Automatically install a signature for all Ximian Evolution accounts

This article was first written in April 2004 for
the BeezNest technical website (http://glasnost.beeznest.org/articles/118)

Create the file /etc/evolution-beeznest-signature.skeleton and adapt it to your needs [1]:

FULLNAME
BeezNest
Web: http://www.beeznest.net
E-mail: info@beeznest.net

Create the file /etc/evolution-gconf-signature.skeleton [2]:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<signature name="beeznest"
format="text/plain"><filename>HOME/evolution/signatures/signature-0</filename></signature>

Use the following script, after creating the e-mail accounts.

#!/bin/bash
# Execute as user to add a personalized signature to every Evolution e-mail account

#set -x

SIGN_SKEL=/etc/evolution-beeznest-signature.skeleton
SIGN_GCONF_SKEL=/etc/evolution-gconf-signature.skeleton

# Check that signature skeleton already exists
if [ ! -r $SIGN_SKEL ]; then
        echo "No valid signature skeleton found in $SIGN_SKEL"
        exit 0
fi

# Check that signature GConf skeleton already exists
if [ ! -r $SIGN_SKEL ]; then
        echo "No valid signature GConf skeleton found in $SIGN_GCONF_SKEL"
        exit 0
fi

# Check HOME environment variable
if [ ! -z $HOME ]; then
        echo "\$HOME is not set!"
        exit 0
fi

# Check default signature
if [ -d ~/evolution ]; then
        mkdir -p ~/evolution/signatures
else
        echo "~/evolution does not exist!"
        exit 0
fi

# Get user's full name from system
FULLNAME=`getent passwd | grep \`id -un\` | cut -f 5 -d: | sed -e "s/,/ /g"`
sed -e "s/FULLNAME/$FULLNAME/g" $SIGN_SKEL > ~/evolution/signatures/signature-0

# Add GConf entry
TEMPFILE=`mktemp`
sed -e "s/HOME/$HOME/g" $SIGN_GCONF_SKEL > $TEMPFILE
gconftool-2 --type list --list-type=string --set /apps/evolution/mail/signatures "[`cat $TEMPFILE`]"
rm $TEMPFILE

# Set as default for all accounts
TEMPFILE=`mktemp`
gconftool-2 --get /apps/evolution/mail/accounts | sed -s "s/default=\"-1\"/default=\"0\"/g" > $TEMPFILE
gconftool-2 --type list --list-type=string --set /apps/evolution/mail/accounts "`cat $TEMPFILE`"
rm $TEMPFILE

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[1] FULLNAME will be automatically set to the user’s full name, as defined on the system

[2] yes, it is an XML file

Creating new email accounts in Ximian Evolution

This article was first written in April 2004 for
the BeezNest technical website (http://glasnost.beeznest.org/articles/116)

The configuration is stored in gconf under the namespace /apps/evolution/mail.

To list its content:

$ gconftool-2 --recursive-list /apps/evolution/mail

Assigning a keyboard shortcut to a menu item in Ximian Evolution

This article was first written in March 2004 for
the BeezNest technical website (http://glasnost.beeznest.org/articles/113)

You have to be root to do this, so be careful [1].

Edit the file evolution-mail-message.xml in /usr/share/evolution/1.4/ui/ or /opt/gnome/share/evolution/1.4/ui/ (depending on your distribution).

Search for example for MessageReplyList and add/change the accel-key you want.

Restart GNOME for the change to take effect.

Note: this example has been obsoleted by version 1.4.6 of Evolution, which already include it.

---

[1] see also Why using root on UNIX is bad ?

Activating the spellchecker in Ximian Evolution

This article was first written in February 2004 for
the BeezNest technical website (http://glasnost.beeznest.org/articles/111)

To activate the spell-checker in Ximian Evolution (tested on Debian Sarge, but should apply to any Evolution 1.4.x and later), install the gnome-spell package and the aspell dictionaries matching the languages you want to use.

Then go in the Tools / Parameters / Composer / Spell-checking menu and activate the dictionaries ou want to use.

Ximian Evolution Sorting by Thread

If one use the thread-sorting of e-mails, he may fall into the problem that Ximian/Novell Evolution does follow the In-Reply-To: header to understand that two mails are of the same thread.

Microsoft Outlook has a different way to do it [1], and it breaks Evolution’s sorting. To circumvent this, just ask Evolution to consider threads based on the subject [2].

To actually do it:

1. shut down Evolution ( killev or evolution --force-shutdown , depending on the version)
2. backup ~/evolution/config.xmldb (or the whole ~evolution directory)
3. edit ~/evolution/config.xmldb and set thread_subject to 1 [3]

---

[1] not RFC-compliant, of course

[2] this may give you other troubles, though, like in the case of automated e-mails continuously appearing at the end of your folder because the same subject is there

[3] should probably be better to use GConf to change this option, if possible

This article was first written in October 2003 for
the BeezNest technical website (http://glasnost.beeznest.org/articles/82)

Saving the local addressbook of Evolution 1.4.x

This article was first written in March 2004 for
the BeezNest technical website (http://glasnost.beeznest.org/articles/112)

It is sometimes usefull to save the local (i.e. stored on your local hard-drive) addressbook of Ximian Evolution for backup or to use it elsewhere…

To do it, just save the following two files and you are safe:

~/evolution/local/Contacts/addressbook.db and ~/evolution/local/Contacts/addressbook.db.summary