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[How-to] Saving SMS / text conversations

Here is a script to save SMS (text) messages on a Jolla mobile.

You can run the script from either Terminal or logged in through SSH.
Run the script as a regular user (do not use "su-devel")
This script will print the messages to stdout (after nicely formatting them).
Although this script may have bugs, it will not damage or delete any SMS messages. It only reads the messages from the internal communication database.

You can choose to name the script anything you like (for example, "sms-dump"). You can save the output to a text file by redirecting the output (for example, "sms-dump > sms-with-mom.txt").

NOTE: This is a wiki page. Please feel free to contribute documentation, bug fixes, and any other improvements to this script.

#!/bin/bash

# A script to dump text messages

# Don't let root run this
if [ ${USER} == "root" ]; then
  echo "Please run as regular user."
  exit 1
fi

# Check for a phone number as a command line argument
if [ $# -lt 1 ]; then
  echo "usage: $(basename $0) <phone-number> [Name]"
  exit 1
fi

# Set the name if provided
if [ $# -gt 1 ]; then
  name=$2
else
  name=$1
fi

# Use timestamps to create unique filenames
datetime=`date +"%Y%m%d-%H%M%S"`
tempname=/tmp/sms-${datetime}.txt

# Get the text message data from the phone's database
sql="SELECT direction, startTime, freeText FROM Events WHERE remoteUid LIKE '%$1' AND type=2;"
sqlite3 ~/.local/share/commhistory/commhistory.db "$sql" > ${tempname}

while read line; do
  # Check for the desired format...
  format=`echo ${line} | sed -e 's/^[12]|.*//'`
  if [[ -z ${format} ]]; then
    # Get the name of the person who's texting
    fromwhom=`echo ${line} | cut -d '|' -f 1`
    if [ ${fromwhom} -eq "1" ]; then
      fromwhom=$name
    else
      fromwhom="Me"
    fi
    # Convert the Unix timestand to a human readable format
    unixtime=`echo ${line} | cut -d '|' -f 2`
    datetime=`date -d@${unixtime} "+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M"`
    # Get the actual text message
    message=`echo ${line} | cut -d '|' -f 3`
    # Copy all the information into a new file
    echo "${fromwhom} (${datetime}): ${message}"
  else
    # ...Otherwise just copy the line.
    echo "${line}"
  fi
done < ${tempname}

# Delete the temporary file
rm -f ${tempname}

Usage

sms-dump <phone-number> [Name]
sms-dump 4565551234 John # Example

Known Issues

Messages that have a newline character will still be printed but will cause an error message to appear.

[How-to] Saving SMS / text conversations

Here is a script to save SMS (text) messages on a Jolla mobile.

You can run the script from either Terminal or logged in through SSH.
Run the script as a regular user (do not use "su-devel")
This script will print the messages to stdout (after nicely formatting them).
Although this script may have bugs, it will not damage or delete any SMS messages. It only reads the messages from the internal communication database.

You can choose to name the script anything you like (for example, "sms-dump"). You can save the output to a text file by redirecting the output (for example, "sms-dump > ~~sms-with-mom.txt").~~sms-with-mom.txt"). Make the file executable ("chmod 755 sms-dump"). A convenient place to save it is in "/home/nemo/bin", which is already in the default path.

NOTE: This is a wiki page. Please feel free to contribute documentation, bug fixes, and any other improvements to this script.

#!/bin/bash

# A script to dump text messages

# Don't let root run this
if [ ${USER} == "root" ]; then
  echo "Please run as regular user."
  exit 1
fi

# Check for a phone number as a command line argument
if [ $# -lt 1 ]; then
  echo "usage: $(basename $0) <phone-number> [Name]"
  exit 1
fi

# Set the name if provided
if [ $# -gt 1 ]; then
  name=$2
else
  name=$1
fi

# Use timestamps to create unique filenames
datetime=`date +"%Y%m%d-%H%M%S"`
tempname=/tmp/sms-${datetime}.txt

# Get the text message data from the phone's database
sql="SELECT direction, startTime, freeText FROM Events WHERE remoteUid LIKE '%$1' AND type=2;"
sqlite3 ~/.local/share/commhistory/commhistory.db "$sql" > ${tempname}

while read line; do
  # Check for the desired format...
  format=`echo ${line} | sed -e 's/^[12]|.*//'`
  if [[ -z ${format} ]]; then
    # Get the name of the person who's texting
    fromwhom=`echo ${line} | cut -d '|' -f 1`
    if [ ${fromwhom} -eq "1" ]; then
      fromwhom=$name
    else
      fromwhom="Me"
    fi
    # Convert the Unix timestand to a human readable format
    unixtime=`echo ${line} | cut -d '|' -f 2`
    datetime=`date -d@${unixtime} "+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M"`
    # Get the actual text message
    message=`echo ${line} | cut -d '|' -f 3`
    # Copy all the information into a new file
    echo "${fromwhom} (${datetime}): ${message}"
  else
    # ...Otherwise just copy the line.
    echo "${line}"
  fi
done < ${tempname}

# Delete the temporary file
rm -f ${tempname}

Usage

sms-dump <phone-number> [Name]
sms-dump 4565551234 John # Example

Known Issues

Messages that have a newline character will still be printed but will cause an error message to appear.

[How-to] Saving SMS / text conversations

Here is a script to save SMS (text) messages on a Jolla mobile.

You can run the script from either Terminal or logged in through SSH.
Run the script as a regular user (do not use "su-devel")
This script will print the messages to stdout (after nicely formatting them).
Although this script may have bugs, it will not damage or delete any SMS messages. It only reads the messages from the internal communication database.

You can choose to name the script anything you like (for example, "sms-dump"). You can save the output to a text file by redirecting the output (for example, "sms-dump > sms-with-mom.txt"). Make the file executable ("chmod 755 sms-dump"). A convenient place to save it is in "/home/nemo/bin", which is already in the default path.

NOTE: This is a wiki page. Please feel free to contribute documentation, bug fixes, and any other improvements to this script.

#!/bin/bash

# A script to dump text messages

# Don't let root run this
if [ ${USER} == "root" ]; then
  echo "Please run as regular user."
  exit 1
fi

# Check for a phone number as a command line argument
if [ $# -lt 1 ]; then
  echo "usage: $(basename $0) <phone-number> [Name]"
  exit 1
fi

# Set the name if provided
if [ $# -gt 1 ]; then
  name=$2
else
  name=$1
fi

# Use timestamps to create unique filenames
datetime=`date +"%Y%m%d-%H%M%S"`
tempname=/tmp/sms-${datetime}.txt

# Get the text message data from the phone's database
sql="SELECT direction, startTime, freeText FROM Events WHERE remoteUid LIKE '%$1' AND type=2;"
sqlite3 ~/.local/share/commhistory/commhistory.db "$sql" > ${tempname}

while read line; do
   # Check for the desired format...
  format=`echo ${line} | sed -e 's/^[12]|.*//'`
   if [[ -z ${format} ]]; then
     # Get the name of the person who's texting
    fromwhom=`echo ${line} | cut -d '|' -f 1`
     if [ ${fromwhom} -eq "1" ]; then
      fromwhom=$name
    else
      fromwhom="Me"
    fi
     # Convert the Unix timestand to a human readable format
    unixtime=`echo ${line} | cut -d '|' -f 2`
    datetime=`date -d@${unixtime} "+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M"`
     # Get the actual text message
    message=`echo ${line} | cut -d '|' -f 3`
     # Copy all the information into a new file
    echo "${fromwhom} (${datetime}): ${message}"
   else
    # ...Otherwise 
    # ...Fallback, just copy the line.
entire original line
    echo "${line}"
   fi
 done < ${tempname}

# Delete the temporary file
rm -f ${tempname}

Usage

sms-dump <phone-number> [Name]
sms-dump 4565551234 John # Example

Known Issues

Messages that have a newline character will still be printed but will cause an error message to appear.

[How-to] Saving SMS / text conversations

Here is a script to save SMS (text) messages on a Jolla mobile.

You can run the script from either Terminal or logged in through SSH.
Run the script as a regular user (do not use "su-devel")
This script will print the messages to stdout (after nicely formatting them).
Although this script may have bugs, it will not damage or delete any SMS messages. It only reads the messages from the internal communication database.

NOTE: This is a wiki page. Please feel free to contribute documentation, bug fixes, and any other improvements to this script.

#!/bin/bash

# A script to dump text messages

# Don't let root run this
if [ ${USER} == "root" ]; then
  echo "Please run as regular user."
  exit 1
fi

# Check for a messages to stdout
# 
# Usage:
#    sms-dump <phone-number> [Name]
#
#    phone-number : A phone number (example: 4565551234)
#
#    Name : (Option) The contact's name, as a it will appear in the output.
#           If not provided then it will use the phone number.

# My name, as it will appear in the output
me="Me"

# The database with the SMS messages
sql_database="/home/nemo/.local/share/commhistory/commhistory.db"

# The SQL command line argument
if [ $# -lt to select which messages to retrieve
#    direction : Who sent the message, can be 1 ]; then
  echo "usage: $(basename $0) <phone-number> [Name]"
  exit 1
fi

# Set the name if provided
if [ $# -gt 1 ]; then
  name=$2
else
  name=$1
fi

# Use timestamps to create unique filenames
datetime=`date +"%Y%m%d-%H%M%S"`
tempname=/tmp/sms-${datetime}.txt

# Get the (them) or 2 (me)
#    startTime : When the message was sent
#    freeText  : The text message data from the phone's database
sql="SELECT of the actual message
#    remoteUid : The contact's phone number
#    type      : Messages are of type 2
sql_command="SELECT direction, startTime, freeText FROM Events WHERE remoteUid LIKE '%$1' AND type=2;"

# Don't let root run this
if [ $UID -eq 0 ]; then
    echo "Do not run as root."
    exit 1
fi

# Check for a phone number as a command line argument
if [ $# -lt 1 ]; then
    echo "usage: $(basename $0) <phone-number> [Name]"
    exit 1
fi

# Set the contact's name, if provided
if [ $# -gt 1 ]; then
    contact="$2"
else
    contact="$1"
fi

# Get the message data from the phone's database
# Parse each line and print it, nice and pretty
sqlite3 ~/.local/share/commhistory/commhistory.db "$sql" > ${tempname}

"$sql_database" "$sql_command" | while read line; do

   # Check for the desired format...
   format=`echo ${line} $line | sed -e 's/^[12]|.*//'`

's/^[12]|[0-9].*|.*/CORRECTFORMAT/'`

    if [[ -z ${format} ]]; [ "$format" == "CORRECTFORMAT" ]; then

     # Get the name of the person who's texting
     fromwhom=`echo ${line} $line | cut -d '|' -f 1`

     if [ ${fromwhom} $fromwhom -eq "1" 1 ]; then
      fromwhom=$name
      fromwhom="$contact"
        else
      fromwhom="Me"
      fromwhom="$me"
        fi

     # Convert the Unix timestand timestamp to a human readable format
     unixtime=`echo ${line} $line | cut -d '|' -f 2`
     datetime=`date -d@${unixtime} "+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M"`

     # Get the actual text message
     message=`echo ${line} $line | cut -d '|' -f 3`

     # Copy all the information into a new file
     echo "${fromwhom} "$fromwhom (${datetime}): ${message}"

$message"

    else

     # ...Fallback, just copy the entire original line
     echo "${line}"

"$line"

    fi

done < ${tempname}

# Delete the temporary file
rm -f ${tempname}
done

Usage

sms-dump <phone-number> [Name]
sms-dump 4565551234 John # Example

Known Issues

Messages that have a newline character will still be printed but will cause an error message to appear.

[How-to] Saving SMS / text conversations

Here is a script to save SMS (text) messages on a Jolla mobile.

You can run the script from either Terminal or logged in through SSH.
Run the script as a regular user (do not use ~~"su-devel")~~"devel-su")
This script will print the messages to stdout (after nicely formatting them).
Although this script may have bugs, it will not damage or delete any SMS messages. It only reads the messages from the internal communication database.

NOTE: This is a wiki page. Please feel free to contribute documentation, bug fixes, and any other improvements to this script.

#!/bin/bash

# A script to dump text messages to stdout
# 
# Usage:
#    sms-dump <phone-number> [Name]
#
#    phone-number : A phone number (example: 4565551234)
#
#    Name : (Option) The contact's name, as it will appear in the output.
#           If not provided then it will use the phone number.

# My name, as it will appear in the output
me="Me"

# The database with the SMS messages
sql_database="/home/nemo/.local/share/commhistory/commhistory.db"

# The SQL command to select which messages to retrieve
#    direction : Who sent the message, can be 1 (them) or 2 (me)
#    startTime : When the message was sent
#    freeText  : The text of the actual message
#    remoteUid : The contact's phone number
#    type      : Messages are of type 2
sql_command="SELECT direction, startTime, freeText FROM Events WHERE remoteUid LIKE '%$1' AND type=2;"

# Don't let root run this
if [ $UID -eq 0 ]; then
    echo "Do not run as root."
    exit 1
fi

# Check for a phone number as a command line argument
if [ $# -lt 1 ]; then
    echo "usage: $(basename $0) <phone-number> [Name]"
    exit 1
fi

# Set the contact's name, if provided
if [ $# -gt 1 ]; then
    contact="$2"
else
    contact="$1"
fi

# Get the message data from the phone's database
# Parse each line and print it, nice and pretty
sqlite3 "$sql_database" "$sql_command" | while read line; do

    # Check for the desired format...
    format=`echo $line | sed -e 's/^[12]|[0-9].*|.*/CORRECTFORMAT/'`

    if [ "$format" == "CORRECTFORMAT" ]; then

        # Get the name of the person who's texting
        fromwhom=`echo $line | cut -d '|' -f 1`

        if [ $fromwhom -eq 1 ]; then
            fromwhom="$contact"
        else
            fromwhom="$me"
        fi

        # Convert the Unix timestamp to a human readable format
        unixtime=`echo $line | cut -d '|' -f 2`
        datetime=`date -d@${unixtime} "+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M"`

        # Get the actual text message
        message=`echo $line | cut -d '|' -f 3`

        # Copy all the information into a new file
        echo "$fromwhom (${datetime}): $message"

    else

        # ...Fallback, just copy the line
        echo "$line"

    fi

done

Usage

sms-dump <phone-number> [Name]
sms-dump 4565551234 John # Example

Known Issues

Messages that have a newline character will still be printed but will cause an error message to appear.