[Dovecot] IDLE command timeout

[Sim Harbert]

OK, I am turning on the outlook-idle workaround and will try that. 

How did someone come up with 30 minutes?  Why not 60 minutes?  Outlook 
obviously acts oddly in relation to the server IDLE disconnect thing, 
but it does seem like there should be some sort of allowance for clients 
which want to stay in IDLE mode for longer than 30 minutes.

-Sim

Chris Wakelin wrote:

> Sim Harbert wrote:
>
>> It isn't a matter of the client being broken.  My Treo client 
>> properly reconnects when the IDLE command is disconnected due to the 
>> timeout, but this means it has to reconnect every 30 minutes.  I want 
>> to avoid the overhead of reconnecting all the time and just stay 
>> connected.  The reconnections chew up battery life since they involve 
>> a lot more wireless network activity than being in IDLE mode.
>>
>> The "outlook-idle" workaround doesn't help, since it requires a 
>> reconnect with the server.  Well, maybe it wouldn't require a full 
>> reconnect, so I suppose it might be a tiny bit better than the actual 
>> IDLE disconnect.
>
>
> It shouldn't cause much traffic, just something like (C:=client, 
> S:=server) :-
>
> C: 1234 IDLE
> S: + idling
>
> 29 minutes later ...
>
> S: * 456 EXISTS
> C: DONE
> S: 1234 OK Idle completed.
> S: * 456 EXPUNGE
> C: 1235 IDLE
> S: + idling
>
> etc. I can't be bothered to wait 29 minutes for the exact sequence ;) 
> but it doesn't involve a reconnect.
>
>>
>> I believe the 'mailbox_idle_check_interval' just gives the minimum 
>> time between when the server will notify the client of changes.  If 
>> set to 30 seconds, that would mean that if mail came 10 seconds 
>> apart, then client wouldn't be notified of the second email until 30 
>> seconds after the first.  (This is all just based on the short 
>> description in the configuration file...)
>>
>
> Oops, sorry, you're right! The disconnect timeout looks like it's 
> hardcoded in src/imap/common.h, at least in dovecot-1.0-stable (it's 
> specified in the IMAP RFC, I believe), so you'd need to modify it and 
> recompile.
>
> /* Disconnect client after idling this many seconds */
> #define CLIENT_IDLE_TIMEOUT (60*30)
>
>
>> Is there more extensive documentation of the configuration settings 
>> somewhere?  The website doesn't document the configuration options.
>>
>> -Sim
>>
>
> Not yet, I think. Still, it's a Wiki, so we ought to be able to 
> contribute our own!
>
> Best Wishes,
> Chris
>

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