Procmail, IMAP, ...

Procmail, IMAP, ...

[Nicolas Kowalski]

Hello.

I am using since several weeks Gnus as a mail & news reader at
work. I also use procmail for sorting my incoming mail in a directory
"~/mail/spool". The backend I use is nnfolder, configured to store
mail into "~/mail/folders".

Suppose I connect from home to my office's IMAP server. I tell nnimap
backend to look in "~/mail/folders/*" (nnimap-list-pattern), but I
will never see new mail...Sigh.

Anyone has an idea/setup to let procmail filter my mail and Gnus see
the final folders through IMAP ?

I hope I did not confused anybody.
Thanks

Niko.

Re: Procmail, IMAP, ...

[Simon Josefsson]

Nicolas Kowalski <Nicolas.Kowalski@imag.fr> writes:

> Suppose I connect from home to my office's IMAP server. I tell nnimap
> backend to look in "~/mail/folders/*" (nnimap-list-pattern), but I
> will never see new mail...Sigh.

"new mail" as in you don't see any mail at all?  If so, do you see any
groups in the server buffer for the server?

Or "new mail" as in the unread number in the group buffer is wrong?
If so, are you sure your IMAP server works with procmail?  I believe
UoW's server add "hidden" messages with control information, and
X-IMAP: headers, to your mailboxes.  Unless procmail adds these, the
server may get confused.  I think there are some workaround for this
problem in nnimap (it does select + unselect + select mailbox to
possibly get server to re-initialize mailbox status) but they probably
aren't enough to work around all problems.

Re: Procmail, IMAP, ...

[Wes Hardaker]

>>>>> On 20 Feb 2001 14:01:12 +0100, Nicolas Kowalski <Nicolas.Kowalski@imag.fr> said:

Nicolas> I am using since several weeks Gnus as a mail & news reader
Nicolas> at work. I also use procmail for sorting my incoming mail in
Nicolas> a directory "~/mail/spool". The backend I use is nnfolder,
Nicolas> configured to store mail into "~/mail/folders".

Nicolas> Suppose I connect from home to my office's IMAP server. I
Nicolas> tell nnimap backend to look in "~/mail/folders/*"
Nicolas> (nnimap-list-pattern), but I will never see new mail...Sigh.

1) Um, you might set the nnimap-list-pattern to just "mail/folders/*".

2) I doubt that your imap server will treat those folders as mail
   folders properly unless you're properly delivering mail to them.
   For instance, in your procmail script you should be using something
   like "dmail" (from the UofW server utilities) to deliver your
   mail to imap mail boxes.  Then, you should *only* use nnimap to
   access them (nnfolder could have serious negative effects in the
   eyes of the imap server).

-- 
"Ninjas aren't dangerous.  They're more afraid of you than you are of them."

Re: Procmail, IMAP, ...

[Nicolas Kowalski]

Wes Hardaker <wes@hardakers.net> writes:

> 2) I doubt that your imap server will treat those folders as mail
>    folders properly unless you're properly delivering mail to them.
>    For instance, in your procmail script you should be using something
>    like "dmail" (from the UofW server utilities) to deliver your
>    mail to imap mail boxes.  Then, you should *only* use nnimap to
>    access them (nnfolder could have serious negative effects in the
>    eyes of the imap server).

Ok.

I installed dmail from UW imap-utils. Then I tried to setup procmail
to deliver mail trough this utility :

...
MAILDIR=$HOME/mail/imap

:0
* ^TO_ding
| dmail +list.gnus.ding
...

dmail complained that the folder did not exist. So I added a `touch'
command in the above recipe to create the folder before dmail tries to
save to. Worked fined.

Then I have configured gnus with a new select method :

(setq gnus-secondary-select-methods 
      '((nnfolder "")))
	(nnimap "ormelune"
		(nnimap-address "ormelune")
		(nnimap-imap-directory "~/mail/imap")
		(nnimap-list-pattern "mail/imap/*"))))

Fine : Gnus asked me my password at startup. When in the groups
buffer, I typed '^' to go to servers buffer, saw nnimap:ormelune,
browsed it, and subscribed to mail/imap/list.gnus.ding.

Boom : Gnus complained with `uidvalid' error. I searched into
mailing-list archive to see what that meant, saw the `G-p', cache file
and 'gnus-group-clear-data' tips from Kai G., tried them, without
success, Gnus always complaining with this error every time I tried to
access the folder.

I think I will go back in my configuration :(. Setting up IMAP on Gnus
looks to hard for me. Sigh.

Niko

Re: Procmail, IMAP, ...

[Kai Großjohann]

On 21 Feb 2001, Nicolas Kowalski wrote:

> Boom : Gnus complained with `uidvalid' error. I searched into
> mailing-list archive to see what that meant, saw the `G-p', cache
> file and 'gnus-group-clear-data' tips from Kai G., tried them,
> without success, Gnus always complaining with this error every time
> I tried to access the folder.

Do M-x gnus-group-clear-data RET, then check to see if the uidvalidity
parameter is there (using `G p').  Has M-x gnus-group-clear-data RET
removed the parameter properly?

kai
-- 
Be indiscrete.  Do it continuously.

Re: Procmail, IMAP, ...

[Nicolas Kowalski]

Kai.Grossjohann@CS.Uni-Dortmund.DE (Kai Großjohann) writes:

> On 21 Feb 2001, Nicolas Kowalski wrote:
> 
> > Boom : Gnus complained with `uidvalid' error. I searched into
> > mailing-list archive to see what that meant, saw the `G-p', cache
> > file and 'gnus-group-clear-data' tips from Kai G., tried them,
> > without success, Gnus always complaining with this error every time
> > I tried to access the folder.
> 
> Do M-x gnus-group-clear-data RET, then check to see if the uidvalidity
> parameter is there (using `G p').  Has M-x gnus-group-clear-data RET
> removed the parameter properly?

Yes. There was only nil as group parameter.


However, I managed to make the combination procmail/nnimap work as
described below.

1) modified my .procmailrc to deliver mails using dmail
   :0
   * ^TO_ding
   | dmail +list.gnus.ding

   etc.

2) Created corresponding IMAP folders using Pine. Worked well. This is
necessary because dmail would otherwise complain of non-existent
folders...Using "touch" was not sufficient (uidvalid errors problems).

3) Modified my .gnus as :

(setq gnus-secondary-select-methods 
      '(
	(nnimap "ormelune"
		(nnimap-address "ormelune))
	))


4) Created a ~/.authinfo with valid entries

5) In Gnus, unsubscribed from the default IMAP groups created
automatically, but later inaccessible (folder not-found error). Saved
the groups buffer with no IMAP mailboxes available.

6) One by one, use `U' in groups buffer, then choose the appropriate
IMAP folder (nnimap+ormelune:...) using completion, browsed this newly
subscribed group, sorted the groups buffer (G S a), then saved it.

Now, I can see my folders from everywhere.
Yessssss :)

Niko

Re: Procmail, IMAP, ...

[Wes Hardaker]

>>>>> On 21 Feb 2001 11:16:09 +0100, Nicolas Kowalski <Nicolas.Kowalski@imag.fr> said:

Nicolas> dmail complained that the folder did not exist. So I added a
Nicolas> `touch' command in the above recipe to create the folder
Nicolas> before dmail tries to save to. Worked fined.

That was the incorrect way to create the mail box.  "mbxcreat" would
have been the proper command to use, assuming you were using a UofW
imap server (if not, you could probably create it using the gnus
utilities to create a new remote nnimap group).

Nicolas> Boom : Gnus complained with `uidvalid' error.

This error was a result of it being improperly created.

-- 
"Ninjas aren't dangerous.  They're more afraid of you than you are of them."