[Dovecot] pop3+leave messages on server

[Justin Krejci]

Not to pick nits but pop3+leave on server does not mean you have all message
from the dawn of time stored on the server. Outlook and presumably other
MUAs have "remove from server after X time" and "remove from server when
message is deleted" options when leaving pop3 messages on the server is
enabled.

I agree with the general principal though that if you wish to keep messages
on server as general practice you should use IMAP. IMO pop3+leave is really
only ideal while traveling using other clients/computers or maybe if IMAP is
not offered at all.

-----Original Message-----
From: dovecot-bounces+jkrejci=usinternet.com at dovecot.org
[mailto:dovecot-bounces+jkrejci=usinternet.com at dovecot.org] On Behalf Of
Charles Marcus
Sent: Tuesday, December 29, 2009 6:19 AM
To: Dovecot Mailing List
Subject: Re: [Dovecot] pop3+leave messages on server

On 2009-12-29, Papp Tamas (tompos at martos.bme.hu) wrote:
> The protocoll imap is not the same as using pop3+leave messages on
> server.

That is correct. The POP protocol is designed to delete the messages
from the server once they have been POPPED. The IMAP protocol is
designed to leave the messages on the server all the time.

> He wants to use this scenario anyway as he did for many years with no
> problems.

The fact that he has had 'no problems' in many years is purely the luck
of the draw. One minor bug in either the IMAP/POP server or the mail
client during an upgrade or other maintenance, and boom - he will
*really* be surprised when *all* of his messages from the last few
*years* are downloaded again, not just the last few hours worth.

One real worl example of how this can happen: his Outlook profile gets
corrupted, and he still has all of his mail, but he has to recreate his
account settings - boom, all of his mail downloads again from the date
he started leaving them on the server.

Same thing goes for when he install Outlook on a new computer - which,
in some cases, might be desirable, and in others, not...

The bottom line is, POP is simply not designed to work this way. The
fact that it can be *manipulated* to work this way doesn't change the
nature of the protocol, or the inherent problems.

-- 

Best regards,

Charles