[Dovecot] Extremely Slow Pop3 Downloads, Evolution 2.0.2

[Michael Joy]

Hello All,

We've been running Dovecot for imap for quite some time and have had little
trouble with it. However, we recently switched over to using dovecot for
pop3 because of simplicity as well as security issues with the older UW
based pop server.

I've noticed one serious problem. The only client that seems to have any
issue at all with the server is Evolution. In pop3 mode, it takes a minute
or more to download a few messages on an inbox with 400+ saved messages in
it over gigabit ethernet. Over a DSL connection using MS Outlook 2k3 it
takes about a minute total for all messages. Similarly with KMail it takes
about 5-10 seconds to download all messages in the pop3 box.

The messages trickle in with evolution 2.x, I've tried 2.0.0, 2.0.1, and
2.0.2 and all have this problem. I haven't tried the 1.x series as I don't
have any linux boxes that old available to test.

So apparently, there's two things of concern.

1. The server is definitely fast enough to handle the large mail box.
2. There's some serious incompatibility in Evolution/Dovecot causing for the
14.4 modem email download speeds over lan.

We're running Dovecot 0.99.12 on Debian unstable, however 0.99.11 exhibited
this behavior as well. If anyone has some hints, I'd greatly appreciate it.
It's annoying having to wait 5-10 min to download mail in the morning when
one gets into work ;)

If there's any other information I can provide, please ask.

Thanks to whichever kind soul finds time to trudge through this problem with
us.

Michael D. Joy
HEP - University of Mississippi
mdjoy at phy.olemiss.edu