Normally I wouldn't bother following up such an old message, but I found this in my archive when searching for help regarding some new password problems I'm having, and it struck a nerve. (I may post more about my new problem, but in a separate thread, if I don't solve it soon.)
I'm curious whether Gerardo ever got things working. It's also interesting to see that the gmail "less secure app" issue has been around for that long. Gerardo - if you see some other more recent posts to this list, it turns out that message means only that the application does not use OAuth2, which is something Google has been pushing for a while, but it appears to be debatable whether it is really at all relevant for a standard desktop application. It's debatable (at best) whether it really indicates any security issue at all.
On 2015.04.06 15:33, Gerardo Ballabio wrote:
Thanks for your answer Peter.
In fact, when I checked my mailbox again, I found that Google sent me a message to inform that they had blocked an attempt to access my account and if that was really me, there's a configuration switch to enable access to "less secure applications".
But before I do that, as I don't know to what extent it might weaken the security of my account, I'll try changing Balsa's settings as you suggest to see whether that makes it "more secure".
Gerardo
2015-04-06 1:07 GMT+02:00, Peter Bloomfield <peterbloomfield bellsouth net>:
> Hello Gerardo!
>
> On 04/05/2015 06:48:32 PM Sun, Gerardo Ballabio wrote:
>> Hello all,
>>I tried to configure Balsa to access my gmail account with IMAP, but failed. Please help. For the moment I'm only interested in reading email, not sending.
>>Gmail instructions say I should first activate IMAP in the Gmail settings. I've done that. Then they say I should set up my email client as follows:
>> Incoming mail server (IMAP), SSL required
>> - imap.gmail.com
>> - port: 993
>> - requires SSL: yes
>>
>> So I opened Balsa, clicked Edit/Preferences/Remote mailbox
> ...
>>
>> I figured that Remote IMAP mailbox might not be the right choice and
>> tried Remote IMAP folder too.
>
> Yes, that's the right choice!
>
>> I filled the fields:
>> - Descriptive name: gmail
>> - Server: imap.gmail.com
>> - User name: gerardo ballabio gmail com
>> - Password: <my gmail password>
>> - Anonymous access: not ticked
>> - Remember password in keyring: ticked
>> - Subscribed folders only: not ticked
>> - Always show INBOX: ticked
>> - Prefix: <blank>
>> - Advanced/Use SSL: ticked
>> - Advanced/Use TLS: If Possible (greyed out)
>> - Advanced/Max number of connections: 20
>> - Advanced/Enable persistent cache: ticked
>> - Advanced/Use IDLE command: not ticked
>> - Advanced/Enable bug workarounds: not ticked
>> - Advanced/Use STATUS for mailbox checking: not ticked
>
That's a close match to what I use, except that I have ticked "Enable bug workarounds" (and "Use STATUS for mailbox checking", but that's probably irrelevant). GMail is a quirky IMAP server, and you may really need the workarounds.>
>This time it seems Balsa doesn't even let me try to open the folder: when I click on it in the left pane, it doesn't move the focus.
If using the bug workarounds doesn't fix the issue, try running Balsa from the command line with the "-D" option--you'll see a transcript of the dialog with the GMail server on the console, and it may give you a hint as to what's going wrong. Don't post the transcript to the list without *very* carefully sanitizing it, though.>
> HTH!
>
> Peter