[Dovecot] Not using "." as separator?

[Grant Edwards]

On 2008-03-06, pod <pod at herald.ox.ac.uk> wrote:

>    GE> When using maildir storage, is there any way to use something
>    GE> besides "." as the folder separator?
>
> Please note that the following relates to dovecot 1.0.  I've not looked to
> see if 1.1 behaves differently.
>
> Yes you can use a namespace
>
>     namespace private {
>       # empty prefix indicates the default namespace
>       prefix =
>       inbox = yes
>       separator = /
>     }
>
> However using just this dovecot will still not allow maildir mailbox names
> to contain a '.'.

Ah.  The main point of using "/" as the separator is to allow
"." to appear in mailbox names.  [I don't _use_ subfolders, so
I don't really need any separator at all.]

>    GE> I like to use folder names that match people's e-mail addresses
>    GE> (that's a default behavior in mutt), and "." is a pretty popular
>    GE> character in e-mail addresses.  Ideally, I'd like to use "/".
>
> The (unofficial) listescape plugin
>
> http://www.dovecot.org/patches/1.0/listescape-plugin.c 
>
> will allow maildir folder names to contain '.' (and '~' at the
> start incidentally).  Note however that this is only a good
> solution if you are offering exclusively IMAP/POP3 access to
> the mailstore.

I'm not. 

> If you are also exposing mailboxes directly by a filesystem
> interface

I am.

> then standard Maildir++ utilities are likely to get confused
> because a folder known to the client as "a.b" will appear in
> the filesystem with a name of 'a\2eb'.

That's a pain.

> We have used this feature to migrate from a UW imapd based
> service to a dovecot based service with (what I believe to be)
> no user visible change. [1]
>
>
>    GE> Is "." allowed in mailbox names when using mbox storage?
>
> Yes, I believe so.

I guess I'll use mbox format for now.  I really can't believe
that somebody thought that not allowing "." in mailbox names
was a good idea since "." is such a common character in e-mail
addresses.

-- 
Grant Edwards                   grante             Yow! Did an Italian CRANE
                                  at               OPERATOR just experience
                               visi.com            uninhibited sensations in
                                                   a MALIBU HOT TUB?