[Users] claws mail question

[Abhay S. Kushwaha]

On Sat, 02 Jan 2016 22:00:35 -0700, work at mykot.com wrote:

>   Secondly, is it possible to change the pointers in the program to
> look at a different location of the data files?  The computer is
> set up as a dual boot.  Ultimately I would like to have both
> windows and linux look into a common partition and folder.  Is it
> possible to have either update the same data so nothing is missed
> whether downloading from linux or in windoze?

Giving the short answer first. It is: Yes, it's possible.

> I am moving from windows to linux.  I need to know how to
> transfer my current clawsmail data and all settings into the linux
> installation?

Copying is simple. Running Claws from both Linux and Windows with a
common location is a little more involved. I'll describe latter,
former will automatically make sense. You may need to change some
things based on your system config and personal preferences.

First, let's understand what's where. You need two folders:
 1. Claws-Mail
    typically in C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\
 2. Mail
    typically in C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\ as well

#1 is your config directory. #2 is your mailbox folder. It may have
multiple mailboxes.

Since Claws refers to mailbox root folder in absolute paths on
Windows, we need to be sure we use a path that can be used on Linux
as well.

We'll move "Mail" to D: root. Bear with me. It'll make sense. You can
do it for C: too if you want to use a single partition in Windows
(bad idea BTW -- pro tip: On Windows, try to keep all your personal
files in a separate partition than Windows or better still, a
completely different drive!).

Now open up folderlist.xml and edit your mailbox path. It'll be line
3 in that file. It'll look like this:
 <folder type="mh" path="C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Mail"

After change, it'll look like this:
 <folder type="mh" path="D:\Mail"

If you have additional mailboxes, you need to do this for each of
them. Most people have a single mailbox. I'll assume you have 1.

Next, do a mass search-and-replace of "\" with "/". Don't worry, it
won't mess up anything.

Save.

Let's move to Linux.

Now mount C and D on Linux. They'll show up in /mnt I think.

Then, make sure you're in your home folder. You need to set up two
symlinks, one for your Claws-Mail profile and one for Mail.
 1. ln
 -s .claws-mail /mnt/C/Users/%username%/AppData/Roaming/Claws-Mail
 2. ln -s D: /mnt/D

#1 here makes your windows Claws-Mail config folder the config folder
for your Linux installation.

#2 makes a mailbox path of D:\Mail accessible to Claws-Mail on your
Linux installation. You should probably verify that the mount is
writable and in your home folder you can do "cd D:\Mail" and see your
mailbox folders.

If you have actions defined, copy "actionswinrc" to "actionsrc". Edit
it to edit out any actions that are Windows specific, for example,
those that fire a Windows command.

That's it. Fire up Claws-mail and enjoy.

Remember, you'll have to make some changes:
 1. Review your Accounts, especially if you had signatures
    configured. The windows paths won't work here.
 2. You'll have to load-up all the plug-ins again.
 3. Review the fonts defined in Preferences->Display->Fonts
 4. If you use gpg, you'll have to symlink path to your gnupg data
    folder to .gnupg in your home folder as well.

That's it. You can switch back-and-forth any time.

*NOTE:* The only problem is that if you create any folders in
        Windows, you'll have to open up folderlist.xml and do a
        search-and-replace of "\" with "/". Windows automatically
        replaces "/" with "\" so it works there, but Linux doesn't
        understand paths with "\" and while it'll show the folder in
        your folder list in Claws, you won't be able to see any
        mails in it, or move mails to it. That's also why you are
        seeing all the zero-message folders that you describe in your
        other message to the list.

Hope this helps. If something doesn't work out, ask away.