[Dovecot] Idea: POP3 deletion as a flag

[Axel Luttgens]

Le 6 mai 2013 à 20:45, Kelsey Cummings a écrit :

> On 2013-05-03 19:13, Professa Dementia wrote:
>> When I specify that an email be
>> deleted from the server, I expect that it is *deleted*.
> 
> While I see the point you're trying to make, I don't think it is valid.  On our servers the deleted message could exist in filesystem snapshots, disk->disk backups and on tape.  In many other places this may be a question of regulatory requirements that email be held on to for years no matter what the client thinks its status is.

Hello Kelsey,

As Noel already stated, backups may indeed prove very useful.

But they probably shouldn't be confused with the concept of "mailstores" as deployed in the POP3 specification.

A mailstore's contents is reachable thru a mail protocol; if I delete parts of it, I'm expecting those parts not being remotely reachable by anyone anymore.

A backup is out of the scope of the protocol, and I may have other expectations for it; for example: it should be accessible internally, by a few trusted people only.

I may also disagree with abusive regulations or commercial uses of my emails; or approve such things. But, again, I'm not speaking about protocols anymore.

Axel