10    Migrating Mail and Calendar

Many people have mail folders and calendar databases that they want to continue to use in their new environment. Changing to a new application often means losing this information. To ease the complexity of migrating, you can use the tools described in this chapter to convert your existing dxmail and dxcalendar folders and databases into a format that is understood by the CDE mail and calendar applications.

The Common Desktop Environment: User's Guide provides details on using the CDE Mail and Calendar applications. See Appendix A for information on the differences between the MH/dxmail and dtmail mail handlers.

10.1    Converting Mail Formats

The CDE mail application is completely integrated with the environment and thus offers more flexibility than continuing to use the dxmail application. For example, files can be dragged from other CDE applications and dropped onto the mail application for further action.

The CDE mail application also supports Multimedia Internet Messages Extension (MIME). Support for MIME lets you send and receive mail messages in formats other than ASCII text. For example, you can send and receive messages that are in video format.

Before you convert your mail formats to a format that can be read by the CDE mail application, you should understand how mail is stored by both applications. You can then convert your mail from the dxmail format to the dtmail format by using the mailcv utility or the CDE File Manager.

10.1.1    Understanding How Mail Is Stored

The dxmail and dtmail applications store information differently. For this reason, you must convert your dxmail folders to a format that can be read by the dtmail application.

10.1.1.1    Storing Mail Using MH/DXMail

To store mail, the MH/dxmail application creates a mail hierarchy with a top level directory. The location of this directory is defined in your $HOME/.mh-profile. This profile not only specifies the location of your top level directory, it also includes other information about the setup of your mail. Usually, the path for the top level directory is set to $HOME/Mail. If you changed this path, you can verify its location by using the mhpath command with the + flag. You need to know the location of your top level directory to convert mail folders.

Note

To use the mhpath command, the MH subsets must be installed on your system.

Under your top level directory Mail, you may have several other directories (folders) or files. Messages are stored in folders numerically and in sequential order. Each message corresponds to an individual file as follows:
Mail            
/inbox /drafts /meetings   /personal    
1,2,3 1,2 /group /unit 1,2,3 /gardening  
    1,2,3 1,2,3   1,2,3  

In the previous example, there are four folders directly under the top level directory Mail. Individual messages are stored numerically. For example, under the folder Inbox, there are three files that contain individual mail messages. They are numbered 1, 2, and 3. Some directories have subdirectories such as meetings, which includes subdirectories for group and unit. Mail messages are further grouped under these directories numerically.

10.1.1.2    Storing Mail Using the CDE Mail

By using the CDE Mail application, there is no set structure to how messages are stored. That is, you can create mail folders in any directory that you have access to, and you can store more than one message in a mail folder. The dtmail application uses the UNIX From format to store messages. Thus, mail messages stored in the same mail folder are concatenated and each message is separated by a UNIX From header. Mail utilities such as mailx use this format and can also read these messages. Following is a sample mail hierarchy that can be created by using the dtmail application. In this example, messages are stored into mail folders that have an .mbe extension.

MailBox        
inbox.mbe drafts.mbe /meetings   /status
    /group /unit jan.mbe feb.mbe
    wkly.mbe mthly.mbe  

In the previous example, the top level directory, MailBox, is displayed. Under this top level, there are both directories and mail folders. The mail folders can contain one or more mail messages. A mail directory can contain both mail folders and other subdirectories. Messages are concatenated in the order they are saved.

10.1.2    Converting Mail Using the Mail Conversion Utility

The mailcv utility is a command line interface that you can use to convert an entire directory or an individual folder. There are several flags available that you can use to control how mail is converted. In addition, the mailcv utility can be used to detect errors that may have occurred when you stored messages.

By default, all messages created by the dxmail application are converted, including any corrupt messages. See Section 10.1.2.4 for information on corrupt messages.

10.1.2.1    Converting an Entire Mail Directory

To convert an entire mail directory (folder) by using the mailcv utility:

  1. Change to your top level mail directory. By default, this is $HOME/Mail.

  2. Type the mailcv command with the -A flag to specify that you want to convert the entire directory and subdirectories. You must specify the current directory name and the name of the new directory that is to be created as follows:

    %  mailcv -A $HOME/Mail $HOME/NewMail

    This example creates a new top level directory called NewMail. It then creates the subdirectories that correspond to the dxmail folder structure and all mail messages are converted.

10.1.2.2    Converting an Individual Folder

To convert an individual folder using the mailcv utility:

  1. Change to the directory that contains the MH folder and message files you want to convert.

  2. Type the mailcv command with the -f flag to specify that you want to convert a folder to the UNIX From format. You must specify the current name of the folder followed by a new name for the folder as follows:

    %  mailcv -f inbox Inbox

    This example creates a new folder called Inbox. If a new folder name is not specified, a new folder is created using the name of the current folder followed by the extension .mbe.

    If the folder you are converting contains subfolders, the subfolders are not converted. Use the steps described to convert each folder or subfolder.

10.1.2.3    Using Flags to Control Mail Conversion

The mailcv command offers several command flags that you can use when converting mail folders and directories. The flags are described in detail in the mailcv reference page.

Using the mailcv command, you can specify flags to:

10.1.2.4    Converting Corrupt Mail Messages

If you do not use the mailcv utility with the flags that handle corrupted messages, the messages headers are converted as follows:

10.1.3    Converting Mail Using the File Manager

The CDE File Manager provides a graphical display of directories and files. Using the CDE File Manager, you can convert the whole mail hierarchy or you can choose to convert a single folder.

Although the CDE File Manager calls the mailcv utility to complete the conversion, it does not provide you the option of specifying flags to detect mail header errors. To detect errors before converting your mail directories, use the mailcv utility's command line interface. If you do not address corrupt files, the corrupt files are converted as described in Section 10.1.2.4

10.1.3.1    Converting the Entire Mail Hierarchy

To convert the entire mail hierarchy from the CDE File Manager:

  1. Start the CDE File Manager.

  2. Change to the directory that contains the MH folders to be converted.

  3. Point to the MH mail folder icon, then click on mouse button 3 to display the Action menu.

  4. Select the Mail Convert menu item from the Action menu.

    A dialog box appears. You must enter a new pathname for the new directory hierarchy. Click OK after entering the new directory name.

After you select a new location for the directory hierarchy, the mailcv utility begins the conversion. Depending on the size of the mail hierarchy, the conversion may take some time. When it is complete, your mail is accessible from the CDE mail application.

10.1.3.2    Converting an Individual Folder

To convert a single folder from the CDE File Manager:

  1. Start the CDE File Manager.

  2. Set your path to the MH pathname where the top level mail directory is located. Use the mhpath command with the + flag if you are unsure of the location.

    Note

    To use the mhpath command, the MH subsets must be installed on your system.

    After setting your path, the CDE File Manager displays the Mail directories (folders). Each is represented by an icon.

  3. Change to the folder that you want to convert.

  4. Select the Mail Convert menu item from the Action menu.

    A dialog box appears. You must enter a new folder name for the new folder. Click OK after entering the new name.

After you select a new location for the folder, the mailcv utility begins the conversion. Subfolders in the folder you are converting are not converted. Depending on the size of the folder, the conversion may take some time. When it is complete, your mail is accessible from the CDE mail application.

10.2    Converting Calendar Databases

The dxcaltodtcm application converts a calendar database file that has been created with the dxcalendar application to a format that can be used by the CDE calendar application, dtcm.

To convert a dxcalendar database:

  1. Invoke the dxcalendar command with the -migrate option.

    $  dxcalendar -migrate

    A text file called $HOME/dwc_db_migration.data is created. This file contains your calendar entries.

  2. Run the CDE Calendar application, dtcm, and set the hour display to 12.

  3. Invoke the dxcaltodtcm application to read the created text file and add the entries to the CDE calendar database.

The dxcalendar command is in /usr/bin/X11 and the dxcaltodtcm command is in /usr/dt/bin.

Note

Because some features of the DECwindows Calendar are not available in the CDE Calendar, some loss of information is possible in converting a calendar database. See the dxcaltodtcm reference page for a list of restrictions.