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AddressBook-v22.abcddb.1.incompatible files in Trash OS X 10.7.2

I have a 10.6.8 server that provides services (DNS, DHCP, OD, AFP, Mail, Calendar, Address Book, Web, and Push notification) to my home/business network. I use network accounts with AFP network home folders. All services and apps have been working flawlessly with 10.6.xx clients.

I recently purchased a new MacBook Air that is running 10.7.2 Lion. I also recently upgraded my Mac Pro to 10.7.2 Lion from 10.6.8 Snow Leopard.

After the upgrade, I am now seeing multiple copies of files appear in the Trash such as:

AddressBook-v22.abcddb.1.incompatible

This happens whenever any app that accesses the Address Book database for autocomplete is launched (Mail, Skype, etc.). Emptying the trash fails because the files are in use. If I close all apps, sometimes the Trash will empty and sometimes it won't. Have had to clean out the .Trash folder with rm -Rfd * in the terminal; sometimes I have to ssh into my network account on the server to get this to work. Running the command in the terminal on the locally mounted network home does not work.

I have a CARDDAV account with all my addressbook entries on the 10.6.8 server; this problem seems to be worse if the CARDDAV account is configured in Address Book on the 10.7.2 client. I have tried removing the CARDDAV account and also moving the ~/Library/Application Support/Addressbook/ folder and relaunching Address Book. Neither results in the cessation of creation of the AddressBook-v22.abcddb.1.incompatible files in the Trash.

Also, when the CARDDAV account is configured in Address Book on the 10.7.2 client, it constantly tries to sync with the 10.6.8 server, and makes substantial numbers of duplicated groups call "Addressbook" and "My Contacts." However, the contacts are not duplicated in the Address Book on the 10.7.2 client. The Address Book server log shows continuous connections and PROPFIND requests from the 10.7.2 client. The CARDDAV data on the server appears to be intact as it works perfectly with iOS 5 clients (iPhone 4, and iPad) and 10.6.8 clients and is not damaged or duplicated.

I am using the same network account on both my Mac Pro and the MacBook Air. On the MAcBook Air, the account is mobile, with a synced portable home directory. I am no longer logging into 10.6.8 systems with this account as I have migrated all the preferences to 10.7.2. I have the same issues when using either computer.

I'm not sure if these two behaviours are related? Is anyone else having similar issues?

All the other services are configued and working fine on the 10.7.2 clients (iCal, Mail, etc).

Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.2)

Posted on Dec 5, 2011 6:01 AM

39 replies

Dec 14, 2011 5:45 AM in response to Stefan Siebeker

Stefan,

I thought of one more thing that you can try...

On your 10.6.8 Server, the data store for the AddressBook Server is located at:

/Library/AddressBook Server/Documents/addressbooks/__UIDS__/

Within this folder each user account has a data store...

You need to know the user's UID...

The are usually pretty long, such as AD38D67F-D6E5-4435-86C5-31B576A9C9A4

for this example UID, within the __UIDS__ folder, there will be the following nested folders:

../AD/38/AD38D67F-D6E5-4435-86C5-31B576A9C9A4/addressbook/

This is the location of the user's data store.

There will be a collection of flat .vcf files; these are the vcards for each contact.

And one .db.sqlite file; this is the sqllite database file for the user.

You can move/delete this database file at any time and the AddressBook Server will recreate it based on the .vcf files in the data store; this works similarirly to the Address Book app on the client machine and how it will rebuild the sqllite database on the fly if the original is moved/deleted.

If the steps I outlined before don't result in success, you may want to try to remove the .db.sqlite database file for each user having problems and let the AddressBook Server create a new file.

I have not tried this with my own server, so I would proceed with caution.

I would cp the .db.sqlite file to another location, so that you can restore should you need to.

You will need root access to your server to navigate these directories at the command line.

because the .vcf files are flat files, you can view their contents with cat at the command line.

Regards,

Randy

Dec 14, 2011 6:36 AM in response to Randall Rodrigues

Hi Randy,

thanks for all your input. Nevertheless I am lost in some way. I have stopped the addressbook app. I have stopped the email app. Then I have deleted all the files you have stated in your above post. The source directory was empty.... everything cleared. I have logged out and in and again out and in and the trash remained wihout any incompatible.... files. So I felt some kind of hope. After starting and using the email client guess what: sure, after a while the first imcopatible file occurs in the trash. I switched to the server. I stopped the addressbook service once again. Then I have changed the port in the addressbook service to ensure, that there is really no other client or device connected with the server and it's service. I restarted my client. The source directory is even empty - at least it does not exist. I had not restarted the addressbook app on the client and there is no connection to the addressbook service on the server. But still the incompatible files keep appearing. I am really without any idea, what the reason is behind......

.... and even icloud I had switched of for any syncing jobs.

Best regards

Stefan

Dec 14, 2011 7:44 AM in response to Stefan Siebeker

Stefan,

Don't loose hope, you will get this working. It took me quite some time, but there were glimmers of hope along the way.

After having deleted all the AdressBook related files in ~/Library/ ,

and logging in and out,

open the Address Book app on the client at least one time; this needs to be done to recreate the addressbook sqllite database on the client machine.

Then try using mail and see if you continue to get the incompatible files in the trash.

My experience was, if I had a stock addressbook config (everything was deleted and no residual CardDAV account data in ~/Library/ then there would not be any incompatible files.

Dec 14, 2011 7:48 AM in response to Stefan Siebeker

Well what do you know...after > 24 hours without any issues...I now have incompatible files in the trash again.

No duplications on the server, and everything else seems stable.

Now I'm completely puzzled and feel like I'm back at square one with the incompatible files...

After many hours if not days of trying to resolve this, now, It seems that hoping for a software update that fixes these issues is the only thing I can think to do...

Regards,

Randy

Dec 15, 2011 3:31 AM in response to Randall Rodrigues

Hi Randall,

again I have checked everything and there is really nothing on service corresponding to the addressbook app but the email client. But as I have already explained above the imcompatible files still occur in the trash. So I think there must be some correspondence between mail and the trash files. I can see no other reason. Maybe I will create a local account on my client here for testing, if there is still this problem.

Regards

Stefan

Dec 15, 2011 3:55 AM in response to Stefan Siebeker

Hey Stefan,

There is a lot more going on in the background than what you see at the gui level. A lot of the functionality of these programs is provided by frameworks such as Sync Services. If you watch your console log on your client machine, you'll see tht even after you delete you CardDAV account from the Address Book account, SyncServices is still looking for it; i.e. it reports that the data store is missing.

After the episode yesterday of incompatible files in the trash, the next time I opened and closed the address book app, it generated a duplication of the "addressbook" group. Somehow these two behaviours are related, but I'm still puzzled as to how.

I did repeat the process of deleting the address book files in ~/Library/ , reopened address book to create a stock address book config, log out then log in, deleted the .db.sqlite database file for my user account on the server (this is the new step I took), and then added the CardDAV account back to the Address Book on my system (this triggers the server to generate a new .db.sqlite database file).

So far I am almost 20 hours without an incompatible file or duplicate group. I've logged in an out several times, and opened and closed the address book about 20 times and still have not triggered any of these annoying behaviours.

I'll update tomorrow if I'm still in the clear.

Randy

Dec 19, 2011 12:38 AM in response to Randall Rodrigues

My 2 cents: This issue has been driving me crazy for months. I have an AddressBook server on an Xserve running 10.6.8 Server and the issues started when I was forced to update one of the clients to 10.7.

I have tried pretty much everything described in the threads here but I found:

The culprit seems to be the Mail.app, not iOS devices.
Disabling the 'Auomatically complete addresses' function in the Mail.app preferences seems to solve the issue.

I know that this is somewhat inconvenient, but it may give Apple a place to start debugging.

Also, dragging email addresses from the Address panel is much better then manually deleting the copies of the addressbook and dealing with the nasty .incompatible files in the .Trash

Before trying this trivial thing I really tried EVERYTHING. From installing fresh copies of either OSses on virtual and real machines, tetsing with fresh users, destroying preferences, databases, you name it.

So far so good.

Dec 19, 2011 1:37 AM in response to Randall Rodrigues

Hi, welcome to the thread. I am really happy to see another person facing the same problems..... The more the better the faster the solution maybe found.

During the weekend I have checked and found out the following: The problem with the incompatible files in trash occurs on our clients, which all have server managed (ODM) user accounts. But I have a MacbookPro additionally which I use only with a local account but with same netvolumes. Just the personal account things are not on the server. I have written several emails during the weekend from that Macbook and there is no inc* file in the trash. I will now try during the following days to create a local user here on my client with an addressbook service runing to see, what happens then....

Regards

Stefan

Dec 19, 2011 4:36 AM in response to mbraun1973

Welcome to the thread! It is reassuring and at the same time disappointing that Stefan and I are not the only ones having these issues. I too have wasted an enormous amount of time running this issue to ground.

Nevertheless, I'm not 100% sure that the Mail app is the principal culprit on this one. I agree that the incompatible files are usually generated when autocompleteing address lookups, and this most often happens when using the Mail app. However, I think this can happen with any app that uses the autocomplete feature to look up addresses, such as Skype, iChat, etc. I've had incompatible files show up in the .Trash without ever having opened the Mail app.

mbraun1973, are you using the AddressBook Server on your Xserve? Are your client machines configured for CardDAV access?

From my observations (AddresssBook Server logs, client machine console logs, etc.), it seems that the Address Book app, CardDAVPlugin, and SyncServices are the prime suspects for causing these two issues.

Fortunately, I have seemed to have eliminated this problem in my systems with the following approach:

On client machines, delete all Address Book related data and plists in ~/Library/
1. ~/Library/Application Support/AddressBook/
2. any thing that starts with ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.AddressBook
3. ~/Library/Saved Application State/com.apple.AddressBook.savedState
Restart the Address Book app and generate a clean set of Address Book files.
Log out of client system.
On the Server, stop the Address Book Server, then delete the .db.sqlite file in the data store for each UID (see the explanation in and earlier post).
Restart the Address Book Server.
Log back in on client system.
Open Address Book and configure CardDAV access.
Use the Address Book and Mail apps.
Log in and out of the system several times.
Monitor the .Trash for incompatible files, and the Address Book for duplicate groups.

At this point I am almost five days out running both systems, using both the address book and mail apps on 10.7 and have no duplicate groups and no incompatible files in the .Trash. My server logs show normal access to the Address Book Server.

Unless the problems recur, I am inclined to think I have fixed the issues. I will continue to monitor and if I have additional troubles I will post here.

Best of luck,

Randy

Dec 19, 2011 4:56 AM in response to Randall Rodrigues

Hi Randy,

it is a good news, that you are almost fine with your clients after the steps you had listed. But I am still not. The most interesting point is, that I have no more connections between addressbook server and client, the addressbook service on the server is stopped and the addressbook app on my client is without any CardDav configuration. The source directory is still empty (not existing). But the trash always again and again shows the incompatible files...... I can not understand that.....

Dec 19, 2011 5:02 AM in response to Stefan Siebeker

Stefan,

Have you tried rebuilding your mailbox on the client machine?

I would back your mailbox up first, as there are reports of mass email loss with the rebuild feature, especially if you use POP.

Randy

Dec 19, 2011 5:45 AM in response to Randall Rodrigues

No, we only use imap accounts but many subfolders. Do you think I should rebuild all of them or just the inboxes...?

Dec 19, 2011 5:54 AM in response to Stefan Siebeker

If you select the combined inbox it will rebuild all of the imap mailboxes; that is what I did.

From Mail Help:

In some cases, you might need to rebuild a mailbox to update the list of messages in the mailbox. For example, you might need to do this if messages appear to be missing or garbled, or if you can’t find all relevant messages when you search using Entire Message. Rebuilding a mailbox can take a while depending on how many messages are in the mailbox.

Select a mailbox, and then choose Mailbox > Rebuild.

When you rebuild mailboxes for Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) and Exchange accounts, locally cached messages and attachments are discarded, and the messages and attachments are downloaded again from the server to your computer. Your mailbox appears empty until the download is complete.

Or you can rebuild individual mailboxes. I'm not sure if you can just rebuild individual folders in an IMAP account. I think it will rebuild the whole mailbox.

Depending on how large your mailboxes are, it can take some time. Then, after the rebuild is done, it also takes some time to index the new mailbox before you will be able to search it (this goes on in the background and the progress is not evident to thte user).

I rebuilt all of my IMAP mailboxes before the last round of deleting and then reconfiguring the Address Book Files.

It may help.

Regards,

Randy

Dec 19, 2011 1:50 PM in response to Randall Rodrigues

mbraun1973, are you using the AddressBook Server on your Xserve? Are your client machines configured for CardDAV access?

Yes, I am running the standard AddressBook Server that comes with Mac OS X 10.6.8 Server on the Xserve.

All clients are managed, have network home directories and connect to their addressbooks via CardDAV. Two clients have mobile user accounts and they don't have the issue, but they are also running 10.6.8 since they run older MacBook Pros that don's support Lion.

The reason for using CardDAV is so that their phone books are in sync with iPads, iPhones and other devices.

Everything was going well until this morning. I logged out from one machine and logged into my network account from another mac and... SURPRISE... the .incompatible files are back in the .Trash and I had duplicated groups in the AddressBook.app again. What a bummer!

Unfortunately my virtualization software (Oracle VirtualBox) doesn't support Lion installs, so I'll waste some more of my precious time and install Lion Server on a Mac Mini just to test the Lion AddressBook Server, although I would never upgrade my Xserve to Lion, not in my wildest dreams... I've been there...

Cheers,

Michael

Dec 19, 2011 4:39 PM in response to mbraun1973

Here's what I have tried this afternoon:

Cleaned up everything with all the steps and ideas desribed above, rebooted, installed Lion Server on a Mini, enabled AddressBook Server on the Mini Server and moved contacts from local backup to this new alternate server
Eliminated CardDAV addressbook config from clients tat was pointing to 10.6.8 server
Deleted Application Support>AddressBook files con client
Created new CardDAV account on client that points to Mac Mini Server running Lion Server
RE-booted everything, tested and guess what... SAME PROBLEMS !!!

Trashed everything again, moved contacts to iCloud, deleted CardDAV account on clients, stopped all my AddressBook servers and guess what... SAME PROBLEMS using the iCloud !!! Instead of creating duplicate 'addressbook' groups, the duplicate groups are now called 'card', but the .incompatible files still show up.

AddressBook-v22.abcddb.1.incompatible files in Trash OS X 10.7.2