Re: [Fetchmail-users] fetchmail expunge error

[Matthias A. <mat...@gm...>]

Am 26.04.21 um 14:46 schrieb Leslie Rhorer:
>
> On 4/25/2021 9:15 PM, Alan D. Salewski wrote:
>> Hi Leslie,
>>
>> On 2021-04-25 12:24:06, Leslie Rhorer <les...@si...>
>> spake thus:
>> [...]
>>
>>
>>> I was
>>> also informed the old server (inbound.att.net) is no longer active.
>>
>> I think the person who provided that information was misinformed. The
>> 'inbound.att.net' address is still active -- I am successfully using
>> it with
>> POP3. Also, it is still listed in the AT&T online help articles. E.g.,
>
>     Ha!  That's what I get for believing a corporate tech support
> weenie.  I should have known better.  I made the rather stupid mistake
> of believing him, and made the change without really checking.  Pfft! 
> I went back to the old server (with the new secure mail key, of
> course), and it all seems to be working.
>
>> Yes, the below fetchmail config line is what I use to pull mail from
>> AT&T via
>> POP3, but I am doing it from 'inbound.att.net':
>>
>>     poll inbound.att.net port 995 protocol pop3 timeout 120 uidl
>> username "my-...@at..." ssl sslcertck password
>> "MY-SECURE-MAIL-KEY-VALUE" expunge 10 fetchall
>>
>     Yep, you bet.  Thanks!  I am not even using the "expunge" verb,
> and it still seems to work so far.

Just to shed some light on this expunging:

* POP3 and IMAP separate "mark for deletion" and actual erasing of
deleted messages.

For POP3, it's simplistic, the server must remember all the "DELE 1234"
"DELE 1235" etc. These are only to execute when the client (fetchmail
for instance) sends "QUIT". Some servers are known to malfunction and
also execute stored DELE on loss of connection, which is a violation of
the protocol.

For IMAP4rev.1, the client can set \Deleted flags on mesages, and these
take effect by "EXPUNGE" or "CLOSE" commands. Fetchmail only uses
EXPUNGE, unless you either only check for mail, or set the --keep option.


And WRT a similar issue, also see
<https://sourceforge.net/p/fetchmail/mailman/fetchmail-users/thread/alpine.LFD.2.02.2005041620590.1519%40xippy/#msg37004069>
- not sure how much of that holds today, it's nearly a year old.