700237 - Adressbook should support Apple's iCloud (need to implement CardDAV discovery for it)

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 1854779

(Thunderbird :: Address Book, enhancement)

Description

[Rudolf Kollien]

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10.6; rv:8.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/8.0
Build ID: 20111102223350

Steps to reproduce:

"Moved" my addressbook on Lion into the iCloud.


Actual results:

TB doesn't find any address in the "system" addressbook.


Expected results:

As there is still a RFE for "support CardDAV" ("bug" #546932), i want to open an additional RFE with "support Apple iCloud on Mac OSX" (and probably Windows/Linux too). After the launch of iCloud, many users will move there addressbook into the cloud. The local hosted addressbook on the Mac disappears. After that, there is no more access to addresses in the "system" addressbook. Maybe this also addresses bug #695953? 
As it seems, iCloud doesn't use standard CardDAV (at least Apples own addressbook app on systems prior to 10.7 are not able to read a iCloud addressbook when configured as CardDAV-account), i open a new Bug/RFE.

Comment 1

[Rudolf Kollien]

It seems to me, that on Lion ALL(!) addressbooks available to the system can be read by TB 8. I had have three addressbooks:

- local (as usual)
- iCloud
- standard CardDAV on DaviCal-server

When i created a new message, i suddenly found addresses triple in the addressee choosebox. I than removed "local" and disabled the CardDAV account. Still i could use all addresses found in the iCloud addressbook. For testing, i removed the iCloud and reactivated the CardDAV account. Then i found all addresses of the CardDAV addressbook in TB. 

Is this a feature of "local caching remote addressbooks" in Lion or is this a feature of TB 8 on Lion? Under SnowLeopard and TB 8 i can access ONLY the local addressbook. The CardDAV addressbook is NOT recognized (iCloud isn't available on SL).

Can anyone confirm this behavior on Lion with TB 8?

Comment 2

[Jeff Gehlhaar]

(In reply to Rudolf Kollien from comment #0)
> User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10.6; rv:8.0)
> Gecko/20100101 Firefox/8.0
> Build ID: 20111102223350
> 
> Steps to reproduce:
> 
> "Moved" my addressbook on Lion into the iCloud.
> 
> 
> Actual results:
> 
> TB doesn't find any address in the "system" addressbook.
> 
> 
> Expected results:
> 
> As there is still a RFE for "support CardDAV" ("bug" #546932), i want to
> open an additional RFE with "support Apple iCloud on Mac OSX" (and probably
> Windows/Linux too). After the launch of iCloud, many users will move there
> addressbook into the cloud. The local hosted addressbook on the Mac
> disappears. After that, there is no more access to addresses in the "system"
> addressbook. Maybe this also addresses bug #695953? 
> As it seems, iCloud doesn't use standard CardDAV (at least Apples own
> addressbook app on systems prior to 10.7 are not able to read a iCloud
> addressbook when configured as CardDAV-account), i open a new Bug/RFE.


I have noticed the same.  Others seem to be reporting that Lion/iCloud address integration breaks TB's ability to search for local addresses.  In my case, I don't even see the Mac OS X Address Book listed as an option in the Address Book window.

Can you confirm if you see the same behavior?  Even when I toggle off iCloud sync of contacts and I have a local contact list, I don't see the address book listed, nor can I use it to resolve addresses.

Comment 3

[Rudolf Kollien]

With the latest version of OSX (10.7.2) and TB 8 i can use the addressbook as usual (read-only, limited address fields)!!! I ONLY had a iCloud addressbook. It seems, OSX caches the iCloud data like a local addressbook. I don't know how TB accesses the address data (API, native data access?), but it CAN use the addressbook. I now killed the iCloud and switched over to CardDAV (on a DAVical Server). TB continues accassing the addressbook. Changes made to the addressbook made by the OSX addressbook app, via iPad or iPhone are immediatelly reflected to TB!

Can anyone confirm that?

Comment 4

[Jeff Gehlhaar]

(In reply to Rudolf Kollien from comment #3)
> With the latest version of OSX (10.7.2) and TB 8 i can use the addressbook
> as usual (read-only, limited address fields)!!! I ONLY had a iCloud
> addressbook. It seems, OSX caches the iCloud data like a local addressbook.
> I don't know how TB accesses the address data (API, native data access?),
> but it CAN use the addressbook. I now killed the iCloud and switched over to
> CardDAV (on a DAVical Server). TB continues accassing the addressbook.
> Changes made to the addressbook made by the OSX addressbook app, via iPad or
> iPhone are immediatelly reflected to TB!
> 
> Can anyone confirm that?

Not sure what you mean by two things in your statement:

-- Killed iCloud
-- Changes made via iPad show up in TB

I assume you entirely disabled iCloud?  I did disconnect contacts from iCloud, and noticed I had a local copy of my addresses, but I still was unable to see even the address book in TB

In terms of updates via the iPad.  I assume you are doing a local sync via iTunes, and that works.

If so, then basically, it seems iCloud breaks integration with TB and the local address book.

Comment 5

[Rudolf Kollien]

-- Killed iCloud

I disabled the addressbook in the iCloud settings and deleted the account from the addressbook app. The local account is removed too. The files for the iCloud and the local addressbook disappeared from the file system. I now ONLY have a standard CardDAV account. 

-- Changes made via iPad show up in TB

My iPhones (iOS 4.x and 5.0.1), my iPad (iOS 5.0.1) and my Macs (10.6/10.7) all are connected to this CardDAV account. When i change/add an addressbook entry with the iPad or iPhones (or any Mac) and launch after this the addressbook app on the Macs with OS X 10.7.2 (and ONLY there), i see the changes in the TB "Mac OSX addressbook" too. 

So it seems to me, the addressbook app of OS X 10.7.2 caches the addressbook local. I DON'T can access the CardDAV addressbook with TB on OS X PRIOR to 10.7.2!! On systems with 10.6 i mandatory need a local account with a (manual) copy of the CardDAV addressbook. I cannot test 10.7 as i no more have a unpatched Lion.

Hope this helps.

Comment 6

[Peter K. Sheerin]

iCloud already exposes a CardDAV interface for sync, so this bug is redundant with bug #546932.

Comment 7

[Rudolf Kollien]

Unfortunately the iCloud addressbook uses CardDAV, but seems to extend or alter the standard. Even the addressbook of Mac OS X before 10.7 isn't able to handle the contacts like it does on a normal CardDAV store.

So it seems to me, when TB addressbook shall access the new Apple iCloud addressbook, it needs some modifications to the standard too.

Comment 8

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

how does this relate (or doesn't it) to bug Bug 695953?

Also, can someone find the relevant getsatisfaction topics and put the links here?
https://getsatisfaction.com/mozilla_messaging/searches?query=icloud&x=0&y=0&style=topics

Comment 9

[Vincent (caméléon)]

From this GSFN thread, I wonder if there is a problem with iCloud address book, because the user report that he has finally successfully sync Tbird with Mac OS and then iCloud address book.
I don't use MAC OS, but certainly someone else could clarify if this bug should be closed or confirmed.

https://getsatisfaction.com/mozilla_messaging/topics/using_icloud_contacts_with_thunderbird

Comment 10

[Magnus Melin [:mkmelin]]

How is this working out in Thunderbird 91 which has built-in CardDAV support?

Comment 12

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Our strategic direction is CardDAV

Comment 13

[Magnus Melin [:mkmelin]]

Yes, iCloud does CardDAV - but we're missing the discovery piece. That is this bug.

Comment 14

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

This would help some of https://mzl.la/3Pl8eTu and https://mzl.la/45K2VTn (eg Mac contacts/address book/SDK), and some others which are not caught in these bug queries, which often cause new stability issues with each new macOS release.

Comment 15

[Alessandro Castellani [:aleca]]

Is this a duplicate of bug 1854779?

Comment 16

[Magnus Melin [:mkmelin]]

It is. Really nice it's now available!

The setup experience could do with some improvements , but it does work. (Not strictly limited to icloud, I'll file some enhancement requests.)