Emptying Trash Fails with 'Error while expunging folder'

[Mark Mandel]

Binary package hint: evolution

On Intrepid Ibex, all up top date.

I attempt to empty the trash,

and get the following popup:

--
Error while Expunging folder.
Error storing '~/.evolution/mail/local/Sent (mbox)': Summary and folder mismatch, even after a sync
--

And get the following in the console:

--
Saving 3/19 dirty records of INBOX

(evolution:13915): camel-local-provider-WARNING **: Didn't get the next message where I expected (458470) got 460202 instead

(evolution:13915): camel-WARNING **: Error storing '~/.evolution/mail/local/Inbox (mbox)': Summary and folder mismatch, even after a sync

(evolution:13915): camel-WARNING **: Error storing '~/.evolution/mail/local/Templates (mbox)': Error storing '~/.evolution/mail/local/Inbox (mbox)': Summary and folder mismatch, even after a sync

(evolution:13915): camel-WARNING **: Error storing '~/.evolution/mail/local/Drafts (mbox)': Error storing '~/.evolution/mail/local/Templates (mbox)': Error storing '~/.evolution/mail/local/Inbox (mbox)': Summary and folder mismatch, even after a sync

(evolution:13915): camel-local-provider-WARNING **: Didn't get the next message where I expected (0) got 1103 instead

(evolution:13915): camel-WARNING **: Error storing '~/.evolution/mail/local/Sent (mbox)': Summary and folder mismatch, even after a sync
^C
(evolution:13915): camel-local-provider-WARNING **: Didn't get the next message where I expected (19158) got 445097 instead

(evolution:13915): camel-WARNING **: Error storing '~/.evolution/mail/local/Inbox (mbox)': Summary and folder mismatch, even after a sync

(evolution:13915): camel-WARNING **: Error storing '~/.evolution/mail/local/Templates (mbox)': Error storing '~/.evolution/mail/local/Inbox (mbox)': Summary and folder mismatch, even after a sync

(evolution:13915): camel-WARNING **: Error storing '~/.evolution/mail/local/Drafts (mbox)': Error storing '~/.evolution/mail/local/Templates (mbox)': Error storing '~/.evolution/mail/local/Inbox (mbox)': Summary and folder mismatch, even after a sync

(evolution:13915): camel-local-provider-WARNING **: Didn't get the next message where I expected (0) got 1103 instead

(evolution:13915): camel-WARNING **: Error storing '~/.evolution/mail/local/Sent (mbox)': Summary and folder mismatch, even after a sync
removing cache for Inbox 900 0x8855ca0
done .. now 5
--

Shortly after this, normally Evolution crashes.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. However, your crash report is either missing or challenging to deal with as a '.crash' file. Please follow these instructions to have apport report a new bug about your crash that can be dealt with by the automatic retracer.

 If you are running the Ubuntu Stable Release you might need to enable apport in /etc/default/apport and restart.

 If you are using Ubuntu with the Gnome desktop environment - launch nautilus and navigate to your /var/crash directory and double click on the crash report you wish to submit.

 If you are using Kubuntu or Xubuntu you can file the crash using /usr/share/apport/apport-qt --crash-file=/var/crash/_my_crash_report.crash in a terminal - where _my_crash_report.crash is the crash you would like to report.
 I'm closing this bug report since the process outlined above will automatically open a new bug report which can then dealt with more efficiently. Thanks in advance for your cooperation and understanding.

[Mark Mandel (mark-mandel)]

@Sebastian,

This bug isn't about a crash - its about not being able to empty the trash on evolution. The subsequent (often) crash is secondary to the Trash bug.

I will see if I can get a crash report, but that will be logged as a crash, which this error is not. I think its worth leaving this bug open, as it is really not crash related.

[Denis Walrave (deniswalrave)]

Same problem here. I cannot empty a single mail from the trash folder since the migration to Intrepid Ibex.

I face no evolution crash.

When emptying the trash (Right clicking on it), I get a lot of traces from evolution like:

(evolution:30897): camel-local-provider-WARNING **: Didn't get the next message where I expected (3555) got 3149493 instead

(evolution:30897): camel-WARNING **: Error storing '~/.evolution/mail/local/Inbox (mbox)': Summary and folder mismatch, even after a sync

(evolution:30897): camel-WARNING **: Error storing '~/.evolution/mail/local/Templates (mbox)': Error storing '~/.evolution/mail/local/Inbox (mbox)': Summary and folder mismatch, even after a sync

(evolution:30897): camel-WARNING **: Error storing '~/.evolution/mail/local/Drafts (mbox)': Error storing '~/.evolution/mail/local/Templates (mbox)': Error storing '~/.evolution/mail/local/Inbox (mbox)': Summary and folder mismatch, even after a sync

(evolution:30897): camel-WARNING **: Error storing '~/.evolution/mail/local/Sent (mbox)': Error storing '~/.evolution/mail/local/Drafts (mbox)': Error storing '~/.evolution/mail/local/Templates (mbox)': Error storing '~/.evolution/mail/local/Inbox (mbox)': Summary and folder mismatch, even after a sync

(evolution:30897): camel-WARNING **: Error storing '~/.evolution/mail/local/HP (mbox)': Error storing '~/.evolution/mail/local/Sent (mbox)': Error storing '~/.evolution/mail/local/Drafts (mbox)': Error storing '~/.evolution/mail/local/Templates (mbox)': Error storing '~/.evolution/mail/local/Inbox (mbox)': Summary and folder mismatch, even after a sync

....

each line getting bigger and bigger.

[Denis Walrave (deniswalrave)]

Problem solved by the procedure described in:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/evolution/+bug/28403

>>>>

 Jamie Strandboge wrote on 2006-08-11: (permalink)

This appears to be:
http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=213072

Also, the procedure to reliably workaround this bug is:
1. put evolution in offline mode (File/Work Offline)
2. close evolution
3. open a terminal and run:
      evolution --force-shutdown
      find ~/.evolution/mail/local -name "*ev-summary" -exec rm -f {} \;
4. start evolution
5. wait several seconds (until the status bar at the bottom is empty)
6. close evolution (it may take a long time to close)
7. Start evolution
8. Enable online mode (File/Work Online)

If you start evolution in Online mode after removing the summary files, then you may end up with duplicates and/or more folder mismatch errors. If you don't do 'evolution --force-shutdown', then you may also end up with more folder mismatch errors.

There seems to be some discussion of this getting fixed here:
http://www.go-evolution.org/Camel.Local#Mbox_bugs

>>>>

[Mark Mandel (mark-mandel)]

Just tried workaround, except did:

1. put evolution in offline mode (File/Work Offline)
2. close evolution
3. open a terminal and run:
      evolution --force-shutdown
      find ~/.evolution/mail/local -name "*ibex*" -exec rm -f {} \;
4. start evolution
5. wait several seconds (until the status bar at the bottom is empty)
6. close evolution (it may take a long time to close)
7. Start evolution
8. Enable online mode (File/Work Online)

As there aren't ev-summary folders that I can see.

Seemed to clear out much of my trash folder (not sure how), but now I still have similar errors when trying to empty the trash:

mark@synesthesia:~/.evolution/mail/local$ ** (evolution:17801): DEBUG: mailto URL command: evolution %s
** (evolution:17801): DEBUG: mailto URL program: evolution

(evolution:17801): camel-local-provider-WARNING **: Didn't get the next message where I expected (0) got 3123 instead

(evolution:17801): camel-WARNING **: Error storing '~/.evolution/mail/local/Inbox (mbox)': Summary and folder mismatch, even after a sync

(evolution:17801): camel-WARNING **: Error storing '~/.evolution/mail/local/Templates (mbox)': Error storing '~/.evolution/mail/local/Inbox (mbox)': Summary and folder mismatch, even after a sync

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

could somebody having the issue open the bug on bugzilla.gnome.org too?

[Charles Profitt (cprofitt)]

I have the same issue. This bug was not about a crash which is why I suspect it was marked invalid.

[Charles Profitt (cprofitt)]

None of the fixes listed here or on linked pages worked for me.

I noticed that the issue was with trash I deleted from one of the two subfolders I had created. I moved all the mail from that folder to a subfolder with a different name, emptied the trash and the trash stayed empty.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

did you send the bug to bugzilla.gnome.org before reopening? did you try using the current intrepid update version?

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

could you try using the new 2.24.1.1 version?

[MiiJaySung (jason-hybd)]

Hi, I think what I suggested at https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/evolution/+question/50690 should fix things. Evolution changed it's mail format recently, so the searching for ev-summary files doesn't do anything, which is why that fix doesn't work in Ibex. instead remove the index / cmeta / index.data files

[Mark Garrow (scunizi)]

I am also a victim of this error. Since I did a fresh install of 8.10 but retained my old /home, I ended up deleting a ton of ev files as well as the cmeta,index and index.data files. This allowed me to delete the trash successfully. Hopefully this will be fixed in the near future.

[Neil Woolford (neil-neilwoolford)]

I'm still stuck with a deleted items folder that cannot be emptied, causing the Summary and folder mismatch error.

I first tried removing all the ev-summary files, which don't get recreated, confirming MiiJaySung's suggestion that they are now outdated and unused with the move to a different database engine (sqlite?). However, removing index, cmeta and index.data files didn't solve the problem for me. Evolution did spend quite some time indexing on startup and reinstated these latter files but is still giving the same mismatch error. Does anyone know of any other files (or well hidden ones?) that also need to be removed?

For now Evolution still works for me, but I can't empty the Deleted Items. One day I'll want to do that...

Neil

Evolution 2.24.2 on Intrepid Ibex.

[Mark Garrow (scunizi)]

Neil, If you have organized Evo with different email folders instead of one huge inbox, you need to delete the files you mentioned in each of those folders.. you've probably already tried this but I thought I'd mention it just in case you happened to overlook it.

[Neil Woolford (neil-neilwoolford)]

Mark, it does indeed have a variety of folders, and also some vfolders (search folders).

I thought I'd been through them all, but I was working manually so could easily have missed something. A quick play with the desktop search tool revealed cmeta files for the vfolders although no index or index.data for them. Might these need to be removed too?

I'm leaving it for tonight as I've just cooked some food and that seems more important!

I'll try again tomorrow, probably using an automated process to remove the cmeta, index and index.data throughout the ~/.evolution tree (after taking a backup).

I'll report back when I've tried again.

(I also upgraded from Hardy while keeping the /home, hence the presence of the old style ev-summary index files on my system.)

[Mark Garrow (scunizi)]

I'm surprised that the index and index.data files weren't there.. they were in every directory I had.

[Neil Woolford (neil-neilwoolford)]

It's only the vfolders (~/.evolution/mail/vfolder/...) that have no index files, just cmeta files.

The normal folders (~/.evolution/mail/local/...) have both index files and cmeta files.

[trevor (trevor-hughes)]

I have the same problem. It seems to delete ok then the items come back.

[Simon Clift (ssclift-gmail)]

I've tried a few things, but the following seems to have worked for me.
1. Go to Edit->Preferences->Mail Preferences and check "Confirm when expunging a folder"
2. Go to the folder you wish to expunge. Select expunge (I used Ctrl-E)
3. The "Evolution Query" pop-up appears, check the "Do not show this message again" box, then Confirm.

I have no idea why this worked for me. Maybe something in the dialog box is interfering with the expunge? Odd...

[Neil Woolford (neil-neilwoolford)]

Still getting this problem occasionally. The method of removing the index files in post #6 works for me, though with a long startup time for evolution after doing it while the index files are reinstated. Evolution only appears on screen when this is finished.

The fundamental problem of indexes getting out of sync still happens. I can't see any obvious cause or precursor for the problem.

[Marvin (marvin-nospam)]

I've got the same error. Evolution seems to fail (in my case) because there is not enough free space on the hard disc to empty the trash (yes I know, that sounds very strange). After I removed some files from my hd, I was able to empty the trash. However after doing that the e-mail list of my Inbox was broken. See my bug report: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/evolution/+bug/320153

[bass (ciphered)]

Ubuntu Intrepid 32-bit, up to date as of 1/31/2009,

Solution above by Mark Mandel works for me, with one adjustment:

find ~/.evolution/mail/local -name "*ev-summary" -exec rm -f {} \;

...needs to be...

find ~/.evolution/mail/local -name "*ev-summary*" -exec rm -f {} \;

[bass (ciphered)]

Sadly, the problem came back again... also, I ended up with a lot of duplicate messages being downloaded, including a lot of the junk that I had to work so hard to delete once already. So, this fix is actually by not sufficient.

[DannySmack (xdiabetc)]

I have had this problem as well running ubuntu 8.10, evo 2.24.3

I found a quick fix:

Open trash folder
Select all
Right click and select "Mark as read"
Empty trash.
It worked for me but I have no idea as to why!

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

the bug should be sent to bugzilla.gnome.org by somebody having the issue

[paulchinnz (paulchinnz)]

@DannySmack

I have a problem only emptying 9 particular emails with attachments. Other emails (including others with attachments) are fine.

When I mark as read the 9 files in trash, they return to the folder they came from (Sent).

Hmm.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

do you still get the issue in jaunty? did you send the bug to bugzilla.gnome.org?

[Neil Woolford (neil-neilwoolford)]

In my case the problem persists in Jaunty release candidate.

The workaround that previously worked for me (briefly, removing files matching "*ibex*" in /mail/local) has not worked for me for a month or more now...

Bug http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=550414 appears at first sight to refer to this bug, so I think it has already been reported upstream. A quick read of that report suggests that the bug itself may already be fixed, but the fix does not clean up already corrupted evolution installs. There are suggestions in the report for removal of further indexing/.db files to clean up existing damaged installations.

I shall try this when I next have time, which should be this week and will report back with more detail.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Thank you for sending the bug to GNOME