Getting Started

SyncEvolution in combination with HTTP SyncML server

Follows these steps to use SyncEvolution >= 0.8.1 (check with "syncevolution --version") on any of the supported platforms:

• setting up an account on a SyncML server
• creating a set of configuration files for that server
• invoking the command line tool each time data is to be synchronized

This page describes each step using an account on ScheduleWorld as an example. ScheduleWorld is used as a name for this server configuration. This can be replaced with an arbitrary name for other servers. For myFUNAMBOL, there is another example configuration called funambol.

• get a ScheduleWorld account
• list the known configuration templates:
  syncevolution --template ?
• create a new configuration for ScheduleWorld:
  syncevolution --configure --sync-property "username=123456" --sync-property "password=!@#ABcd1234" scheduleworld
  Replace the example strings "123456" and "!@#ABcd1234" with your real SyncML account information. For ScheduleWorld, use the ID number as username. "addressbook", "calendar", "memo", "todo" sources are configured so that they access the default local database, if possible. Not all platforms have such data and, even if they do, on some platforms, SyncEvolution supports only a subset of the data. The same command can be used to change an existing configuration.
• review configuration:
  syncevolution --print-config scheduleworld
• synchronize all sources:
  syncevolution scheduleworld

This blog entry demonstrates how to use some of the command line options that SyncEvolution supports. More command line options were added to 0.8. See:

Warning: Beware that there are pitfalls, in particular when just getting started with synchronizing multiple devices. Instead of learning about them the hard way, better read this blog article. It describes the technology and contains several tips about avoiding problems.

Direct Synchronization

Starting with 1.0, direct synchronization with another SyncML-capable device is supported. The easiest way to set that up is via the GTK sync-ui. Pair the two devices using the system's GUI for Bluetooth. When using a recent GNOME Bluetooth, the SyncEvolution plugin for it will offer to start the sync-ui. The sync-ui then lists paired devices with SyncML support and offers to configure them using one of the available device configuration templates. It tries to find a suitable template based on the name given to the device, which only works well if that name includes the model (for example, "John Doe's N85").

1.0 has a very limited set of known devices and none of them are as well-tested as the supported HTTP SyncML servers. Be prepared for some experimentation. For trouble shooting and information on setting up a configuration manually, see the phone sync HOWTO.