[Dovecot] POP retrieval, then reading, of mail does not udpate server status.

[Paul Vatta]

We are currently using the version of Dovecot (0.99.11) that comes with 
Redhat Enterpise Linux version 4, running on an IBM x445 server (8 CPU, 
hyperthreading on, 14GB RAM) using the maildir format.
We have had to patch this with a change from 0.99.12 so that it doesn't 
incorrectly report SASL capability upon connection but otherwise it is 
the version supplied with the OS (we do this to ensure that we don't 
deviate from the supplied packages too much).

The problem encountered is the status of emails on the server isn't 
being updated.  The POP client (Eudora 6.2 in this instance) will 
retrieve the message, have the message read, apparently update the 
status on the server (via the "Check Mail" function), but yet the status 
on the server has not been updated as read (verified by going into our 
IMP Webmail client, and looking at the mail message in the mailstore - 
there is no ".S" extension).  Using the IMAP protocol doesn't bring 
about this behaviour.  The inconsistency

The inconsistency between POP clients and the server status doesn't 
occur when it comes to deleting messages.

Is this a bug, or have we misunderstood how the POP protocol works.

Looking at the following:
http://www.eudora.com/techsupport/kb/2587hq.html

I'm guessing that the POP protocol doesn't update the status?

Your confirmation would be most appreciated.

Thanks,
Paul

P.S. As an aside, if you are hesitant about the move from mbox to 
maildir, don't consider this an obstacle.  Our migration was painless 
and the benefits far outweigh the conversion effort.  Dovecot has 
introduced huge improvements over our Qpopper/UW-IMAP configuration.