[cedar-backup-users] Backing up gmail contacts using Cedar Backup

[Kenneth P. <pro...@ie...>]

I've written a script called gmailcontacts to back up gmail contacts into
Google's own contacts CSV format.  This is the same format that you can use
to import contacts into a gmail account, so it makes a reasonably good
backup.

The backup will contain all of your "trusted" gmail contacts -- the ones
that show up under "My Contacts" in the gmail user interface. Everything
important is archived (email addreses, phone numbers, etc.), but only gdata
"version 2" fields are supported. This means that certain newer gmail
contacts fields like websites and relationships do not get backed up.

The script is written in Python (requires 2.5 or better), and uses Google's
gdata <http://code.google.com/p/gdata-python-client> Python library for
connectivity (http://code.google.com/p/gdata-python-client).

 I haven't made this an official Cedar Backup extension, but it's very easy
to integrate it into Cedar Backup using a pre- or post-action hook.  Here's
the hook that I'm currently using:

      <!-- This backs up Gmail contacts into a Google CSV file. -->
      <post_action_hook>
         <action>collect</action>
         <command>/opt/local/bin/gmailcontacts
--output=/opt/backup/collect/gmailcontacts-pronovic.csv</command>
      </post_action_hook>

Find the gmailcontacts script on my utilities page:

        http://cedar-solutions.com/software/utilities.html

Feel free to write the list if you have any questions.

KEN

-- 
Kenneth J. Pronovici <pro...@ie...>
http://www.cedar-solutions.com/