search and indexing in kmail and contacts dead again

Dear all,

after some upgrades and so on I can yet again not:
1. use distribution lists
2. search email (no result whatsoever)
3. use anything but "recent contacts" or "found in your data" in Kmail

I have deleted and renamed baloorc a few times, no luck. I am fed up 
with akonadictl this or that but have obviously tried that to.

Any pointers to get dist lists and search working are welcome. This is 
Kubuntu 16.04 with KDE 5.8 and Kmail 5.2.3

Kind regards, Sinclair