GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 478439
Contact lookups for GAL never return
Last modified: 2008-03-04 02:47:13 UTC
Please describe the problem: Note this is with Evo 2.12, but there is no 2.12 listed in the version drop-down for Evo-exchagne I have Evolution connected to my Exchange server, including the Global Address List (GAL). When I send new email and type a name in the To: box, it works fine; I get auto-completion on the name from GAL and the email address is found, and all works great! But, if I go to the Contacts screen and select the Global Address List database on the left, then enter a name that I KNOW has matches into the search box and hit RETURN, I get a spinning circle in the bottom message bar and it says "Searching... (...)" and it never stops and no results are ever returned. Note I CAN search on both the "Personal" contacts list which is local to my desktop, and the "Contacts" list which is my personal contacts list stored on the Exchange server. It's only the GAL that won't work, and again it works fine to complete in email messages, just not the contacts list. Steps to reproduce: 1. Go to the Contacts view 2. Click Global Address List 3. Enter a name you know exists into the Search dialog in the upper right 4. Hit return Actual results: Nothing is returned. Expected results: The names matching the one I entered into the search box should be returned. Does this happen every time? Yes. Other information:
Yes, I see this quite regularly too, I found it also tended to crash the evo backend so I've removed the GAL server from the config so it at least won't crash.
Evo 2.12 fixes a LOT of the GAL crashes. It used to hang Evo on me all the time but you don't get that anymore. It doesn't always work correctly, as I've mentioned, but it doesn't bring down the entire application. I recommend re-enabling GAL after you upgrade to Evo 2.12/Gnome 2.20.
Do you have GAL caching enabled?
How do I tell if I have it enabled? My GAL settings, in the Account Editor under the Receiving Options tab, have my GAL server and a checked box that say "Limit number of GAL responses", with the value set to 500. Is there somewhere else to look for GAL caching?
Paul, go to calendar, r-click on GAL and see if it is enabled for offline usage. If not enable it and restart evolution/eds/ee. Wait for caching to get over (unfortunately you dont have any progress indication, just wait for 'Search for contacts' to appear in Addressbook view, (GAL should be selected).
Hi Srinivasa; Thanks for the instruction. However, this seems to me like it is a workaround, right? This really isn't such a huge deal for me that I need a workaround as drastic as making a local copy of the entire GAL. I would much rather work with whomever is trying to fix this issue, to debug it so it works properly (successfully does lookups on the remote GAL rather than the local cache). Let me know, thanks!
Paul, so I assume that the caching sort of works for you. Which means that you had it without caching. Paul, now without caching, what is the behaviour? you search on addressbook view?
I don't know whether caching works or not: I've never enabled it. I do know that I can search properly both on my local "personal" contacts, and also on my Contacts list on the Exchange server. It's only the global address list where lookup fails. The behavior is, I select the Contacts view, then I select the Global Address List in the left-hand list of possible address books, then I type a name (that I know exists in the list) into the upper-right search bar, and hit RETURN. I get a "Searching..." with little spinning dots in the message bar at the bottom, but nothing ever happens no matter how long I wait. Evo is not hung; I can move to another view or cancel the search and do something else, no problem.
Hello, I'm having a similar problem, I'm using Evo 2.12 on Ubuntu Gutsy. I can get people from the GAL just fine if I type in their name, either into the address fields of emails, the search bar in the contacts dialogue or the search bar in the main contacts window. But without searching no contacts come up, I just get an empty list.
Tom: your issue is not a bug (I don't think). My GAL behaves the same way; it's because your GAL is too big to download all at once. I think you can change how big "too big" is by going to Preferences -> Mail Accounts and selecting your Exchange account, then hit the Edit button. Visit the Receiving Options tab, and either uncheck the "Limit number of GAL responses" altogether, or raise the default number (I think it's 500 by default). Note that I actually do NOT recommend this, unless you have a pretty small GAL. It will really slow down Evolution if you ask it to download the entirety of a huge GAL database.
FWIW, I just tried to reproduce this with a build of 2.21 from SVN trunk earlier this week, and I couldn't reproduce it. I believe it's fixed, and can be closed.
Paul, there are no more than 60 people in our Global Address List -- that is, if I'm correct in thinking that the GAL is just the users who have mailboxes in Exchange or mail redirects? I tried increasing the "GAL responses" limit to 1000 just in case but it didn't help.
Well, I'm definitely no Active Directory expert, but I'm sure that there are other entries in the GAL list besides just the ones who actually have mailboxes on the server. Lots of times companies have other contacts there as well. However, it sounds like you probably don't have that many. It could be a real bug, but it's not THIS bug. I suggest you take a quick look for other bugs that are more closely related (this bug is that search doesn't work, but it seems your search works, it's just that you don't see anything before you search) and if you don't find anything, file a new one. Be sure to mention the things you've already tried. Also it wouldn't hurt to try unchecking the "Limit number of GAL responses" altogether and seeing if that works. Good luck!
This seems fixed. I've had no problems for a few months. I'm closing it.