Re: [Evolution] POP or IMAP

["Peter von Kaehne" <Spam dump gmx de>]

> Von: Andre Klapper <ak-47 gmx net>

> On Wed, 2013-01-23 at 08:28 +0100, Peter von Kaehne wrote:
> > And awilliam@ is most certainly wrong that POP is inappropriate to use
> > on an account shared with several devices. 
>
> Errm, no.
> POP was simply NOT made for being moved on several devices. Sure there
> are hacks and workarounds out there (like "Leave messages on server")

If you want to call it a workaround, feel free. It certainly functions well and seems to be part of the 
relevant RFCs.... 

> but IMAP was designed with this problem in mind at least (of course any
> implementation could still do things wrong though).

As I said, IMAP is more powerful, but you can create more mess. Specifically around accidental deleting 
(which then syncs itself over to all other devices), but also with planned major moves/deletes when something 
goes wrong. 

> > On the other side you have your email secure on the local server and
> > when you lose access to your server account, move it or get hacked
> > they are still there on your local PC. 
>
> That's the same case for IMAP if you download messages for offline use.

Yes. But it is an extra step. Right now the OP has a working setup. He appears clueless as to how to set up 
something new. And the proposed solution has a large number of potential pitfalls. 

> > IMAP on the other side can be very fickle when several devices access
> > the same mailbox. If you have not used it before - there are many new
> > ways of losing email permanently. 
>
> I can imagine problems (and sometimes face problems with IMAP in
> Evolution myself), but I'd state the same about POP (which I have more
> problems with in Evolution).

I find Evolution handles IMAP really badly and do not use it anymore for any mail downloading purposes. I 
like it for its GUI, but the mail handling is crappy. The worst part is the storage of emails in mbox like 
stuff. It is slow and buggy once emails become a few thousand. Deletes and moves lead to constant freezes, 
crashes and general sluggishness, which in turn leads to all kinds of unstable situations and corrupted mail. 
And that is with a local mailserver. 

Using it across a fragile internet connection is a prescription for serious pain. Not that Thunderbird is 
better on that count. 

Where I use IMAP I use offlineimap and allow Evolution solely to look at and handle local Maildirs. It does 
this well. 

Evolution POP3 with "leave on server" is fine. Not as useful as what you can build around IMAP with some 
knowledge, but it works for the OP and what is on offer is at least at the immediate level worse _for_him_.

Peter