Re: how to speed up connection to a imap server

[Tassilo Horn <tassilo@member.fsf.org>]

Uwe Brauer <oub@mat.ucm.es> writes:

Hi Uwe,

> Well the devecot server is also a debian/ubuntu pkg and so I installed
> it.

Here's the dovecot config file.  It ships with an example config which
describes all options, so I removed the comments here.

,----[ /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf ]
| version_ignore=yes
| first_valid_uid = 1
| log_path = /var/log/dovecot.log
| ssl_cert_file = /etc/ssl/dovecot/server.pem
| ssl_key_file = /etc/ssl/dovecot/server.key
| mail_location = maildir:/var/spool/mail/%u
| maildir_copy_with_hardlinks = yes
| 
| protocol imap {
|   listen = 127.0.0.1:143
|   ssl_listen = 127.0.0.1:943
| }
|   
| auth default {
|   mechanisms = plain
|   # defines users/passwords
|   passdb passwd-file {
|     args = /etc/dovecot/passwd
|   }
| 
|   userdb static {
|     args = uid=mail gid=mail home=/var/spool/mail/%u
|   }
| }
`----

I named the users according the foreign IMAP accounts, one user per
account.

,----[ /etc/dovecot/passwd ]
| fastmail:{PLAIN}MY_PASSWORD
| uni:{PLAIN}MY_OTHER_PASSWORD
`----

And this is the ~/.offlineimaprc:

,----[ ~/.offlineimaprc ]
| [general]
| accounts = Fastmail, Uni
| ui = Noninteractive.Basic
| maxsyncaccounts = 1
| 
| [Account Fastmail]
| localrepository = FastmailLocal
| remoterepository = FastmailRemote
| quick = 0
| 
| [Repository FastmailLocal]
| type = IMAP
| ssl = no
| remotehost = localhost
| remoteuser = fastmail
| remotepass = MY_PASSWORD
| maxconnections = 2
| 
| [Repository FastmailRemote]
| type = IMAP
| ssl =yes
| remotehost = mail.messagingengine.com
| remoteuser = thorn@fastmail.fm
| remotepass = FOREIGN_PASSWORD
| maxconnections = 2
| 
| [Account Uni]
| localrepository = UniLocal
| remoterepository = UniRemote
| 
| [Repository UniLocal]
| type = IMAP
| ssl = no
| remotehost = localhost
| remoteuser = uni
| remotepass = MY_OTHER_PASSWORD
| maxconnections = 2
| 
| [Repository UniRemote]
| type = IMAP
| ssl =yes
| remotehost = mail.uni-koblenz.de
| remoteuser = horn
| remotepass = OTHER_FOREIGN_PASSWORD
| maxconnections = 2
| # Don't sync shared folders
| folderfilter = lambda foldername: not re.search('Shared Folders', foldername)
`----

In Gnus I connect to the local server twice with different
users/passwords:

,----[ ~/.gnus.el ]
| (add-to-list 'gnus-secondary-select-methods
| 	     '(nnimap "Fastmail"
| 		      (nnimap-address "localhost")
| 		      (nnimap-stream network)
| 		      (nnimap-authenticator login)))
| 
| (add-to-list 'gnus-secondary-select-methods
| 	     '(nnimap "Uni"
| 		      (nnimap-address "localhost")
| 		      (nnimap-stream network)
| 		      (nnimap-authenticator login)))
`----

The usernames/passwords are in my ~/.authinfo:

,----[ ~/.authinfo ]
| machine Fastmail login fastmail password MY_PASSWORD force yes
| machine Uni login uni password MY_OTHER_PASSWORD force yes
`----


> Is it too much to ask you for your configuration files (without psswd
> and other information).

Done. ;-)

> I presume you run offlineimap periodically via cron or something like
> this.

Yes, I use cron.  But offlineimap can run forever, checking for mail
every X minutes, too.  Whatever you like best.  I prefer cron so that I
can log the output and add some timestamps and stuff.

> Maybe it would be a good idea to include such a configuration example
> also in the gnus manual.

Why not.  Feel free to format the configs in TexInfo and send a patch.

Bye,
Tassilo
-- 
When Chuck Norris wants an egg, he cracks open a chicken.