KMail folder archive unusable

[Andreas Tetzner]

Since KDE 4.12, Kmail offers the possibility of a folder archive, which can be configured in the settings of each mail account (e.g. IMAP resource). The folder archive feature needs to be configured with a base-folder for archiving and a strategy for archiving (by year, by month, etc...). Clicking on the button to choose the base-folder will open a new window with all available folders. This list is disabled (greyed out) and so it is impossible to choose a folder; also the OK button in this window is disabled. The search-box works as expected. As it is impossible to select a base-folder, this feature is unusable.

Following this KDE documentation http://docs.kde.org/stable/en/kdepim/kmail/backups.html it is necessary to create an agent for folder archiving. It is not possible to create such an agent: Opening the dialog to create new akonadi resources, the agent for folder archiving is greyed out and can not be selected for creation.

The problem can be confirmed by multiple persons on serveral KDE installations. It can also be confiremed, when using a newly created system user without any old akonadi configuration, etc.

Steps to reproduce:
- Optionally: Create new system user
- Open akonadi resource settings
- Create a new IMAP mail resource
- Enter necessary information for the IMAP resource
- Switch to the "Folder archiving" Tab
- Tick checkbox to activate the feature
- Klick the button to select the base-folder for archiving
--> A new window apprears with a folder list, which is disabled by default.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Oliver Werner (m-launchpad-9)]

This bug also affects kmail 4:4.13.0-0ubuntu1

[Andreas Tetzner (a-tetzner)]

It seems the problem is, that /usr/bin/akonadi_folderarchive_agent is missing. According to a google search result (unfortunately there is no cached version of the site available but only the "site preview" on the google search result list), this file should be in the kmail package, but is actually missing. But in this package, there is a file /usr/share/akonadi/agents/folderarchiveagent.desktop which makes it obvious, that the akonadi_folderarchive_agent should be included in this package.
I also searched the "Kubuntu Backports" ppa for several Ubuntu releases, but none of them includes the akonadi_folderarchive_agent in the kmail package. Possibly this is an error in the build scripts, causing this program to either not get built at all or not to get included in the deb package.

[Andreas Tetzner (a-tetzner)]

After upgrading kdepim yesterday, /usr/bin/akonadi_folderarchive_agent is now available but fails to start as libfolderarchive.so.4 is missing ... :(

Another interesting fact: apt-file can't find a package containing akonadi_folderarchive_agent ?!
The related libfolderarchivesettings.so.4 is located in kdepim-runtime 4:4.13.2-0ubuntu0.1 so I guess, this package is also related in this bug report.

[Scarlett Gately Moore (scarlettmoore)]

Ok, so this is actually a bug in the documentation. akonadi_folderarchive_agent was removed and merged into kmail itself. Settings -> configure kmail -> modify your account -> last tab Folder Archive.

Here is where it was removed:
https://projects.kde.org/projects/kde/kdepim/repository/revisions/9177b5801db76b36bcb7b29c656da63539695945/diff

I will work on getting updated kmail docs submitted.

Scarlett

[Andreas Tetzner (a-tetzner)]

@Scarlett: I think this isn't just a bug in the documentation. Please open the tab for the folder archive, as you described above. After that, activate the checkbox to activate the folder archive and click the button to choose the folder for archiving. A new window will appear. In this windows, it is not possible to choose a folder, as the folder list is correctly filled but greyed out and not clickable. As a user, I expect to be able to choose a folder in this list, but it is not possible; without choosing this folder, the whole folder archiving feature is not usable.

[Scarlett Gately Moore (scarlettmoore)]

Interesting, it works on my plasma 5 desktop, but not on 4.13.2 utopic. Something is definitely not right, I am thinking upstream issue, will investigate further.
Thanks,
Scarlett

[Xavier (xavier.h)]

It works on Kubuntu Backports (4.13.97), but has some strange behaviours. Emails are dispatched into "archives/years" but don't disapear immediatly from my inbox folder.

[Scarlett Gately Moore (scarlettmoore)]

Hi all sorry for the delay, I ended up filing upstream as I believe it is them and not Kubuntu.

https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=340540

Hopefully something will happen, as I would like this feature as well.

[Andreas Tetzner (a-tetzner)]

After upgrading to Kubuntu 14.10 with KDE 4.14.1 the folder archive can be used. The documentation linked above is wrong as the folder-archive settings have to be done in the mail account settings as described in my original post. But after that it is possible to right-click a mail and use the "Archive" option.

I don't know if it also works in KDE5 ...

[Scarlett Gately Moore (scarlettmoore)]

This is fixed in Trusty backports 4.14.3 as I cannot reproduce. Plasma5 is not affected by this at all.
Cheers,
Scarlett