SyncEvolution#
SyncEvolution synchronizes personal information management (PIM) data via various protocols (SyncML, CalDAV/CardDAV, ActiveSync). It syncs contacts, appointments, tasks and memos. It syncs to web services or to SyncML-capable phones via Bluetooth.
Binaries are available for Linux desktops.
Overview#
See the documentation to read an overview, to install SyncEvolution, or to configure and run it. SyncEvolution is stable and works. The compatibility page explains what platforms SyncEvolution runs on and which servers it works with. Known limitations are documented there as well as in the list of known issues. If you need help, then please let us know.
For Developers#
The development section provides technical information. It also describes how our work is organized and how to engage with the core developers.
Features#
SyncEvolution Core and Synthesis SyncML Engine
Backends
Frontends
History#
SyncEvolution was started in 2006 by Patrick Ohly with a goal of writing a small, reliable solution for Evolution PIM data synchronization without reinventing the wheel. During SyncEvolution’s development, special attention was paid to automated testing and coverage of corner cases of the SyncML, vCard and iCalendar standards to ensure that no data gets lost or mangled. Originally it used the Funambol C++ client library as its SyncML engine, which was already available as open source at that time for Windows and Windows Mobile. It was ported to Linux as part of the SyncEvolution development. Since then the project has grown considerably. In 2009, it was integrated into Moblin and it switched to the Synthesis SyncML engine, with the goal of adding direct synchronization with phones. In 2010 release 1.0 delivered that feature, both in MeeGo 1.0 and on Linux desktops.
Recent posts#
2021-04-05 - SyncEvolution 2.0.0
This release modernizes the code base and removes usage of out-dated libraries and APIs. All Python scripts require Python 3. The major version bump reflects that this release is not just a minor bug fix. However, no new features were added.
2018-01-09 - SyncEvolution 1.5.3
Maintenance release. syncevolution.org binaries are now getting compiled for distros >= Ubuntu Xenial 16.04 LTS. Usage of deprecated libraries (GNOME keyring) and APIs (SoupAsyncSession) was replaced. libical v3 is supported.
2016-11-10 - SyncEvolution 1.5.2
Maintenance release. syncevolution.org binaries are now getting compiled for distros >= Ubuntu Trusty 14.04 LTS, which allowed removing several hacks that were needed when building binaries that also had to run on older distros. Compilation from source for old distros should still work as before, but is not getting tested anymore. Compile problems with recent libraries (libical v2) and tools (GCC v6) were resolved. Syncing via Bluetooth with certain phones now should work reliably in incremental mode. New backends for the Trinity Desktop Environment (TDE) were added to the source code.
2015-06-08 - SyncEvolution 1.5.1 released
Maintenance release. Binaries now also get compiled for Debian 8.0 “Jessie”. The apt repositories on syncevolution.org (mirrored on download.01.org) are signed with a different key than before, see “Installation” below.
2014-11-04 - SyncEvolution 1.5 released
This version is the new stable, supported version of SyncEvolution. Compared to the last 1.4.99.4 pre-release only minor changes were done (see below). This section summarizes the changes since the last stable release, 1.4.1.
2014-09-15 - SyncEvolution 1.4.99.4 released
This is the first release candidate for 1.5. No further changes are planned except for fixing yet-to-be-discovered bugs - so find them now! :-)
2014-07-24 - SyncEvolution 1.4.99.3 released
This release enhances CalDAV/CardDAV and PBAP syncing and fixes some problems. The enhanced conflict handling introduced 1.4.99.2 was unintentionally limited to syncs with EDS on the server side; it is now also available for example in WebDAV<->SyncML bridge setups.
2014-06-18 - Tizen Dev Conf: PIM in IVI - Contacts, your phone, your car
Here’s a copy of the slides that I presented at the Tizen Developer Conference 2014 in San Francisco. Compared to the previous talk at the Automotive Linux Summit in Edinburgh, you’ll find Tizen-specific instructions for getting started and information about the new OAuth2 (or, as a fallback, password based) Google Contact sync. *[Update]*: a copy of the slides and an audio recording of the talk are now also on the [conference web site](https://www.tizen.org/events/tizen-developer-conference/2014/conference-schedule) (search for “PIM in IVI - Contacts, your phone, your car”).
2014-05-26 - SyncEvolution 1.4.99.2 released
1.4.99.2 is a new development snapshot. It enhances interoperability with CardDAV servers and in particular Google Contacts considerably. Contact data gets converted to and from the format typically used by CardDAV servers, so now anniversary, spouse, manager, assistant and instant message information are exchanged properly.
2014-04-14 - SyncEvolution 1.4.1 released
The first bug fix release in the 1.4 series addresses some issues which occurred on some systems. Several issues with Akonadi were fixed.
2014-02-18 - SyncEvolution 1.4 released
The 1.4 release of SyncEvolution replaces 1.3.2 as the stable, supported release. 1.4 is the first stable version with the in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) PIM Manager included. GENIVI Diagnostic Log and Trace (DLT) is also supported. For more information about this aspect of SyncEvolution, see the PBAP and PIM entries in the [1.3.99 release notes](http://cgit.freedesktop.org/SyncEvolution/syncevolution/tree/NEWS?id=syncevolution-1-3-99-7) and these [Automotive Linux Summit slides](https://syncevolution.org/blogs/pohly/2013/pim-its-all-about-contacts). The biggest change for normal Linux users is Google CalDAV/CardDAV authentication with OAuth2. These are the open protocol that Google currently supports and thus the recommended way of syncing with Google, replacing ActiveSync and SyncML (both no longer available to all Google customers).
2014-01-23 - SyncEvolution 1.3.99.7 released
This the final release candidate for 1.4. No further changes planned unless new problems are found.
2013-12-10 - SyncEvolution 1.3.99.6 released
This update focuses on SyncEvolution in IVI again. It adds support for GENIVI Diagnostic Log and Trace (DLT) and enhances searching in the unified address book. The biggest change for normal Linux desktop users is enhanced support for recent distros. Binaries on syncevolution.org now work with EDS >= 3.6 *and* < 3.6. Distros with libical1 like Ubuntu Saucy are also supported. Automated testing was updated to cover these newer platforms more thoroughly. The binaries support Google CalDAV in combination with GNOME Online Accounts (GOA) >= 3.8 and and Google CardDAV with GOA >= 3.10. To use CardDAV with GOA 3.8, one has to [patch or recompile GOA](http://cgit.freedesktop.org/SyncEvolution/syncevolution/plain/src/backends/goa/README). Support for Google CalDAV/CardDAV with Ubuntu Online Accounts requires recompilation of SyncEvolution with [one additional patch](https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=72263).
2013-10-25 - PIM - it's all about the contacts
I just presented the work done on PIM in Tizen IVI 3.0 at the Linux Foundation’s Automotive Linux Summit. The work is based on a considerably enhanced Evolution Data Server, libphonenumber, folks, and of course SyncEvolution. If you want to know more about this, the slides are attached.
2013-10-02 - SyncEvolution 1.3.99.5 released
SyncEvolution now supports Google CalDAV/CardDAV with OAuth2 authentication. These are the open protocol that Google currently supports and thus the recommended way of syncing with Google, replacing ActiveSync and SyncML (both no longer available to all Google customers).
2013-07-16 - SyncEvolution 1.3.99.4 released
The focus of this development snapshot is enhanced performance of syncing. With EDS, contacts get added, updated or loaded with batch operations, which led to 4x runtime improvements when importing PBAP address book for the first time. Removing unnecessary work from any following PBAP sync resulted in a 6x improvement.
2013-03-18 - SyncEvolution 1.3.99.3 released
So far the development cycle for SyncEvolution 1.4 mostly focused on implementing the [“PIM Manager”](http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.comp.mobile.syncevolution/4009) D-Bus API for IVI use cases [1]. The 1.3.99.3 pre-release starts to include more features and bug fixes again for syncing. For example, several ActiveSync improvements from Graham Cobb were included. The remaining goal for 1.4, besides more testing of course, is to work out how to support Google CalDAV and CardDAV. I am in discussion with Google to get SyncEvolution [whitelisted](http://googleblog.blogspot.de/2013/03/a-second-spring-of-cleaning.html) for use with these APIs - fingers crossed…
2012-11-29 - SyncEvolution 1.3.2 released
Minor (or major, if you depend on auto syncing) bug fix release. Automatic syncing only ran once and notifications were not translated.
2012-10-07 - SyncEvolution 1.3.1 released
SyncEvolution 1.3.1 fixes some minor issues found after 1.3 was released.
2012-09-12 - SyncEvolution 1.3 released
After almost three months of public beta testing the next major version of SyncEvolution is ready for release. The pre-releases did have the desired effect of flushing out bugs not found by nightly testing alone. Thanks everyone for packaging, downloading and testing them!
2012-08-07 - SyncEvolution 1.2.99.3 and 1.2.99.4 released, bug tracking at freedesktop.org
Work towards the 1.3 release of SyncEvolution continued with two more snapshots since the last announcement. The project also moved its bug tracking from bugs.meego.com to bugs.freedesktop.org. Most of the old issues were already migrated, the rest will follow later. Please [file new issues](http://bugs.freedesktop.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=SyncEvolution) there. The git repos are still at meego.com; they will move to freedesktop.org eventually.
2012-07-26 - SyncEvolution 1.2.99.3 released
Final release candidate for SyncEvolution 1.3 - fingers crossed, knock on wood, etc. ActiveSync is now available in binaries from syncevolution.org and becomes the recommended way of [synchronizing contacts with Google](/wiki/google-contacts-activesync). EDS 3.5.x and later are supported when compiling from source; syncevolution.org binaries continue to support only EDS up to 3.4.
2012-07-08 - SyncEvolution 1.2.99.2 released
Next step towards SyncEvolution 1.3. It adds a workaround for Funambol’s OneMedia and fixes an old bug which became more severe in 1.2.99.1. Also has some usability improvements for CalDAV/CardDAV. Hopefully it will not take long to stabilize the code, so test it now while it is still hot :-)
2012-06-25 - SyncEvolution 1.2.99.1 released
First pre-release of SyncEvolution 1.3. Contains bug fixes that were not backported to 1.2.x, so upgrading is recommended. For example, SyncEvolution 1.3 is required for Evolution 3.4, otherwise photos are not exported properly. Further workarounds for recent changes in Google CalDAV were added. Major new features are KDE/Akonadi support in the syncevolution.org binaries and ActiveSync support (only in the source code). The D-Bus server and local sync were rewritten considerably, to make the code cleaner and more robust. The CalDAV backend now also supports tasks and memos.
2012-02-02 - FOSDEM 2012
I’ll give a [talk about SyncEvolution and EDS](http://www.fosdem.org/2012/schedule/event/syncevolution_update) in the [Mobile Linux Dev Room](http://www.fosdem.org/2012/schedule/track/open_mobile_linux_devroom) at FOSDEM on Saturday. I hope to see you there :-) For those who can’t come, attached are the slides.
2012-01-16 - SyncEvolution 1.2.2 released
Maintenance release with various bug fixes.
2011-11-28 - SyncEvolution 1.2.1 released
Maintenance release with various bug fixes.
2011-10-25 - State of the union, version 1.2
With SyncEvolution 1.2 released and work on 1.3 under way it is a good time to take a small break and reflect on the state of the SyncEvolution project.
2011-10-17 - SyncEvolution 1.2 released
The major new feature of the 1.2 release is support for non-SyncML protocols in general and CalDAV/CardDAV in particular. ActiveSync support is in development and will be in 1.3. These protocols are implemented as backends which are combined with other backends by SyncEvolution in a so called “local sync”. The GTK sync-ui does not yet support configuring non-SyncML protocols. See the [README.rst and man page](/documentation/syncevolution-usage) for more information on how to use the new feature via the command line.
2011-10-13 - SyncEvolution + non-recursive Automake
Krzesimir Nowak [wrote about his work](http://krnowak.blogspot.com/2011/10/syncevolution-build-system-work.html) on converting SyncEvolution from an autotools project with recursive make to non-recursive make. Definitely worth a read for anyone interested in autotools. The current SyncEvolution master branch (post 1.2) uses that new build system. His conclusion is that the new system is not necessarily easier to understand than the one before (autotools with some preprocessing shell scripts). Partly that’s because SyncEvolution tries to achieve certain things not supported well by autotools (automatically generated version number, avoid listing all files explicitly, backends which can add to the global configure script), partly it is because non-recursive Automake introduces additional constraints (like having to avoid clobbering variables and rules). Helper scripts are still needed, the only difference is how they get called. Either way, what sold me on the idea of a non-recursive make is that on a machine with many cores, like the SyncEvolution nightly test server, compilation is considerably faster because parallel make can spawn more jobs in parallel. Recursive make often had to wait for the completion of compilation in a sub-directory. If memory serves me right, it was more than twice as fast.
2011-09-16 - SyncEvolution 1.1.99.7 released
Mostly bug fixes again. Some are a bit more intrusive, thus another pre-release.
2011-08-18 - SyncEvolution 1.1.99.6 released
Mostly bug fixes, some improvements in testing and packaging. This release was tested successfully with DAViCal 0.9.9.4.
2011-07-15 - SyncEvolution 1.1.99.5 "beyond SyncML" released
Release 1.1.99.5 is the first release candidate for 1.2. It has gone through a long stabilization period and thus is suitable for normal users. The major new feature of the 1.2 release is support for non-SyncML protocols in general and CalDAV/CardDAV in particular. ActiveSync support is in development.
2011-04-30 - SyncEvolution for Debian: new maintainer needed
David Bremner, the Debian packager of SyncEvolution, [announced](http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=624540) that he is looking for a new maintainer to take over that package. If you care about SyncEvolution in Debian and Ubuntu, then please consider taking over. On this occasion let me thank David Bremner for getting SyncEvolution into Debian and for maintaining it there.
2011-04-15 - The state of syncing in open source
There have been two blog posts recently who point out that data synchronization using open source tools still doesn’t work as well as it should:
2011-03-14 - Comment spam
Quite a bit of spam accumulated in the site comments. Usually I deleted spam comments within a few days after receiving the comment notification email, but not all spam comments triggered those, so I missed quite a lot. I went back and reviewed all comments and deleted as necessary, so the site should be cleaner now. If I missed anything, please let me know. In order to combat spam, all comments are now held for review before being posted. This will lead to delays, so we plan to improve the anti-spam measures and remove the need to review comments manually again. If someone wants to help maintain the site, such help would be highly appreciated! It takes away time that could be spent on improving the software instead…
2011-02-28 - Question for Sony Ericsson users: charset?
A Sony Ericsson K800 user reported a problem with non-standard characters (German umlauts in his case). It turned out that the phone uses ISO-8859-1 instead UTF-8 as encoding, without announcing that. It is possible to configure the Synthesis engine so that it does with the character set conversion correctly, but that leads to this question: *which phones need this special treatment*? I’m currently inclined to enable this for all Sony Ericsson phones, unconditionally. If you are using a Sony Ericsson a) which uses something else than ISO-8859-1 as local charset and/or b) which works correctly with non-standard characters already in SyncEvolution 1.1.1, then please leave a comment.
2010-12-26 - SyncEvolution "Christmas Edition" 1.1.1 released
Maintenance release, in particular improving syncing with phones. There was a bug that could cause all kinds of weird behavior after a failed sync with a phone, so updating is highly recommended.
2010-12-14 - ScheduleWorld shut down - R.I.P
End of November, the scheduleworld.com service shut down. As a user [confirmed later](http://article.gmane.org/gmane.comp.mobile.syncevolution/1868), a notification had been sent earlier to paying customers. So the site is really gone and not just encountering some temporary problems. There does not seem to be any publicly accessible statement about the shutdown, hence this blog post. I have no information about the reasons for discontinuing the service. The notification to users did not give an explanation either. My guess is that the business side of the service did not work out. Syncing is a very challenging, technically difficult problem. I suspect that many users do not understand how much hard work goes into it and thus are less willing to pay for it. Then there is the competition with free services. If users are happy with online access Google Calendar, why should they bother paying for a synchronization service? There are reasons (see below), but perhaps not enough users care.
2010-10-26 - SyncEvolution 1.1 released
An incremental update, resolving issues where the fixes would have been too intrusive for a 1.0.x release. It replaces 1.0.x as the officially supported stable version. Compatibility with Nokia phones was improved. Some new features were also included (command line options for [manipulating items](http://syncevolution.org/blogs/pohly/2010/manipulate-evolution-kcalextendedmkcal-qtcontacts-pim-items-uniform-command-line), backends for MeeGo PIM storages).
2010-10-01 - SyncEvolution status update + 1.0.99.7 available
SyncEvolution 1.0.99.7, the release candidate for 1.1, is available for testing. Company supported development shifts towards other areas like [local synchronization](http://bugs.meego.com/show_bug.cgi?id=712) and non-SyncML protocols, so now would be a good time for contributors to step in and help improve the SyncML part or work on non-SyncML protocols.
2010-08-31 - manipulate Evolution, KCalExtended/mkcal, QtContacts PIM items via uniform command line
The current development version of SyncEvolution, the one which will become 1.1, has some new features which may be useful for command line aficionados like myself: query and manipulate items in the databases that can be accessed with SyncEvolution backends. This is particularly useful for the new PIM storages in MeeGo, QtContacts and mkcal (formerly known as KCalExtended). Both are part of MeeGo Core, but come without any kind of frontend in Core. SyncEvolution provides a uniform way of testing these new storages using the command line or scripts.
2010-07-17 - SyncEvolution 1.0.1 released
A bug fix release. The main reason for releasing it is that SyncEvolution 1.0 no longer worked on recent distros (Fedora Core 13, Debian testing) because of a name clash between the Bluez D-Bus utility code and recent glib.
2010-06-16 - SyncEvolution 1.0 released
After several betas and lot of testing, it’s finally time to announce the end of the 1.0 development cycle: SyncEvolution 1.0 is released and replaces 0.9.2 as the stable version. 0.1 was released over four years ago. It has always bee part of the long-term vision to bring “personal SyncML” to desktops. Thanks to the Synthesis engine and Intel’s support for the project, this goal has been reached and this release really deserves the magic 1.0 label. For those not familiar with the project, SyncEvolution synchronizes personal information management (PIM) data like contacts, calenders, tasks, and memos using the SyncML information synchronization standard. Up to and including 0.9.2, a third-party SyncML server was required. In 1.0, SyncEvolution itself is able to act as a SyncML server, both via HTTP and Bluetooth (direct sync with phones).
2010-04-21 - SyncEvolution 1.0 beta 3 released
SyncEvolution 1.0 beta 3 is available. This release is feature complete and has been tested thoroughly, so only minor bug fixes are expected before releasing 1.0. Beta 3 is ready for day-to-day use and for getting packaged in staging distros as replacement for 0.9.2 or previous betas. If you find issues, please [report them](http://syncevolution.org/support). Binary packages are provided, including Bluetooth support. Major improvements:
2010-02-24 - SyncEvolution 1.0 beta 2 released
SyncEvolution 1.0 beta 2 is available. Binary packages are provided, including Bluetooth support this time. Major improvements:
2010-02-04 - FOSDEM 2010
To learn more about SyncEvolution, come to **FOSDEM 2010**:
2010-01-25 - SyncEvolution 0.9.2 and 1.0 beta released, support Maemo 5/Nokia N900
SyncEvolution 0.9.2 and 1.0 beta are available. 0.9.2 replaces 0.9.1 as the official stable release. Binary packages are provided. Changes in both releases are listed below. 1.0 beta contains all changes included in 0.9.2. Development has already shifted towards 1.0, but if you find issues in either version, please report them. In the 1.0 beta, SyncEvolution itself is already able to act as a SyncML server, both via HTTP and Bluetooth (direct sync with phones). Because of incompatible versions of libbluetooth in different distros, the precompiled 1.0 beta packages do not include Bluetooth support. One has to compile from source to use that. **2010-01-30:** if you had problems installing the 1.0 beta binaries because of dependencies on libbluetooth2 or libpcre.so.3, then please try again. Binaries without these dependencies replaced the initial set of binaries today (-3 release instead of -2 for .rpm and .deb). To learn more about SyncEvolution, come to **FOSDEM 2010**:
2009-12-02 - SyncEvolution 1.0 alpha 1 released
Today we are releasing SyncEvolution 1.0 alpha 1, a development snapshot, “because we can” :-) In particular, we can:
2009-11-03 - SyncEvolution 0.9.1 released
SyncEvolution 0.9.1 is available. It replaces 0.9 as the official stable release. Changes since that version are listed below. Changes made between beta releases (for those who helped testing them) are documented in the beta release announcement. There are some known issues, see below. The more issues get reported and fixed, the sooner there will be a 0.9.2 maintenance update, so keep the reports coming. If you want to report something or get involved, then contact the team.
2009-10-20 - SyncEvolution 0.9.1 beta released
SyncEvolution 0.9.1 beta 2 is available, release after fixing all issues which were found in beta 1. It is going to replace 0.9 as the official stable release soon, so this is the chance to find and report problems before they sneak into the final 0.9.1 - die, bugs, die!
2009-09-23 - Project Presentation from Gran Canaria Desktop Summit 2009
For those who are looking for a concise (and more colorful…) introduction to the SyncEvolution project, here are the slides of the talk at the Gran Canaria Desktop 2009.
2009-08-14 - SyncEvolution 0.9 released
SyncEvolution 0.9 has been released! The 0.9 version replaces 0.8.1 as the stable version on Linux desktops. Mac OS X and Maemo have not been updated and remain at 0.8.1 (hint: volunteers wanted). 0.9 binaries in .deb, .tar.gz and (for the first time) .rpm format are provided for x86 in 32 and 64 bit mode. Moblin 2.0 comes with SyncEvolution included in the normal Moblin image, with updates provided via the package repositories. Planning and work for SyncEvolution 1.0 is in full swing. 1.0 is intended to add the SyncML server role for direct synchronization with other devices. If you want to get involved, then contact the team: http://syncevolution.org/support
2009-07-23 - Known Issues in 0.9 beta 3
This post documents known issues in SyncEvolution 0.9 beta 3 and workarounds. [Update 24.07.2009] The 0.9 beta3 20090723 hotfix solves these issues, so make sure your SyncEvolution is up-to-date.
2009-07-22 - SyncEvolution 0.9 beta 3 released: binaries available
The end is near - SyncEvolution 0.9 is almost done. For the first time in the 0.9 series, precompiled binaries are made available again together with the new 0.9 beta 3 source snapshot. Users are encouraged to upgrade now and give feedback before the final 0.9 release.
2009-07-22 - Help wanted: maintainers for Maemo and Mac OS X
SyncEvolution 0.9 beta 3 is released and I still haven’t found the time to try out whether the 0.9 series still compiles on Maemo and Mac OS X. Unless someone with some skills in compiling software on those platforms and the necessary motivation steps up, these platforms might not be supported in the initial 0.9 release.
2009-04-21 - New SyncEvolution Web Site
The SyncEvolution team is pleased to announce our new web site and place to interact with the SyncEvolution community. Most of the content and documentation from our previous site (http://estamos.de) has been migrated here. Let us know what you think!
2021-04-05 - SyncEvolution 2.0.0
This release modernizes the code base and removes usage of out-dated libraries and APIs. All Python scripts require Python 3. The major version bump reflects that this release is not just a minor bug fix. However, no new features were added.
2018-01-09 - SyncEvolution 1.5.3
Maintenance release. syncevolution.org binaries are now getting compiled for distros >= Ubuntu Xenial 16.04 LTS. Usage of deprecated libraries (GNOME keyring) and APIs (SoupAsyncSession) was replaced. libical v3 is supported.
2016-11-10 - SyncEvolution 1.5.2
Maintenance release. syncevolution.org binaries are now getting compiled for distros >= Ubuntu Trusty 14.04 LTS, which allowed removing several hacks that were needed when building binaries that also had to run on older distros. Compilation from source for old distros should still work as before, but is not getting tested anymore. Compile problems with recent libraries (libical v2) and tools (GCC v6) were resolved. Syncing via Bluetooth with certain phones now should work reliably in incremental mode. New backends for the Trinity Desktop Environment (TDE) were added to the source code.
2015-06-08 - SyncEvolution 1.5.1 released
Maintenance release. Binaries now also get compiled for Debian 8.0 “Jessie”. The apt repositories on syncevolution.org (mirrored on download.01.org) are signed with a different key than before, see “Installation” below.
2014-11-04 - SyncEvolution 1.5 released
This version is the new stable, supported version of SyncEvolution. Compared to the last 1.4.99.4 pre-release only minor changes were done (see below). This section summarizes the changes since the last stable release, 1.4.1.
2014-09-15 - SyncEvolution 1.4.99.4 released
This is the first release candidate for 1.5. No further changes are planned except for fixing yet-to-be-discovered bugs - so find them now! :-)
2014-07-24 - SyncEvolution 1.4.99.3 released
This release enhances CalDAV/CardDAV and PBAP syncing and fixes some problems. The enhanced conflict handling introduced 1.4.99.2 was unintentionally limited to syncs with EDS on the server side; it is now also available for example in WebDAV<->SyncML bridge setups.
2014-06-18 - Tizen Dev Conf: PIM in IVI - Contacts, your phone, your car
Here’s a copy of the slides that I presented at the Tizen Developer Conference 2014 in San Francisco. Compared to the previous talk at the Automotive Linux Summit in Edinburgh, you’ll find Tizen-specific instructions for getting started and information about the new OAuth2 (or, as a fallback, password based) Google Contact sync. *[Update]*: a copy of the slides and an audio recording of the talk are now also on the [conference web site](https://www.tizen.org/events/tizen-developer-conference/2014/conference-schedule) (search for “PIM in IVI - Contacts, your phone, your car”).
2014-05-26 - SyncEvolution 1.4.99.2 released
1.4.99.2 is a new development snapshot. It enhances interoperability with CardDAV servers and in particular Google Contacts considerably. Contact data gets converted to and from the format typically used by CardDAV servers, so now anniversary, spouse, manager, assistant and instant message information are exchanged properly.
2014-04-14 - SyncEvolution 1.4.1 released
The first bug fix release in the 1.4 series addresses some issues which occurred on some systems. Several issues with Akonadi were fixed.
2014-02-18 - SyncEvolution 1.4 released
The 1.4 release of SyncEvolution replaces 1.3.2 as the stable, supported release. 1.4 is the first stable version with the in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) PIM Manager included. GENIVI Diagnostic Log and Trace (DLT) is also supported. For more information about this aspect of SyncEvolution, see the PBAP and PIM entries in the [1.3.99 release notes](http://cgit.freedesktop.org/SyncEvolution/syncevolution/tree/NEWS?id=syncevolution-1-3-99-7) and these [Automotive Linux Summit slides](https://syncevolution.org/blogs/pohly/2013/pim-its-all-about-contacts). The biggest change for normal Linux users is Google CalDAV/CardDAV authentication with OAuth2. These are the open protocol that Google currently supports and thus the recommended way of syncing with Google, replacing ActiveSync and SyncML (both no longer available to all Google customers).
2014-01-23 - SyncEvolution 1.3.99.7 released
This the final release candidate for 1.4. No further changes planned unless new problems are found.
2013-12-10 - SyncEvolution 1.3.99.6 released
This update focuses on SyncEvolution in IVI again. It adds support for GENIVI Diagnostic Log and Trace (DLT) and enhances searching in the unified address book. The biggest change for normal Linux desktop users is enhanced support for recent distros. Binaries on syncevolution.org now work with EDS >= 3.6 *and* < 3.6. Distros with libical1 like Ubuntu Saucy are also supported. Automated testing was updated to cover these newer platforms more thoroughly. The binaries support Google CalDAV in combination with GNOME Online Accounts (GOA) >= 3.8 and and Google CardDAV with GOA >= 3.10. To use CardDAV with GOA 3.8, one has to [patch or recompile GOA](http://cgit.freedesktop.org/SyncEvolution/syncevolution/plain/src/backends/goa/README). Support for Google CalDAV/CardDAV with Ubuntu Online Accounts requires recompilation of SyncEvolution with [one additional patch](https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=72263).
2013-10-25 - PIM - it's all about the contacts
I just presented the work done on PIM in Tizen IVI 3.0 at the Linux Foundation’s Automotive Linux Summit. The work is based on a considerably enhanced Evolution Data Server, libphonenumber, folks, and of course SyncEvolution. If you want to know more about this, the slides are attached.
2013-10-02 - SyncEvolution 1.3.99.5 released
SyncEvolution now supports Google CalDAV/CardDAV with OAuth2 authentication. These are the open protocol that Google currently supports and thus the recommended way of syncing with Google, replacing ActiveSync and SyncML (both no longer available to all Google customers).
2013-07-16 - SyncEvolution 1.3.99.4 released
The focus of this development snapshot is enhanced performance of syncing. With EDS, contacts get added, updated or loaded with batch operations, which led to 4x runtime improvements when importing PBAP address book for the first time. Removing unnecessary work from any following PBAP sync resulted in a 6x improvement.
2013-03-18 - SyncEvolution 1.3.99.3 released
So far the development cycle for SyncEvolution 1.4 mostly focused on implementing the [“PIM Manager”](http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.comp.mobile.syncevolution/4009) D-Bus API for IVI use cases [1]. The 1.3.99.3 pre-release starts to include more features and bug fixes again for syncing. For example, several ActiveSync improvements from Graham Cobb were included. The remaining goal for 1.4, besides more testing of course, is to work out how to support Google CalDAV and CardDAV. I am in discussion with Google to get SyncEvolution [whitelisted](http://googleblog.blogspot.de/2013/03/a-second-spring-of-cleaning.html) for use with these APIs - fingers crossed…
2012-11-29 - SyncEvolution 1.3.2 released
Minor (or major, if you depend on auto syncing) bug fix release. Automatic syncing only ran once and notifications were not translated.
2012-10-07 - SyncEvolution 1.3.1 released
SyncEvolution 1.3.1 fixes some minor issues found after 1.3 was released.
2012-09-12 - SyncEvolution 1.3 released
After almost three months of public beta testing the next major version of SyncEvolution is ready for release. The pre-releases did have the desired effect of flushing out bugs not found by nightly testing alone. Thanks everyone for packaging, downloading and testing them!
2012-08-07 - SyncEvolution 1.2.99.3 and 1.2.99.4 released, bug tracking at freedesktop.org
Work towards the 1.3 release of SyncEvolution continued with two more snapshots since the last announcement. The project also moved its bug tracking from bugs.meego.com to bugs.freedesktop.org. Most of the old issues were already migrated, the rest will follow later. Please [file new issues](http://bugs.freedesktop.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=SyncEvolution) there. The git repos are still at meego.com; they will move to freedesktop.org eventually.
2012-07-26 - SyncEvolution 1.2.99.3 released
Final release candidate for SyncEvolution 1.3 - fingers crossed, knock on wood, etc. ActiveSync is now available in binaries from syncevolution.org and becomes the recommended way of [synchronizing contacts with Google](/wiki/google-contacts-activesync). EDS 3.5.x and later are supported when compiling from source; syncevolution.org binaries continue to support only EDS up to 3.4.
2012-07-08 - SyncEvolution 1.2.99.2 released
Next step towards SyncEvolution 1.3. It adds a workaround for Funambol’s OneMedia and fixes an old bug which became more severe in 1.2.99.1. Also has some usability improvements for CalDAV/CardDAV. Hopefully it will not take long to stabilize the code, so test it now while it is still hot :-)
2012-06-25 - SyncEvolution 1.2.99.1 released
First pre-release of SyncEvolution 1.3. Contains bug fixes that were not backported to 1.2.x, so upgrading is recommended. For example, SyncEvolution 1.3 is required for Evolution 3.4, otherwise photos are not exported properly. Further workarounds for recent changes in Google CalDAV were added. Major new features are KDE/Akonadi support in the syncevolution.org binaries and ActiveSync support (only in the source code). The D-Bus server and local sync were rewritten considerably, to make the code cleaner and more robust. The CalDAV backend now also supports tasks and memos.
2012-02-02 - FOSDEM 2012
I’ll give a [talk about SyncEvolution and EDS](http://www.fosdem.org/2012/schedule/event/syncevolution_update) in the [Mobile Linux Dev Room](http://www.fosdem.org/2012/schedule/track/open_mobile_linux_devroom) at FOSDEM on Saturday. I hope to see you there :-) For those who can’t come, attached are the slides.
2012-01-16 - SyncEvolution 1.2.2 released
Maintenance release with various bug fixes.
2011-11-28 - SyncEvolution 1.2.1 released
Maintenance release with various bug fixes.
2011-10-25 - State of the union, version 1.2
With SyncEvolution 1.2 released and work on 1.3 under way it is a good time to take a small break and reflect on the state of the SyncEvolution project.
2011-10-17 - SyncEvolution 1.2 released
The major new feature of the 1.2 release is support for non-SyncML protocols in general and CalDAV/CardDAV in particular. ActiveSync support is in development and will be in 1.3. These protocols are implemented as backends which are combined with other backends by SyncEvolution in a so called “local sync”. The GTK sync-ui does not yet support configuring non-SyncML protocols. See the [README.rst and man page](/documentation/syncevolution-usage) for more information on how to use the new feature via the command line.
2011-10-13 - SyncEvolution + non-recursive Automake
Krzesimir Nowak [wrote about his work](http://krnowak.blogspot.com/2011/10/syncevolution-build-system-work.html) on converting SyncEvolution from an autotools project with recursive make to non-recursive make. Definitely worth a read for anyone interested in autotools. The current SyncEvolution master branch (post 1.2) uses that new build system. His conclusion is that the new system is not necessarily easier to understand than the one before (autotools with some preprocessing shell scripts). Partly that’s because SyncEvolution tries to achieve certain things not supported well by autotools (automatically generated version number, avoid listing all files explicitly, backends which can add to the global configure script), partly it is because non-recursive Automake introduces additional constraints (like having to avoid clobbering variables and rules). Helper scripts are still needed, the only difference is how they get called. Either way, what sold me on the idea of a non-recursive make is that on a machine with many cores, like the SyncEvolution nightly test server, compilation is considerably faster because parallel make can spawn more jobs in parallel. Recursive make often had to wait for the completion of compilation in a sub-directory. If memory serves me right, it was more than twice as fast.
2011-09-16 - SyncEvolution 1.1.99.7 released
Mostly bug fixes again. Some are a bit more intrusive, thus another pre-release.
2011-08-18 - SyncEvolution 1.1.99.6 released
Mostly bug fixes, some improvements in testing and packaging. This release was tested successfully with DAViCal 0.9.9.4.
2011-07-15 - SyncEvolution 1.1.99.5 "beyond SyncML" released
Release 1.1.99.5 is the first release candidate for 1.2. It has gone through a long stabilization period and thus is suitable for normal users. The major new feature of the 1.2 release is support for non-SyncML protocols in general and CalDAV/CardDAV in particular. ActiveSync support is in development.
2011-04-30 - SyncEvolution for Debian: new maintainer needed
David Bremner, the Debian packager of SyncEvolution, [announced](http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=624540) that he is looking for a new maintainer to take over that package. If you care about SyncEvolution in Debian and Ubuntu, then please consider taking over. On this occasion let me thank David Bremner for getting SyncEvolution into Debian and for maintaining it there.
2011-04-15 - The state of syncing in open source
There have been two blog posts recently who point out that data synchronization using open source tools still doesn’t work as well as it should:
2011-03-14 - Comment spam
Quite a bit of spam accumulated in the site comments. Usually I deleted spam comments within a few days after receiving the comment notification email, but not all spam comments triggered those, so I missed quite a lot. I went back and reviewed all comments and deleted as necessary, so the site should be cleaner now. If I missed anything, please let me know. In order to combat spam, all comments are now held for review before being posted. This will lead to delays, so we plan to improve the anti-spam measures and remove the need to review comments manually again. If someone wants to help maintain the site, such help would be highly appreciated! It takes away time that could be spent on improving the software instead…
2011-02-28 - Question for Sony Ericsson users: charset?
A Sony Ericsson K800 user reported a problem with non-standard characters (German umlauts in his case). It turned out that the phone uses ISO-8859-1 instead UTF-8 as encoding, without announcing that. It is possible to configure the Synthesis engine so that it does with the character set conversion correctly, but that leads to this question: *which phones need this special treatment*? I’m currently inclined to enable this for all Sony Ericsson phones, unconditionally. If you are using a Sony Ericsson a) which uses something else than ISO-8859-1 as local charset and/or b) which works correctly with non-standard characters already in SyncEvolution 1.1.1, then please leave a comment.
2010-12-26 - SyncEvolution "Christmas Edition" 1.1.1 released
Maintenance release, in particular improving syncing with phones. There was a bug that could cause all kinds of weird behavior after a failed sync with a phone, so updating is highly recommended.
2010-12-14 - ScheduleWorld shut down - R.I.P
End of November, the scheduleworld.com service shut down. As a user [confirmed later](http://article.gmane.org/gmane.comp.mobile.syncevolution/1868), a notification had been sent earlier to paying customers. So the site is really gone and not just encountering some temporary problems. There does not seem to be any publicly accessible statement about the shutdown, hence this blog post. I have no information about the reasons for discontinuing the service. The notification to users did not give an explanation either. My guess is that the business side of the service did not work out. Syncing is a very challenging, technically difficult problem. I suspect that many users do not understand how much hard work goes into it and thus are less willing to pay for it. Then there is the competition with free services. If users are happy with online access Google Calendar, why should they bother paying for a synchronization service? There are reasons (see below), but perhaps not enough users care.
2010-10-26 - SyncEvolution 1.1 released
An incremental update, resolving issues where the fixes would have been too intrusive for a 1.0.x release. It replaces 1.0.x as the officially supported stable version. Compatibility with Nokia phones was improved. Some new features were also included (command line options for [manipulating items](http://syncevolution.org/blogs/pohly/2010/manipulate-evolution-kcalextendedmkcal-qtcontacts-pim-items-uniform-command-line), backends for MeeGo PIM storages).
2010-10-01 - SyncEvolution status update + 1.0.99.7 available
SyncEvolution 1.0.99.7, the release candidate for 1.1, is available for testing. Company supported development shifts towards other areas like [local synchronization](http://bugs.meego.com/show_bug.cgi?id=712) and non-SyncML protocols, so now would be a good time for contributors to step in and help improve the SyncML part or work on non-SyncML protocols.
2010-08-31 - manipulate Evolution, KCalExtended/mkcal, QtContacts PIM items via uniform command line
The current development version of SyncEvolution, the one which will become 1.1, has some new features which may be useful for command line aficionados like myself: query and manipulate items in the databases that can be accessed with SyncEvolution backends. This is particularly useful for the new PIM storages in MeeGo, QtContacts and mkcal (formerly known as KCalExtended). Both are part of MeeGo Core, but come without any kind of frontend in Core. SyncEvolution provides a uniform way of testing these new storages using the command line or scripts.
2010-07-17 - SyncEvolution 1.0.1 released
A bug fix release. The main reason for releasing it is that SyncEvolution 1.0 no longer worked on recent distros (Fedora Core 13, Debian testing) because of a name clash between the Bluez D-Bus utility code and recent glib.
2010-06-16 - SyncEvolution 1.0 released
After several betas and lot of testing, it’s finally time to announce the end of the 1.0 development cycle: SyncEvolution 1.0 is released and replaces 0.9.2 as the stable version. 0.1 was released over four years ago. It has always bee part of the long-term vision to bring “personal SyncML” to desktops. Thanks to the Synthesis engine and Intel’s support for the project, this goal has been reached and this release really deserves the magic 1.0 label. For those not familiar with the project, SyncEvolution synchronizes personal information management (PIM) data like contacts, calenders, tasks, and memos using the SyncML information synchronization standard. Up to and including 0.9.2, a third-party SyncML server was required. In 1.0, SyncEvolution itself is able to act as a SyncML server, both via HTTP and Bluetooth (direct sync with phones).
2010-04-21 - SyncEvolution 1.0 beta 3 released
SyncEvolution 1.0 beta 3 is available. This release is feature complete and has been tested thoroughly, so only minor bug fixes are expected before releasing 1.0. Beta 3 is ready for day-to-day use and for getting packaged in staging distros as replacement for 0.9.2 or previous betas. If you find issues, please [report them](http://syncevolution.org/support). Binary packages are provided, including Bluetooth support. Major improvements:
2010-02-24 - SyncEvolution 1.0 beta 2 released
SyncEvolution 1.0 beta 2 is available. Binary packages are provided, including Bluetooth support this time. Major improvements:
2010-02-04 - FOSDEM 2010
To learn more about SyncEvolution, come to **FOSDEM 2010**:
2010-01-25 - SyncEvolution 0.9.2 and 1.0 beta released, support Maemo 5/Nokia N900
SyncEvolution 0.9.2 and 1.0 beta are available. 0.9.2 replaces 0.9.1 as the official stable release. Binary packages are provided. Changes in both releases are listed below. 1.0 beta contains all changes included in 0.9.2. Development has already shifted towards 1.0, but if you find issues in either version, please report them. In the 1.0 beta, SyncEvolution itself is already able to act as a SyncML server, both via HTTP and Bluetooth (direct sync with phones). Because of incompatible versions of libbluetooth in different distros, the precompiled 1.0 beta packages do not include Bluetooth support. One has to compile from source to use that. **2010-01-30:** if you had problems installing the 1.0 beta binaries because of dependencies on libbluetooth2 or libpcre.so.3, then please try again. Binaries without these dependencies replaced the initial set of binaries today (-3 release instead of -2 for .rpm and .deb). To learn more about SyncEvolution, come to **FOSDEM 2010**:
2009-12-02 - SyncEvolution 1.0 alpha 1 released
Today we are releasing SyncEvolution 1.0 alpha 1, a development snapshot, “because we can” :-) In particular, we can:
2009-11-03 - SyncEvolution 0.9.1 released
SyncEvolution 0.9.1 is available. It replaces 0.9 as the official stable release. Changes since that version are listed below. Changes made between beta releases (for those who helped testing them) are documented in the beta release announcement. There are some known issues, see below. The more issues get reported and fixed, the sooner there will be a 0.9.2 maintenance update, so keep the reports coming. If you want to report something or get involved, then contact the team.
2009-10-20 - SyncEvolution 0.9.1 beta released
SyncEvolution 0.9.1 beta 2 is available, release after fixing all issues which were found in beta 1. It is going to replace 0.9 as the official stable release soon, so this is the chance to find and report problems before they sneak into the final 0.9.1 - die, bugs, die!
2009-09-23 - Project Presentation from Gran Canaria Desktop Summit 2009
For those who are looking for a concise (and more colorful…) introduction to the SyncEvolution project, here are the slides of the talk at the Gran Canaria Desktop 2009.
2009-08-14 - SyncEvolution 0.9 released
SyncEvolution 0.9 has been released! The 0.9 version replaces 0.8.1 as the stable version on Linux desktops. Mac OS X and Maemo have not been updated and remain at 0.8.1 (hint: volunteers wanted). 0.9 binaries in .deb, .tar.gz and (for the first time) .rpm format are provided for x86 in 32 and 64 bit mode. Moblin 2.0 comes with SyncEvolution included in the normal Moblin image, with updates provided via the package repositories. Planning and work for SyncEvolution 1.0 is in full swing. 1.0 is intended to add the SyncML server role for direct synchronization with other devices. If you want to get involved, then contact the team: http://syncevolution.org/support
2009-07-23 - Known Issues in 0.9 beta 3
This post documents known issues in SyncEvolution 0.9 beta 3 and workarounds. [Update 24.07.2009] The 0.9 beta3 20090723 hotfix solves these issues, so make sure your SyncEvolution is up-to-date.
2009-07-22 - SyncEvolution 0.9 beta 3 released: binaries available
The end is near - SyncEvolution 0.9 is almost done. For the first time in the 0.9 series, precompiled binaries are made available again together with the new 0.9 beta 3 source snapshot. Users are encouraged to upgrade now and give feedback before the final 0.9 release.
2009-07-22 - Help wanted: maintainers for Maemo and Mac OS X
SyncEvolution 0.9 beta 3 is released and I still haven’t found the time to try out whether the 0.9 series still compiles on Maemo and Mac OS X. Unless someone with some skills in compiling software on those platforms and the necessary motivation steps up, these platforms might not be supported in the initial 0.9 release.
2009-04-21 - New SyncEvolution Web Site
The SyncEvolution team is pleased to announce our new web site and place to interact with the SyncEvolution community. Most of the content and documentation from our previous site (http://estamos.de) has been migrated here. Let us know what you think!