SyncEvolution 0.3 review

SyncEvolution project synchronizes Evolution's contact, calender and task items via SyncML

License: GPL (GNU General Public License) File size: 0K Developer: Patrick Ohly

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SyncEvolution project synchronizes Evolution's contact, calender and task items via SyncML. The items are exchanged in the vCard 2.1 or 3.0 format and iCalender 2.0 format via the open source Funambol C++ client API library, which should make SyncEvolution compatible with the majority of SyncML servers (but see under known problems). Full, one-way and incremental synchronization of items are supported.

SyncEvolution does not synchronize with another SyncML capable device or another computer directly. A SyncML server that that device and SyncEvolution can talk to is needed. There are several options for that:

using a web service like ScheduleWorld which stores the data to be synchronized on a ScheduleWorld server and provides access to it via SyncML
installing a SyncML server like the free one from Funambol (www.funambol.com) on one's own server
installing a SyncML server on the desktop

The recommended solution is ScheduleWorld because it is easier than setting up a server and provides better support for vCard and iCalendar data than the stock Funambol server installation. Setting up a server on the desktop has the additional problem that not all mobile devices can communicate with the desktop via HTTP.

With a server that fully supports SyncML and vCard/iCalender the following works:

copy a complete database to the server and restore it from the server later
delete or modify an item locally, then make the same change on the server
delete, modify or add items on the server (by synchronizing with another client), then make the same change locally
conflict resolution (where two clients modify the same item, then sync with the server) is handled by the server, but SyncEvolution has support which ensures that no data is lost by creating duplicates

For conflict resolution and synchronization between clients which support different attributes of items the server needs an understanding of the format of items. The Funambol server supports that for contacts, but not yet for the calendar events and tasks that SyncEvolution sends. ScheduleWorld also works with SyncEvolution and calendars plus tasks.

What's New in This Release:
This is the first release with full support for synchronizing of Evolution's contacts, calendars, and task lists.
It was extensively tested with ScheduleWorld (sync.scheduleworld.com).
This Web based service is easy to use and a lot of effort went into ensuring that it works well together with SyncEvolution and Evolution's PIM data.