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El 2024-05-25 a las 08:51 -0600, Eduardo Chappa via Alpine-info escribió:
Carlos and Chime,
the loss of a session due to locking has nothing to do with imap access or
not, it has to do with the way that the messages are stored.
First, let us talk about local access. In its default configuration Alpine
uses the unix format for local folders (except in Windows, where it is called
mbx, more about this later). The unix format locks the full folder to avoid
that two users modify the folder in incompatible ways. This is the problem
that Chime is experiencing. Since only one of the alpine sessions can have a
lock, one has to lose the lock and the other one get it.
The unix format is also the default format for the UW IMAP server, so when
people access a folder in the unix format (typically inbox) through the UW
IMAP server, you will see the same issue that Chime is reporting. In other
words, the problem exists in this case because Chime is accessing a folder
that does not support concurrent access.
By the way, the reason why the second sessions steals the lock from the
first and the first does not retain its lock is exactly because of needing to
please IMAP users. Originally it was not possible to steal the lock. Once a
folder got the lock, no on could steal it, but this was contrary to remote
access, where users left their email open in the office, and they could not
access it later from home. So the University of Washington had to make the
last person to access the folder the winner of the lock.
The mbx format used by Windows Alpine does not have this issue. Every
session gets its lock and can be shared. You can have two alpine sessions
access the same folder at the same time and share all the information on
messages (for example, if a message is flagged "Answered" in one session, it
will also be flagged "Answered" in the other session without needing to
reopen the folder). If the UW IMAP server had the mbx format as default, then
concurrent IMAP access could be possible and the experience that Carlos has
with IMAP servers (such as Outlook, Gmail, GMX, etc.) could be repeated.
In summary, the appearance that IMAP allows concurrent access but Alpine
does not is just that. Concurrent access has to do with if the storage method
allows concurrent access or not. So what we know is that Chime has a folder
that does not allow it (most likely a folder in the unix format) while Carlos
has share access (for a folder that is clearly not in the unix format).
I hope this is enough information so that Chime can solve his issue.
Just to clarify, I am accessing all my local folders via imap (dovecot, on
mbox). The only direct local folder is the main inbox. If I access this
folder also via imap, then I can have concurrent Alpines.
Although I have a collection that is the local folders on mbox, I take
care not to use it, specially not when using two alpine sessions.
I use a local imap (dovecot) server precissely to be able to access my
local folders with several mail clients: Alpine, Thunderbird, evince, etc.
- --
Cheers,
Carlos E. R.
(from openSUSE 15.5 x86_64 at Telcontar)
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