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Maniphest T837

GNOME online accounts: Add support for CardDAV and CalDAV providers
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I use the FSF recommended email service provider Posteo not only for my emails but also for my calendars and addressbooks.

In Debian I always used Evolution not only as email client but as personal information manager (and in Evolution it's easy to add CardDAV addressbooks and CalDAV calendars), so I didn't even realize that if you don't use Evolution (for example because your distro decided to pick Thunderbird as default email client) you can't use CardDAV and CalDAV to sync your addressbooks and calendars (with GNOME contacts and GNOME calendar).

If you don't include Evolution in PureOS you should add support for CardDAV and CalDAV providers to GNOME online accounts (upstream bug report). In the bigger GNOME community this bug is not as critical I guess because a lot of users have Google accounts. But PureOS users need alternatives to sync their calendars and addressbooks. And you can't assume that every PureOS user has a nextcloud account.

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EchedeyLR added a subscriber: EchedeyLR.Oct 2 2019, 10:48

Evolution is on PureOS repositories but not installed by default.

• stefannagy added a comment.EditedOct 2 2019, 13:41

Yes, and that means that by default (to my knowledge) PureOS supports

  • Google
  • Microsoft Exchange and
  • Nextcloud/Owncloud

for calendar and addressbook sync. The only freedom respecting option is Nextcloud/Owncloud (which uses these standard protocols by the way).

EDIT: Sorry for my ambiguous diction. I know that Evolution is in PureOS repositories (installing it was the first thing I did in PureOS).

EchedeyLR added a comment.Oct 4 2019, 08:54

I already made a report about the freedom respecting options in GNOME Online Accounts here --> https://tracker.pureos.net/T663

• stefannagy added a comment.Oct 4 2019, 12:35

Oh, I didn't see that. However, this report is not about the promotion of non-free services (like T663) but about the missing support (and thus promotion) of common open standard protocols.

EchedeyLR added a comment.Oct 4 2019, 13:07

Its like two POVs about the same.

• stefannagy added a comment.Oct 4 2019, 14:16

Well, it seems quite easy to me to fix T663 (blacklist all non-free services). But you can't whitelist CardDAV and CalDAV support, it needs to be implemented first… The upstream bug report is pending for six years now.

jeremiah.foster closed this task as Resolved.Oct 17 2019, 12:02
jeremiah.foster claimed this task.
jeremiah.foster triaged this task as Normal priority.
jeremiah.foster added a subscriber: jeremiah.foster.

GNOME Online accounts already works with free services like Nextcloud;

EchedeyLR added a comment.EditedOct 17 2019, 12:08

As @stefannagy references, its just CardDAV and CalDAV in general, not just Nextcloud/Owncloud as he already said.

@jeremiah.foster I think you got confused with the issue. --> https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-online-accounts/issues/1

I think maintain this issue opened could be relevant for any change and it would be useful that users take it in account if they don't know about it.

jeremiah.foster reopened this task as Open.Oct 17 2019, 12:43

Okay, but I believe that Nextcloud provides a standards compliant CalDAV interface which GOA can use. I'll double check.

EchedeyLR added a comment.Oct 18 2019, 09:46
In T837#15974, @jeremiah.foster wrote:

Okay, but I believe that Nextcloud provides a standards compliant CalDAV interface which GOA can use. I'll double check.

That would means that without a Nextcloud/Owncloud account I could set up a CardDAV/CaldDAV service using the option dedicated for Nextcloud?

I know that Nextcloud provides CalDAV and CardDAV interface as I am using a Nextcloud account from Disroot configured with my mobile phone using DAVx⁵ and confirms it.

jeremiah.foster added a comment.Oct 18 2019, 14:44

That would means that without a Nextcloud/Owncloud account I could set up a CardDAV/CaldDAV service using the option dedicated for Nextcloud?

Perhaps. But I imagine you'd want to ask upstream in GNOME to determine for sure; https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-online-accounts/issues/1

• stefannagy added a comment.Oct 24 2019, 03:49
That would means that without a Nextcloud/Owncloud account I could set up a CardDAV/CaldDAV service using the option dedicated for Nextcloud?

Perhaps. But I imagine you'd want to ask upstream in GNOME to determine for sure

I tried with my Posteo account but I couldn't find a way to sync my calendars and addressbooks. And as far as I know there's no documentation for using the GOA Nextcloud option for other CalDAV/CardDAV services.

EchedeyLR added a comment.Oct 24 2019, 03:56

Then current options don't include general CardDAV and CalDAV support.

jeremiah.foster added a comment.Nov 1 2019, 13:44

Upstream developers claim it does support things like CalDAV. Please discuss this with upstream.

jeremiah.foster changed the task status from Open to Incomplete.Nov 1 2019, 13:45
EchedeyLR added a comment.EditedNov 4 2019, 06:37

Upstream developers claim it does support things like CalDAV

That doesn't sound very specific. "Things like CalDAV" in which sense?, can I use a generic CalDAV-only provider? or CalDAV is supported embedded in Nextcloud itself?.

If I can use "any" generic CalDAV or CardDAV provider must I use the Nextcloud option or there is other hidden option to do it?

I never used Posteo but in the case CalDAV service test is valid (and given a non-supported result) using Nextcloud option, then your discussion with developers was misunderstood.

jonas.smedegaard changed the task status from Incomplete to Open.May 27 2021, 23:54
jonas.smedegaard added a subscriber: jonas.smedegaard.

This issue is real - also tracked as a Purism development issue: https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/gnome-online-accounts/-/issues/3

jonas.smedegaard added a comment.EditedMay 28 2021, 00:14

@stefannagy I can confirm that GOA lacks generic support for CalDAV/CardDAV - it is confusing that they provide support for one specific CalDAV/CardDAV-based service (by hardcoding URIs instead of following the specs to RESTfully resolving them) which is certainly not the same.

Unfortunately this is an upstream issue, not merely a matter of improved packaging. So even though the remark about upstream support is false, the advice to work with upstream to address this is valid regardless.

Upstream issue report tracking this is here: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-online-accounts/-/issues/1