Re: GroupWise 6.5 as an IMAP server

On Wed, 7 Jun 2006 10:21:51 -0700, Mark Crispin <mrc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Wed, 7 Jun 2006, Dave Ulrick wrote:
Do you have
any suggestions on what I might do to troubleshoot and work around these
problems well enough to allow me to use Pine as an IMAP client to GW?

Sadly, I fear that beating your head against a wall may be a more
productive use of your time.

That doesn't sound very promising. :-(

The problems in GroupWise are of such severity that no non-trivial IMAP
client can function with it (Outlook may function with it, but Outlook is
a trivial IMAP client). I hold out little hope that Pine can be made to
work with GroupWise.

Bummer.

You can try using the /loser flag, e.g.,
inbox-path = {brokenimap.example.com/loser}INBOX
at the cost of substantial performance penalties, but I doubt that it will
help you. /loser is for servers such as Courier which have bugs in the
more advanced areas of IMAP, not for totally broken servers such as
GroupWise.

I've tried /loser, and as you suggest, it didn't have any effect on my
GW-related problems.

Novell has known that there are problems in GroupWise for years, and as
far as I can tell has done nothing about them. I can only conclude that
Novell does not care whether its IMAP support works or not.

Apparently so, or else they expect the providers of client software to
figure GW's bugs out and work around them.

I assume that you have already considered, and rejected, using whatever
influence you have in your organization to put a stop to the GroupWise
transition, and/or to obtain a decision allowing the continued use of a
UNIX-based mail server.

If it's a matter of your having no influence and/or having to put your job
on the line, you have to decide upon your priorities. If your paycheck is
more important to you than working email software, then it's probably
better to stay quiet. If working email software is more important, then
it's time make a pest of yourself until you get your way; and if necessary
look for work elsewhere.

I can't advise you on such a decision.

Unfortunately, I don't have any influence on the decision. Although
working email software matters to me, it doesn't matter quite so much that
I'd consider putting my job on the line for it. :-) Besides, 'fetchmail'
seems to do a good enough job working around GW's buggy IMAP implementation
that I think I'll be able to live with it. The most significant flaw with
the 'fetchmail' approach is that flushed mail doesn't end up in GW's Trash
folder; sometimes, the To, From, Subject, etc., show up in the mailbox as
though they are crossed out. I'll work around that flaw by occasionally
flushing my email using the GW client or Mozilla Thunderbird.

-- Mark --

Dave
--
Dave Ulrick
Email: d-ulrick@xxxxxxx
Web: http://www.niu.edu/~ulrick/
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Pine and IMAP
    ... I have been using a local pine client in conjunction with IMAP for ... moves mail to the mbox file, it hoses up my ability to use my imap ... Has something changed so that I cannot use pine as a local ... the contents of your inbox there and treat the file as your inbox - ...
    (freebsd-questions)
  • Re: Updates of IMAP does not work anymore (PC-Pine 4.64, Exchange 5.5.2658.34)
    ... :)>:) I checked with another IMAP client (Opera) and Opera does update ... :)>:) its index with the new arrived mail (same local computer, same IMAP ... Cygwin Pine and PC-Pine use different code. ... But I am not aware of any changes on the client side. ...
    (comp.mail.pine)
  • Pine and IMAP
    ... I have been using a local pine client in conjunction with IMAP for years without issues. ... However, recently, it looks like when pine moves mail to the mbox file, it hoses up my ability to use my imap clients. ...
    (freebsd-questions)
  • Re: send email
    ... Yours, the *mail server*, presumably ... The client wants to be able to send ... server via one of two protocols, POP or IMAP. ...
    (alt.os.linux.redhat)
  • [kde] exporting from kmail (Was: Kmail2/Akonadi issue on FreeBSD.)
    ... was setting up an imap mail server. ... native mail program on ipod-touch - any other imap aware client you ... use email, mailinglists, newsgroups and feeds, but I prefer separate ...
    (KDE)