Re: Two IMAP problems

Re: Two IMAP problems

[Simon Josefsson]

Mats Löfdahl <xyzzy@chello.se> writes:

> I've recently started trying imap in Gnus 5.10 with the following
> setup:
>
> (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods 
>       '((nnimap "astro"
> 		(nnimap-address "xxx.xxx.xxx")
> 		(nnimap-server-port 993)
> 		(nnimap-stream ssl)
> 		)
> 	(nntp "news.chello.se") 
> 	(nntp "news.cis.dfn.de") 
> 	))
>
>
>
> I have two problems:
>
> I.
>
> When nnimap-authinfo-file is ~/.authinfo (the default), Gnus still
> asks me for the login name and password.  The item in ~/.authinfo is
> on the form:
>
> machine xxx.xxx.xxx login xxx password xxx

Does adding 'port 993' help?

> If I instead use nnimap-authinfo-file's inline format:
>
> nnimap-authinfo-file's value is 
> (("xxx.xxx.xxx"
>   ("login" . "xxx")
>   ("password" . "xxx")))
>
> then Gnus starts up without asking me for the login information but
> then it fails to connect to the imap server (Server denies access).

Unfortunately, and despite the custom type, this usage of
nnimap-authinfo-file is not supported.

> II. 
>
> If I use the former method, which lets me access the imap server after
> providing the login info at startup, then I don't seem to be able to
> manipulate the contents on the server from Gnus. New mail is delivered
> fine and I can read them, but I can't edit messages or create new
> groups on the server.

The IMAP protocol does not support editing of messages.  You should be
able to create new groups though.  Perhaps your server require the
groups to be named 'INBOX.foo' instead of just 'foo' though?

> Also, deleted messages don't seem to disappear from the server, which
> might be another symptom of the same problem, since the default
> setting of nnimap-expunge-on-close is supposed to be "always".  I now
> have several weeks' worth of spam in my imap INBOX...

Are you accessing the group normally, via the main group buffer?
I.e., not via the server buffer or as a foreign group?  If so, try
(setq imap-log t) and quote the contents generated in the *imap-log*
buffer by pressing 'q' in the summary buffer for INBOX.  Perhaps there
is a error message somehow.

Re: Two IMAP problems

[Mats Löfdahl]

Simon Josefsson <jas@extundo.com> writes:

> Mats Löfdahl <xyzzy@chello.se> writes:
>
>> I've recently started trying imap in Gnus 5.10 with the following
>> setup:
>> 
>> (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods 
>>       '((nnimap "astro"
>> 		(nnimap-address "xxx.xxx.xxx")
>> 		(nnimap-server-port 993)
>> 		(nnimap-stream ssl)
>> 		)
>> 	(nntp "news.chello.se") 
>> 	(nntp "news.cis.dfn.de") 
>> 	))
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> I have two problems:
>> 
>> I.
>> 
>> When nnimap-authinfo-file is ~/.authinfo (the default), Gnus still
>> asks me for the login name and password.  The item in ~/.authinfo is
>> on the form:
>> 
>> machine xxx.xxx.xxx login xxx password xxx
>
> Does adding 'port 993' help?

Yes! Thank you! So for some reason it doesn't pick up the port info
from gnus-secondary-select-methods.


> Unfortunately, and despite the custom type, [the inline format] of
> nnimap-authinfo-file is not supported.

Oh. I was wondering why I hadn't seen the inline format mentioned in
the manual...


>> II. 
>> 
>> If I use the former method, which lets me access the imap server
>> after providing the login info at startup, then I don't seem to be
>> able to manipulate the contents on the server from Gnus. New mail
>> is delivered fine and I can read them, but I can't edit messages or
>> create new groups on the server.
>
> The IMAP protocol does not support editing of messages. 

Oh. That's a real drawback, isn't it? Not that I edit the contents of
messages very much. But I often want to repair threads with "T ^",
which does not seem to be possible, then.

> You should be able to create new groups though.  Perhaps your server
> require the groups to be named 'INBOX.foo' instead of just 'foo'
> though?

Yes, that was it! Thank you.

Hm. I guess I'll want to find a way to manipulate the group buffer so
something like "imap:" or "xxx:" is substituted for the ugly
"nnimap+xxx:INBOX." part.


>> Also, deleted messages don't seem to disappear from the server, which
>> might be another symptom of the same problem, since the default
>> setting of nnimap-expunge-on-close is supposed to be "always".  I now
>> have several weeks' worth of spam in my imap INBOX...
>
> Are you accessing the group normally, via the main group buffer?
> I.e., not via the server buffer or as a foreign group?  If so, try
> (setq imap-log t) and quote the contents generated in the *imap-log*
> buffer by pressing 'q' in the summary buffer for INBOX.  Perhaps there
> is a error message somehow.

I turned on  imap-log, entered INBOX, deleted two messages, and
pressed q to exit the group. Here is the contents of *imap-log*:

   17 UID SEARCH UID 821:837,969,971:972,974:979,981:999,1009:1010,1013:1014,1017 NOT SINCE 31-Aug-2003
   * SEARCH
   17 OK SEARCH done.
   18 UID STORE 1025:1026 +FLAGS (\Seen)
   * 1011 FETCH (UID 1025 FLAGS (\Seen \Recent))
   * 1012 FETCH (UID 1026 FLAGS (\Seen \Recent))
   18 OK STORE completed.
   19 STATUS "INBOX" (unseen)
   * STATUS "INBOX" (UNSEEN 15)
   19 OK STATUS Completed.
   20 EXPUNGE
   20 OK EXPUNGE completed

I see no error messages and it even says that it's done expunging. But
the deleted messages are still there. They are marked "Y" when I enter
the group again with "C-u SPC".

(Don't know what the "NOT SINCE 31-Aug-2003" means. I'd entered that
group both yesterday and earlier today.)

-- 
Mats Löfdahl

Re: Two IMAP problems

[Mats Löfdahl]

Simon Josefsson <jas@extundo.com> writes:

> Mats Löfdahl <xyzzy@chello.se> writes:
>
>> Hm. I guess I'll want to find a way to manipulate the group buffer so
>> something like "imap:" or "xxx:" is substituted for the ugly
>> "nnimap+xxx:INBOX." part.
>
> If you name the secondary method "", it will look like
> nnimap:INBOX.foo.  Getting rid of the INBOX part isn't possible, I
> think, unless you configure the server to work differently (it is
> possible in recent Cyrus IMAPD, I believe).

I realize that. I was thinking about how the group is presented in the
*Group* buffer, not what it is actually called on the server.

But that's a really minor thing. And probably not very practical,
since it would make it confusing when gnus asks for a group name as a
target for moving or copying a message.


>>>> The IMAP protocol does not support editing of messages. 
>>> 
>>> Oh. That's a real drawback, isn't it? Not that I edit the contents
>>> of messages very much. But I often want to repair threads with "T
>>> ^", which does not seem to be possible, then.
>> 
>> Hmmm. So the problem is with the IMAP protocoll. Nothing much we can
>> do about that, I guess. 
>> 
>> But it appears you can move messages between nnimap groups and other
>> mail groups. Wouldn't it be possible to do it in a more roundabout
>> way, so you move the message to be edited to some temporary group on
>> another backend, do the editing, and then move it back. Or maybe do
>> this with copying rather than moving, so it doesn't get lost if there
>> are other problems while you're doing it. Like, copy out of the
>> nnimap, edit, copy back in, then remove original message.
>
> Yup, this would be possible.  Not implemented yet though.

After writing my message, I actually thought I remembered a discussion
along those lines a long time ago. 


>> [...]
>> I see no error messages and it even says that it's done expunging. But
>> the deleted messages are still there.
>
> Hm, and the B DEL command really sent the delete command to the server
> earlier?  If so, it seems weird that the server doesn't says anothing
> more at the EXPUNGE command, it should say which articles was marked
> \Deleted and remove them.
>
>> They are marked "Y" when I enter the group again with "C-u SPC".
>
> Y?  If so, then you didn't delete the message, you scored it down.
> Try B DEL on the article instead.

Oh. Right. I've been pressing "d" (It's a "d", so it has to mean
"delete"... :-) and "E". Now that I try B DEL it works.


>> (Don't know what the "NOT SINCE 31-Aug-2003" means. I'd entered that
>> group both yesterday and earlier today.)
>
> I think it means you have article expiring enabled, and that Gnus
> searches for eligible articles to expire.

Can I use the expire features to get the messages deleted properly? I
mean, so that when they expire, it's like if B DEL was pressed.

-- 
Mats Löfdahl