[Evolution-hackers] More on message state

[Ross Boylan <ross biostat ucsf edu>]

After poking around, I discovered that although "follow up" status is
not preserved on copy, and is not kept on the IMAP server even where it
exists, the colored labels are preserved on copy and are kept on the
IMAP server (as $Label1, etc).

So I think I have a solution to my immediate problem:
1) get all messages marked for followup together (e.g., by sorting or
vfolder).
2) select them all
3) right click | label | ToDo.
4) copy the folder.

If I look at the folder from different evo clients, they should all show
the ToDo status (whereas the "FollowUp" status is kept with the client).

There do seem to more types of message status, and more ways of handling
them internally, then necessary.  I think the situation is this

Replied, seen, and other "standard" IMAP status information is kept in a
bit mask in a single word and stored in the standard IMAP flags.  These
are copied.

"Labels" that affect coloring (e.g., To Do) are kept in a special info
structure, and stored on the IMAP server in custom flags $Label1, 2,
etc.  (It might be better to use flags with meaningful names, though
that does increase the risk of clashingn with other uses of those names.
On the other hand, another app that sets a ToDo flag prbably means the
same thing as evolution does).  These are copied.

"Mark for followup" and its attendent substates--I'm not sure how this
is handled internally, though it may be the string-valued user tags.  It
is not kept on the IMAP server, and is not copied.

Ross