HOWTO setup nnimap for the first time.

[David Maslen <david.maslen@iname.com>]

Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:
> Simon Josefsson <jas@pdc.kth.se> writes:
> > Most already is. The stuff left in nnimap.texi are on the topic of
> > "Neat configuration tips" which doesn't really fit anywhere in the
> > Gnus manual. It would in a "Gnus for dummies" though. :-)
> 
> Well, I think you could do a "Neat configuration tips" subsection in
> the nnimap section...

Well the time has come, I want to use nnimap, so I'm going to set it
up for the first time and document it to make it easier for the next
guy. I'm using xemacs 21.1.8 and this weeks cvs pgnus.

First I had to ensure my imap server was working correctly.  To do
this, I had to add my name to the /etc/cram-md5.pwd file so that that
form of authentication would work. I wasn't able to get nnimap to use
login for plain text authentication. Don't know why.

In the *Group* buffer I pressed G-m to make a new inap group.
Answered the questions, pretty straight forward. Called it inbox, used
nnimap and typed in the name of my mailserver.

Commented out the line in my .gnus.el that used the popserver as a
spool

;nnmail-spool-file "po:dmm"

Restarted gnus got the error message about group INBOX is not uidvalid

Typed `G p' and removed the (uidvalidity ...) parenthesized item from
the list of parenthesized items. 

Sent my self some email. It seems to work.

Setup Mail splitting.
Added 
;; Spliting for IMAP
;Messages only appear in the first group they match
(setq nnimap-split-crosspost nil)
;Split the incomming mail from the INBOX
(setq nnimap-split-inbox '("INBOX"))

To my .gnus.el

Then copied my existing nnmail-split-methods to nnimap-split-rule 

Sent myself some more test mail.  All I have to do now is subscribe to
the new imap groups of the same names as my previous nnfolders. The
easiest way to do this seems to be wait until I have received email
for most of my splits, which causes the additional imap boxes to be
automatically created. Then press ^ in the *Group* buffer to get to
the server buffer, then edit the imap server listing. Subscribing to
the mailboxes that appear there.

One thing I didn't do, and not sure why/if I need to is change my
gnus-secondary-select-methods to look something like the following;

(setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
        '((nnfolder "")
          (nnimap "" (nnimap-address "mail.company.com"))))

This summary has been written after re reading the useful and
informative posts of a number of people on the ding mailing list. So
thanks to;

Denys Duchier <Denys.Duchier@ps.uni-sb.de>
Simon Josefsson <jas@pdc.kth.se>
Kai.Grossjohann@CS.Uni-Dortmund.DE (Kai Großjohann)

but of course there were others....