[Dovecot] Idea: POP3 deletion as a flag

[lst_hoe02 at kwsoft.de]

Zitat von Timo Sirainen <tss at iki.fi>:

> On 3.5.2013, at 20.30, Tom Hendrikx <tom at whyscream.net> wrote:
>
>> On 03-05-13 18:49, lst_hoe02 at kwsoft.de wrote:
>>>
>>> Zitat von Timo Sirainen <tss at iki.fi>:
>>>
>>>> GMail doesn't delete mails when POP3 client issues a DELE command for
>>>> it. Instead they just become invisible for future POP3 sessions, but
>>>> they still exist for IMAP/webmail. The same could be implemented
>>>> pretty easily for Dovecot:
>>>>
>>>> - Add a new setting to enable this: pop3_deleted_flag = $POP3Deleted
>>>> - When DELEting a message, add this flag to the message.
>>>> - When listing messages, skip all messages that have this flag.
>>>> - Also hide this flag from IMAP clients(?)
>>>>
>>>> Thoughts? Probably 20 lines of new code.
>>>
>>> Hmm, this would lead to every increasing mailboxes for POP3 only users.
>>> What about this
>>>
>>> - Use some setting to express that POP3 deleted mail should be IMAP
>>> mark-as-deleted
>>
>> This conflicts with (many) IMAP user agents that don't use
>> mark-as-deleted but have some version of 'move to trash folder' instead.
>> I do agree that it's probably the Right Way (tm) :)
>
> Depends on what purpose this feature is going to be used for. Many  
> POP3 users don't actually want to delete the mails, they just want  
> to download them, and their client just happens to delete the mails  
> as well. They might still want to use webmail occasionally to find  
> any old mails. For that purpose \Deleted flag wouldn't be ideal.  
> But, with this setting it would be possible as well:  
> pop3_deleted_flag = \Deleted (although that would need a few more  
> lines of code).
>

But for simply leave mail on server with POP3 most MUAs have this  
feature anyway today, no? So at least for Thunderbird and Outlook this  
couldn't be the only use-case. Most requests i have seen where because  
of
- Misguided user using POP3 on different devices with the same account  
--> Better use IMAP
- People unable to throw away anything because they are unable to  
decide what is important

For the second case you will end up with multi-gigabyte mailboxes on  
the server with mails no one need anymore. That's why i would prefer  
\Deleted to flag the mail as "not as important anymore" (can be delted  
if needed) in spirit of the waste basket on desktops.

>>> - Skip messages marked as deleted with POP3, maybe even as default?
>>>
>>> With this on IMAP access you clearly see what is going on. Also if you
>>> delete Messages by IMAP they won't get downloaded by POP3. This would
>>> also fit with mail providers doing an "IMAP" expunge/purge on a fixed
>>> timebase.
>
> If mail is expunged from IMAP, it also is expunged from POP3 in any case.

Yes, that's the intention after all IMHO. You could set your IMAP  
client to expunge on leave or let the mails still around. If the  
provider have some policy to say expunge overy month you have no ever  
growing mailbox and give the provider a hint what can be deleted. For  
archive purpose you still can use IMAP folders.

Regards

Andreas


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