trying to sync my std.ics file between my desktop and laptop running kontact. i seem to keep getting one file or another overwritten. using the file modify date/time isn't the solution, as kontact saves the file every so often. using the longer file might work, although i'll run into trouble if, for instance, i purge to-dos. does anybody have a cleaner solution? can rsync do what i need it to?

Doesn't really sound like an rsync question, as I think you've really answered that part yourself - it isn't really the app for the job.

I don't use kontact either, but maybe I can suggest a solution that works.

Assuming you retrieve you emails from an ISP or other account using POP, you could use fetchmail to retrieve mail and an MTA (such as sendmail or postfix)/MDA (such as procmail or maildrop) to deliver to local users' mailboxes, and a simple local imap server for kontact to connect to. You'd run this server on your desktop (dovecot or similar would work well, and basically requires no configuration).

On your laptop you would simply connect to the PC using an imap account in kontact (rather than local folders), and I would assume that kontact has some capability for an "offline mode", whereby it downloads email when connected for later use.

Does that sound like something that would work? Sounds a bit complcated, but actually pretty simple in practice

well, the problem is not with the mail (i use an imap acct), but with the calendar/todos. i actually wasn't sure if rsync could handle the job or not. more simply, i could just point one of the kontact apps to the other, remote ics file (say, both machines would connect to the desktop file). i'd still rather keep the file local though. it seems very strange to me that kontact can sync with palm, pocketpc, gpe, etc, but not with itself.

Gotcha - shows my kontact knowledge huh?