Re: [PATCH] nnimap: enable additional expunge options

[Nikolaus Rath <Nikolaus@rath.org>]

On Aug 03 2015, Eric Abrahamsen <eric@ericabrahamsen.net> wrote:
>> If the IMAP server supports the UID EXPUNGE command, the nnimap backend
>> currently always expunges deleted articles.
>>
>> If the IMAP server does not support this command, articles are either
>> not expunged at all (nnimap-expunge is nil), or ALL articles that are
>> currently flagged as deleted will be expunged when any one article is
>> deleted in Gnus.
>>
>> The attached patch introduces three new settings for nnimap-expunge:
>>
>>  * If nnimap-expunge is 'never, deleted articles are marked with the
>>    IMAP \\Delete flag but not automatically expunged.
>>
>>  * If nnimap-expunge is 'immediately, deleted articles are immediately
>>    expunged (this requires the server to support the UID EXPUNGE
>>    command).
>>
>>  * If nnimap-expunge is 'on-exit, deleted articles are flagged, and all
>>    flagged articles are expunged when the group is closed.
>>
>> Note that none of these behaviors is available with the current settings
>> (nil / non-nil).
>>
>> The 'on-exit setting is mostly useful as a safe-guard: as long as the
>> group is not closed, article deletions are reversal (either by using a
>> different IMAP client, or by exiting Gnus without updating the summary
>> buffer).
>>
>> The 'never setting is not (yet) very useful because Gnus does not
>> distinguish between deleted articles and regular articles in the summary
>> buffer. However, this will be addressed by a separate patch.
>
> Hey, I'm trying out the rest of these patches -- I set `nnimap-expunge'
> to 'never on an outlook imap account, and the messages still get
> (completely) deleted when I use `gnus-summary-delete-article' -- I can
> see them vanishing from the webmail interface. This is a little odd
> because, with this patch applied, the EXPUNGE command never seems to be
> issued, yet away the messages go. Is this perhaps a quirk of outlook?
> I'll try it on a local dovecot as well...

Some webmail interface automatically issue an EXPUNGE command when you
look at a folder. Typically the argument is that it "eliminates
potential confusion of the user".

Try looking at the mailbox with Thunderbird (it shows deleted messages
as crossed-out), or with Gnus and nnimap-hide-expunged set to false (you
can't distinguish between deleted and not-deleted in this case, but you
can confirm that the ones that you deleted are still there).


Best,
-Nikolaus

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