FAQ for Thunderbird contact sync

  1. What are Conflicts?
  2. What is slow sync?
  3. What is auto-sync?
  4. Security
  5. Roadmap
  7. Reporting bugs
  8. What is synchronized?

Also see:

What are Conflicts?

When a contact is modified in two places, or modified in one place and deleted in another, there’s a conflict.

Some conflicts are resolved automatically and other conflicts cause the sync to fail and must be resolved manually before a sync can succeed. Here are some examples:

Example Conflict #1 If a contact changed on both Thunderbird and the remote server, the conflict is resolved in favour of Thunderbird. The remote server is updated with Thunderbird’s version.

Example Conflict #2 If you are syncing with Google and have multiple contacts containing the same email address, , the sync will fail and report:

Sync failed: Google has a requirement that an email address can appear in only one contact. The email addresses listed below appear in more than one contact: …

This type of conflict can’t be resolved automatically. Zindus usually suggests a way of resolving a conflict manually. For example: merging multiple contacts into a single contact to eliminate duplicates.

Example Conflict #3 If you are syncing with Zimbra and Thunderbird has an addressbook named “zindus/Trash”, the sync will fail and report:

Sync failed: Addressbook with reserved name: zindus/Trash

This type of conflict can’t be resolved automatically. In order to sync, the “zindus/Trash” addressbook must be removed or renamed to a name that is valid within Zimbra.

What is slow sync?

When Zindus is installed, or immediately after a Reset, Thunderbird and the server aren’t in sync. The first sync is a “Slow Sync”, in which all contacts are retrieved from the server and merged with those in Thunderbird. Here is an example:

Thunderbird Remote Server
Before slow sync
a a
b c
After slow sync
a a
b b
c c

The contact comparison rule that Zindus employs during slow sync isn’t terribly sophisticated. If two contacts are identical in every field that’s supported by both Thunderbird and the remote server, the contacts match. Otherwise they don’t.

In the example above, contact ‘a’ from Thunderbird matches ‘a’ from the server. Contacts ‘b’ and ‘c’ only need differ by a single space in order to become separate contacts in the merged addressbook.

What is auto-sync?

Auto-sync is a sync triggered by the passage of time. Two preferences affect the frequency of auto-sync:

  • extensions.zindus.system.as_timer_delay_on_start - the number of seconds after startup
  • extensions.zindus.system.as_timer_delay_on_repeat - the number of seconds after the first auto-sync

Versions prior to 0.7.6 use timerDelayOnStart and timerDelayOnRepeat.

Both preferences indicate a mean value only - the runtime values are randomized to minimize server congestion. These preferences are not exposed through the user-interface - if you want to see or change their values, use the Thunderbird about:config editor.

If you want to know when the next auto-sync is scheduled, one of the last few lines in the logfile should look like this:

info: sync next: Friday, 11 January 2008 5:16:41 PM

Auto sync can also be disabled via the Zindus Preferences dialog.

Security

Passwords

The addon stores passwords using the standard Thunderbird Password Manager. This allows you to use a master password to encrypt stored passwords. For technical details, do a web search for “nsIPasswordManager”.

Network traffic

For Google, the addon defaults to using https.

For Zimbra, the addon uses the url supplied by the user. When a Zimbra server gives the addon a choice of soapURLs, the addon defaults to selecting https.

Roadmap

Near term (Q3+4 2008):

  • Sync with multiple servers
  • Localization
  • Thunderbird 3

Thunderbird Mailing lists / Google Groups / Zimbra Distribution Lists

The Zindus addon doesn’t currently sync Thunderbird mailing lists with Google Groups or Zimbra Distribution Lists.  The main reason is that the Thunderbird Address Book API is currently undergoing significant rework. We prefer to wait for that API to settle down before writing a bunch more code that relies on it. It’s likely (but not certain) that the addon will support mailing lists to coincide with the release of Thunderbird 3.

Reporting bugs

To report a bug:

  1. locate the Zindus logfile (see below)
  2. zip it up
  3. email it as an attachment along with a description of the problem to support@zindus.com.

The logfile helps us understand what the problem is. Without it we often can’t be of much help.

Disclosure: along with debugging information, the logfile may also contain part or all of your addressbook. Of course, we treat your personal information as completely confidential - as per the Privacy Policy.

The logfile is located in the zindus/log/ subdirectory of the Thunderbird profile directory. Here are some examples:

Windows:
C:\Documents and Settings\John Smith\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\yidda0ce.default\zindus\log\logfile.txt

Debian Linux:
~/.mozilla-thunderbird/hbswezv5.default/zindus/log/logfile.txt

Apple Mac OS X
~/Library/Thunderbird/Profiles/yidda0ce.default/zindus/log/logfile.txt

What is synchronized?

For answers to questions specific to sync with Google or Zimbra, see: