Inbox folder tree is unresponsive

[Alexandre Gauthier]

Binary package hint: evolution

I am running Ubuntu 10.04, and recently decided to give Evolution a try. Currently installed package is 2.28.3-0ubuntu9.

I configured my Google Apps Premier account via IMAP SSL (it is, in all aspects that count identical in behavior to a normal gmail account). That worked fine and my mail is shown. However, the folder trees (any of them) from my Inbox to any subfolders, in the folder pane, are unresponsive at best. Trying to expand them results in minutes of frustration while you click around the arrow symbol hoping to get the right voodoo for your click to register.

I have documented the issue using pretty pictures, which I will try to transcode to ascii so text-only people may understand it properly as well, so let's gather around for show and tell:

So here we have the folder pane, placid, at rest, awaiting our tender and loving mouse clicks:
http://alex.underwares.org/bugs/evolution/1.png

[V] Inbox
       Subfolder
  [>] [GMAIL]
       Another Subfolder

Attempting to expand the "[GMAIL]" subfolder here, I click on the arrow icon. Nothing happens. I assume I have misclicked and try again. Nothing happens, but the [GMAIL] folder becomes highlited. I click /near/ the arrow icon and this happens:
http://alex.underwares.org/bugs/evolution/2.png

[V] Inbox
       Subfolder
[>>] [GMAIL]
       Another Subfolder

The arrow becomes black, i.e, clicked. But the subfolder doesn't expand at all. I scratch my licey scalp in wonder and start clicking around, on, near, above and below the arrow haphazardly in a way that could only be described as "obstinate" in good company, and that would be describing it kindly. The only effects these actions produce are:

   1) Eventually making the arrow icon white, unselected, and then black again
   2) Making me look like an epileptic monkey on crack.

I also hit the left arrow key on the keyboard to see if that works. When that last attempts turns out to be fruitless, I mash the arrow and spacebar keys, hoping for /something/ to happen. When that also turns out to be nothing but a red herring, to my great despair, I give the blank space under the arrow one last, bitter click:
http://alex.underwares.org/bugs/evolution/3.png

[V] Inbox
       Subfolder
 [V] [GMAIL]
         All Mail
         Sent
         Stuff
       Another Subfolder

Success! \o/
Putting this off to mere lag, or the IMAP server being busy fetching everything from the first sync, I consider the beast slain, my challenge complete. However, in a nasty turn of events, I am reduced to tears and despair again, for still drunk from the euphoria of my victory on the unexpendable subfolder, feeling daring and overconfident, I click on one of the newly expanded subfolders further down the list, hoping to venture in there looking for riches. Evolution promptly reacts by collapsing the subfolder tree in my face, shutting off like a frightened clam:
http://alex.underwares.org/bugs/evolution/4.png

[V] Inbox
       Subfolder
[>>] [GMAIL]
       Another Subfolder

The sound my head makes when it hits the desk echoes around the empty room. Weeping tears of frustration, I repeat the previous steaps fruitlessly, the results only varying in order. No matter what I do, Evolution insists on thinking I want to collapse the subtree when I try to select one of the subfolders. I do this many times, feeling obstinate, and eventually:
http://alex.underwares.org/bugs/evolution/5.png

[V] Inbox
       Subfolder
 [V] [GMAIL]
         All Mail
         Sent
        *Stuff*
       Another Subfolder

Success once again! The subfolder is selected! Decades of old forgotten emails are unfurling before my eyes.

I have tried to reproduce the problem by waiting quite a while for Evolution to finish its sync, restarting Evolution, rebooting, sacrificing a goat, and it happens every single time without fail. It is worth noting here that this occurs with *any* kind of tree listing control, I've had a very similar battle with the Calendars list, the contacts list, and the local folder. It does not seem to matter if the data is local or remote. Just now in the process of writing this and verifying it still happened, I collapsed the account and I am unable to expand it again. I just closed evolution out of spite and will look at it again tommorow.

Let me know if more information is needed.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
Package: evolution 2.28.3-0ubuntu9
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-22.33-generic 2.6.32.11+drm33.2
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-22-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Architecture: amd64
Date: Tue May 11 21:51:04 2010
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=fr_CA.utf8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: evolution

[Pedro Villavicencio (pedro)]

This bug is an upstream one and it would be quite helpful if somebody experiencing it could send the bug the to the people writing the software. You can learn more about how to do this for various upstreams at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Upstream/GNOME . Thanks in advance!

[Mark Smulders (ms-tbwb)]

Ubuntu 10.04 evolution 2.28.3

I am experiencing the *exact* same problem! I have configured just one e-mail account (IMAP with SSL)

Clicking the + to expand a folder is something like rolling dice. Gambling on and clicking randomly *near* the + (just before/above/below/after) will often allow me to expand the tree after a few tries.
However, with the expanded root folder still selected, clicking any subfolder will collapse the root folder again!
With the root folder expanded I can only go into one of the subfolders using the down arrow key.

I know only little about Evolution or Gnome internals and nothing about how to file this as a bug elsewhere. I only experience this bug in Evolution. So I hope one of the developers here will be so kind to pick this up to get it to the right people. Thanks in advance!

I am ofcourse willing to perform tests or provide additional information if requested.
Cheers mates

[Mark Smulders (ms-tbwb)]

As this keeps frustrating me and I could not find anything similar in Gnome Desktop bugtracker ; reported a new issue:

https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=629626

Cheers

[krmayfield (krmayfield)]

I finally got the expansion of the tree in Evolution.
Solution:
start evolution with --offline
Example: evolution --offline

If I start evolution up normally with out "--offline" then I cannot expand the tree item.

After I start evolution up with "--offline" then I then go to the File menu and select "Work online"

If anyone wants me to try anything or get more details, I can reproduce it by not using "--offline"

[Jörg Frings-Fürst (jff-de)]

Change status to Fix Released (see gnome-bugs)