What solution for CardDav access via Epyrus mail?

[The_Old_Mailman]

Hello *,

I'm definitely migrating my 10 mail accounts (on 4 different platforms) to Epyrus 2.1.1 in this way:

• [*[Mail via IMAP: OK;
• Calendars via CalDav: OK with a lot of efforts due to my hosting provider's quirks;
• Contacts: No Joy for on line synchronization. I was able locally to import contacts via LDIF files, but I'm not able to access my hosting provider's server via CardDav.

I've already tried two CardDav extensions: TbSync doesn't install while CardBook v. 38 installs, but it doesn't integrate into Epyrus contact books management wizard, so I cannot create a new remote contacts book. Or, at least, I haven't found a way to create one.

Is there any solution to this issue?

P.S. I don't know why, but Epyrus calendar shows two warnings and sounds two times when a CalDav event triggers.

[The_Old_Mailman]

Well, I've found why the calendar sounds two times. If the event is still in progress (let's say a one hour appointment) and Epyrus does its 30 minutes synchronization via CalDav, the warning popup is displayed again for the past starting time.

Indeed, I'm not sure it is a good or bad thing, but it is simply different from the local calendar behavior. When I press the "dismiss" button on the reminder popup window, I mean, really, really, really, to dismiss the reminder...

[athenian200]

Well, I'm going to be honest, I've never worked with this, or even tested it... what's in there was inherited from Thunderbird. My application does a lot of things I never really anticipated when I created it apparently, I'm still learning about new features because users are complaining they're half-broken and then I'm like "Wait, Epyrus is supposed to do that? What is that? And how do I test it? Oh, okay. Now, how do I fix it?"

So yeah, you might have to bring me up to speed on what exactly CardDav is and how it's supposed to work... I think I got the jist of it, that it's got something to do with online Calendar sync, but I don't know much more than that at this point.

[The_Old_Mailman]

Well, I'm going to be honest, I've never worked with this, or even tested it... what's in there was inherited from Thunderbird. My application does a lot of things I never really anticipated when I created it apparently, I'm still learning about new features because users are complaining they're half-broken and then I'm like "Wait, Epyrus is supposed to do that? What is that? And how do I test it? Oh, okay. Now, how do I fix it?"

So yeah, you might have to bring me up to speed on what exactly CardDav is and how it's supposed to work... I think I got the jist of it, that it's got something to do with online Calendar sync, but I don't know much more than that at this point.

CardDav is simply a open protocol for accessing mail contacts on a remote server from a local client. The client should be able locally to list and modify the remote contacts.

However, after further testing with my hosting provider's server for remote handling of contacts and calendars, I think it doesn't worth wasting your time in Caldav and CardDav protocols development.

I've tested both protocols in TB 115, Epyrus 2.1.1, Opera 6.5 and my smartphone clients and Caldav and CardDav support is simply atrocious in all applications (and I suppose my hosting provider is guilty for this too). I've lost both contacts lists and calendars in simple operations like modifying a contact or an appointment. There are tons of bugs everywhere.

The only thing that works reasonably well is the web GUI of my hosting provider.

[Bilbo47]

Using the latest Ep and CardBook on Windows here, it all works well enough. Have not tried syncing to Android or the other phonebook manager that interfaces with both Android and Moz-style address book data, even though that has always been on the roadmap.

The trick is matching a front-end client to a back-end server, as far as how mutually compatible they are. ForEx what version of the CardDav standard they aspire to meet, what functions they actually implement correctly, and how much the standards-compatibility level of one side matches that of the other side. CardDav has been the biggest hole in Moz-flavored netsuite functionality forEVer. So I was very pleasantly surprised to find it actually working in my chosen combination of desktop client and webhost. It also works in other clients against other hosts, but those packages are not my choices. It also *doesn't* work in other clients against this same host, and it also doesn't work in this same client against other hosts. It also sometimes works and sometimes fails, in other combinations of client versus server. I'll assume the unrelated Ggl-centered plugin has no effect.

The bit about the double-alert tells me the first "dismiss" update is not being successfully applied to the server. I've also seen this misbehavior, where updates seem to silently flow only from server to client, and not bi-directionally. This is a different failure/error condition from the mis-sync dialog thats says, Oops the server data changed behind our back since the last sync; do you want to refresh the local client data and try again, or upload the local changes to the server anyway and risk borking someone else's update? That's probably not what the dialog actually says, and not what it means, but it's the functionality I would expect from such a sync-conflict / collision.

Anyway if you can get CardDav working in ONE combination, then it might be possible to debug the packet traffic or whatever using Developer Tools to figure out what needs fixing. You might have to sign up for a free intro period of different services to find a host that is more compatible with your clients. Calendars and Contacts usually come with email hosting, so maybe try a few email service providers to connect with their DAV servers and see if syncing works better.

BTW even the paid Personal Information Manager packages have this same trouble with handling synced data. That tells me the DAV standards are junk, if no one can implement them in a way that doesn't fail more often than not.

[The_Old_Mailman]

I've succeeded in making CardDav 37.9 working with my hosting provider server. Now, I've 3 contacts' nooks perfectly synchronized with Epyrus. I can backup contacts locally too.

For the calendar issue I've to test it further.

[distantpluto]

I have Radicale running as a CalDav server on my (Linux) server and this works fine with Epyrus. I used to use it with my Android phone as well, before I ditched Google. It's light usage, Birthdays, appointments, but it works.

Edit: I've just realised you want CardDav! I'll have to try that as well.

Edit 2: I just installed cardbook-36.3-tb.xpi (the last version for Thunderbird 52) and it works with Radicale. Unfortunately I can't test with a phone as well.