Ubuntu
evolution-data-server package

POP "Leave messages on server" now requires "Days"

Bug #879305 reported by David Clayton
22
This bug affects 4 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
Evolution
Fix Released
Critical
evolution-data-server (Ubuntu)
Fix Released
High
Unassigned
Oneiric
Fix Released
High
Mathieu Trudel-Lapierre

Bug Description

[Impact]
High impact issue with a risk of data loss, due to the unexpected value of the "delete-after" property which would cause by default, email to be deleted from the server when older than 7 days. (Result is a single copy of the messages on the system, no longer on the server)

[Development Fix]
Not uploaded yet but available as a git commit upstream for 3.2.2 and in master branch (3.3+).

[Stable Fix]
A simple patch that can be easily applied to 3.2.1 (applied for 3.2.2 already); can be taken from git: http://git.gnome.org/browse/evolution-data-server/commit/?h=gnome-3-2&id=74b73302f3078a4e4e75ca98f5b73e96b01713a7

[Test Case]
Upgrade from Natty to Oneiric with a POP3 account configured in Evolution, with "Delete after ..." unchecked. After upgrade, delete-after should be set to 0 with the patch applied, and set to 7 without.

[Regression Potential]
Some users may be using the delete-after settings to clear out messages from POP3 servers, the default value change for new accounts may be unexpected, but avoids potential data loss.

----

Evolution 3.x has changed in the POP Receiving Options to have the "Leave Messages On Server" selection linked to the "Days" value. In Evolution 2.x (and probably previous versions) these options were separate.

This is very confusing for users who want *all* their POP messages left on the server with no day filtering, and seems non-standard when compared to previous Evolution versions and just about every other POP client that I have encountered.

If the "Leave messages on server" option is selected, then the "Days" option should also be required to enabled, not left permanently enabled as if the current situation.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.10
Package: evolution (not installed)
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.0.0-12.20-generic 3.0.4
Uname: Linux 3.0.0-12-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: fglrx
ApportVersion: 1.23-0ubuntu3
Architecture: amd64
Date: Fri Oct 21 19:59:41 2011
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.10 "Oneiric Ocelot" - Release amd64 (20111012)
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_AU:en
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_AU.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: evolution
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

See original description
Revision history for this message
Mathieu Trudel-Lapierre (cyphermox) wrote :

As a workaround, you can set "Days" to 0 to avoid messages being automatically deleted.

Changed in evolution (Ubuntu):
status: New → Confirmed
importance: Undecided → High
Revision history for this message
Mathieu Trudel-Lapierre (cyphermox) wrote :

Setting to High because there is a relatively high risk of data loss, given that it's a new setting that appears to be set to a default value that may cause confusion.

Changed in evolution (Ubuntu Oneiric):
status: New → Confirmed
importance: Undecided → High
assignee: nobody → Mathieu Trudel-Lapierre (mathieu-tl)
status: Confirmed → Triaged
Changed in evolution (Ubuntu):
status: Confirmed → Triaged
Revision history for this message
Mathieu Trudel-Lapierre (cyphermox) wrote :

Marked bug 877534 as a duplicate of this here because this bug is a little clearer; so I just linked the upstream bug report too. This is fixed upstream in a small patch that's worth SRU.

See http://git.gnome.org/browse/evolution-data-server/commit/?h=gnome-3-2&id=74b73302f3078a4e4e75ca98f5b73e96b01713a7

Marking In Progress now.

Changed in evolution (Ubuntu Oneiric):
status: Triaged → In Progress
Mathieu Trudel-Lapierre (cyphermox)
description: updated
Bug Watch Updater (bug-watch-updater)
Changed in evolution:
importance: Unknown → Critical
status: Unknown → Fix Released
Revision history for this message
Reda El Khattabi (reda.ea) wrote :

I don't think "delete after 0 days" means "don't delete" : Actually it means delete immediately.
A normal user (one that is not a programmer and/or doesn't read launchpad bugs), may not even think about giving a zero value, even I wasn't sure if it would work (or instantly delete all the messages from my company's server)
I think there sould be a checkbox (at least visually, the checkbox can still store a 0 value internally)

Revision history for this message
Mathieu Trudel-Lapierre (cyphermox) wrote :

Marked as fixed already for Precise, I'll upload the package to oneiric-proposed shortly.

affects: evolution (Ubuntu) → evolution-data-server (Ubuntu)
Changed in evolution-data-server (Ubuntu):
status: Triaged → Fix Released
Revision history for this message
Chris Halse Rogers (raof) wrote : Please test proposed package

Hello David, or anyone else affected,

Accepted evolution-data-server into oneiric-proposed, the package will build now and be available in a few hours. Please test and give feedback here. See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed for documentation how to enable and use -proposed. Thank you in advance!

Changed in evolution-data-server (Ubuntu Oneiric):
status: In Progress → Fix Committed
tags: added: verification-needed
Revision history for this message
David Clayton (dcstar) wrote :

I have posted the info to the original Ubuntu forums thread so hopefully the OP will test it and report back to this bug report.

Revision history for this message
Pedro Villavicencio (pedro) wrote :

Thanks for the package. This is working fine for me with the proposed package and did not noticed any regressions so far. Marking this as verification-done, Thanks all.

tags: added: verification-done
removed: verification-needed
Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :

This bug was fixed in the package evolution-data-server - 3.2.2-0ubuntu1~oneiric

---------------
evolution-data-server (3.2.2-0ubuntu1~oneiric) oneiric-proposed; urgency=low

  * New upstream release.
    - POP3: Use a safer default value for "delete-after-days"
      (LP: #877534, #879305)
    - Empty Contacts list when pressing "To:" in composer (LP: #846550)
 -- Mathieu Trudel-Lapierre <email address hidden> Thu, 24 Nov 2011 12:34:52 -0500

Changed in evolution-data-server (Ubuntu Oneiric):
status: Fix Committed → Fix Released
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