dovecot - Oct 2008 - Best configuration of dovecot for limit Outlook problems with IMAP

Hi,

in some installation where users using IMAP and Outlook Express I have some 
problems.

Outolook randomly presents problems in messages retrieving, for example:

"Outlook Express is unable to retrieve the requested message because the 
server no longer has the message available.... server response: Fecth 
Completed"

or

"Message could not be displayed" error message when I try to view an
Outlook
Express e-mail message

I'm using dovecot 1.1.4 with qmail and vpopmail.

This is my dovecot configure options:

./configure --prefix=/usr --sysconfdir=/etc/dovecot --localstatedir=/var
--with-ssldir=/etc/ssl

and this my dovecot config:

# dovecot -n
# 1.1.4: /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf
log_path: /var/log/dovecot/dovecot-err.log
info_log_path: /var/log/dovecot/dovecot.log
ssl_cert_file: /etc/apache2/ssl/comun.crt
ssl_key_file: /etc/apache2/ssl/comun.key
disable_plaintext_auth: no
login_dir: /var/run/dovecot/login
login_executable: /usr/libexec/dovecot/imap-login
login_greeting: Ready
login_process_per_connection: no
first_valid_uid: 89
last_valid_uid: 89
first_valid_gid: 89
last_valid_gid: 89
mail_uid: 89
mail_gid: 89
mail_location: maildir:~/Maildir
mail_debug: yes
mail_plugins: quota imap_quota
imap_client_workarounds: outlook-idle delay-newmail
namespace:
  type: private
  separator: .
  prefix: INBOX.
  inbox: yes
  list: yes
  subscriptions: yes
auth default:
  verbose: yes
  debug: yes
  passdb:
    driver: checkpassword
    args: /home/vpopmail/bin/vchkpw
  userdb:
    driver: prefetch
    args: uid=89 gid=89 home=/home/vpopmail/domains/%d/%u
plugin:
  quota: maildir

What further changes to the configuration of dovecot could I do?
	
Do you have other suggestions?

Thanks
-- 
Alessio Cecchi is:
@ ILS -> http://www.linux.it/~alessice/
Assistenza Sistemi GNU/Linux -> http://www.cecchi.biz/
@ PLUG -> ex-Presidente, adesso senatore a vita, http://www.prato.linux.it
@ LOLUG -> neo-Socio http://www.lolug.net

On Thu, 2008-10-23 at 18:53 +0200, Alessio Cecchi wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> in some installation where users using IMAP and Outlook Express I have some
> problems.
> 
> Outolook randomly presents problems in messages retrieving, for example:
> 
> "Outlook Express is unable to retrieve the requested message because
the
> server no longer has the message available.... server response: Fecth 
> Completed"
"Fetch completed" is a success reply. Is there anything in
Dovecot's
logs?
> "Message could not be displayed" error message when I try to view
an Outlook
> Express e-mail message
Have you set synchronization to "headers only"? If so, this error
message can happen and there's nothing the IMAP server can do about it.
> What further changes to the configuration of dovecot could I do?
My guess is that OE is just buggy and there's nothing that can be done
to fix it.

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>
> My guess is that OE is just buggy and there's nothing that can be done
> to fix it.
>   
That's also my view. Or, to use a more neutral term: Outlook and Outlook 
Express do support IMAP, but their support of the IMAP format is limited.
For an IMAP mail server, they are probably not the best client to use.

JC

Recently I encountered a situation where Outlook Express was giving me a 
similar error, although it was only on certain emails.  It started when 
I tried to tell Outlook Express to synchronize less than 'All messages' 
and I must have used 'New headers' or something instead.  Switching it 
back to 'All messages' made it continue to download the entire body + 
headers of new mail, but they were accessible.  For the messages that 
were inaccessible,
to regain access I had to select them, right click the selection, click 
"Move to Folder", and select the Inbox under the same mail server,
then
Click "Send/Recv" and the fixed messages would appear. 

Alessio Cecchi wrote:
> Hi,
>
> in some installation where users using IMAP and Outlook Express I have some
> problems.
>
> Outolook randomly presents problems in messages retrieving, for example:
>
> "Outlook Express is unable to retrieve the requested message because
the
> server no longer has the message available.... server response: Fecth 
> Completed"
>
> or
>
> "Message could not be displayed" error message when I try to view
an Outlook
> Express e-mail message
>
> I'm using dovecot 1.1.4 with qmail and vpopmail.
>
> This is my dovecot configure options:
>
> ./configure --prefix=/usr --sysconfdir=/etc/dovecot --localstatedir=/var
--with-ssldir=/etc/ssl
>
> and this my dovecot config:
>
> # dovecot -n
> # 1.1.4: /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf
> log_path: /var/log/dovecot/dovecot-err.log
> info_log_path: /var/log/dovecot/dovecot.log
> ssl_cert_file: /etc/apache2/ssl/comun.crt
> ssl_key_file: /etc/apache2/ssl/comun.key
> disable_plaintext_auth: no
> login_dir: /var/run/dovecot/login
> login_executable: /usr/libexec/dovecot/imap-login
> login_greeting: Ready
> login_process_per_connection: no
> first_valid_uid: 89
> last_valid_uid: 89
> first_valid_gid: 89
> last_valid_gid: 89
> mail_uid: 89
> mail_gid: 89
> mail_location: maildir:~/Maildir
> mail_debug: yes
> mail_plugins: quota imap_quota
> imap_client_workarounds: outlook-idle delay-newmail
> namespace:
>   type: private
>   separator: .
>   prefix: INBOX.
>   inbox: yes
>   list: yes
>   subscriptions: yes
> auth default:
>   verbose: yes
>   debug: yes
>   passdb:
>     driver: checkpassword
>     args: /home/vpopmail/bin/vchkpw
>   userdb:
>     driver: prefetch
>     args: uid=89 gid=89 home=/home/vpopmail/domains/%d/%u
> plugin:
>   quota: maildir
>
> What further changes to the configuration of dovecot could I do?
> 	
> Do you have other suggestions?
>
> Thanks
>

Generally a straightforward way to cure suche MS client errors is to 
remove the account in Outlook or OE and re-create it. One can also 
delete the cache files for the account but the first way is more 
explainable to a user.

JC