Ubuntu
evolution package

evolution opens then instantly closes itself

Asked by Andrea Summerfield

Evolution has been working fine since I deleted Windows and installed Ubuntu 10.10 a couple of months ago, however today it wont open for me. If I click on the little envelope at the top of the screen it opens for about a second then shuts itself down. By clicking on the same little envelope I can get the compose new message and contacts screens to open, but if I click on the mail button in the contacts screen the program shuts itself down instantly again. I have tried applications/office/evolution but with the same result - opens for about a second then shuts itself down. Any help in fixing this would be much appreciated!
Andrea

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Ubuntu evolution Edit question
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Luky Winarto
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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#1

If you run evolution from the office section of the applications menu?

Can you also give the output of:

lsb_release -a; apt-cache policy evolution

Thanks

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Andrea Summerfield (sunflowr) said : 		#2

Nope it wont run from the applications menu either.

Output is

No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 10.10
Release: 10.10
Codename: maverick
evolution:
  Installed: 2.30.3-1ubuntu7.3
  Candidate: 2.30.3-1ubuntu7.3
  Version table:
 *** 2.30.3-1ubuntu7.3 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick-updates/main i386 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     2.30.3-1ubuntu6 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick/main i386 Packages

Revision history for this message
actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#3

OK run it from a terminal, what is output (if anything)

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Andrea Summerfield (sunflowr) said : 		#4

What do I type into the terminal?

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Luky Winarto (luckyborneo) said : 		#5

I guess... it is "evolution" (without quotes)

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Andrea Summerfield (sunflowr) said : 		#6

I typed evolution into the terminal and this is what I got

EI: MAIL PREFSSegmentation fault

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Luky Winarto (luckyborneo) said : 		#7

How about this command:
sudo dpkg-reconfigure evolution

Then run your evolution from terminal program.
Let's see the different...

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Andrea Summerfield (sunflowr) said : 		#8

It tried to open, flashed up on the screen for a second then disappeared, and I got the EI: MAIL PREFSSegmentation fault message on the terminal screen again

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Best Luky Winarto (luckyborneo) said : 		#9

Hmmm....

How about this,
Move your evolution preferences to evolution-backup:
mv ~/.evolution ~/.evolution-backup

Then open your evolution program. It will create new profile for your evolution..
Please give it a try... let's see what happen..

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Andrea Summerfield (sunflowr) said : 		#10

OK, I did that and then clicked on the little envelope and Evolution opened and downloaded all the messages waiting on the server.
I have a backup from a few days ago - I think (hope!) I did it properly. Do I restore this to the new Evolution, and how do I do it? Where did the old one go?

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Luky Winarto (luckyborneo) said : 		#11

Okay... now your evolution can be opened again. But your old mail is not there.
Hmm.. the old one is sitting on ~/.evolution-backup

I'm not so sure, because I'm a Thunderbird user.
I guess on Evolution there's import feature that you can use to import data from your previous email. Try that feature to download your old mails. Or, if you have a backup, just click file then select restore settings.
Hopefully this will work..

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Andrea Summerfield (sunflowr) said : 		#12

Thank you!!

I restored settings from the backup done a few days ago, so have only lost 2-3 days worth of emails, plus those that came through on the new profile as these were deleted when the backup restored.

Do I now need to delete the faulty ~/.evolution-backup file? If so, where will I find it?

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Luky Winarto (luckyborneo) said : 		#13

Oh.. I'm really sorry that your newest and 2 -3 days worth email email have been deleted. I'm really sorry to hear that.

You can delete or keep ~/.evolution-backup... it's your choice. It's located in your home directory. Just open your nautilus program, then press CTRL+H to unhide the hidden file. You will see all hidden files, then you will see .evolution-backup directory.

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Andrea Summerfield (sunflowr) said : 		#14

No worries - I really appreciate all your help. And all the really important stuff was saved to the backup so I have that back which is the main thing!

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Andrea Summerfield (sunflowr) said : 		#15

Thanks Luky Winarto, that solved my question.

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Luky Winarto (luckyborneo) said : 		#16

I'm glad that your problem solved.
Now you learn how important to backup your email regularly.. ^_^