POP3 mail server- leave messages on the server

[John79]

Hello everybody,

Recently I build up an email server using Postfix, Dovecot, Squirrelmail etc. The problem that I am facing with Squirrelmail is that when the users try to read their email throu webmail, after they read them, the emails are moved from directory 'new' to 'cur'. I have spent hours looking the option in order to leave the messages on the server at the 'new' directory but it was unsuccessful.

On the other hand clients that use Outlook, Thunderrbird etc. can  have the option to leave the message on the server. In addition on dovecot.conf I edit the following:

  # Don't try to set mails non-recent or seen with POP3 sessions. This is
  # mostly intended to reduce disk I/O. With maildir it doesn't move files
  # from new/ to cur/, with mbox it doesn't write Status-header.

  pop3_no_flag_updates = yes


Can new emails that have been read throu Squirrelmail -webmail stay at the server as new in the 'new' directory?
Thanks in advance,
John
 

[Marc Powell]

On Jul 8, 2009, at 11:08 AM, John79 wrote:

>
> Hello everybody,
>
> Recently I build up an email server using Postfix, Dovecot,  
> Squirrelmail
> etc. The problem that I am facing with Squirrelmail is that when the  
> users
> try to read their email throu webmail, after they read them, the  
> emails are
> moved from directory 'new' to 'cur'. I have spent hours looking the  
> option
> in order to leave the messages on the server at the 'new' directory  
> but it
> was unsuccessful.

Why would you want to? This is a good thing. Think of it as  
new==unread, cur==read.

> On the other hand clients that use Outlook, Thunderrbird etc. can  
> have the
> option to leave the message on the server.

That's a key difference between IMAP clients (like squirrelmail) and  
POP clients. IMAP clients *always* leave mail on the server and the  
messages are always managed there or kept in sync with the client. POP  
clients download from the server by default but can be configured to  
leave a *copy* on the server, no real synchronization between the  
client and the server is done other than downloading new messages and  
possibly deleting older messages.

> In addition on dovecot.conf I
> edit the following:
>
>  # Don't try to set mails non-recent or seen with POP3 sessions.  
> This is
>  # mostly intended to reduce disk I/O. With maildir it doesn't move  
> files
>  # from new/ to cur/, with mbox it doesn't write Status-header.
>
>  pop3_no_flag_updates = yes

Squirrelmail isn't a pop3 client so this has no effect. I can't  
imagine why you'd want to do this anyway. Can you explain?

--
Marc


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[John79]

"Why would you want to? This is a good thing. Think of it as new==unread, cur==read."
"I can't imagine why you'd want to do this anyway. Can you explain?"

In a company where an email account like [e-mail] exists it must been seen from many employees due to the nature of the company. Many clients place orders, questions etc. using the above email address. Consiquently, the employee who is responsible for an email will answer accordingly. However, if an employee open an email throu Squirrelmail-webmail and realise after reading it that the specific email is not his responsibility then the rest of the employee who use MUA's (Outlook, Thunderbird, Evolution, etc.) will not be able to read it because it has already moved to 'cur' directory.

So, does exist a way that I can avoid the moving of the new emails to the 'cur' directory??

John

Marc Powell wrote:

On Jul 8, 2009, at 11:08 AM, John79 wrote:

>
> Hello everybody,
>
> Recently I build up an email server using Postfix, Dovecot,  
> Squirrelmail
> etc. The problem that I am facing with Squirrelmail is that when the  
> users
> try to read their email throu webmail, after they read them, the  
> emails are
> moved from directory 'new' to 'cur'. I have spent hours looking the  
> option
> in order to leave the messages on the server at the 'new' directory  
> but it
> was unsuccessful.

Why would you want to? This is a good thing. Think of it as  
new==unread, cur==read.

> On the other hand clients that use Outlook, Thunderrbird etc. can  
> have the
> option to leave the message on the server.

That's a key difference between IMAP clients (like squirrelmail) and  
POP clients. IMAP clients *always* leave mail on the server and the  
messages are always managed there or kept in sync with the client. POP  
clients download from the server by default but can be configured to  
leave a *copy* on the server, no real synchronization between the  
client and the server is done other than downloading new messages and  
possibly deleting older messages.

> In addition on dovecot.conf I
> edit the following:
>
>  # Don't try to set mails non-recent or seen with POP3 sessions.  
> This is
>  # mostly intended to reduce disk I/O. With maildir it doesn't move  
> files
>  # from new/ to cur/, with mbox it doesn't write Status-header.
>
>  pop3_no_flag_updates = yes

Squirrelmail isn't a pop3 client so this has no effect. I can't  
imagine why you'd want to do this anyway. Can you explain?

--
Marc


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[Roland Fritz]

John79 schrieb:

>
> "Why would you want to? This is a good thing. Think of it as new==unread,
> cur==read."
> "I can't imagine why you'd want to do this anyway. Can you explain?"
>
> In a company where an email account like info@... exists it must
> been
> seen from many employees due to the nature of the company. Many clients
> place orders, questions etc. using the above email address. Consiquently,
> the employee who is responsible for an email will answer accordingly.
> However, if an employee open an email throu Squirrelmail-webmail and
> realise
> after reading it that the specific email is not his responsibility then
> the
> rest of the employee who use MUA's (Outlook, Thunderbird, Evolution, etc.)
> will not be able to read it because it has already moved to 'cur'
> directory.
>
> So, does exist a way that I can avoid the moving of the new emails to the
> 'cur' directory??

This is not a squirrelmail issue unless you configured some filters. My
new mail appears in INBOX and it stays there until I decide to move it
somewhere else. The moving from new to cur seems to me some kind of action
either one of your other imap clients does (I remember pegasus doing such
things) or your mail server does it...
I set up some mailboxes here for multiple use as you explained and its
working ;)

Roland.


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[David Ford-9]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Hi John

John79 wrote:

> "Why would you want to? This is a good thing. Think of it as new==unread,
> cur==read."
> "I can't imagine why you'd want to do this anyway. Can you explain?"
>
> In a company where an email account like info@... exists it must been
> seen from many employees due to the nature of the company. Many clients
> place orders, questions etc. using the above email address. Consiquently,
> the employee who is responsible for an email will answer accordingly.
> However, if an employee open an email throu Squirrelmail-webmail and realise
> after reading it that the specific email is not his responsibility then the
> rest of the employee who use MUA's (Outlook, Thunderbird, Evolution, etc.)
> will not be able to read it because it has already moved to 'cur' directory.
>
> So, does exist a way that I can avoid the moving of the new emails to the
> 'cur' directory??
>

What about setting up (Outlook, Thunderbird, Evolution, etc.) to use
IMAP not pop3?
David

> John
>
>
>
>
> Marc Powell wrote:
>>
>> On Jul 8, 2009, at 11:08 AM, John79 wrote:
>>
>>> Hello everybody,
>>>
>>> Recently I build up an email server using Postfix, Dovecot,  
>>> Squirrelmail
>>> etc. The problem that I am facing with Squirrelmail is that when the  
>>> users
>>> try to read their email throu webmail, after they read them, the  
>>> emails are
>>> moved from directory 'new' to 'cur'. I have spent hours looking the  
>>> option
>>> in order to leave the messages on the server at the 'new' directory  
>>> but it
>>> was unsuccessful.
>> Why would you want to? This is a good thing. Think of it as  
>> new==unread, cur==read.
>>
>>> On the other hand clients that use Outlook, Thunderrbird etc. can  
>>> have the
>>> option to leave the message on the server.
>> That's a key difference between IMAP clients (like squirrelmail) and  
>> POP clients. IMAP clients *always* leave mail on the server and the  
>> messages are always managed there or kept in sync with the client. POP  
>> clients download from the server by default but can be configured to  
>> leave a *copy* on the server, no real synchronization between the  
>> client and the server is done other than downloading new messages and  
>> possibly deleting older messages.
>>
>>> In addition on dovecot.conf I
>>> edit the following:
>>>
>>>  # Don't try to set mails non-recent or seen with POP3 sessions.  
>>> This is
>>>  # mostly intended to reduce disk I/O. With maildir it doesn't move  
>>> files
>>>  # from new/ to cur/, with mbox it doesn't write Status-header.
>>>
>>>  pop3_no_flag_updates = yes
>> Squirrelmail isn't a pop3 client so this has no effect. I can't  
>> imagine why you'd want to do this anyway. Can you explain?
>>
>> --
>> Marc
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> Enter the BlackBerry Developer Challenge  
>> This is your chance to win up to $100,000 in prizes! For a limited time,
>> vendors submitting new applications to BlackBerry App World(TM) will have
>> the opportunity to enter the BlackBerry Developer Challenge. See full
>> prize  
>> details at: http://p.sf.net/sfu/Challenge
>> -----
>> squirrelmail-users mailing list
>> Posting guidelines: http://squirrelmail.org/postingguidelines
>> List address: squirrelmail-users@...
>> List archives: http://news.gmane.org/gmane.mail.squirrelmail.user
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>> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/squirrelmail-users
>>
>>
>

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[Marc Powell]

On Jul 9, 2009, at 4:33 AM, John79 wrote:

>
> "Why would you want to? This is a good thing. Think of it as  
> new==unread,
> cur==read."
> "I can't imagine why you'd want to do this anyway. Can you explain?"
>
> In a company where an email account like info@... exists it  
> must been
> seen from many employees due to the nature of the company. Many  
> clients
> place orders, questions etc. using the above email address.  
> Consiquently,
> the employee who is responsible for an email will answer accordingly.
> However, if an employee open an email throu Squirrelmail-webmail and  
> realise
> after reading it that the specific email is not his responsibility  
> then the
> rest of the employee who use MUA's (Outlook, Thunderbird, Evolution,  
> etc.)
> will not be able to read it because it has already moved to 'cur'  
> directory.

And you're certain this is the case? I know for certain that with  
Courier, which also uses maildir format, it doesn't matter which  
directory the message is in; new or cur. As long as the message isn't  
moved from the Inbox itself (which comprises both new and cur) or  
downloaded and removed from the server by another POP3 client, other  
POP3 clients will still see the messages.

--
marc

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[Paul Lesniewski]

On 7/9/09, Roland Fritz <roland.fritz@...> wrote:

>
> John79 schrieb:
>>
>> "Why would you want to? This is a good thing. Think of it as new==unread,
>> cur==read."
>> "I can't imagine why you'd want to do this anyway. Can you explain?"
>>
>> In a company where an email account like info@... exists it must
>> been
>> seen from many employees due to the nature of the company. Many clients
>> place orders, questions etc. using the above email address. Consiquently,
>> the employee who is responsible for an email will answer accordingly.
>> However, if an employee open an email throu Squirrelmail-webmail and
>> realise
>> after reading it that the specific email is not his responsibility then
>> the
>> rest of the employee who use MUA's (Outlook, Thunderbird, Evolution, etc.)
>> will not be able to read it because it has already moved to 'cur'
>> directory.
>>
>> So, does exist a way that I can avoid the moving of the new emails to the
>> 'cur' directory??
>
> This is not a squirrelmail issue unless you configured some filters. My
> new mail appears in INBOX and it stays there until I decide to move it
> somewhere else. The moving from new to cur seems to me some kind of action
> either one of your other imap clients does (I remember pegasus doing such
> things) or your mail server does it...

No.  See Marc's responses - messages in the new and cur directories
are all shown in the INBOX.  Unread messages are in the new directory
and ones that have been seen before are in cur.

> I set up some mailboxes here for multiple use as you explained and its
> working ;)

--
Paul Lesniewski
SquirrelMail Team
Please support Open Source Software by donating to SquirrelMail!
http://squirrelmail.org/donations.php

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[info-403]

> On 7/9/09, Roland Fritz <roland.fritz@...> wrote:
>>
>> John79 schrieb:
>>>
>>> "Why would you want to? This is a good thing. Think of it as
>>> new==unread,
>>> cur==read."
>>> "I can't imagine why you'd want to do this anyway. Can you explain?"
>>>
>>> In a company where an email account like info@... exists it must
>>> been
>>> seen from many employees due to the nature of the company. Many clients
>>> place orders, questions etc. using the above email address.
>>> Consiquently,
>>> the employee who is responsible for an email will answer accordingly.
>>> However, if an employee open an email throu Squirrelmail-webmail and
>>> realise
>>> after reading it that the specific email is not his responsibility then
>>> the
>>> rest of the employee who use MUA's (Outlook, Thunderbird, Evolution,
>>> etc.)
>>> will not be able to read it because it has already moved to 'cur'
>>> directory.
>>>
>>> So, does exist a way that I can avoid the moving of the new emails to
>>> the
>>> 'cur' directory??
>>
>> This is not a squirrelmail issue unless you configured some filters. My
>> new mail appears in INBOX and it stays there until I decide to move it
>> somewhere else. The moving from new to cur seems to me some kind of
>> action
>> either one of your other imap clients does (I remember pegasus doing
>> such
>> things) or your mail server does it...
>
> No.  See Marc's responses - messages in the new and cur directories
> are all shown in the INBOX.  Unread messages are in the new directory
> and ones that have been seen before are in cur.
>

Not that extremely important, but I observe something different:

- as soon as squirrelmail has contacted the mailserver (courier in my
case) the mails in new are transferred to cur.
- in cur messages that are read get a letter S behind the filename
-rw-------  1 info users     5749 2009-07-24 10:13
1248423207.V815I3202dM428393.mail:2,S
-rw-------  1 info users     4628 2009-07-24 10:20
1248423627.V815I32032M623399.mail:2,
-rw-------  1 info users    10490 2009-07-24 10:48
1248425301.V815I32033M876463.mail:2,
-rw-------  1 info users    68765 2009-07-24 11:46
1248428794.V815I32034M163548.mail:2,

So here you see 1 read and 3 unread messages, but they ARE transferred to
cur. Messages without S are shown in boldface in SM, in INBOX. Ergo: what
you see in INBOX is in cur.

>> I set up some mailboxes here for multiple use as you explained and its
>> working ;)
>
> --
> Paul Lesniewski
> SquirrelMail Team
> Please support Open Source Software by donating to SquirrelMail!
> http://squirrelmail.org/donations.php
>
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--
L. de Braal
BraHa Systems
NL - Terneuzen
T [phone]
F [phone]


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[Paul Lesniewski]

>>>> "Why would you want to? This is a good thing. Think of it as
>>>> new==unread,
>>>> cur==read."
>>>> "I can't imagine why you'd want to do this anyway. Can you explain?"
>>>>
>>>> In a company where an email account like info@... exists it must
>>>> been
>>>> seen from many employees due to the nature of the company. Many clients
>>>> place orders, questions etc. using the above email address.
>>>> Consiquently,
>>>> the employee who is responsible for an email will answer accordingly.
>>>> However, if an employee open an email throu Squirrelmail-webmail and
>>>> realise
>>>> after reading it that the specific email is not his responsibility then
>>>> the
>>>> rest of the employee who use MUA's (Outlook, Thunderbird, Evolution,
>>>> etc.)
>>>> will not be able to read it because it has already moved to 'cur'
>>>> directory.
>>>>
>>>> So, does exist a way that I can avoid the moving of the new emails to
>>>> the
>>>> 'cur' directory??
>>>
>>> This is not a squirrelmail issue unless you configured some filters. My
>>> new mail appears in INBOX and it stays there until I decide to move it
>>> somewhere else. The moving from new to cur seems to me some kind of
>>> action
>>> either one of your other imap clients does (I remember pegasus doing
>>> such
>>> things) or your mail server does it...
>>
>> No.  See Marc's responses - messages in the new and cur directories
>> are all shown in the INBOX.  Unread messages are in the new directory
>> and ones that have been seen before are in cur.
>
> Not that extremely important, but I observe something different:
>
> - as soon as squirrelmail has contacted the mailserver (courier in my
> case) the mails in new are transferred to cur.
> - in cur messages that are read get a letter S behind the filename
> -rw-------  1 info users     5749 2009-07-24 10:13
> 1248423207.V815I3202dM428393.mail:2,S
> -rw-------  1 info users     4628 2009-07-24 10:20
> 1248423627.V815I32032M623399.mail:2,
> -rw-------  1 info users    10490 2009-07-24 10:48
> 1248425301.V815I32033M876463.mail:2,
> -rw-------  1 info users    68765 2009-07-24 11:46
> 1248428794.V815I32034M163548.mail:2,
>
> So here you see 1 read and 3 unread messages, but they ARE transferred to
> cur. Messages without S are shown in boldface in SM, in INBOX. Ergo: what
> you see in INBOX is in cur.

Right - I shortcutted the technical details, but to the end user, it's
easier to understand.  Really, messages live in new/ only until some
mail reader has *seen* them, after which they move to cur/.  "Seen" is
not the same as "read", but I think that kind of detail isn't what the
OP needs.  For more information about the Maildir spec, see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maildir
http://www.qmail.org/man/man5/maildir.html
http://cr.yp.to/proto/maildir.html
http://www.courier-mta.org/maildir.html

--
Paul Lesniewski
SquirrelMail Team
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