in my Home directory? I've been extra careful to choose the proper options in Luckybackup, which, being a front-end to rsync, enables me to post the commands used in the backup operation:

Code: Select all

rsync -h --progress --stats -r -tgo -p -l -D --update --delete-after --delete-excluded --exclude=/mnt/*/** --exclude=/media/*/** --exclude=**/lost+found*/ --exclude=**/*Trash*/ --exclude=**/*trash*/

Do you think hidden files could have been missed, given the above commands? If not, I would be more inclined to think missing files/folders had never been there, as I think was the case with the poster of this thread as well: viewtopic.php?t=88768&f=20

Someone on #debian-kde some time ago asked whether during the backup I had Kontact open. I couldn't remember, honestly, but it is very likely. Could that possibly be the culprit?

This is your addressbook together with seven backup files. Either your backup has failed for some time, or you don't have permission to read those files. This can happen if you have a different userID. Check, by opening konsole and typing "ls -al ~/.kde/share/apps/kabc/". Please post the output.

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total 8
drwxrwxr-x  2 lelamal lelamal 4096 Oct 14 14:49 .
drwxrwxr-x 68 lelamal lelamal 4096 Oct  3 11:49 ..
-rw-rw-r--  1 lelamal lelamal    0 Sep 22 09:24 std.vcf
-rw-rw-r--  1 lelamal lelamal    0 Apr 30 11:00 std.vcf__0
-rw-rw-r--  1 lelamal lelamal    0 Sep 20 11:15 std.vcf_1
-rw-rw-r--  1 lelamal lelamal    0 Sep 21 01:27 std.vcf_2
-rw-rw-r--  1 lelamal lelamal    0 Sep 22 09:24 std.vcf_3
-rw-rw-r--  1 lelamal lelamal    0 Sep 16 10:03 std.vcf_4
-rw-rw-r--  1 lelamal lelamal    0 Sep 17 23:34 std.vcf_5
-rw-rw-r--  1 lelamal lelamal    0 Sep 18 15:04 std.vcf_6
-rw-rw-r--  1 lelamal lelamal    0 Sep 19 23:10 std.vcf_7

If 0 above refers to the size, does that mean that they lost all their content?

That should give you ownership details, and confirm the file size. If they really are zero-bytes long, you should check to see if you have any very old backups that would at least give you some of the addressbook back.

Unfortunately, I don't. With rsync I used to synchronize source and target, thus always obtaining only a copy of the current Home directory.

In Kontact, try "akonadictl status". If it is not running use "akonadictl start". Check to see whether that creates the directories under ~/.local.

I gave the first command, and Akonadi is already running. The fact that I don't have those folders on Debian now (v. 4.4.6), as I didn't have them on Kubuntu back then (v. 4.5.1) - like MSatterwhite explained here http://forum.kde.org/viewtopic.php?t=88768&f=20#p162767 - couldn't it mean that developers changed something and ~/.local/share/contacts directory is not created anymore? Just throwing a stone in the dark.

Many thanks!

The rsync looks fine, and having the addressbook open shouldn't have stopped it (though I could be wrong about that), but I'm afraid that the '0' does indicate that you don't have any backup addressbook at all.

I could help you get your recently collected addresses into Akonadi control, but I'm reluctant to do so just now, because it looks to me as though there is a deeper problem. The ~/.local/* directories should have been created automatically. I'd be a lot happier if you contacted a Debian list or irc channel and asked them about this. If you can get that sorted, please report back here, and we can take it from there. Sorry I can't help until we know what went wrong there - getting it wrong at this stage might mean data loss and I don't want to risk that.

Hmm, yes, I feared the 0 byte response. Whatever happened, it seems I'll have to live with that. In the meantime, I'll do as you suggested and, in case something comes out, I'll promptly report back.

Many thanks for your support so far!

Following your advice, I opened a new thread in Debian User Forums: http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=56462&p=328411#p328411. I received only one answer, and unfortunately it wasn't helpful.

So here's what I did: I installed a spare disk in which I restored my previous Kubuntu installation, and used Kontact to export my contacts in vCard format. This created a file named addressbook.vcf of 112.5 KiB, which subsequently I used to import my contacts into my current Debian installation successfully.

While there, in order to understand, I took a look at those folders which have been discussed in this thread, and they are missing also in the Kubuntu installation. Also, the .vcf files discussed were of 0B size there, too. Eveything was exactly identical to the copy backed up and preserved on my external HD. Yet, I was able to retrieve my contacts. Obviously, contacts and addressbooks work in ways we failed to understand. Perhaps developers changed a few things, and our understanding of them is based on outdated knowledge. Undoubtedly, contacts are stored there somewhere, we just failed to spot them.

In order to help debug this issue for others who might need it, I am willing to leave the disk on for a couple of days - if you or anyone else wants to ask me to look into anything specific - before formatting and unmounting it, eventually. Please, let me know if I can help.

If you open System Settings > Advanced > KDE Resources, and switch to Contacts, what is the configuration of the single item there?

I took a screenshot: http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/2787/snaphot1.png

Interesting... perhaps the contacts list was Akonadi based? Open System Settings > Advanced > Akonadi Configuration and check the contacts resources listed there. Note that not all resources may be related to contacts.

Yes, indeed. Even more interesting, perhaps, is the fact that Akonadi Configuration shows Personal Contacts, and it correctly points to ~/.local/share/contacts/, but the target folder doesn't exist: http://img818.imageshack.us/img818/7087/akonadiconfiguration.png

Quite unusual, mystified as to where Kubuntu was storing the contacts then.

I agree with you. Today I asked around in IRC on #kubuntu and #akonadi, but the suggestions received didn't shed more light on the issue. Others were baffled, too.

At this point, if no one has further questions or new insights within tomorrow, I'll just uninstall the spare disc, and invite future readers to export their contacts prior to migrating, if they want to avoid the same time-consuming route I followed.

Many thanks everyone for your time!