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PilotManager/CDE/Calendar Frequently Asked Questions

1. Do I have to use the CDE window system to run PilotManager or SyncCM?
   • No! PilotManager will work on just about any variety of unix with an X Windows desktop. Both CDE and OpenWindows will work under Solaris.

   • Although PilotManager itself has no dependency on CDE, the SyncCM conduit does. Since calendar synchronization is a most desired feature for many PilotManager users, solving CDE related problems is often quite important.

   • Under Solaris, running the CDE window system is not required, but you do need a recent enough version of the CDE libraries. These libraries allow SyncCM to communicate with Calendar Manager and some older versions of these libraries were buggy. The rest of this document refers to getting the SyncCM conduit to work under Solaris.

2. What version of Solaris/CDE do I need to use SyncCM??
   To use SyncCM, you need either

   Solaris 2.6 or newer.
   (Solaris 2.6 includes "CDEVersion1.2":sparc:26Jun97-20:13:32)

   OR

   Solaris 2.5 or 2.5.1 AND a CDE upgrade to "CDEVersion1.1":sparc:12Jun97-01:50:01

   These don't work:

   Solaris 2.5.1 ships with "CDEVersion1.1":sparc:05Mar97-23:46:12 -- WON'T WORK
   Solaris 2.5 ships with "CDEVersion1.0.2":sparc:12Apr96-10:37:44 -- WON'T WORK

3. How do I tell what version of CDE I have?
   All of the "CDEVersion1.xxx..." lines above were retrieved with the following command:

   	prompt# /usr/ccs/bin/mcs -p /usr/dt/lib/libcsa.so
   

4. How do I get the right version of CDE if I don't have it already?
   • OUTSIDE OF SUN:
     Unfortunately Sun never released the fixed version of CDE 1.1 (12Jun97) as a product. Outside of Sun the only way to get a working version is to upgrade to Solaris 2.6 or higher (sorry!)

   • INSIDE SUN:
     Submit a request to ENS requesting a CDE upgrade. Specify the entire version string listed above to make sure you get the right thing. Unless you are specific ENS might tell you that the 05Mar97 version IS the latest version.. You can also upgrade to Solaris 2.6 or higher.

5. What if I see the message:

   user@host is in an obsolete data format
   It must be updated to the CDE format before SyncCM can interface with it.
   

   This means your calendar server is running all the right libraries, but your calendar data is still in the old format. You can upgrade your data using /usr/dt/bin/sdtcm_convert as follows:

   prompt# su				(Change to root)
   prompt# cd /var/spool/calendar
   prompt# cp callog.username callog.username.backup
   prompt# /usr/dt/bin/sdtcm_convert -v 4 username
   

   Note that this only works if your calendar is located on your own machine. If your calendar is located on another server you will need to request that the administrator of that machine do the upgrade (unless you have root access to that machine).

6. What if I see the message:

   Error: Csa logon failed: X-DT SERVICE NOT REGISTERED
   

   This usually means you have a typo or bad value in the calendar setting for SyncCM. Bring up the SyncCM configuration dialog and verify the calendar is set correctly. If it is set correctly you should try restarting your calendar server (kill rpc.cmsd), or requesting your system administrator to do this.

7. What if I see the message:

   SyncCM cannot interface with your calendar server
   Please upgrade to the CDE calendar server
   

   You will only see this message if your calendar is user@server and server is not your local machine. In order for SyncCM to work both your machine and your calendar server machine must be running the right versions of the CDE libraries as described above. To fix the problem you must upgrade the server machine as above. If you do not have access to the server to perform the upgrade make a request to the server administrator (or inside Sun, an ENS request).

8. What if I see the message:

   Error Csa add_entry failed: X-DT BACKING STORE PROBLEM ... while adding ...
   Unable to create '...' in Desktop calendar
   

   In this case there is a permissions problem writing to your desktop calendar. You may need to use /usr/dt/bin/sdtcm_admin to fix the problem.

9. What if I see the message:

   Error Undefined subroutine &SyncCM::cm::setup called at 
   .../SyncCM.pm line 864
   

   This is another indication that your CDE libraries are too old. See the info above.

10. My calendar server has just been upgraded and SyncCM no longer works.. what do I do now?
    You must upgrade to PilotManager 1.107 or higher. SyncCM included in this version does work with the latest calendar server.

11. Duplicates are being created for some of my repeating appointments.. what is going on?
    This explanation from the Pilotmanager discussion alias might help:
    Welcome to the Pilot's redefintion of the term "All". (I just recently determined the source of my similar past problems with this.)
    If you modify an existing repeating app't on the Pilot it splits that app't into two different appt's, with the split occuring on the date in the repeating series that you changed. And yes this happens even when you select "All" in the "Apply to" popup!
    The fact is -- and I think that this is a bug, but owners of the "old" Pilots tell me it was that way there, too -- that the Pilot equates "All" with what is presented as the "Forward" selection in CM.
    So if you edit a future date in a repeating series on your Pilot and feed only one way to CM (which is NOT in fact a complete overwrite of CM's calendar) you end up with multiple, slightly different instances of that app't. (One for each change that you made to the repeating series.)
    The solution is to only edit repeating series at their source, or in the past. (That way you'd never see or care about the duplicates.) In my case I've narrowed the date range and I now edit them back at the start of the previous month. (The start of my date range.)
    I haven't had a duplicate app't since I discovered this and started applying changes only to the first entry in the repeating series. (Just since 10/9.) Also since then I've been merging both ways successfully as well.
    Now if someone would please write a HackMaster hack to change the button label on the Pilot popup from "All" to "Forward" I'd be sure to never forget again! 8-)

    P.S. All this is easy enough to verify without harming your calendar, BTW. Just create a new, bogus repeating app't on your Pilot, then edit it a few instances out. (Change something obvious, like the alarm notification time + 10.) Then go back and compare what you find is now the app't definition before and after that change date on the calendar. (Don't forget to delete all the split-up bogus app'ts before you resync!)
    Also note that "Delete" does delete "All" as do some other actions that redefine the entire series, and that once split, they are truly two distinct appt's and that even "Delete" won't delete both app'ts created from such a split.