Re: [SM-USERS] Squirrelmail support (was "Error when searching messages")

[André Z. D. A. <and...@ya...>]

Inline:

> First, let's keep this on the thread with a more appropriate subject.
> 

Sure.

> As to your meta comments about SquirrelMail support, the literal
> answer to your question about having a public mailing list is obvious.
> The answer to your *implied* question "why isn't anyone responding to
> my questions?" is complex, but due in large part to a smaller
> community of late and the obscure nature of what you ask.

I imagine that all the problems I've had with Squirrelmail until now, since I started used it also as an admin, should be common problem. There are no fancy setups or configuration needs, except the necessary use of some specific "tricky" servers (IBM's, specifically, but the problem were not exclusive to it). The features use I do from Squirrelmail are pretty basic, so it is really frustrasting to see no answer. It makes me think either: "isn't any other users/admins using this feature? Or is it some configuration I have missed?" And I really tried to get rid of the later possibility.


> It's understandable that you are frustrated with the lack of help you've
> been able to get here (I personally have at least one of your earlier
> inquiries flagged for follow-up, but my unpaid time is in short
> supply), [...]

For the mailling list and time you can use, that is perfectly understandable. But don't expect that we guess this. A short message like "I can't answer this now, but if you don't solve this in a few days I get in touch - it may take a few weeks, though!" is clear, will show me and many others (I assume) that there is possibly a reasonable problem that could be investigated more deeply, with some more background ideas being present.

> [...] but it would be best if you steer away from the language
> you're trending toward that blames the SquirrelMail developers and
> community when none of us has a single obligation to you.

I'm sorry if my words seemed a bit harsh or unpolite. It is not my intention. My intention is to: find ways to solve the problem I've had until now; and if there is something that can be improved in Squirrelmail code or documentation (and I really think there is) I can also contribute to it. For this to happen, I need to be sure that I know all necessary details that involves these problem and basic similar ones, and just a few "hints" on where and how these changes/additions should be done.

> That kind of attitude will also make it less likely that you'll get support,
> whereas reading your previous inquiries, it appears to me that you are
> a dedicated SquirrelMail fan, for which we are grateful.

Yes, of course. And I repeat: if my words seemed to be freely harsh, it was not my intention. Sorry for that.

I have used Squirrelmail for around a decade or so. And it is easy, light, quick... and has most of what I need today to read emails, which is something necessary and useful in many parts of our lives today. Fancy clients?! No, thank you. Less is more - just to use overused jokes/jargons.

Regards,

André



> 
> On 9/17/15, André Z. D. A. <and...@ya...> wrote:
> 
>>> On Thu, 2015-09-17 at 06:32 -0300, André Z. D. A. wrote:
>>>
>>>> Why having a user mailing list if no one answer questions that are
>>>> natural to be asked, have no answer or documentation about them, and
>>>> probably show common problems to many users?
>>>>
>>>>> Third try. Anyone around here can give me a bit of help, please?
>>>>>
>>>>>> Maybe I started this message with the wrong sentence. So I'm writing
>>>>>> again - but assuming someone will read the original message as needed,
>>>>>> because it has all details that I imagine are needed.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> As the admin of a few Squirrelmail installations, I have reports of
>>>>>> users that can't search their messages; they are using specific IMAP
>>>>>> servers. Squirrelmail shows a strange error (see original message),
>>>>>> which does not point me to anything to solve the problem, or to find
>>>>>> the solution. May you help me?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Another problem is that clicking in the message list headers to choose
>>>>>> what field for message sorting causes an very bad error. Users cannot
>>>>>> refresh message lists anymore! There is no way for them to reset the
>>>>>> configuration. I must manually remove the sort option from each user
>>>>>> configuration file.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> With Squirrelmail configured for each of these different IMAP servers,
>>>>>> I run its configtest. No problem is pointed (see original message). So,
>>>>>> why do I have these and other problems?
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I get an error when searching my inbox for some subject. I use an IMAP
>>>>>>> server to this account.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> The error message (in Portuguese) is:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> ===============
>>>>>>> ERRO:
>>>>>>> Erro: pedido não pode ser completado.
>>>>>>> Requisição: FETCH (FLAGS UID RFC822.SIZE INTERNALDATE
>>>>>>> BODY.PEEK[HEADER.FIELDS (Date To Cc From Subject X-Priority Importance
>>>>>>> Priority Content-Type)])
>>>>>>> Razão alegada: FETCH token is invalid
>>>>>>> ===============
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Which should be something like this, in English:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> ===============
>>>>>>> ERROR:
>>>>>>> Error: request can't be completed.
>>>>>>> Request: FETCH (FLAGS UID RFC822.SIZE INTERNALDATE
>>>>>>> BODY.PEEK[HEADER.FIELDS (Date To Cc From Subject X-Priority Importance
>>>>>>> Priority Content-Type)])
>>>>>>> Informed reason: FETCH token is invalid
>>>>>>> ===============
>>>
>>> That's not a valid FETCH command that Squirrelmail is sending. It's not
>>> including the sequence set (which messages to fetch those data items
>>> for).
>>
>> Really!? That's a surprise I would never think about.
>>
>>> I assume that either your Domino server responded to a prior command
>>> (LIST probably) with something that Squirrelmail wasn't expecting or
>>> couldn't parse, or maybe there's just a very odd bug in Squirrelmail.
>>
>> I can make most tests within my server (with Squirrelmail in). I just cannot
>> make tests that are either expeting to log the servers (IMAP or SMTP)
>> internally, because they are external and inaccessible directly by me or by
>> the other Squirrelmail users. I can't imagine what a test could be, from SM.
>> I can make a setup where I can alter squirrel source code to log each
>> commands it sends. Would it be useful? And what should I look for, to log?
>> And what information can be needed (I don't know protocol details, so I
>> would need a help with this kind of things).
>>
>>> Is there any way to enable protocol logging on your Domino server so you
>>> can see every command that's sent by Squirrelmail and every response
>>> that Domino sends back?
>>
>> No. I cannot access the Domino server. As I said above, it's external. The
>> setup to use this server was the last one I have made. Although I have other
>> issues with other server too, I can search messages with them. For example,
>> with Yahoo's IMAP server (imap.mail.yahoo.com) I can search, I did it now.
>> The setup I have made to use this Domino server was initially a copy from
>> Yahoo's setup; after copying I just changed some obviously needed details
>> (like server configuration, and nothing more I can remember, if anything
>> else).
>>
>> If I patch every server action in Squirrel's functions, would it give useful
>> information for you? With some help to what information is needed, or any
>> needed details, I imagine this feasible without taking too much time.
> 
> It's unusual that an administrator does not have access to the IMAP
> server itself, and as such, you need to understand that you are thus
> severely crippled in your role and you should not thus place all of
> your expectations for support onto the one place where it seems you
> can get support. It's ironic in a way, since presumably you'd be
> paying for the IMAP server hosting, which means that hosting company
> *does* have an obligation to you. If they refuse to support your
> needs, it might be more fruitful if you take your money elsewhere
> rather than offload your frustrations here.
> 
> That said, you don't seem to be aware that it is perfectly feasible to
> monitor the IMAP traffic on the SquirrelMail machine. It doesn't
> matter where you are doing it, as long as it's somewhere between the
> two endpoints. I suggest you look up tcpdump or ngrep or something
> similar and run that on the SquirrelMail machine to capture the flow
> if IMAP commands and responses when you see this error happen.
> 
> If you also want to insert PHP code into SquirrelMail that spits out
> each IMAP command (and response) to a log, that is also very helpful.
> 
> --
> Paul Lesniewski
> SquirrelMail Team
> Please support Open Source Software by donating to SquirrelMail!
> http://squirrelmail.org/donate_paul_lesniewski.php
> 
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