[Dovecot] Hebrew folder names

[Magnus Holmgren]

On Tuesday 26 December 2006 22:36, Dotan Cohen wrote:
> On 26/12/06, Magnus Holmgren <holmgren at lysator.liu.se> wrote:
> > On Monday 25 December 2006 22:39, Dotan Cohen wrote:
> > > I'm considering Dovecot for an IMAP server. Can I name the IMAP
> > > folders in Hebrew (utf-8) with Dovecot? Any known gotchas? Thanks in
> > > advance.
> >
> > Yes and no. Unicode folder names can be represented, but they have to be
> > encoded in modified UTF-7, as specified in RFC 2060 § 5.1.3 (except that
> > the hierarchy separator is always "." on disk), both on the wire and on
> > disk.
>
> Thanks Magnus. I'm not sure that utf-7 supports Hebrew, as I've never
> heard of it. I just read http://rfc.net/rfc2060.html however it is
> very difficult for me to understand any of it. What must I do to make
> "yes and no" be only "yes"? :)

UTF-7, like UTF-8 and UTF-16, encodes all of the Unicode repertoire. You don't 
need to understand RFC 2060 completely unless you're going to write your own 
IMAP-compatible software. What I meant by "yes and no" was that you can't use 
UTF-8-encoded folder names as arguments to maildirmake or deliver, or in 
Sieve scripts - you have to use a MUA (such as Thunderbird) or other program 
that can encode the folder name properly.

> Also, I've seen that some MUAs (such as Thunderbird) use the slash
> instead of the dot  as the seperator. Will this be a problem in
> Dovecot if I decide to try out Thunderbird?

Thunderbird will use the separator that the IMAP server tells it to when 
talking to the IMAP server. However, Dovecot doesn't encode slashes or dots 
in any special way, so neither can be used in folder names regardless of 
wether slash or dot is the separator.

(If "/" is the separator and you try to create a folder called "Foo.Bar", 
Dovecot will (with a common configuration) create ~/Maildir/.Foo.Bar, which 
looks like a folder Foo with a subfolder Bar. If the separator is "." and you 
try to create a folder called "Foo/Bar", then Dovecot will or will not try to 
create ~/Maildir/.Foo/Bar, which in any case won't work.)

-- 
Magnus Holmgren        holmgren at lysator.liu.se
                       (No Cc of list mail needed, thanks)

  "Exim is better at being younger, whereas sendmail is better for 
   Scrabble (50 point bonus for clearing your rack)" -- Dave Evans
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