is  akonadictl start working OK ?

Yes. It is working ok.

My experience is almost identical, so I'll report only on differences.  Kontact was working perfectly with 4.4.0-4.  My problems started after updating today to 4.4.0-7, which included soprano-devel-2.4.0.1-1.fc12.i686, and kdepim-4.4.0-5.fc12.i686.  I don't see the green arrows reported by Thomas Janssen, but otherwise his report fits my experience.  Akonadictl reports that akonadi is running, and Nepomukserver reports that is is running with Virtuoso backend.

konsole output:

[anne@anne-laptop ~]$ Connecting to deprecated signal
QDBusConnectionInterface::serviceOwnerChanged(QString,QString,QString)
kontact(3899)/kdecore (KSycoca) KSycocaPrivate::openDatabase: Trying to open
ksycoca from  "/var/tmp/kdecache-anne/ksycoca4"
kontact(3899)/kontact (core) Kontact::MainWindow::loadPlugins: Loading Plugin:
"To-do List"
Calling appendChild() on a null node does nothing.
kontact(3899)/kontact (core) Kontact::MainWindow::loadPlugins: LIBNAMEPART:
"korganizerpart"
kontact(3899)/kontact (core) Kontact::MainWindow::loadPlugins: Loading Plugin:
"Planner"
Calling appendChild() on a null node does nothing.
kontact(3899)/kontact (core) Kontact::MainWindow::loadPlugins: LIBNAMEPART: ""
kontact(3899)/kontact (core) Kontact::MainWindow::loadPlugins: Loading Plugin:
"Time Tracker"
Calling appendChild() on a null node does nothing.
kontact(3899)/kontact (core) Kontact::MainWindow::loadPlugins: LIBNAMEPART:
"ktimetrackerpart"
kontact(3899)/kontact (core) Kontact::MainWindow::loadPlugins: Loading Plugin:
"Special Dates"
Calling appendChild() on a null node does nothing.
kontact(3899)/kontact (core) Kontact::MainWindow::loadPlugins: LIBNAMEPART: ""
kontact(3899)/kontact (core) Kontact::MainWindow::loadPlugins: Loading Plugin:
"Calendar"
Calling appendChild() on a null node does nothing.
kontact(3899)/kontact (core) Kontact::MainWindow::loadPlugins: LIBNAMEPART:
"korganizerpart"
kontact(3899)/kontact (core) Kontact::MainWindow::loadPlugins: Loading Plugin:
"Notebooks"
Calling appendChild() on a null node does nothing.
kontact(3899)/kontact (core) Kontact::MainWindow::loadPlugins: LIBNAMEPART:
"kjotspart"
kontact(3899)/kontact (core) Kontact::MainWindow::loadPlugins: Loading Plugin:
"Usenet"
Calling appendChild() on a null node does nothing.
kontact(3899)/kontact (core) Kontact::MainWindow::loadPlugins: LIBNAMEPART:
"knodepart"
kontact(3899)/kontact (core) Kontact::MainWindow::loadPlugins: Loading Plugin:
"Mail"
Calling appendChild() on a null node does nothing.
kontact(3899)/kontact (core) Kontact::MainWindow::loadPlugins: LIBNAMEPART:
"kmailpart"
kontact(3899)/kontact (core) Kontact::MainWindow::loadPlugins: Loading Plugin:
"Popup Notes"
Calling appendChild() on a null node does nothing.
kontact(3899)/kontact (core) Kontact::MainWindow::loadPlugins: LIBNAMEPART: ""
kontact(3899)/kontact (core) Kontact::MainWindow::loadPlugins: Loading Plugin:
"Journal"
Calling appendChild() on a null node does nothing.
kontact(3899)/kontact (core) Kontact::MainWindow::loadPlugins: LIBNAMEPART:
"korganizerpart"
kontact(3899)/kontact (core) Kontact::MainWindow::loadPlugins: Loading Plugin:
"Contacts"
Calling appendChild() on a null node does nothing.
kontact(3899)/kontact (core) Kontact::MainWindow::loadPlugins: LIBNAMEPART:
"kaddressbookpart"
kontact(3899)/kontact (core) Kontact::MainWindow::loadPlugins: Loading Plugin:
"Feeds"
Calling appendChild() on a null node does nothing.
kontact(3899)/kontact (core) Kontact::MainWindow::loadPlugins: LIBNAMEPART:
"akregatorpart"
kontact(3899)/kontact (core) Kontact::MainWindow::loadPlugins: Loading Plugin:
"Summary"
Calling appendChild() on a null node does nothing.
kontact(3899)/kontact (core) Kontact::MainWindow::loadPlugins: LIBNAMEPART: ""
kontact(3899)/kontact (core) Kontact::MainWindow::addPlugin:
kontact(3899)/kontact (core) Kontact::MainWindow::loadPlugins: Plugging New
actions "new_mail"
kontact(3899)/kontact (core) Kontact::MainWindow::addPlugin:
kontact(3899)/kontact (core) Kontact::MainWindow::loadPlugins: Plugging New
actions "new_contact"
kontact(3899)/kontact (core) Kontact::MainWindow::loadPlugins: Plugging New
actions "new_contactgroup"
kontact(3899)/kontact (core) Kontact::MainWindow::addPlugin:
kontact(3899)/kontact (core) Kontact::MainWindow::addPlugin:
kontact(3899)/kontact (core) Kontact::MainWindow::addPlugin:
kontact(3899)/kontact (core) Kontact::MainWindow::loadPlugins: Plugging New
actions "new_event"
kontact(3899)/kontact (core) Kontact::MainWindow::addPlugin:
kontact(3899)/kontact (core) Kontact::MainWindow::loadPlugins: Plugging New
actions "new_todo"
kontact(3899)/kontact (core) Kontact::MainWindow::addPlugin:
kontact(3899)/kontact (core) Kontact::MainWindow::loadPlugins: Plugging New
actions "feed_new"
kontact(3899)/kontact (core) Kontact::MainWindow::addPlugin:
kontact(3899)/kontact (core) Kontact::MainWindow::loadPlugins: Plugging New
actions "post_article"
kontact(3899)/kontact (core) Kontact::MainWindow::addPlugin:
kontact(3899)/kontact (core) Kontact::MainWindow::loadPlugins: Plugging New
actions "new_journal"
kontact(3899)/kontact (core) Kontact::MainWindow::addPlugin:
kontact(3899)/kontact (core) Kontact::MainWindow::loadPlugins: Plugging New
actions "new_kjots_page"
kontact(3899)/kontact (core) Kontact::MainWindow::loadPlugins: Plugging New
actions "new_kjots_book"
kontact(3899)/kontact (core) Kontact::MainWindow::addPlugin:
kontact(3899)/kontact (core) Kontact::MainWindow::loadPlugins: Plugging New
actions "new_note"
kontact(3899)/kontact (core) Kontact::MainWindow::addPlugin:
kontact(3899)/kontact (core) Kontact::MainWindow::loadPlugins: Plugging New
actions "new_task"
kontact(3899)/kontact (core) Kontact::MainWindow::addPlugin:
kontact(3899)/kutils (KSettings::Dispatcher)
KSettings::Dispatcher::registerComponent: "kontact"
kontact(3899)/kontact (interfaces) KontactInterface::Core::createPart:
kmailpart
kontact(3899)/kontact (interfaces) KontactInterface::Core::createPart: Creating
new KPart
kontact(3899)/kontact (interfaces) KontactInterface::Core::createPart:
"/usr/lib/kde4/kmailpart.so"
kontact(3899)/kdepimlibs (mailtransport)
MailTransport::TransportManagerPrivate::fillTypes: Found Akonadi type "Dummy
MailTransport Resource"
kontact(3899)/kdepimlibs (mailtransport)
MailTransport::TransportManagerPrivate::fillTypes: Have SMTP, Sendmail, and 1
Akonadi types.
kontact(3899)/kdepimlibs (mailtransport) MailTransport::Transport::Transport:
"kmail-1"
kontact(3899)/kdepimlibs (mailtransport)
MailTransport::Transport::usrReadConfig: type 1
kontact(3899)/kdepimlibs (mailtransport) MailTransport::Transport::Transport:
"1906739419"
kontact(3899)/kdepimlibs (mailtransport)
MailTransport::Transport::usrReadConfig: type 0
kontact(3899)/nepomuk (library) <unnamed>::GlobalModelContainer::init:
Connecting to local socket "/home/anne/.kde/share/apps/nepomuk/socket"
"/usr/bin/kontact(3899)" Error in thread 3078264736 :
"QLocalSocket::connectToServer: Invalid name"
kontact(3899)/nepomuk (library) <unnamed>::GlobalModelContainer::init: Failed
to connect to Nepomuk server via local socket
"/home/anne/.kde/share/apps/nepomuk/socket"
kontact(3899)/nepomuk (library) <unnamed>::GlobalModelContainer::init:
Connecting to local socket "/home/anne/.kde/share/apps/nepomuk/socket"
"/usr/bin/kontact(3899)" Error in thread 3078264736 :
"QLocalSocket::connectToServer: Invalid name"
kontact(3899)/nepomuk (library) <unnamed>::GlobalModelContainer::init: Failed
to connect to Nepomuk server via local socket
"/home/anne/.kde/share/apps/nepomuk/socket"
kontact(3899)/nepomuk (library) <unnamed>::GlobalModelContainer::init:
Connecting to local socket "/home/anne/.kde/share/apps/nepomuk/socket"
"/usr/bin/kontact(3899)" Error in thread 3078264736 :
"QLocalSocket::connectToServer: Invalid name"
kontact(3899)/nepomuk (library) <unnamed>::GlobalModelContainer::init: Failed
to connect to Nepomuk server via local socket
"/home/anne/.kde/share/apps/nepomuk/socket"
<unknown program name>(3897)/: Communication problem with  "kontact" , it
probably crashed. 
Error message was:  "org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.NoReply" : " "Did not receive a
reply. Possible causes include: the remote application did not send a reply,
the message bus security policy blocked the reply, the reply timeout expired,
or the network connection was broken." " 

kontact(3899)/kdeui (Wallet) KWallet::Wallet::openWallet: Pass a valid window
to KWallet::Wallet::openWallet().
kontact(3899)/kio (KIOConnection) KIO::ConnectionServer::listenForRemote:
Listening on  "local:/tmp/ksocket-anne/kontactZz3899.slave-socket"
kontact(3899)/kio (Slave) KIO::Slave::createSlave: createSlave "file" for
KUrl("file:///usr/share/kde4/apps/kdeui/about/kde_infopage.css")
kontact(3899)/kio (KIOConnection) KIO::ConnectionServer::listenForRemote:
Listening on  "local:/tmp/ksocket-anne/kontactmY3899.slave-socket"
kontact(3899)/kio (Slave) KIO::Slave::createSlave: createSlave "file" for
KUrl("file:///usr/share/kde4/apps/kontact/about/kontact.css")
kontact(3899)/kio (KIOConnection) KIO::ConnectionServer::listenForRemote:
Listening on  "local:/tmp/ksocket-anne/kontactYv3899.slave-socket"
kontact(3899)/kdecore (KConfigSkeleton) KCoreConfigSkeleton::writeConfig:
kontact(3899)/kdecore (KConfigSkeleton) KCoreConfigSkeleton::writeConfig:
kontact(3899)/kio (Slave) KIO::Slave::createSlave: createSlave "imap" for
KUrl("imap://anne@192.168.0.40:143")
kontact(3899)/kio (KIOConnection) KIO::ConnectionServer::listenForRemote:
Listening on  "local:/tmp/ksocket-anne/kontactLB3899.slave-socket"
kontact(3899)/kutils (KSettings::Dispatcher)
KSettings::Dispatcher::registerComponent: "kmail"
kontact(3899)/kdeui (kdelibs): No such XML file
"/home/anne/.kde/share/apps/kontact/local-kmail.rc" 
kontact(3899)/kdeui (KXmlGui) KXmlGuiVersionHandler::KXmlGuiVersionHandler:
found no version in "/home/anne/.kde/share/apps/kontact/local-kmail.rc"
kontact(3899)/kdeui (KXmlGui) KXmlGuiVersionHandler::KXmlGuiVersionHandler:
found no version in "/home/anne/.kde/share/apps/kontact/default-kmail.rc"
kontact(3899)/kontact (core) Kontact::MainWindow::slotActivePartChanged: Part
activated: KMailPart(0x84b45e8) with stack id. 1
kontact(3899)/kio (Slave) KIO::Slave::kill: killing slave pid 3515 ( "file://"
)
kontact(3899)/kio (Slave) KIO::Slave::kill: killing slave pid 3910 ( "file://"
)
kontact(3899)/kdecore (K*TimeZone*) KSystemTimeZonesPrivate::instance:
instance(): ... initialised
kontact(3899)/kdecore (K*TimeZone*) KSystemTimeZonesPrivate::readConfig:
readConfig(): local zone= "Europe/London"
kontact(3899)/kdecore (K*TimeZone*) KSystemTimeZonesPrivate::readZoneTab:
readZoneTab( "/usr/share/zoneinfo/zone.tab" )
kontact(3899)/kresources KRES::Factory::self:
kontact(3899)/kresources KRES::ManagerImpl::ManagerImpl:
kontact(3899)/kresources KRES::ManagerImpl::readConfig:
kontact(3899)/kresources KRES::Factory::self:
kontact(3899)/kresources KRES::ManagerImpl::readResourceConfig: "NMNb6UdGBa"
kontact(3899)/kresources KRES::Factory::Private::resourceInternal: ( "remote" ,
config )
kontact(3899)/kresources KRES::ManagerImpl::readResourceConfig: "xPZcZAr2rk"
kontact(3899)/kresources KRES::Factory::Private::resourceInternal: (
"birthdays" , config )
kontact(3899)/kresources KRES::ManagerImpl::readResourceConfig: "cxLlwJ00mX"
kontact(3899)/kresources KRES::Factory::Private::resourceInternal: ( "file" ,
config )
kontact(3899)/kresources KRES::ManagerImpl::readResourceConfig: "H8HwHd9m6G"
kontact(3899)/kresources KRES::Factory::Private::resourceInternal: ( "file" ,
config )
kontact(3899)/kresources KRES::ManagerImpl::readResourceConfig: "CUQCD2uBqA"
kontact(3899)/kresources KRES::Factory::Private::resourceInternal: ( "file" ,
config )
kontact(3899)/kio (Slave) KIO::Slave::createSlave: createSlave "file" for
KUrl("file:///usr/share/kde4/apps/kdeui/about/kde_infopage.css")
kontact(3899)/kio (KIOConnection) KIO::ConnectionServer::listenForRemote:
Listening on  "local:/tmp/ksocket-anne/kontactpj3899.slave-socket"
kontact(3899)/kio (Slave) KIO::Slave::createSlave: createSlave "file" for
KUrl("file:///usr/share/kde4/apps/kontact/about/kontact.css")
kontact(3899)/kio (KIOConnection) KIO::ConnectionServer::listenForRemote:
Listening on  "local:/tmp/ksocket-anne/kontactxB3899.slave-socket"
kontact(3899)/kio (Slave) KIO::Slave::createSlave: createSlave "file" for
KUrl("file:///usr/share/icons/oxygen/48x48/actions/help-contents.png")
kontact(3899)/kio (KIOConnection) KIO::ConnectionServer::listenForRemote:
Listening on  "local:/tmp/ksocket-anne/kontactvY3899.slave-socket"
kontact(3899)/kio (Slave) KIO::Slave::createSlave: createSlave "file" for
KUrl("file:///usr/share/icons/oxygen/48x48/mimetypes/text-html.png")
kontact(3899)/kio (KIOConnection) KIO::ConnectionServer::listenForRemote:
Listening on  "local:/tmp/ksocket-anne/kontactRx3899.slave-socket"
kontact(3899)/kio (Slave) KIO::Slave::createSlave: createSlave "file" for
KUrl("file:///usr/share/icons/oxygen/48x48/actions/tools-wizard.png")
kontact(3899)/kio (KIOConnection) KIO::ConnectionServer::listenForRemote:
Listening on  "local:/tmp/ksocket-anne/kontactfF3899.slave-socket"
kontact(3899)/kio (Slave) KIO::Slave::createSlave: createSlave "file" for
KUrl("file:///usr/share/kde4/apps/kmail/about/kmail.css")
kontact(3899)/kio (KIOConnection) KIO::ConnectionServer::listenForRemote:
Listening on  "local:/tmp/ksocket-anne/kontactdO3899.slave-socket"
kontact(3899)/kio (Slave) KIO::Slave::createSlave: createSlave "file" for
KUrl("file:///usr/share/kde4/apps/kdeui/about/top-middle.png")
kontact(3899)/kio (KIOConnection) KIO::ConnectionServer::listenForRemote:
Listening on  "local:/tmp/ksocket-anne/kontactHX3899.slave-socket"
kontact(3899)/kio (Slave) KIO::Slave::createSlave: createSlave "file" for
KUrl("file:///usr/share/kde4/apps/kdeui/about/box-top-left.png")
kontact(3899)/kio (KIOConnection) KIO::ConnectionServer::listenForRemote:
Listening on  "local:/tmp/ksocket-anne/kontactaW3899.slave-socket"
kontact(3899)/kio (KIOConnection)
KIO::SocketConnectionBackend::socketReadyRead:
KIO::SocketConnectionBackend(0x8c30750) Jumbo packet of 122350 bytes
kontact(3899)/kio (KIOConnection)
KIO::SocketConnectionBackend::socketReadyRead:
KIO::SocketConnectionBackend(0x8c30750) Jumbo packet of 122350 bytes
kontact(3899)/kio (KIOConnection)
KIO::SocketConnectionBackend::socketReadyRead:
KIO::SocketConnectionBackend(0x8c30750) Jumbo packet of 122350 bytes
kontact(3899) KMFolderIndex::updateIndexStreamPtr: utime(
"/home/anne/.kde/share/apps/kmail/filter/.1.index.ids" , 0) failed
(KMMsgDict::getFolderIdsLocation( *this )) 
kontact(3899) KMFolderIndex::updateIndexStreamPtr: utime(
"/home/anne/.kde/share/apps/kmail/filter/.1.index.ids" , 0) failed
(KMMsgDict::getFolderIdsLocation( *this )) 
kontact(3899)/kio (KIOJob) KIO::TransferJob::slotData: mimetype() not emitted
when sending first data!; job URL =
KUrl("imap://anne@192.168.0.40:143/INBOX/;UID=26655;SECTION=BODY.PEEK[]") data
size = 8120 
^C
[1]+  Exit 255                kontact
[anne@anne-laptop ~]$ *** KMail got signal 15 (Exiting)
kontact(3899)/kresources KRES::Resource::close: ERROR: Resource "remote
resource"  closed more times than previously opened
kontact(3899)/kresources KRES::ManagerImpl::~ManagerImpl:
kontact(3899)/kresources KRES::Resource::close: ERROR: Resource "remote
resource"  closed more times than previously opened
kontact(3899)/kresources KRES::Resource::close: ERROR: Resource "Default
Calendar"  closed more times than previously opened
kontact(3899)/kresources KRES::Resource::close: ERROR: Resource "BCP"  closed
more times than previously opened
kontact(3899)/kresources KRES::Resource::close: ERROR: Resource "Jurian's test"
 closed more times than previously opened

Killed with Ctrl-C after several minutes

Forgot to add, apps like kmail for example do start very well stand-alone.

kmail, kaddressbook, korganizer and akregator all launch correctly as
stand-alone apps, which makes a solution somewhat less urgent.  I haven't tried
the remaining apps.

Sadly, I discovered this morning that while KMail opens and I can read my mail, I can't send a message at all.  I prepared one which sat in the greyed out state for upwards of 10 minutes, after which I had to kill KMail.  This is a huge problem for me, and I'd request that it's priority be raised.

> Sadly, I discovered this morning that while KMail opens and I can read my 
> mail, I can't send a message at all. 

Isn't that exactly the bug we talked about on the users list (topic "Delays when sending mail")? As said in before, it will be fixed in KDE 4.4.1. See also https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=219687#c65 for a workaround.

Well, certainly from a user PoV, it's not the same.  We talked before of delays of up to a minute when sending messages.  As I said here, in this case it froze so completely that I couldn't do anything at all with KMail, and I waited for more than 10 minutes, by which time it seemed beyond recovery.  The reason I asked for priority raising was that using the applications as stand-alone would be a work-around, but in fact the work-around was failing.

However, I have sent one test email since applying your workaround from https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=219687#c65 and that left promptly, so I'm more hopeful.

It may or may not be connected, but the other applications I tried use sensible amounts of CPU, but with KMail working, even as stand-alone, I am constantly on 98-99% CPU.  Compare that with the netbook beside me that is running 4.4.0-5 - there Kontact is running and strigi is indexing.  CUP activity peaks at around 90% when fetching mail, but varies considerably in-between, falling as low as 3% from time to time.  The average seems to be around 50-60%.

BTW: Slow sending is unrelated to this bug report, which is about Kontact not starting up. Further discussions should take place at bug 219687.

> Well, certainly from a user PoV, it's not the same.  We talked before of 
> delays of up to a minute when sending messages.  As I said here, in this case > it froze so completely that I couldn't do anything at all with KMail, and I 
> waited for more than 10 minutes, by which time it seemed beyond recovery.

The delays depend on how long Nepomuk takes to execute the search. This can actually be 10 minutes or more, depending on how much Strigi has indexed. That's also the reason I didn't see this problem before release: I had Strigi file indexing disabled.

> The reason I asked for priority raising was that using the applications as 
> stand-alone would be a work-around, but in fact the work-around was failing.

I see. In case of the delays when sending or switching messages, running standalone vs running in Kontact makes no difference.

> but with KMail working, even as stand-alone, I am constantly on
> 98-99% CPU.

Constantly? That sounds wrong. During mail fetch/sync, the CPU usage of course peeks, but it shouldn't be 100% constantly. Is it really KMail that is using the CPU or some other process?

Since kontact launching began to work again last night, reason unknown, this seems to have been much less of a problem.  Yes, I see peaks of 99% usage, but it no longer stays there.  I'm completely at a loss to explain what's happening.  I did a Fedora update just before things straightened out, but there were no packages obviously connected with kdepim, akonadi, nepomuk or mysql.  The only possibility I can think of is that some service needed restarting and I'd overlooked it.

If I see that high CPU behaviour again I'll try to find evidence of the cause, but for now it seems to be fixed.

Sadly, problem isn't solved here out of the blue.

Additional Info, same installation, freshly created user, kontact starts fine.

Related to bug #222878?

Is this reproducible with kdepim >= 4.8.2 ?

On Saturday 21 Apr 2012 09:40:06 you wrote:
> https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=227636
> 
> --- Comment #15 from Christophe Giboudeaux 
<cgiboudeaux@gmx.com> ---
> Is this reproducible with kdepim >= 4.8.2 ?

No.  In fact I think it was solved earlier, but can't say when.  Sorry.

Anne

(In reply to comment #15)
> Is this reproducible with kdepim >= 4.8.2 ?
Yes, it is. Usually only the first time I start Kontact it shows up, afterwards I have to kill it before I can start it and see the window again.

Issue persists in KDE 4.9.0.

Issue persists in 4.10.2.

The DBus show() trick does not work here:
$ qdbus org.kde.kontact /kontact/MainWindow_1 
method QString org.freedesktop.DBus.Introspectable.Introspect()
method QString org.freedesktop.DBus.Peer.GetMachineId()
method void org.freedesktop.DBus.Peer.Ping()

Persists in 4.11.0

Persists in 4.11.2

This bug has only been reported for versions before 4.14, which have been unsupported for at least two years now. Can anyone tell if this bug still present?

If noone confirms this bug for a Framework-based version of kontact (version 5.0 or later, as part of KDE Applications 15.08 or later), it gets closed in about three months.

Just as announced in my last comment, I close this bug. If you encounter it again in a recent version (at least 5.0 aka 15.08), please open a new one unless it already exists. Thank you for all your input.