Re: Searching emails on an IMAP server?

[Kai Grossjohann <kai@emptydomain.de>]

Niklas Morberg <niklas.morberg@axis.com> writes:

> The thing I haven't found yet is how to get any of these
> search methods to play nice with IMAP -- they all seem to
> want local files to work with.

You could use the Agent to cache mails locally.  Then you can tell
your favorite search engine to pick them up.

> Maybe I could run a cron job that copies mail off my IMAP
> server and stores them locally (just like Zoe)?

That would be possible, though with the Agent, Gnus can do it.

> Or maybe use Zoe just as an email fetch script and use another
> search engine to index them? A Zoe backed to gnus would be another
> option, but I don't think I could pull off writing one.

How does one talk to Zoe?  Writing a backend is not that difficult.
The backend interface is documented well enough, and you don't have
to understand why all the functions are supposed to be present, you
just implement what it says in the documentation and all is well.

The most difficult part for me was to understand the terminology.
But the terminology is explained in the node "Back End Interface".

Kai