I added a record to my memos and forgot to check the private box. If I edit that record and set the check box. A copy of the prior record is visible without entering a password by selecting show deleted records. There seems to be no way of purging the old record without syncing to a device. And no way to mark a deleted record private without first restoring it. I’m in a bind here unless there’s some plugin or tool around that will let me change the privacy setting of deleted records or alternatively purge them. I don’t have a working palm pilot and haven’t had one for years. But jpilot is in constant use. There is nothing around that offers the same capability without being vastly over featured. Suggestions greatly appreciated. richardm

Hello, Interesting that I am not alone in using J-Pilot all the time but no longer having a working Palm device. Regarding the "private" setting in J-Pilot: This is just a flag within the internal data structure of J-Pilot. It does not offer any security. If someone has access to your J-Pilot files then he can read your supposedly private entries without problems: strings <pc3-file> or going deeper, see the pdbrd.c program mentioned in SQL Datamodel For J-Pilot <https://eklausmeier.goip.de/blog/2020/04-27-sql-datamodel-for-j-pilot>. If you are interested in actually deleting the records, then one option is to switch to a SQLite data store, see SQLite Storage for J-Pilot <https://eklausmeier.goip.de/blog/2022/12-04-sqlite-storage-for-j-pilot>. There, when you delete, the record is deleted in the database. Regards, Elmar Klausmeier. On Fri, Jan 30, 2026 at 8:08 AM Richard Moore <rjmnook@gmail.com> wrote: > I added a record to my memos and forgot to check the private box. If I edit > that record and set the check box. A copy of the prior record is visible > without entering a password by selecting show deleted records. > > There seems to be no way of purging the old record without syncing to a > device. And no way to mark a deleted record private without first restoring > it. > > I’m in a bind here unless there’s some plugin or tool around that will let > me change the privacy setting of deleted records or alternatively purge > them. > > I don’t have a working palm pilot and haven’t had one for years. But jpilot > is in constant use. There is nothing around that offers the same capability > without being vastly over featured. > > Suggestions greatly appreciated. > > richardm > _______________________________________________ > Jpilot mailing list -- jpilot@lists.jpilot.org > To unsubscribe send an email to jpilot-leave@lists.jpilot.org >

Through the years there have been lots of people who email me or post on the list and say they use jpilot for an organizer with no Palm. Elmar is correct in that you can just look at the Palm pdf files with an editor and see the private records.  Its been over 25 years since I coded the problem we're talking about, but I would guess this is why I didn't consider this a bug at the time.  The private flag is more so you can open jpilot with someone looking at your screen and not have to worry. I wrote jpilot-merge at the request of people who used jpilot without a Palm.  When you edit records jpilot keeps a file with a pc3 extension that is like a database write ahead log.  It lets jpilot know which records to delete and write on the next sync. If you never sync then the pc3 files grow larger and larger.  Back in 1999 this mattered.  Now, not near as much. Jpilot-merge does a "sync" without a Palm.  The resulting file should be fine and can be installed onto a Palm, but not synced with a Palm because the database has then diverged from the Palm DB.  I would back up your files, try jpilot-merge and if it does not work properly you can restore and we'll come up with another solution.  I think it will though. Now that I ran the command to get the output I see that it explains what I just said :-) $ ./jpilot-merge Usage: ./jpilot-merge {input pdb file} {input pc3 file} {output pdb file}   This program will merge an unsynced records file (pc3)   into the corresponding palm database (pdb) file.   WARNING: Only run this utility if you understand the consequences!   The merge will leave your databases in an unsync-able state.   It is intended for cases where J-pilot is being used as a standalone PIM   and where no syncing occurs to physical hardware.   WARNING: Make a backup copy of your databases before proceeding.   It is quite simple to destroy your databases by accidentally merging   address records into datebook databases, etc. I don't know if you are using the MemosDB-PMem database or the MemoDB database.  Assuming the MemosDB-Pmem I would do: $ cd ~/.jpilot $ mv MemosDB-PMem.pdb MemosDB-PMem-OLD.pdb $ jpilot-merge MemosDB-PMem-OLD.pdb MemosDB-PMem.pc3 MemosDB-PMem.pdb Test it out. Judd On 1/31/26 11:49, Elmar Klausmeier wrote: > Hello, > > Interesting that I am not alone in using J-Pilot all the time but no longer > having a working Palm device. > > Regarding the "private" setting in J-Pilot: This is just a flag within the > internal data structure of J-Pilot. It does not offer any security. If > someone has access to your J-Pilot files then he can read your supposedly > private entries without problems: > strings <pc3-file> > or going deeper, see the pdbrd.c program mentioned in SQL Datamodel For > J-Pilot > <https://eklausmeier.goip.de/blog/2020/04-27-sql-datamodel-for-j-pilot>. > > If you are interested in actually deleting the records, then one option is > to switch to a SQLite data store, see SQLite Storage for J-Pilot > <https://eklausmeier.goip.de/blog/2022/12-04-sqlite-storage-for-j-pilot>. > There, when you delete, the record is deleted in the database. > > Regards, > > Elmar Klausmeier. > > > On Fri, Jan 30, 2026 at 8:08 AM Richard Moore <rjmnook@gmail.com> wrote: > >> I added a record to my memos and forgot to check the private box. If I edit >> that record and set the check box. A copy of the prior record is visible >> without entering a password by selecting show deleted records. >> >> There seems to be no way of purging the old record without syncing to a >> device. And no way to mark a deleted record private without first restoring >> it. >> >> I’m in a bind here unless there’s some plugin or tool around that will let >> me change the privacy setting of deleted records or alternatively purge >> them. >> >> I don’t have a working palm pilot and haven’t had one for years. But jpilot >> is in constant use. There is nothing around that offers the same capability >> without being vastly over featured. >> >> Suggestions greatly appreciated. >> >> richardm >> _______________________________________________ >> Jpilot mailing list -- jpilot@lists.jpilot.org >> To unsubscribe send an email to jpilot-leave@lists.jpilot.org >> > _______________________________________________ > Jpilot mailing list -- jpilot@lists.jpilot.org > To unsubscribe send an email to jpilot-leave@lists.jpilot.org

Thank you both for you helpful replies. You're absolutely correct in saying that marking a record private is not form of security. I'll make a copy of the DB and see whether I can manually zap the records I don't want to private. Then I'll investigate ways to purge selected records. Richard Moore On 31/01/2026 16:49, Elmar Klausmeier wrote: > Hello, > > Interesting that I am not alone in using J-Pilot all the time but no longer > having a working Palm device. > > Regarding the "private" setting in J-Pilot: This is just a flag within the > internal data structure of J-Pilot. It does not offer any security. If > someone has access to your J-Pilot files then he can read your supposedly > private entries without problems: > strings <pc3-file> > or going deeper, see the pdbrd.c program mentioned in SQL Datamodel For > J-Pilot > <https://eklausmeier.goip.de/blog/2020/04-27-sql-datamodel-for-j-pilot>. > > If you are interested in actually deleting the records, then one option is > to switch to a SQLite data store, see SQLite Storage for J-Pilot > <https://eklausmeier.goip.de/blog/2022/12-04-sqlite-storage-for-j-pilot>. > There, when you delete, the record is deleted in the database. > > Regards, > > Elmar Klausmeier. > > > On Fri, Jan 30, 2026 at 8:08 AM Richard Moore <rjmnook@gmail.com> wrote: > >> I added a record to my memos and forgot to check the private box. If I edit >> that record and set the check box. A copy of the prior record is visible >> without entering a password by selecting show deleted records. >> >> There seems to be no way of purging the old record without syncing to a >> device. And no way to mark a deleted record private without first restoring >> it. >> >> I’m in a bind here unless there’s some plugin or tool around that will let >> me change the privacy setting of deleted records or alternatively purge >> them. >> >> I don’t have a working palm pilot and haven’t had one for years. But jpilot >> is in constant use. There is nothing around that offers the same capability >> without being vastly over featured. >> >> Suggestions greatly appreciated. >> >> richardm >> _______________________________________________ >> Jpilot mailing list -- jpilot@lists.jpilot.org >> To unsubscribe send an email to jpilot-leave@lists.jpilot.org >> > _______________________________________________ > Jpilot mailing list -- jpilot@lists.jpilot.org > To unsubscribe send an email to jpilot-leave@lists.jpilot.org -- Richard J Moore Sent from my Linux device