Subject: setting mailsubdir from client config?

From: "Michael C. Greenspon" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 02 Oct 2003 13:17:02 -1000

It is typical for users to want to store their collection of mailbox 
files in a separate subdir. For example I have a link ~/mailboxes -> 
that points to my mailboxes folder on another volume, possibly a server 
volume. How can this configuration be specified from the client side, 
e.g. from the Mozilla server settings for the IMAP server? Shouldn't the 
user be able to simply specify "mailboxes" or "~/mailboxes" for their 
home "server directory"? I want to avoid hardcoding the default subdir 
string in env_unix.c since each user may have a different subdir name 
(personal choice) and want to avoid server-side config files (admini 
headache.) Why am I (and so many other users it seems) having difficulty 
configuring this from the mail client side?

If I set "mailboxes" as the  server home in Mozilla, I am able to 
subscribe to/see all and only my mail folders, but I am only able to 
access ~/INBOX (which is its own link to ~/mailboxes/Inbox). All other 
mailbox files are inaccessible even though they show up in the subscribe 
list.  If this is a Mozilla bug can someone at least explain how it 
'should' work, i.e. how the 'home dir' and 'namespace' settings plus the 
mailbox name should map to the unix path for the file? Isn't just a 
simple catenation?

Thanks,
Michael

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From: Mark Crispin <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 2 Oct 2003 17:05:03 -0700 (Pacific Daylight Time)

On Thu, 2 Oct 2003, Michael C. Greenspon wrote:
> How can this configuration be specified from the client side,
> e.g. from the Mozilla server settings for the IMAP server?

Many client programs have a "root prefix" or "folder collections"
setting.  For example, in Outlook you would put in "mailboxes/" as the
"root prefix", in Pine you could put in "mailboxes/[]" as your folder
collection, etc.

I don't know how things work in Mozilla.

> I want to avoid hardcoding the default subdir
> headache.)

Now you know why UW imapd doesn't do it...  :-)

-- Mark --

http://staff.washington.edu/mrc
Science does not emerge from voting, party politics, or public debate.
Si vis pacem, para bellum.

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From: "Michael C. Greenspon" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 02 Oct 2003 14:37:58 -1000

I managed to get this working without hardcoding the mailsubdir. It is 
probably an interaction of my lack of understanding of the server 
behavior and the use/definition of namespaces coupled with random 
Mozilla lossage. Restarting Mozilla (not merely reconnecting the server) 
seemed to be crucial to deterministic results.

Mozilla has the following in its Server Settings...Advanced dialog:

Server Directory:  mailboxes/
Personal namespace: "#mh/","#mhinbox",""
Other users: (blank)

It was crucial to have the trailing ',""' in Peronsal namespaces for 
this configuration to work. Other iterations of ~/mailboxes etc didn't 
cut it and I got messages from Mozilla like "Mailbox ~|mailboxes|Junk 
not found" when ~/mailboxes/Junk exists etc. But anyway now it is happy.

Aloha!
Michael
E^K