Subject: Re: Connections to IMAP server using PINE

From: Mark Crispin <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 30 Sep 1996 13:56:14 -0700

To fix this problem, try the following steps:

Debugging step 1:

What happens when you issue the command
	rsh server exec /etc/rimapd
(substitute your server's name for the word "server").

Did you get the 30 second delay?

Debugging step 2:

Now, try the command
	telnet server 143
Did you presently get a line starting with "* OK" with no 30 second delay?
(Type "x logout" followed by a return to quit).

Diagnostic step:

If the answer to both debugging steps is "yes", then the problem is that
your site does not have the "rimap" preauthentication capability enabled. 
Normally, this would not be a problem; rimap would just be refused and it
would fall into ordinary IMAP.

But, your site also has disabled rsh.  Unfortunately, the way that it was
disabled is one that the rsh program does not recognize.  Most Internet
protocols recognize an IP or TCP level "refused" condition as meaning "go
away", but the authors of rsh decided that "refused" means "keep on
trying" instead.  Most common methods of disabling services, such as 
router filters and TCP wrappers, use a "refused" condition and don't know
how to do rsh's own funky way of refusing ("permission denied").

Remedial step for Pine 3.95:

If you have Pine 3.95, look for the following entry in .pinerc:

# Zero disables rsh altogether.
rsh-open-timeout=15

Change that "15" (or "5" or whatever it's set to) to "0".

Remedial step for older versions of Pine:

In .pinerc, change all references to the problematic server to include
":143" after the system name.  For example,

inbox-path={myserver}INBOX

should be changed to

inbox-path={myserver:143}INBOX

Be sure to also check your folder-collections and incoming folders as
necessary.  Don't change any NNTP references (e.g. news-collections).

If this doesn't seem to be what you need to do, please write again.

On Mon, 30 Sep 1996, Peter Beckman wrote:

> We've got a seperate mail server running IMAP, and we use pine to get
> our mail.  Well, this sucks because it takes almost 30 seconds to get
> my login/password prompt.  WHY!!!!  Does it ALWAYS take this long, or
> are we doing something wrong?  The machines are physically next to 
> eachother, and we have twisted pair going right to it, and traceroute
> yields a 2.0ns access time.  What's going on?  How do we fix it?
> 
> Please e-mail responses.
> 
> Peter
> --
> Peter Beckman                          The Apartment, Alexandria, VA
> [email-masked]		       http://www.purplecow.com/~beckman/
> 
> 

-- Mark --	Read http://www.imap.org for the "best kept secret in email"

DoD #0105, R90/6 pilot, FAX: (206) 685-4045  ICBM: N 47 39'35" W 122 18'39"
Science does not emerge from voting, party politics, or public debate.

---

From: Peter Beckman <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 30 Sep 1996 14:01:17 -0400

Please e-mail responses.

Peter

---

From: Mike Brudenell <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 4 Oct 1996 16:39:32 +0100 (BST)

It is taking this long because Pine is attempting to establish a
"pre-authenticated IMAP connection" to your server in order to save you
having to type in your username and password.

The problem is that whoever set up the IMAP server software hasn't
installed the symbolic link (and perhaps changes to the rsh mechanism to
allow this).  Pine tries for a while, gives up, and falls back to asking
you for your username and password.

Two possible solutions:

1.  Get the IMAP server software installed properly to allow
pre-authenticated connections.  Doing so will save you and others from
having to enter their username and password each time they start Pine.

2.  Append ":143: to the hostname in the string specifying the IMAP server
in your Pine configuration file.  Do this by starting Pine and going to
its Setup Configuration screen.  Then look through all the settings and
look for those specifying your IMAP server.  Say these are to the machine
"imap.site.domain" ... they will currently look something like this:
	{imap.site.domain}INBOX
Change this to have ":143" at the end of the hostname:
	{imap.site.domain:143}INBOX

(Note: I am assuming that your IMAP server software is "talking" on the
standard IMAP port -- 143 -- if not then replace 143 with the appropriate
port number.)

Cheers,

-- 
Mike Brudenell                                         <[email-masked]>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Computing Service, University of York, Heslington, York, YO1 5DD, UK
Tel: +44-1904-433811  FAX: +44-1904-433740  http://www.york.ac.uk/~pmb1/