Exec'ing a script from Cyrus when imapd has a client

[David Lang]

On Thu, 12 Nov 2009, Greg A. Woods wrote:

> At Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:55:25 -0800 (PST), David Lang <david.lang at digitalinsight.com> wrote:
> Subject: Re: Exec'ing a script from Cyrus when imapd has a client
>>
>> no, SMTP only works if you have network connectivity that is up most of the
>> time. it will handle short outages, but it will not handle the case where your
>> network connectivity is off most of the time
>
> If your link is off most of the time then use UUCP -- that's what it was
> designed for.  Tunnel it through SSL if you're using public IP
> addressing and routing for the same link.

you can only do this if the servers you are connecting to support UUCP, most do 
not.

but even if you do this, it's valid to want UUCP to check frequently when imapd 
has a client and infrequently (if at all) when it doesn't.

> Or just use IMAP from a client MUA -- your link will be up when you want
> to read mail and all your mail will be available at the IMAP server at
> that time.

over a slow, high latency, error-prone link IMAP is very painful to use.

> All these excuses for doing strange things with things like fetchmail
> are really really lame and stretching the imagination beyond belief!



>>> Use proper client/server protocols for dynamic IP clients!
>>
>> SMTP is not a proper protocol for a dynamic IP environement.
>
> Indeed, SMTP is not a client/server style protocol in the sense I meant.
>
> IMAP would be a proper client/server style protocol in the sense I meant.

so you are claiming that his business need is invalid. you are not in a position 
to declare this.

>> Thunderbird? my understanding (from watching people use it) is that it wants to
>> pull a copy of all your mail to the local box before processing it. how is this
>> a proper IMAP client?
>
> How is it not a proper IMAP client?  Like I said, pick your poison.
> Some MUAs will want to copy everything over at once for one kind of
> performance profile, some will request only headers (enough to form the
> summary index) for another kind of performance profile.  Thunderbird
> fully understands the concept of multiple folders on arbitrary servers,
> and it more or less speaks true IMAPv4, giving the user an interface to
> do most everything that IMAPv4 will easily allow.  It has additional
> features that make it possible to work offline.  That sounds like a
> proper IMAP client to me.

that 'more or less speaks true IMAPv4' makes me say it's not a proper IMAP 
client.

I also consider any client that uses IMAP to pull the data to the local system 
and does everything else there to be a POP client that happens to use IMAP 
to fetch it's messages.

A proper IMAP client would fetch only the portions of a message that the user 
needs, and would use the capabilities of the server (or at least the basic 
IMAPv4 capabilities, they may not use all of the enhancements) rather than 
duplicating the functionality on local copies.

this doesn't prevent the client from offering a disconnected mode of operation, 
but if disconnected mode is not in use, the server should be used.

David Lang