dovecot - Dec 2009 - pop3+leave messages on server

hi All,

I have a srange problem.

Before dovecot there was a courier imap and it worked just fine. The 
client(s) are the same then before, so I think, this is an server side 
problem.

I have a user with Outlook and he uses pop3 and leaves messages on server.


Sometimes the messages get downloaded again, when he starts the outlook. 
Not all, but 7-9 hours back.

uidl format is like it's suggested:

  pop3_uidl_format = %08Xu%08Xv



Any idea, what's wrong and what I can do?

Thank you very much,

tamas

On Tue, 29 Dec 2009 09:48:46 +0100, Papp Tamas <tompos at martos.bme.hu>
wrote:
> hi All,
> 
> I have a srange problem.
> 
> Before dovecot there was a courier imap and it worked just fine. The 
> client(s) are the same then before, so I think, this is an server side 
> problem.
> 
> I have a user with Outlook and he uses pop3 and leaves messages on
server.
> 
> 
> Sometimes the messages get downloaded again, when he starts the outlook. 
> Not all, but 7-9 hours back.
> 
> uidl format is like it's suggested:
> 
>   pop3_uidl_format = %08Xu%08Xv
> 
> 
> 
> Any idea, what's wrong and what I can do?
> 
> Thank you very much,
> 
> tamas
Is that a problem with other MUAs too? Or is Outlook the only affected one?
You tried Thunderbird or Windows Live Mail to verify?

Regards

tobi

On 2009-12-29 3:48 AM, Papp Tamas wrote:
> I have a user with Outlook and he uses pop3 and leaves messages on server
> 
> Sometimes the messages get downloaded again, when he starts the outlook.
> Not all, but 7-9 hours back.
> 
> uidl format is like it's suggested:
> 
>  pop3_uidl_format = %08Xu%08Xv
> 
> Any idea, what's wrong and what I can do?
Syandard procedure for asking for help on a email support list is to
provide at least some basic info on your system, like, dovecot
version/output of dovecot -n, platform, filesystem, etc...

-- 

Best regards,

Charles

On Tue, 2009-12-29 at 09:48 +0100, Papp Tamas wrote:
> I have a user with Outlook and he uses pop3 and leaves messages on server.
> 
> 
> Sometimes the messages get downloaded again, when he starts the outlook. 
> Not all, but 7-9 hours back.
> 
> uidl format is like it's suggested:
> 
>   pop3_uidl_format = %08Xu%08Xv
dovecot -n output could be helpful. Also did you look at logs? Maybe
there are errors. http://wiki.dovecot.org/Logging

Anyway, the possible reasons:

1) Dovecot changed the UIDLs because something weird happened. In that
case it logged an error.

2) Did you use the courier migration script so that the UIDLs got
converted to Dovecot? If not, maybe Outlook got confused because the
UIDLs changed, and fixing it would require recreating the Outlook
account or something..

3) Outlook just doesn't like the new UIDLs and messes up itself. I think
Courier usually uses maildir filenames as UIDLs, you could have kept
doing that with pop3_uidl_format=%f. But changing it now would cause
users to redownload everything again.. With v1.2.5+ you could use
pop3_save_uidl=yes to make it possible to change UIDLs on the fly.
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 197 bytes
Desc: This is a digitally signed message part
URL:
<http://dovecot.org/pipermail/dovecot/attachments/20091229/f5783078/attachment-0002.bin>

Timo Sirainen wrote, On 2009. 12. 29. 21:08:
> dovecot -n output could be helpful. Also did you look at logs? Maybe
>   
Yes, I looked logs, I didn't found an error.

This is dovecot -n:

# 1.2.9: /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf
# OS: Linux 2.6.28-15-server x86_64 Ubuntu 9.04 xfs
protocols: imap imaps pop3 pop3s managesieve
ssl_cert_file: /data/apps/dovecot/mail.exampledomain.hu.pem
ssl_key_file: /data/apps/dovecot/mail.exampledomain.hu.pem
disable_plaintext_auth: no
login_dir: /var/run/dovecot/login
login_executable(default): /usr/lib/dovecot/imap-login
login_executable(imap): /usr/lib/dovecot/imap-login
login_executable(pop3): /usr/lib/dovecot/pop3-login
login_executable(managesieve): /usr/lib/dovecot/managesieve-login
login_user: _dovecot
verbose_proctitle: yes
first_valid_uid: 1
mail_privileged_group: dovecot
mail_uid: dovecot
mail_gid: dovecot
mail_location(default): maildir:/data/mail/%d/%n/Maildir/
mail_location(imap): maildir:/data/mail/%d/%n/Maildir/
mail_location(pop3): maildir:/data/mail/%d/%n/Maildir/
mail_location(managesieve): maildir:/data/mail/%d/%n
maildir_stat_dirs: yes
maildir_copy_preserve_filename: yes
maildir_very_dirty_syncs: yes
mbox_write_locks: fcntl dotlock
mbox_dirty_syncs: no
mail_executable(default): /usr/lib/dovecot/imap
mail_executable(imap): /usr/lib/dovecot/imap
mail_executable(pop3): /usr/lib/dovecot/pop3
mail_executable(managesieve): /usr/lib/dovecot/managesieve
mail_plugins(default): quota imap_quota deleted_to_trash
mail_plugins(imap): quota imap_quota deleted_to_trash
mail_plugins(pop3):
mail_plugins(managesieve):
mail_plugin_dir(default): /usr/lib/dovecot/modules/imap
mail_plugin_dir(imap): /usr/lib/dovecot/modules/imap
mail_plugin_dir(pop3): /usr/lib/dovecot/modules/pop3
mail_plugin_dir(managesieve): /usr/lib/dovecot/modules/managesieve
imap_client_workarounds(default): outlook-idle delay-newmail
imap_client_workarounds(imap): outlook-idle delay-newmail
imap_client_workarounds(pop3):
imap_client_workarounds(managesieve):
pop3_enable_last(default): no
pop3_enable_last(imap): no
pop3_enable_last(pop3): yes
pop3_enable_last(managesieve): no
pop3_reuse_xuidl(default): no
pop3_reuse_xuidl(imap): no
pop3_reuse_xuidl(pop3): yes
pop3_reuse_xuidl(managesieve): no
pop3_save_uidl(default): no
pop3_save_uidl(imap): no
pop3_save_uidl(pop3): yes
pop3_save_uidl(managesieve): no
pop3_client_workarounds(default):
pop3_client_workarounds(imap):
pop3_client_workarounds(pop3): outlook-no-nuls oe-ns-eoh
pop3_client_workarounds(managesieve):
lda:
  postmaster_address: root at mail.exampledomain.hu
  hostname: mail0.exampledomain.hu
  mail_plugins: quota sieve
  deliver_log_format: msgid=%m: From=<%f> %$
auth default:
  mechanisms: plain login
  default_realm: exampledomain.hu
  user: dovecot
  passdb:
    driver: sql
    args: /data/apps/dovecot/dovecot-mysql.conf
  userdb:
    driver: sql
    args: /data/apps/dovecot/dovecot-mysql.conf
  socket:
    type: listen
    client:
      path: /data/postfix/private/dovecot-auth-client
      mode: 438
      user: dovecot
      group: dovecot
    master:
      path: /var/run/dovecot/auth-master
      mode: 432
      user: dovecot
      group: dovecot
plugin:
  sieve: /data/mail/%d/%n/.sieve.dovecot
  sieve_dir: /data/mail/%d/%n
  quota: dict:User quota::proxy::quota
  quota_rule: *:storage=10GB
dict:
  quota: mysql:/data/apps/dovecot/dict-sql.conf

I didn't want to send it, because I don't know, which part is useful in 
this case.
> there are errors. http://wiki.dovecot.org/Logging
>   
Actually I've juest enabled all debugging related options, except 
password. I'm afraid, there will be too much messages.
> Anyway, the possible reasons:
>
> 1) Dovecot changed the UIDLs because something weird happened. In that
> case it logged an error.
>   
No error.
> 2) Did you use the courier migration script so that the UIDLs got
> converted to Dovecot? If not, maybe Outlook got confused because the
> UIDLs changed, and fixing it would require recreating the Outlook
> account or something..
>   
No, there was no conversation.
I was thinking about recreating the account, but it's not possible right 
now. It will be actual in 1-2 weeks.

Anyway, even if it help, there is an error, which does not happen all 
the time, still I think it's server related.
> 3) Outlook just doesn't like the new UIDLs and messes up itself. I
think
> Courier usually uses maildir filenames as UIDLs, you could have kept
> doing that with pop3_uidl_format=%f. But changing it now would cause
> users to redownload everything again.. With v1.2.5+ you could use
> pop3_save_uidl=yes to make it possible to change UIDLs on the fly.
>   
Are you sure, it can be enabled on the fly and if I use it, the mail 
won't be donwload again after changing the uidl format?

Thank you,

tamas