[Dovecot] IMAP Folders Don't Make Sense

[Carlos Williams]

On Thu, Feb 25, 2010 at 4:10 PM, Brian Hayden <bhayden at umn.edu> wrote:
> You need to:
>
> 1. Remove your subscriptions file.

This I did. Now I can no longer see from the client side any of my IMAP folders.

> 2. Set your client to ignore subscriptions and view all folders.

I logged into my webmail and in the main mailbox view all my IMAP
folders except for Inbox and the default ones were missing. I then
opened up the folders settings option and 'subscribed' to all the
folders I didn't see in my main mailbox view. Once I enabled
'subscription' via webmail, I could then see all my folders again. Is
this wrong? You stated the opposite should be done. I would think if
they were not selected for subscription, I would see them but it
appears to be the other way around. How can I see my messages on my
email client with out the 'subscriptions' file in my Maildir? I am
assuming this questions' answer varies depending on what client we're
talking about, no?

> 3. Then, and only then, settle on a server configuration (including any
> namespaces you may choose to use), and then re-subscribe to folders in your
> client (if you are going to insist on using subscriptions).
>
> It's impossible to get your server configuration correct if you're judging
> the user-visible side by a client using legacy subscriptions, particularly
> if the subscriptions file is in an unreliable state (as it sounds like yours
> is--as most of them almost always are).

I just can't see how to get any IMAP client to read IMAP folders w/o
that 'subscriptions' file. It appears that it looks for it or is in
some way dependent on this file. Am I wrong?