docker-offlineimap/offlineimap/head/manual.html

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<h1 align=center>OFFLINEIMAP</h1>
<a href="#NAME">NAME</a><br>
<a href="#SYNOPSIS">SYNOPSIS</a><br>
<a href="#DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</a><br>
<a href="#INSTALLATION">INSTALLATION</a><br>
<a href="#CONFIGURATION">CONFIGURATION</a><br>
<a href="#OPTIONS">OPTIONS</a><br>
<a href="#USER INTERFACES">USER INTERFACES</a><br>
<a href="#EXAMPLES">EXAMPLES</a><br>
<a href="#ERRORS">ERRORS</a><br>
<a href="#OTHER FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS">OTHER FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS</a><br>
<a href="#CONFORMING TO">CONFORMING TO</a><br>
<a href="#NOTES">NOTES</a><br>
<a href="#BUGS">BUGS</a><br>
<a href="#COPYRIGHT">COPYRIGHT</a><br>
<a href="#AUTHOR">AUTHOR</a><br>
<a href="#SEE ALSO">SEE ALSO</a><br>

<hr>
<a name="NAME"></a>
<h2>NAME</h2>
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<p>OfflineIMAP &minus; Powerful IMAP/Maildir synchronization
and reader support</p>
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<a name="SYNOPSIS"></a>
<h2>SYNOPSIS</h2>
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<p><b>offlineimap</b> [ <b>&minus;1</b> ] [ <b>&minus;P</b>
<i>profiledir</i> ] [ <b>&minus;a</b> <i>accountlist</i> ] [
<b>&minus;c</b> <i>configfile</i> ] [ <b>&minus;d</b>
<i>debugtype[,debugtype...]</i> ] [ <b>&minus;o</b> ] [
<b>&minus;u</b> <i>interface</i> ]</p>
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<p><b>offlineimap &minus;h</b> |
<b>&minus;&minus;help</b></p>
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<a name="DESCRIPTION"></a>
<h2>DESCRIPTION</h2>
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<p><b>OfflineIMAP</b> is a tool to simplify your e-mail
reading. With <b>OfflineIMAP,</b> you can read the same
mailbox from multiple computers. You get a current copy of
your messages on each computer, and changes you make one
place will be visible on all other systems. For instance,
you can delete a message on your home computer, and it will
appear deleted on your work computer as well.
<b>OfflineIMAP</b> is also useful if you want to use a mail
reader that does not have IMAP support, has poor IMAP
support, or does not provide disconnected operation.</p>
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<p><b>OfflineIMAP</b> is <i>FAST;</i> it synchronizes my two
accounts with over 50 folders in 3 seconds. Other similar
tools might take over a minute, and achieve a less-reliable
result. Some mail readers can take over 10 minutes to do the
same thing, and some don&rsquo;t even support it at all.
Unlike other mail tools, <b>OfflineIMAP</b> features a
multi-threaded synchronization algorithm that can
dramatically speed up performance in many situations by
synchronizing several different things simultaneously.</p>
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<p><b>OfflineIMAP</b> is <i>FLEXIBLE;</i> you can customize
which folders are synced via regular expressions, lists, or
Python expressions; a versatile and comprehensive
configuration file is used to control behavior; two user
interfaces are built-in; fine-tuning of synchronization
performance is possible; internal or external automation is
supported; SSL and PREAUTH tunnels are both supported;
offline (or &quot;unplugged&quot;) reading is supported; and
esoteric IMAP features are supported to ensure compatibility
with the widest variety of IMAP servers.</p>
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<p><b>OfflineIMAP</b> is <i>SAFE;</i> it uses an algorithm
designed to prevent mail loss at all costs. Because of the
design of this algorithm, even programming errors should not
result in loss of mail. I am so confident in the algorithm
that I use my own personal and work accounts for testing of
<b>OfflineIMAP</b> pre-release, development, and beta
releases.</p>
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<p><b>METHOD OF OPERATION</b></p></td>
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<p><b>OfflineIMAP</b> operates by maintaining a hierarchy of
mail folders in Maildir format locally. Your own mail reader
will read mail from this tree, and need never know that the
mail comes from IMAP. <b>OfflineIMAP</b> will detect changes
to the mail folders on your IMAP server and your own
computer and bi-directionally synchronize them, copying,
marking, and deleting messages as necessary.</p>
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<a name="INSTALLATION"></a>
<h2>INSTALLATION</h2>
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<p>If you are reading this document via the &quot;man&quot;
command, it is likely that you have no installation tasks to
perform; your system administrator has already installed it.
If you need to install it yourself, you have three options:
a system-wide installation with Debian, system-wide
installation with other systems, and a single-user
installation. You can download the latest version of
OfflineIMAP from http://quux.org/devel/offlineimap/.</p>
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<p><b>PREREQUISITES</b></p></td>
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<p>In order to use OfflineIMAP, you need to have these
conditions satisfied:</p>
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<p>&bull;</p>
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<p>Your mail server must support IMAP. Most Internet
Service Providers and corporate networks do, and most
operating systems have an IMAP implementation readily
available.</p>
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<p>&bull;</p>
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<p>You must have Python version 2.2.1 or above installed.
If you are running on Debian GNU/Linux, this requirement
will automatically be taken care of for you. If you do not
have Python already, check with your system administrator or
operating system vendor; or, download it from
http://www.python.org/. If you intend to use the Tk
interface, you must have Tkinter (python-tk) installed. If
you intend to use the SSL interface, your Python must have
been built with SSL support.</p>
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<p>&bull;</p>
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<p>Have a mail reader that supports the Maildir mailbox
format. Most modern mail readers have this support built-in,
so you can choose from a wide variety of mail servers. This
format is also known as the &quot;qmail&quot; format, so any
mail reader compatible with it will work with
OfflineIMAP.</p>
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<p><b>DEBIAN SYSTEM-WIDE INSTALLATION</b></p></td>
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<p>If you are tracking Debian unstable, you may install
<b>OfflineIMAP</b> by simply running the following command
as root:</p>
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<p><b>apt-get install offlineimap</b></p>
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<p>If you are not tracking Debian unstable, download the
Debian .deb package from the OfflineIMAP website and then
run <b>dpkg -i</b> to install the downloaded package. Then,
go to CONFIGURATION below. You will type <b>offlineimap</b>
to invoke the program.</p>
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<p><b>OTHER SYSTEM-WIDE INSTALLATION</b></p></td>
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<p>Download the tar.gz version of the package from the
website. Then run these commands, making sure that you are
the &quot;root&quot; user first:</p>
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<p><b>tar -zxvf offlineimap_x.y.z.tar.gz<br>
cd offlineimap-x.y.z<br>
python2.2 setup.py install</b></p>
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<p>Some systems will need to use <b>python</b> instead of
<b>python2.2.</b> Next, proceed to configuration. You will
type <b>offlineimap</b> to invoke the program.</p>
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<p><b>SINGLE-ACCOUNT INSTALLATION</b></p></td>
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<p>Download the tar.gz version of the package from the
website. Then run these commands:</p>
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<p><b>tar -zxvf offlineimap-x.y.z.tar.gz<br>
cd offlineimap-x.y.z</b></p>
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<p>When you want to run <b>OfflineIMAP,</b> you will issue
the <b>cd</b> command as above and then type
<b>./offlineimap.py;</b> there is no installation step
necessary.</p>
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<a name="CONFIGURATION"></a>
<h2>CONFIGURATION</h2>
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<p><b>OfflineIMAP</b> is regulated by a configuration file
that is normally stored in <i>~/.offlineimaprc.</i>
<b>OfflineIMAP</b> ships with a file named
<i>offlineimap.conf</i> that you should copy to that
location and then edit. This file is vital to proper
operation of the system; it sets everything you need to run
<b>OfflineIMAP.</b> Full documentation for the configuration
file is included within the sample file.</p>
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<p><b>OfflineIMAP</b> also ships a file named
<i>offlineimap.conf.minimal</i> that you can also try.
It&rsquo;s useful if you want to get started with the most
basic feature set, and you can read about other features
later with <i>offlineimap.conf.</i></p>
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<a name="OPTIONS"></a>
<h2>OPTIONS</h2>
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<p>Most configuration is done via the configuration file.
Nevertheless, there are a few options that you may set for
<b>OfflineIMAP.</b></p>
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<p><b>&minus;1</b></p>
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<p>Disable all multithreading operations and use solely a
single-thread sync. This effectively sets the
<b>maxsyncaccounts</b> and all <b>maxconnections</b>
configuration file variables to 1.</p>
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<p><b>&minus;P</b> <i>profiledir</i></p></td>
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<p>Sets <b>OfflineIMAP</b> into profile mode. The program
will create <b>profiledir</b> (it must not already exist).
As it runs, Python profiling information about each thread
is logged into profiledir. Please note: This option is
present for debugging and optimization only, and should NOT
be used unless you have a specific reason to do so. It will
significantly slow program performance, may reduce
reliability, and can generate huge amounts of data. You must
use the <b>&minus;1</b> option when you use <b>-P.</b></p>
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<p><b>&minus;a</b> <i>accountlist</i></p></td>
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<p>Overrides the <b>accounts</b> section in the config file.
Lets you specify a particular account or set of accounts to
sync without having to edit the config file. You might use
this to exclude certain accounts, or to sync some accounts
that you normally prefer not to.</p>
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<p><b>&minus;c</b> <i>configfile</i></p></td>
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<p>Specifies a configuration file to use in lieu of the
default, <i>~/.offlineimaprc.</i></p>
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<p><b>&minus;d</b> <i>debugtype[,debugtype...]</i></p></td>
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<p>Enables debugging for OfflineIMAP. This is useful if you
are trying to track down a malfunction or figure out what is
going on under the hood. I suggest that you use this with
<b>&minus;1</b> in order to make the results more
sensible.</p>
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<p>-d now requires one or more debugtypes, separated by
commas. These define what exactly will be debugged, and so
far include two options: <b>imap</b> and <b>maildir.</b> The
<b>imap</b> option will enable IMAP protocol stream and
parsing debugging. Note that the output may contain
passwords, so take care to remove that from the debugging
output before sending it to anyone else. The <b>maildir</b>
option will enable debugging for certain Maildir
operations.</p>
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<p><b>&minus;o</b></p>
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<p>Run only once, ignoring any autorefresh setting in the
config file.</p>
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<p><b>&minus;h, &minus;&minus;help</b></p></td>
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<p>Show summary of options.</p>
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<p><b>&minus;u</b> <i>interface</i></p></td>
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<p>Specifies an alternative user interface module to use.
This overrides the default specified in the configuration
file. The UI specified with <b>-u</b> will be forced to be
used, even if its <b>isuable()</b> method states that it
cannot be. Use this option with care. The pre-defined
options are listed in the USER INTERFACES section.</p>
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<h2>USER INTERFACES</h2>
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<p><b>OfflineIMAP</b> has a pluggable user interface system
that lets you choose how the program communicates
information to you. There are two graphical interfaces, two
terminal interfaces, and two noninteractive interfaces
suitable for scripting or logging purposes. The <i>ui</i>
option in the configuration file specifies the user
interface preferences. The <i>&minus;u</i> command-line
option can override the configuration file. The available
values for the configuration file or command-line are
describef in this section.</p>
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<p><b>Tk.Blinkenlights or Curses.Blinkenlights</b></p></td>
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<p>This is an interface designed to be sleek, fun to watch,
and informative of the overall picture of what
<b>OfflineIMAP</b> is doing. I consider it to be the best
general-purpose interface in <b>OfflineIMAP.</b>
Tk.Blinkenlights contains, by default, a small window with a
row of LEDs and a row of command buttons. The total size of
the window is very small, so it uses little desktop space,
yet it is quite functional. There is also an optional,
toggable, log that shows more detail about what is happening
and is color-coded to match the color of the lights.</p>
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<p>Curses.Blinkenlights is an interface very similar to
Tk.Blinkenlights, but is designed to be run in a console
window (an xterm, Linux virtual terminal, etc.) Since it
doesn&rsquo;t have access to graphics, it isn&rsquo;t quite
as pretty, but it still gets the job done.</p>
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<p>Tk.Blinkenlights is the only user interface that has
configurable parameters; see the example
<i>offlineimap.conf</i> for more details.</p>
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<p>Each light in the Tk.Blinkenlights or
Curses.Blinkenlights interface represents a thread of
execution -- that is, a particular task that
<b>OfflineIMAP</b> is performing right now. The color
indicates what task the particular thread is performing, and
are as follows:</p>
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<p><b>Black</b></p>
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<p>indicates that this light&rsquo;s thread has terminated;
it will light up again later when new threads start up. So,
black indicates no activity.</p>
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<p><b>Red (Meaning 1)</b></p></td>
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<p>is the color of the main program&rsquo;s thread, which
basically does nothing but monitor the others. It might
remind you of HAL 9000 in <i>2001.</i></p>
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<p><b>Gray</b></p>
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<p>indicates that the thread is establishing a new
connection to the IMAP server.</p>
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<p><b>Purple</b></p>
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<p>is the color of an account synchronization thread that
is monitoring the progress of the folders in that account
(not generating any I/O).</p>
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<p><b>Cyan</b></p>
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<p>indicates that the thread is syncing a folder.</p>
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<p><b>Green</b></p>
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<p>means that a folder&rsquo;s message list is being
loaded.</p>
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<td width="11%"></td>
<td width="10%">

<p><b>Blue</b></p>
</td>
<td width="77%">

<p>is the color of a message synchronization controller
thread.</p>
</td>
<tr valign="top" align="left">
<td width="11%"></td>
<td width="10%">

<p><b>Orange</b></p>
</td>
<td width="77%">

<p>indicates that an actual message is being copied.</p>
</td>
</table>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
       cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr valign="top" align="left">
<td width="10%"></td>
<td width="89%">
<p><b>Red (Meaning 2)</b></p></td>
</table>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
       cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr valign="top" align="left">
<td width="21%"></td>
<td width="77%">
<p>indicates that a message is being deleted.</p>
</td>
</table>
<!-- TABS -->
<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
       cols="4" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr valign="top" align="left">
<td width="11%"></td>
<td width="8%">

<p><b>Yellow</b></p>
</td>
<td width="1%"></td>
<td width="77%">

<p>(bright orange) indicates that message flags are being
added.</p>
</td>
<tr valign="top" align="left">
<td width="11%"></td>
<td width="8%">

<p><b>Pink</b></p>
</td>
<td width="1%"></td>
<td width="77%">

<p>(bright red) indicates that message flags are being
removed.</p>
</td>
</table>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
       cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr valign="top" align="left">
<td width="10%"></td>
<td width="89%">
<p><b>Red / Black Flashing</b></p></td>
</table>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
       cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr valign="top" align="left">
<td width="21%"></td>
<td width="77%">
<p>corresponds to the countdown timer that runs between
synchronizations.</p>
</td>
</table>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
       cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr valign="top" align="left">
<td width="10%"></td>
<td width="89%">
<p>The name of this interface derives from a bit of computer
science history. Eric Raymond&rsquo;s <i>Jargon File</i>
defines blinkenlights, in part, as:</p>
</td>
</table>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
       cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr valign="top" align="left">
<td width="20%"></td>
<td width="79%">
<p>Front-panel diagnostic lights on a computer, esp. a
dinosaur. Now that dinosaurs are rare, this term usually
refers to status lights on a modem, network hub, or the
like.</p>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<p>This term derives from the last word of the famous
blackletter-Gothic sign in mangled pseudo-German that once
graced about half the computer rooms in the English-speaking
world. One version ran in its entirety as follows:</p>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<p><b>ACHTUNG! ALLES LOOKENSPEEPERS!</b></p>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<p>Das computermachine ist nicht fuer gefingerpoken und
mittengrabben. Ist easy schnappen der springenwerk,
blowenfusen und poppencorken mit spitzensparken. Ist nicht
fuer gewerken bei das dumpkopfen. Das rubbernecken
sichtseeren keepen das cotten-pickenen hans in das pockets
muss; relaxen und watchen das blinkenlichten.</p>
</td>
</table>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
       cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr valign="top" align="left">
<td width="4%"></td>
<td width="95%">
<p><b>Tk.VerboseUI</b></p></td>
</table>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
       cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr valign="top" align="left">
<td width="10%"></td>
<td width="89%">
<p>This interface (formerly known as Tk.TkUI) is a graphical
interface that presents a variable-sized window. In the
window, each currently-executing thread has a section where
its name and current status are displayed. This interface is
best suited to people running on slower connections, as you
get a lot of detail, but for fast connections, the detail
may go by too quickly to be useful. People with fast
connections may wish to use Tk.Blinkenlights instead.</p>
</td>
</table>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
       cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr valign="top" align="left">
<td width="4%"></td>
<td width="95%">
<p><b>TTY.TTYUI</b></p></td>
</table>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
       cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr valign="top" align="left">
<td width="10%"></td>
<td width="89%">
<p>This interface is the default for people running in
terminals. It prints out basic status messages and is
generally friendly to use on a console or xterm.</p>
</td>
</table>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
       cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr valign="top" align="left">
<td width="4%"></td>
<td width="95%">
<p><b>Noninteractive.Basic</b></p></td>
</table>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
       cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr valign="top" align="left">
<td width="10%"></td>
<td width="89%">
<p>This interface is designed for situations where
<b>OfflineIMAP</b> will be run non-attended and the status
of its execution will be logged. You might use it, for
instance, to have the system run automatically and e-mail
you the results of the synchronization. This user interface
is not capable of reading a password from the keyboard;
account passwords must be specified using one of the
configuration file options.</p>
</td>
</table>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
       cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr valign="top" align="left">
<td width="4%"></td>
<td width="95%">
<p><b>Noninteractive.Quiet</b></p></td>
</table>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
       cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr valign="top" align="left">
<td width="10%"></td>
<td width="89%">
<p>This interface is designed for non-attended running in
situations where normal status messages are not desired. It
will output nothing except errors and serious warnings. Like
Noninteractive.Basic, this user interface is not capable of
reading a password from the keyboard; account passwords must
be specified using one of the configuration file
options.</p>
</td>
</table>
<a name="EXAMPLES"></a>
<h2>EXAMPLES</h2>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
       cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr valign="top" align="left">
<td width="10%"></td>
<td width="89%">
<p>Here is an example configuration for a particularly
complex situation; more examples will be added later.</p>
</td>
</table>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
       cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr valign="top" align="left">
<td width="4%"></td>
<td width="95%">
<p><b>MULTIPLE ACCOUNTS WITH MUTT</b></p></td>
</table>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
       cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr valign="top" align="left">
<td width="10%"></td>
<td width="89%">
<p>This example shows you how to set up <b>OfflineIMAP</b>
to synchronize multiple accounts with the mutt mail
reader.</p>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<p>Start by creating a directory to hold your
folders:<b><br>
mkdir ~/Mail</b></p>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<p>In your <i>~/.offlineimaprc,</i> specify this:<b><br>
accounts = Personal, Work</b></p>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<p>Make sure that you have both a <b>[Personal]</b> and a
<b>[Work]</b> section, with different localfolder pathnames
and enable <b>[mbnames].</b></p>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<p>In each account section, do something like this:<b><br>
localfolders = ~/Mail/Personal</b></p>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<p>Add these lines to your <i>~/.muttrc:</i><b><br>
source ~/path-to-mbnames-muttrc-mailboxes<br>
folder-hook Personal set
from=&quot;youremail@personal.com&quot;<br>
folder-hook Work set from=&quot;youremail@work.com&quot;<br>
set mbox_type=Maildir<br>
set folder=$HOME/Mail<br>
set spoolfile=+Personal/INBOX</b></p>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<p>That&rsquo;s it!</p>
</td>
</table>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
       cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr valign="top" align="left">
<td width="4%"></td>
<td width="95%">
<p><b>UW-IMAPD AND REFERENCES</b></p></td>
</table>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
       cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr valign="top" align="left">
<td width="10%"></td>
<td width="89%">
<p>Some users with a UW-IMAPD server need to use
<b>OfflineIMAP&rsquo;s</b> &quot;reference&quot; feature to
get at their mailboxes, specifying a reference of
&quot;~/Mail&quot; or &quot;#mh/&quot; depending on the
configuration. The below configuration from docwhat@gerf.org
shows using a reference of Mail, a nametrans that strips the
leading Mail/ off incoming folder names, and a folderfilter
that limits the folders synced to just three.</p>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<p><b>[Gerf]<br>
localfolders = ~/Mail<br>
remotehost = gerf.org<br>
ssl = yes<br>
remoteuser = docwhat<br>
reference = Mail<br>
# Trims off the preceeding Mail on all the folder names.<br>
nametrans = lambda foldername: \<br>
re.sub(&rsquo;^Mail/&rsquo;, &rsquo;&rsquo;, foldername)<br>
# Yeah, you have to mention the Mail dir, even though it<br>
# would seem intuitive that reference would trim it.<br>
folderfilter = lambda foldername: foldername in [<br>
&rsquo;Mail/INBOX&rsquo;,<br>
&rsquo;Mail/list/zaurus-general&rsquo;,<br>
&rsquo;Mail/list/zaurus-dev&rsquo;,<br>
]<br>
maxconnections = 1<br>
holdconnectionopen = no</b></p>
</td>
</table>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
       cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr valign="top" align="left">
<td width="4%"></td>
<td width="95%">
<p><b>PYTHONFILE CONFIGURATION FILE OPTION</b></p></td>
</table>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
       cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr valign="top" align="left">
<td width="10%"></td>
<td width="89%">
<p>You can have OfflineIMAP load up a Python file before
evaluating the configuration file options that are Python
expressions. This example is based on one supplied by Tommi
Virtanen for this feature.</p>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<p>In <i>~/.offlineimap.rc</i>, he adds these options:</p>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<p><b>[general]<br>
pythonfile=~/.offlineimap.py<br>
[foo]<br>
foldersort=mycmp</b></p>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<p>Then, the <i>~/.offlineimap.py</i> file will contain:</p>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<p><b>prioritized = [&rsquo;INBOX&rsquo;,
&rsquo;personal&rsquo;, &rsquo;announce&rsquo;,
&rsquo;list&rsquo;]</b></p>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<p><b>def mycmp(x, y):<br>
for prefix in prioritized:<br>
if x.startswith(prefix):<br>
return -1<br>
elif y.startswith(prefix):<br>
return +1<br>
return cmp(x, y)</b></p>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<p><b>def test_mycmp():<br>
import os, os.path<br>

folders=os.listdir(os.path.expanduser(&rsquo;~/data/mail/tv@hq.yok.utu.fi&rsquo;))<br>
folders.sort(mycmp)<br>
print folders</b></p>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<p>This code snippet illustrates how the <b>foldersort</b>
option can be customized with a Python function from the
<b>pythonfile</b> to always synchronize certain folders
first.</p>
</td>
</table>
<a name="ERRORS"></a>
<h2>ERRORS</h2>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
       cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr valign="top" align="left">
<td width="10%"></td>
<td width="89%">
<p>If you get one of some frequently-encountered or
confusing errors, please check this section.</p>
</td>
</table>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
       cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr valign="top" align="left">
<td width="4%"></td>
<td width="95%">
<p><b>UID validity problem for folder</b></p></td>
</table>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
       cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr valign="top" align="left">
<td width="10%"></td>
<td width="89%">
<p>IMAP servers use a unique ID (UID) to refer to a specific
message. This number is guaranteed to be unique to a
particular message FOREVER. No other message in the same
folder will ever get the same UID. UIDs are an integral part
of OfflineIMAP&rsquo;s synchronization scheme; they are used
to match up messages on your computer to messages on the
server.</p>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<p>Sometimes, the UIDs on the server might get reset.
Usually this will happen if you delete and then recreate a
folder. When you create a folder, the server will often
start the UID back from 1. But <b>OfflineIMAP</b> might
still have the UIDs from the previous folder by the same
name stored. <b>OfflineIMAP</b> will detect this condition
and skip the folder. This is GOOD, because it prevents data
loss.</p>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<p>You can fix it by removing your local folder and cache
data. For instance, if your folders are under
<i>~/Folders</i> and the folder with the problem is INBOX,
you&rsquo;d type this:</p>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<p><b>rm -r ~/Folders/INBOX<br>
rm ~/.offlineimap/AccountName/INBOX</b></p>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<p>(replacing AccountName with the account name as specified
in <i>~/.offlineimaprc)</i></p>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<p>Next time you run <b>OfflineIMAP,</b> it will re-download
the folder with the new UIDs. Note that the procedure
specified above will lose any local changes made to the
folder.</p>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<p>Some IMAP servers are broken and do not support UIDs
properly. If you continue to get this error for all your
folders even after performing the above procedure, it is
likely that your IMAP server falls into this category.
<b>OfflineIMAP</b> is incompatible with such servers. Using
<b>OfflineIMAP</b> with them will not destroy any mail, but
at the same time, it will not actually synchronize it
either. (OfflineIMAP will detect this condition and abort
prior to synchronization)</p>
</td>
</table>
<a name="OTHER FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS"></a>
<h2>OTHER FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS</h2>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
       cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr valign="top" align="left">
<td width="10%"></td>
<td width="89%">
<p>There are some other FAQs that might not fit into another
section of this document, and they are enumerated here.</p>
</td>
</table>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
       cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr valign="top" align="left">
<td width="10%"></td>
<td width="89%">
<p><b>What platforms does OfflineIMAP run on?</b></p></td>
</table>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
       cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr valign="top" align="left">
<td width="21%"></td>
<td width="77%">
<p>It should run on most platforms supported by Python,
which are quite a few.</p>
</td>
</table>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
       cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr valign="top" align="left">
<td width="10%"></td>
<td width="89%">
<p><b>I&rsquo;m using Mutt. Other IMAP sync programs require
me to use set maildir_trash=yes . Do I need to do that with
OfflineIMAP?</b></p></td>
</table>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
       cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr valign="top" align="left">
<td width="21%"></td>
<td width="77%">
<p>No. <b>OfflineIMAP</b> is smart enough to figure out
message deletion without this extra crutch. You&rsquo;ll get
the best results if you don&rsquo;t use this setting, in
fact.</p>
</td>
</table>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
       cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr valign="top" align="left">
<td width="10%"></td>
<td width="89%">
<p><b>How do I specify the names of my folders?</b></p></td>
</table>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
       cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr valign="top" align="left">
<td width="21%"></td>
<td width="77%">
<p>You do not need to. <b>OfflineIMAP</b> is smart enough to
automatically figure out what folders are present on the
IMAP server and synchronize them. You can use the
<b>folderfilter</b> and <b>foldertrans</b> configuration
file options to request certain folders and rename them as
they come in if you like.</p>
</td>
</table>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
       cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr valign="top" align="left">
<td width="10%"></td>
<td width="89%">
<p><b>How can I prevent certain folders from being
synced?</b></p></td>
</table>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
       cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr valign="top" align="left">
<td width="21%"></td>
<td width="77%">
<p>Use the <b>folderfilter</b> option in the configuration
file.</p>
</td>
</table>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
       cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr valign="top" align="left">
<td width="10%"></td>
<td width="89%">
<p><b>How can I add or delete a folder?</b></p></td>
</table>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
       cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr valign="top" align="left">
<td width="21%"></td>
<td width="77%">
<p><b>OfflineIMAP</b> does not currently provide this
feature, but if you create a new folder on the IMAP server,
it will be created locally automatically.</p>
</td>
</table>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
       cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr valign="top" align="left">
<td width="10%"></td>
<td width="89%">
<p><b>Are there any other warnings that I should be aware
of?</b></p></td>
</table>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
       cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr valign="top" align="left">
<td width="21%"></td>
<td width="77%">
<p>Yes; see the NOTES section below.</p>
</td>
</table>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
       cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr valign="top" align="left">
<td width="10%"></td>
<td width="89%">
<p><b>What is the mailbox name recorder (mbnames)
for?</b></p></td>
</table>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
       cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr valign="top" align="left">
<td width="21%"></td>
<td width="77%">
<p>The Mutt mail reader is not capable of automatically
determining the names of your mailboxes. OfflineIMAP can
help it (or many other) programs out be writing these names
out in a format you specify. See the example
offlineimap.conf file for details.</p>
</td>
</table>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
       cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr valign="top" align="left">
<td width="10%"></td>
<td width="89%">
<p><b>Can I synchronize multiple accounts with
OfflineIMAP?</b></p></td>
</table>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
       cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr valign="top" align="left">
<td width="21%"></td>
<td width="77%">
<p>Sure. Just name them all in the accounts line in the
general section of the config file, and add a per-account
section for each one.</p>
</td>
</table>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
       cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr valign="top" align="left">
<td width="10%"></td>
<td width="89%">
<p><b>Does OfflineIMAP support POP?</b></p></td>
</table>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
       cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr valign="top" align="left">
<td width="21%"></td>
<td width="77%">
<p>No. POP is not robust enough to do a completely reliable
multi-machine synchronization like OfflineIMAP can do.
OfflineIMAP will not support it.</p>
</td>
</table>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
       cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr valign="top" align="left">
<td width="10%"></td>
<td width="89%">
<p><b>Do you support mailbox formats other than
Maildir?</b></p></td>
</table>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
       cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr valign="top" align="left">
<td width="21%"></td>
<td width="77%">
<p>Not at present. There is no technical reason not to; just
no demand yet. Maildir is a superior format anyway.</p>
</td>
</table>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
       cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr valign="top" align="left">
<td width="10%"></td>
<td width="89%">
<p><b>[technical] Why are your Maildir message filenames so
huge?</b></p></td>
</table>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
       cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr valign="top" align="left">
<td width="21%"></td>
<td width="77%">
<p><b>OfflineIMAP</b> has two relevant principles: 1) never
modifying your messages in any way and 2) ensuring 100%
reliable synchronizations. In order to do a reliable sync,
<b>OfflineIMAP</b> must have a way to uniquely identify each
e-mail. Three pieces of information are required to do this:
your account name, the folder name, and the message UID. The
account name can be calculated from the path in which your
messages are. The folder name can usually be as well, BUT
some mail clients move messages between folders by simply
moving the file, leaving the name intact.</p>
</td>
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<td width="79%">
<p>So, <b>OfflineIMAP</b> must store both a UID folder ID.
The folder ID is necessary so <b>OfflineIMAP</b> can detect
a message moved to a different folder. <b>OfflineIMAP</b>
stores the UID (U= number) and an md5sum of the foldername
(FMD5= number) to facilitate this.</p>
</td>
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<td width="89%">
<p><b>What is the speed of OfflineIMAP&rsquo;s
sync?</b></p></td>
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<td width="77%">
<p><b>OfflineIMAP</b> versions 2.0 and above contain a
multithreaded system. A good way to experiment is by setting
maxsyncaccounts to 3 and maxconnections to 3 in each account
clause.</p>
</td>
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<td width="79%">
<p>This lets OfflineIMAP open up multiple connections
simultaneously. That will let it process multiple folders
and messages at once. In most cases, this will increase
performance of the sync.</p>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<p>Don&rsquo;t set the number too high. If you do that,
things might actually slow down as your link gets saturated.
Also, too many connections can cause mail servers to have
excessive load. Administrators might take unkindly to this,
and the server might bog down. There are many variables in
the optimal setting; experimentation may help.</p>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<p>An informal benchmark yields these results for my
setup:</p>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<p>10 minutes with MacOS X Mail.app &quot;manual
cache&quot;<br>
5 minutes with GNUS agent sync<br>
20 seconds with OfflineIMAP 1.x<br>
9 seconds with OfflineIMAP 2.x<br>
3 seconds with OfflineIMAP 3.x &quot;cold start&quot;<br>
2 seconds with OfflineIMAP 3.x &quot;held
connection&quot;</p>
</td>
</table>
<a name="CONFORMING TO"></a>
<h2>CONFORMING TO</h2>
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<td width="11%"></td>
<td width="1%">

<p>&bull;</p>
</td>
<td width="8%"></td>
<td width="77%">

<p>Internet Message Access Protocol version 4rev1 (IMAP
4rev1) as specified in RFC2060</p>
</td>
<tr valign="top" align="left">
<td width="11%"></td>
<td width="1%">

<p>&bull;</p>
</td>
<td width="8%"></td>
<td width="77%">

<p>CRAM-MD5 as specified in RFC2195</p>
</td>
</table>
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<td width="13%"></td>
<td width="1%">

<p>&bull;</p>
</td>
<td width="7%"></td>
<td width="77%">

<p>Maildir as specified in
http://www.qmail.org/qmail-manual-html/man5/maildir.html and
http://cr.yp.to/proto/maildir.html.</p>
</td>
<tr valign="top" align="left">
<td width="13%"></td>
<td width="1%">

<p>&bull;</p>
</td>
<td width="7%"></td>
<td width="77%">

<p>Standard Python 2.2.1 as implemented on POSIX-compliant
systems.</p>
</td>
</table>
<a name="NOTES"></a>
<h2>NOTES</h2>
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<p><b>DELETING LOCAL FOLDERS</b></p></td>
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<td width="89%">
<p><b>OfflineIMAP</b> does a two-way synchronization. That
is, if you make a change to the mail on the server, it will
be propogated to your local copy, and vise-versa. Some
people might think that it would be wise to just delete all
their local mail folders periodically. If you do this with
OfflineIMAP, remember to also remove your local status cache
(~/.offlineimap by default). Otherwise, OfflineIMAP will
take this as an intentional deletion of many messages and
will interpret your action as requesting them to be deleted
from the server as well. (If you don&rsquo;t understand
this, don&rsquo;t worry; you probably won&rsquo;t encounter
this situation)</p>
</td>
</table>
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<p><b>COPYING MESSAGES BETWEEN FOLDERS</b></p></td>
</table>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
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       cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<td width="10%"></td>
<td width="89%">
<p>Normally, when you copy a message between folders or add
a new message to a folder locally, <b>OfflineIMAP</b> will
just do the right thing. However, sometimes this can be
tricky -- if your IMAP server does not provide the SEARCH
command, or does not return something useful,
<b>OfflineIMAP</b> cannot determine the new UID of the
message. So, in these rare instances, OfflineIMAP will
upload the message to the IMAP server and delete it from
your local folder. Then, on your next sync, the message will
be re-downloaded with the proper UID. <b>OfflineIMAP</b>
makes sure that the message was properly uploaded before
deleting it, so there should be no risk of data loss.</p>
</td>
</table>
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<td width="95%">
<p><b>USE WITH EVOLUTION</b></p></td>
</table>
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       cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<td width="10%"></td>
<td width="89%">
<p>OfflineIMAP can work with Evolution. To do so, first
configure your OfflineIMAP account to have:<b><br>
sep = /</b><br>
in its configuration. Then, configure Evolution with the
&quot;Maildir-format mail directories&quot; server type. For
the path, you will need to specify the name of the top-level
folder <b>inside</b> your OfflineIMAP storage location.
You&rsquo;re now set!</p>
</td>
</table>
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       cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<td width="4%"></td>
<td width="95%">
<p><b>USE WITH KMAIL</b></p></td>
</table>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
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       cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<td width="89%">
<p>At this time, I believe that <b>OfflineIMAP</b> is not
compatible with KMail. KMail cannot work in any mode other
than to move all messages out of all folders immediately,
which (besides being annoying and fundamentally broken) is
incompatible with <b>OfflineIMAP.</b></p>
</td>
</table>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
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       cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<td width="4%"></td>
<td width="95%">
<p><b>MAILING LIST</b></p></td>
</table>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
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<td width="10%"></td>
<td width="89%">
<p>There is an OfflineIMAP mailing list available.</p>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<p>To subscribe, send the text &quot;Subscribe&quot; in the
subject of a mail to offlineimap-request@complete.org. To
post, send the message to offlineimap@complete.org.</p>
</td>
</table>
<a name="BUGS"></a>
<h2>BUGS</h2>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
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<p>Reports of bugs should be sent via e-mail to the
<b>OfflineIMAP</b> bug-tracking system (BTS) at
offlineimap@bugs.complete.org or submitted on-line using the
Web interface at http://bugs.complete.org/. The Web site
also lists all current bugs, where you can check their
status or contribute to fixing them.</p>
</td>
</table>
<a name="COPYRIGHT"></a>
<h2>COPYRIGHT</h2>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
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       cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<td width="10%"></td>
<td width="89%">
<p>OfflineIMAP, and this manual, are Copyright (C) 2002,
2003 John Goerzen.</p>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<p>This program is free software; you can redistribute it
and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public
License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later
version.</p>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<p>This program is distributed in the hope that it will be
useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied
warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more
details.</p>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<p>You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public
License along with this program; if not, write to:</p>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<p>Free Software Foundation, Inc.<br>
59 Temple Place<br>
Suite 330<br>
Boston, MA 02111-1307<br>
USA</p>
</td>
</table>
<a name="AUTHOR"></a>
<h2>AUTHOR</h2>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
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       cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<td width="10%"></td>
<td width="89%">
<p><b>OfflineIMAP,</b> its libraries, documentation, and all
included files, except where noted, was written by John
Goerzen &lt;jgoerzen@complete.org&gt; and copyright is held
as stated in the COPYRIGHT section.</p>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<p>OfflineIMAP may be downloaded, and information found,
from its homepage via either Gopher or HTTP:</p>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<p>gopher://quux.org/1/devel/offlineimap<br>
http://quux.org/devel/offlineimap</p>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<p>OfflineIMAP may also be downloaded using Subversion.
Additionally, the distributed tar.gz may be updated with a
simple &quot;svn update&quot; command; it is ready to go.
For information on getting OfflineIMAP with Subversion,
please visit:</p>
<!-- INDENTATION -->
<p>http://svn.complete.org/</p>
</td>
</table>
<a name="SEE ALSO"></a>
<h2>SEE ALSO</h2>
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       cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr valign="top" align="left">
<td width="10%"></td>
<td width="89%">
<p><b>mutt</b>(1), <b>python</b>(1).</p>
</td>
</table>
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