Is INBOX special in a Maildir?

Is INBOX special in a Maildir?

[Julien Cubizolles]

I'm using OfflineIMAP to sync a remote IMAP account to a local Maildir,
and dovecot to access it from Gnus using a nnimap method, like many
do. The Maildir uses the fs layout (/ for separators) and has folders like:

INBOX
INBOX/cur
INBOX/new
INBOX/tmp

General
General/cur
General/new
General/tmp

but also like:

cur
new
tmp

The General folder can be accessed but Gnus always report no messages in
the group it calls INBOX, even though the folder named INBOX contains
some messages

I suspect it has to do with Gnus being confused about what INBOX really
is: either the root of the Maildir, or the folder actually named
INBOX. Do I need to change something in my offlineimap setup, or in
Gnus' ?

Julien.

Re: Is INBOX special in a Maildir?

[Julien Cubizolles]

Julien Cubizolles <j.cubizolles@free.fr> writes:


> I suspect it has to do with Gnus being confused about what INBOX really
> is: either the root of the Maildir, or the folder actually named
> INBOX. Do I need to change something in my offlineimap setup, or in
> Gnus' ?

I finally got it right. In case someone stumbles on the same problem:

I was using

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
type = Maildir
localfolders = ~/email/Maildir/Free
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

in the local repository setting of .offlineimaprc

and

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
(nnimap-shell-program "/usr/lib/dovecot/imap -o mail_location=maildir:$HOME/email/Maildir/Gmail:LAYOUT=fs")
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

so I guess that offlineimap was writing the INBOX messages in an actual
INBOX folder, whereas dovecot was expecting them at the root of the
Maildir.

Changing the .offlineimaprc setting to:

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
type = IMAP
preauthtunnel = /usr/lib/dovecot/imap -o mail_location=maildir:$HOME/email/Maildir/Free:LAYOUT=fs
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

fixed it. Now only dovecot is writing messages in the Maildir, at least
that's my understanding.

Julien.