gnac
Guru
Joined: 30 Jun 2003
Posts: 302
Location: Columbia River Gorge
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 Posted: Wed Dec 01, 2004 7:50 pm Post subject: Evolution to Thunderbird Mail Conversion Process |
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I've come up with a process to "import" mail from evolution to thunderbird. I've seen scripts that attempt to do this, but they never worked right. I followed this process using a text editor and a bash shell, but I'm sure someone could right a script to do this automajically. I could do it in Java or C, but I think it would get more use as a script (bash, perl, python...) You can always use bash and a text editor if you can't wait for someone to script this.
In a nutshell heres what has to happen:
Evolution stores its mail in "mbox" files in "subfolder" directories.
| Code: | /home/USERNAME/evolution/local/Inbox/mbox
/home/USERNAME/evolution/local/Inbox/subfolders/Work/mbox
/home/USERNAME/evolution/local/Inbox/subfolders/Work/subfolders/Project1/mbox |
Thunderbird stores its mail in user named file in a folder based on the parent mail box with an ".sbd" extension. So the Evolution Mailboxes above will become:
| Code: | /home/USERNAME/.thunderbird/default.i9c/Mail/Local\ Folders/Imports.sbd/Inbox
/home/USERNAME/.thunderbird/default.i9c/Mail/Local\ Folders/Imports.sbd/Inbox.sbd/Work
/home/USERNAME/.thunderbird/default.i9c/Mail/Local\ Folders/Imports.sbd/Inbox.sbd/Work.sbd/Project1 |
Heres the total steps involved followed by the details for each step. I'm using a bastardized version of psuedocode here, so don't expect the commands to work as written.
Steps:
1 Create a list of all the mbox's in use by evolution.
2 Create a place in the Thunderbird file structure to store the imported mailboxes.
3 Use the mbox list to determine required directory structure in the Thunderbird repository
3a Make the required directory structure in Thunderbird
4 Use mbox list to determine required mbox names Thunderbird
4a Copy mbox's into Thunderbird structure with new names
Details:
1 Find all mbox's in use by evolution, and store them in a list (evoMboxList).
| Code: | | find /home/USERNAME/evolution/ -iname mbox > evoMboxList |
This will return a list similar to this:
| Code: | /home/USERNAME/evolution/local/Sent/mbox
/home/USERNAME/evolution/local/Drafts/mbox
/home/USERNAME/evolution/local/Inbox/mbox
/home/USERNAME/evolution/local/Inbox/subfolders/Personal/mbox
/home/USERNAME/evolution/local/Inbox/subfolders/Work/mbox
/home/USERNAME/evolution/local/Inbox/subfolders/Work/subfolders/Project1/mbox
/home/USERNAME/evolution/local/Inbox/subfolders/Work/subfolders/Project1/subfolders/Issues/mbox
/home/USERNAME/evolution/local/Inbox/subfolders/Work/subfolders/Project2/mbox |
If we strip the Evolution specific part of the path, it will make for easier reading, but we will need the full path for later on.
| Code: | | replace "/home/USERNAME/evolution/local/" with "" > evoMboxStippedList |
| Code: | Sent/mbox
Drafts/mbox
Inbox/mbox
Inbox/subfolders/Personal/mbox
Inbox/subfolders/Work/mbox
Inbox/subfolders/Work/subfolders/Project1/mbox
Inbox/subfolders/Work/subfolders/Project1/subfolders/Issues/mbox
Inbox/subfolders/Work/subfolders/Project2/mbox |
2 Create a place in the Thunderbird file structure to store the imported mailboxes.
We do not want to mangle any existing folders in Thunderbird so we will have to create a unique folder to import everthing into.
The default location in thunderbird is something like this:
| Code: | | .thunderbird/default.i9c/Mail/Local\ Folders/ |
I believe the "i9c" part of "default.i9c" is profile specific, so this might need to be a user supplied location (i.e. where to create the imported folders). Regardless, we will create a Thunderbird mailbox and subfolder for imports.
| Code: | // find a unique name
if ".thunderbird/default.i9c/Mail/Local\ Folders/Imports" does not exist
{
// create the file
touch .thunderbird/default.i9c/Mail/Local\ Folders/Imports
// create the subdirectory
mkdir touch .thunderbird/default.i9c/Mail/Local\ Folders/Imports.sbd
}
else
{
// try again with a different name;
} |
3 Use the list of mbox's to create the required directory structure in Thunderbird
Thunderbird uses a regular name for its email files instead of mbox (eg inbox vs inbox/mbox) along with a subdirectory based on that name (eg inbox.sbd) to store its subfolders as opposed to the "subfolders" directories used by Evolutions. So, using the evoMboxStrippedList we want to create a new list, sbdBoxList, by replacing "/subfolders/" with ".sbd/".
| Code: | | replace "/subfolders/" with ".sbd/" > sbdBoxList |
| Code: | Sent/mbox
Drafts/mbox
Inbox/mbox
Inbox.sbd/Personal/mbox
Inbox.sbd/Work/mbox
Inbox.sbd/Work.sbd/Project1/mbox
Inbox.sbd/Work.sbd/Project1.sbd/Issues/mbox |
We need to keep a copy of this list around for later so next, create another list, sbdDirList, by replacing every instance of "/mbox" with ".sbd". This is a little overkill, as this implies that every mbox has subfolders which it does not. Maybe we could instead find the last instance of .sbd on each line and strip the rest, but then this can give us redundant entries, so I'll leave it up to you.
either replace "/mbox" with ".sbd" > sbdDirList giving
| Code: | Sent.sbd // not needed
Drafts.sbd // not needed
Inbox.sbd
Inbox.sbd/Personal.sbd
Inbox.sbd/Work.sbd
Inbox.sbd/Work.sbd/Project1.sbd
Inbox.sbd/Work.sbd/Project1.sbd/Issues.sbd // not needed |
or, if a line contains ".sbd" stripping from the last .sbd in the line to the end > sbdDirList gives
| Code: | Inbox.sbd
Inbox.sbd // redundant
Inbox.sbd/Work.sbd
Inbox.sbd/Work.sbd/Project1.sbd |
Finally, use this list to create a directory structure in the appropriate place in the thunderbird repository.
| Code: | cd ~/.thunderbird/default.i9c/Mail/Local\ Folders/Imports.sbd
// create each directory, i.e.
// ~/.thunderbird/default.i9c/Mail/Local\ Folders/Imports.sbd/Sent.sbd
// ~/.thunderbird/default.i9c/Mail/Local\ Folders/Imports.sbd/Drafts.sbd
// ~/.thunderbird/default.i9c/Mail/Local\ Folders/Imports.sbd/Inbox.sbd
// ~/.thunderbird/default.i9c/Mail/Local\ Folders/Imports.sbd/Inbox.sbd/Personal.sbd
// ~/.thunderbird/default.i9c/Mail/Local\ Folders/Imports.sbd/Inbox.sbd/Work.sbd
// ~/.thunderbird/default.i9c/Mail/Local\ Folders/Imports.sbd/Inbox.sbd/Work.sbd/Project1.sbd
// ...
for (each $1 in sbdDirList)
{
mkdir -p $1
} |
4 Copy the evolution mbox's into their new location.
first, create a list of the mbox names as used in Thunderbird. This is easy. remove every instance of "/mbox" from sbdBoxList
using | Code: | sbdBoxList:
Sent/mbox
Drafts/mbox
Inbox/mbox
Inbox.sbd/Personal/mbox
Inbox.sbd/Work/mbox
Inbox.sbd/Work.sbd/Project1/mbox
Inbox.sbd/Work.sbd/Project1.sbd/Issues/mbox |
| Code: | | replace "/mbox" with "" > sbdNamedList |
becomes
| Code: | Sent
Drafts
Inbox
Inbox.sbd/Personal
Inbox.sbd/Work
Inbox.sbd/Work.sbd/Project1
Inbox.sbd/Work.sbd/Project1.sbd/Issues |
Now copy each mbox from the evoMboxList to file name given by sbdNamedList. I'm going to do each line manually hear to be explicit. Make sure to either be in the correct place in the thunderbird repository path, or use the full path below.
| Code: | cp ~/evolution/local/Sent/mbox Sent
cp ~/evolution/local/Drafts/mbox Drafts
cp ~/evolution/local/Inbox/mbox Inbox
cp ~/evolution/local/Inbox/subfolders/Personal/mbox Inbox.sbd/Personal
cp ~/evolution/local/Inbox/subfolders/Work/mbox Inbox.sbd/Work
cp ~/evolution/local/Inbox/subfolders/Work/subfolders/Project1/mbox Inbox.sbd/Work.sbd/Project1
cp ~/evolution/local/Inbox/subfolders/Work/subfolders/Project1/subfolders/Issues/mbox Inbox.sbd/Work.sbd/Project1.sbd/Issues |
Now you have a directory structure under the "Local Folders" directory of your thunderbird repository consisting of the renamed mboxes from Evolution and any necessary subdirectories. I suggest trying it out with a single mbox and perhaps a subfolder before going into any major batch testing.
Good Luck and let me know if you have any questions about the process or other issues.
_________________
"I thought she'd steal my heart, instead she stole my kidney,
and now its for sale, on the black market in Sydney" - Better Abraham |
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