dovecot - Jan 2010 - Sorting in IMAP list command?

Hi All,

I'm running Dovecot 1.2.9 and have noticed the IMAP list command does 
not appear to send a sorted list of folders with list command.  For 
example on our Cyrus server I get a sorted list of folders (with INBOX 
listed first):

2 list "" "*"
* LIST (\Noinferiors) "/" "INBOX"
* LIST (\HasNoChildren) "/" "CalProject"
* LIST (\HasNoChildren) "/" "Deleted Messages"
* LIST (\HasNoChildren) "/" "Drafts"
...

while on our Dovecot server I get seemingly random listing:

2 list "" "*"
* LIST (\HasNoChildren) "/" "lsf"
* LIST (\HasNoChildren) "/" "mrg"
* LIST (\HasNoChildren) "/" "studiosysadmins"
* LIST (\HasNoChildren) "/" "Deleted Messages"
* LIST (\HasNoChildren) "/" "TriTeam"
* LIST (\HasNoChildren) "/" "systemupdates"
* LIST (\HasNoChildren) "/" "bb"
* LIST (\HasNoChildren) "/" "nagios"
* LIST (\HasNoChildren) "/" "server"
...

Is this intentional, or have I done something wrong?  I didn't see any 
option in the dovecot.conf to set the behavior of the list output.

Here is `dovecot -n`:

# 1.2.9: /usr/local/etc/dovecot.conf
# OS: Linux 2.6.18-164.6.1.el5 x86_64 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 
release 5.4 (Tikanga) nfs
protocols: imap imaps managesieve
ssl_cert_file: /etc/pki/dovecot/certs/dovecot.pem
ssl_key_file: /etc/pki/dovecot/private/dovecot.pem
disable_plaintext_auth: no
login_dir: /usr/local/var/run/dovecot/login
login_executable(default): /usr/local/libexec/dovecot/imap-login
login_executable(imap): /usr/local/libexec/dovecot/imap-login
login_executable(managesieve): /usr/local/libexec/dovecot/managesieve-login
mail_access_groups: BOLT
mail_location: maildir:/var/dovecot/imap/%u/Maildir
mmap_disable: yes
mail_nfs_storage: yes
mail_nfs_index: yes
mail_executable(default): /usr/local/libexec/dovecot/imap
mail_executable(imap): /usr/local/libexec/dovecot/imap
mail_executable(managesieve): /usr/local/libexec/dovecot/managesieve
mail_plugins(default): acl imap_acl autocreate
mail_plugins(imap): acl imap_acl autocreate
mail_plugins(managesieve):
mail_plugin_dir(default): /usr/local/lib/dovecot/imap
mail_plugin_dir(imap): /usr/local/lib/dovecot/imap
mail_plugin_dir(managesieve): /usr/local/lib/dovecot/managesieve
namespace:
  type: private
  separator: /
  inbox: yes
  list: yes
  subscriptions: yes
namespace:
  type: public
  separator: /
  prefix: Public/
  location: 
maildir:/var/dovecot/imap/public:CONTROL=/var/dovecot/imap/%u/Maildir/public:INDEX=/var/dovecot/imap/%u/Maildir/public
  list: yes
namespace:
  type: public
  separator: /
  prefix: Boltlogs/
  location: 
maildir:/var/dovecot/imap/boltlogs/Maildir/:CONTROL=/var/dovecot/imap/%u/Maildir/public-boltlogs:INDEX=/var/dovecot/imap/%u/Maildir/public-boltlogs
  list: yes
lda:
  postmaster_address: postmaster at example.com
  mail_plugins: sieve acl
  mail_plugin_dir: /usr/local/lib/dovecot/lda/
auth default:
  passdb:
    driver: pam
  userdb:
    driver: passwd
plugin:
  acl: vfile
  sieve: /var/dovecot/imap/%u/home/.dovecot.sieve
  sieve_dir: /var/dovecot/imap/%u/home/sieve
  home: /var/dovecot/imap/%u/home
  autocreate: Trash
  autosubscribe: Trash

Cheers,
Ron

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Hi Ronald,

On 2010-01-05 09:19, Ronald Johnson wrote:
> Hi All,
> 
> I'm running Dovecot 1.2.9 and have noticed the IMAP list command does
> not appear to send a sorted list of folders with list command.  For
> example on our Cyrus server I get a sorted list of folders (with INBOX
> listed first):
> 
> 2 list "" "*"
> * LIST (\Noinferiors) "/" "INBOX"
> * LIST (\HasNoChildren) "/" "CalProject"
> * LIST (\HasNoChildren) "/" "Deleted Messages"
> * LIST (\HasNoChildren) "/" "Drafts"
> ...
> 
> while on our Dovecot server I get seemingly random listing:
[...]

RFC 3501 section 6.3.8. doesn't say anything about sorting, and it says
"The LIST command SHOULD return its data quickly, without undue
delay."
- - so I guess it's up to the client to do the sorting?

Patrick.

- -- 
STAR Software (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.            http://www.star-group.net/
Phone:    +86 (21) 3462 7688 x 826             Fax:   +86 (21) 3462 7779

PGP key E883A005 https://stshacom1.star-china.net/keys/patrick_nagel.asc
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On 5.1.2010, at 3.19, Ronald Johnson wrote:
> I'm running Dovecot 1.2.9 and have noticed the IMAP list command does
not appear to send a sorted list of folders with list command.
I thought all IMAP clients did the sorting internally. So yeah, I haven't
added extra unnecessary code for it. Although I think if you're using
Maildir (with Maildir++ layout) it'll get sorted.