Barry is an Open Source application that will provide synchronization, backup, restore and program management for BlackBerry ™ devices. Barry is primarily developed on Linux, but is intended as a cross platform library and application set, targeting Linux, BSD, 32/64bit, and big/little endian systems.

The Barry project began in October 2005 and has steadily added features and polish to Blackberry usage on Linux ever since. We were the first to reverse engineer the battery charging handshake via USB.

Today, it is possible to:

• charge your Blackberry’s battery from your USB port
• retrieve Address Book, Email, Calendar, Service Book, Memos, Tasks, PIN Messages, Saved Email, and Folders
• export Address Book contacts in text or LDAP LDIF format
• make full data backups and restores of your device using a GUI
• synchronize contacts and calendar items using the OpenSync framework
• use the Blackberry as a modem

• Latest release: 0.14
• Download source and binary packages from Sourceforge or the OpenSUSE Build Service
• General Sourceforge project page
• Barry git repo
• Known Issues:
  • Restoring backups for some databases on newer Blackberries doesn’t work (for example, on the 8120, 8700g)
  • Syncing is not supported on Fedora Core 9, since they packaged the OpenSync 0.3x devel tree
  • Password support when using Blackberry as modem is experimental
  • Accessing the database (such as during a backup) while copying files using the usb_storage kernel module may cause some Blackberries to spontaneously reboot
  • The opensync plugin does not handle international characters well.

How do I…

• Install Barry from binary packages
• Compile Barry from tarball, CVS, or git
• Make backups of my Blackberry data
• Sync my Blackberry with Evolution
• Use my Blackberry as a modem to surf the net
• Find troubleshooting help
• Report a bug
• Submit a patch
• Contact the developers

Some helpful pages:

• System requirements
• Software dependencies
• Barry’s Doxygen documentation

If you are a C++ programmer, grab the source from CVS and take a look at the TODO file. Post a message to the mailing list when you start working on any of the listed features, so you can connect with other developers, and avoid duplicating effort.

If you are a Python programmer, contact the mailing list, since we would like to create and test a Python interface to the Barry library.

If you are not a programmer, but have a Blackberry, we can always use help in testing. Install Barry on your system, and report any bugs you find.

If you prefer writing documentation, grab the source from CVS and look under the doc/www directory. Documentation is currently in html form, as well as doxygen-generated API documentation found in the comments of the source code itself. Patches updating either set of documentation are welcome.

There are dozens of databases that need to be documented and supported in the library. If you have a BlackBerry ™ device and are interested in helping decipher data, we have a Barry hacking document that will help you.

If you are interested in helping out or just interested in how it works, check out our design notes .

We have put together a document that describes where we are and where we want to take Barry. Check out our roadmap to see what’s happening.

Barry users and others have contributed documentation and have put these howto’s on the web. Below is a list of some of these pages. These sites are not associated with NetDirect, and some of the information may be out of date, but they may still be helpful to new users.

• Synchronizing a Blackberry In Linux, by Chip Bennett
• Syncing your Blackberry on Linux, by Joe Barr
• The RIM Blackberry Serial Protocol, by Phil Schwan, Mike Shaver, and Ian Goldberg, of the Cassis project
• HOWTO: Blackberry as Modem for Laptop, by Mark Rejhon, (not Linux specific)

Please visit Barry official website for more information on http://www.netdirect.ca/software/packages/barry/