Deleted email is not removed from the IMAP server

[drcouzelis]

I setup Haiku Mail to use Gmail with the IMAP server. When I delete an email from Haiku Mail, it is not removed from the IMAP server like it should be.

Other information: I can successfully receive and send email. Here are my settings in Haiku Mail:

IMAP
Mail server: imap.gmail.com:993
Username: myusername@gmail.com
Password: mypassword
Connection type: SSL
Remove mail from server when deleted: Yes
Top mailbox fold...: <blank>
New mail notification: none
Inbox location: /boot/home/mail/Gmail

Thank you.

[anevilyak]

Define "removed from the IMAP server" in this instance? GMail is somewhat special as far as IMAP access goes, deleting a mail only removes that particular label from it, in order to actually delete a message via IMAP over GMail you need to manually move it to Trash. c.f. ​http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=78755

[drcouzelis]

Thank you for your response. Yeesh, I didn't realize Gmail was so "special". :P Even so, I think there might still be a problem.

The behavior I expected to see was what Thunderbird does. In Thunderbird I have an "Inbox" and on www.gmail.com I have an "Inbox". There is always a 1:1 relationship with them, in regards to new email, email marked as "read", and deleted email.

Haiku Mail is behaving very differently. Haiku Mail automatically downloads new email every 5 minutes, like I told it to. It automatically marks anything it downloads as "read" on www.gmail.com, even if I haven't read it yet in Haiku Mail. When I delete an email in either Haiku Mail or on www.gmail.com, the deletion is not seen in the other.

To me, it looks like a bug, because I thought using IMAP meant "the status of my email online will exactly match what is in my application", but I might be expecting Haiku Mail to behave differently than how the developer designed it.

[stippi]

No, I think the IMAP support in Mail is simply not advanced enough, yet.

[phoudoin]

Situation could have evolved since hrev39803, but I'm not sure Mail app moves mail to trash or delete it directly. If it trash them, please could you check if this issue is not fixed now?

[drcouzelis]

I am using hrev39873. (2010-12-16)

I setup an IMAP Gmail account in "Preferences -> E-mail". Gmail settings were automatically configured.

Mail downloaded my Gmail "INBOX" and "Sent" box correctly.

The delete key, "File -> Move to Trash", and the "Trash" button in the Mail application all sent the email to the Trash _bin_. This did not delete the email from the Gmail server. (neither did emptying the trash bin)

By clicking and dragging an email from the "INBOX" folder to the "Trash" _folder_ (in "home/mail/in") it was deleted from the Gmail server almost immediately.

Also, the default Gmail server settings do not allow me to send an email. Instead, an error message appears that says:

"An error occurred while sending the message Test to <drcouzelis@…>: 530-5.5.1 Authentication Required. Learn more at 530 5.5.1 ​http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=14257 y17sm525830qci.21"

Thank you.

[stippi]

At least with my GMX account, the situation has improved a lot since hrev40399. The read/new status is synced quite well. Mails are marked as deleted on the server if and only if you use Tracker to immediately delete the files, not move them to the Trash (Shift+Delete). If you first move them to the Trash and then empty the Trash, it won't work either. Also, the mails stay on the server, but with a /Deleted flag. In GMX, it means I will still see them in the inbox folder of the web interface, only striked through. All in all, I think the problems can only be fixed when IMAP is implemented as a dedicated file system. Otherwise the combination Tracker/Mail cannot work. The dedicated file system could fake the Trash folder at the root directory, which is where Tracker or Mail would want to move deleted mails. Moving deleted mails to another IMAP folder is a better solution IMHO, since it has the undo capability (regardless of whether in Haiku or via web interface), and it doesn't leave tons of "strike through" mails in the inbox.

[waddlesplash]

Between axeld's IMAP rework and the flags changes which fix deleting emails on Gmail, this should be fixed.

An IMAP FS would be a bad idea for a variety of reasons; most of all performance. It seems the use-case mentioned here for that (detection of deleted mails) is now handled by checking if the entry-ref was moved/deleted in the mail_daemon (probably due to axeld's IMAP rework). Also, the "strike-through" mails in inbox should also be fixed.

[nielx]

Assign tickets with status=closed and resolution=fixed within the R1/beta2 development window to the R1/beta2 Milestone