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OFFLINEIMAP(1) OfflineIMAP Manual OFFLINEIMAP(1)
NAME
OfflineIMAP - Powerful IMAP/Maildir synchronization and reader support
SYNOPSIS
offlineimap [ -1 ] [ -P profiledir ] [ -a accountlist ] [ -c configfile
] [ -d debugtype[,...] ] [ -l filename ] [ -o ] [ -u interface ]
offlineimap -h | --help
DESCRIPTION
OfflineIMAP is a tool to simplify your e-mail reading. With
OfflineIMAP, 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. OfflineIMAP 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.
OfflineIMAP is FAST; it synchronizes my two accounts with over 50 fold-
ers 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't even support it at all.
Unlike other mail tools, OfflineIMAP features a multi-threaded synchro-
nization algorithm that can dramatically speed up performance in many
situations by synchronizing several different things simultaneously.
OfflineIMAP is FLEXIBLE; you can customize which folders are synced via
regular expressions, lists, or Python expressions; a versatile and com-
prehensive 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 "unplugged") reading is sup-
ported; and esoteric IMAP features are supported to ensure compatibil-
ity with the widest variety of IMAP servers.
OfflineIMAP is SAFE; it uses an algorithm designed to prevent mail loss
at all costs. Because of the design of this algorithm, even program-
ming 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 OfflineIMAP pre-release, development, and beta releases. Of course,
legally speaking, OfflineIMAP comes with no warranty, so I am not
responsible if this turns out to be wrong.
METHOD OF OPERATION
OfflineIMAP traditionally 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.
OfflineIMAP 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.
With OfflineIMAP 4.0, a powerful new ability has been introduced -- the
program can now synchronize two IMAP servers with each other, with no
need to have a Maildir layer in-between. Many people use this if they
use a mail reader on their local machine that does not support
Maildirs. People may install an IMAP server on their local machine,
and point both OfflineIMAP and their mail reader of choice at it. This
is often preferable to the mail reader's own IMAP support since
OfflineIMAP supports many features (offline reading, for one) that most
IMAP-aware readers don't. However, this feature is not as time-tested
as traditional syncing, so my advice is to stick with normal methods of
operation for the time being.
QUICK START
If you have already installed OfflineIMAP system-wide, or your system
administrator has done that for you, your task for setting up
OfflineIMAP for the first time is quite simple. You just need to set
up your configuration file, make your folder directory, and run it!
You can quickly set up your configuration file. The distribution
includes a file offlineimap.conf.minimal (Debian users may find this at
/usr/share/doc/offlineimap/examples/offlineimap.conf.minimal) that is a
basic example of setting of OfflineIMAP. You can simply copy this file
into your home directory and name it .offlineimaprc (note the leading
period). A command such as cp offlineimap.conf.minimal
~/.offlineimaprc will do it. Or, if you prefer, you can just copy this
text to ~/.offlineimaprc:
[general]
accounts = Test
[Account Test]
localrepository = Local
remoterepository = Remote
[Repository Local]
type = Maildir
localfolders = ~/Test
[Repository Remote]
type = IMAP
remotehost = examplehost
remoteuser = jgoerzen
Now, edit the ~/.offlineimaprc file with your favorite editor. All you
have to do is specify a directory for your folders to be in (on the
localfolders line), the host name of your IMAP server (on the remote-
host line), and your login name on the remote (on the remoteuser line).
That's it!
To run OfflineIMAP, you just have to say offlineimap -- it will fire
up, ask you for a login password if necessary, synchronize your fold-
ers, and exit. See? You can just throw away the rest of this finely-
crafted, perfectly-honed manual! Of course, if you want to see how you
can make OfflineIMAP FIVE TIMES FASTER FOR JUST $19.95 (err, well, $0),
you have to read on!
INSTALLATION
If you are reading this document via the "man" command, it is likely
that you have no installation tasks to perform; your system administra-
tor 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 the OfflineIMAP
website <URL:http://software.complete.org/offlineimap/>.
PREREQUISITES
In order to use OfflineIMAP, you need to have these conditions satis-
fied:
o Your mail server must support IMAP. Most Internet Service Providers
and corporate networks do, and most operating systems have an IMAP
implementation readily available.
o 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 the Python website <URL: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.
o 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 "qmail" format, so any mail reader compatible with it will work
with OfflineIMAP. If you do not have a mail reader that supports
Maildir, you can often install a local IMAP server and point both
OfflineIMAP and your mail reader at it.
SYSTEM-WIDE INSTALLATION, DEBIAN
If you are tracking Debian unstable, you may install OfflineIMAP by
simply running the following command as root:
apt-get install offlineimap
If you are not tracking Debian unstable, download the Debian .deb pack-
age from the OfflineIMAP website <URL:http://software.com-
plete.org/offlineimap/> and then run dpkg -i to install the downloaded
package. Then, skip to [XRef to CONFIGURATION] below. You will type
offlineimap to invoke the program.
SYSTEM-WIDE INSTALLATION, OTHER
Download the tar.gz version of the package from the website
<URL:http://software.complete.org/offlineimap/>. Then run these com-
mands, making sure that you are the "root" user first:
tar -zxvf offlineimap_x.y.z.tar.gz
cd offlineimap-x.y.z
python2.2 setup.py install
On some systems, you will need to use python instead of python2.2.
Next, proceed to [XRef to CONFIGURATION] below. You will type
offlineimap to invoke the program.
SINGLE-ACCOUNT INSTALLATION
Download the tar.gz version of the package from the website
<URL:http://software.complete.org/offlineimap/>. Then run these com-
mands:
tar -zxvf offlineimap_x.y.z.tar.gz
cd offlineimap-x.y.z
When you want to run OfflineIMAP, you will issue the cd command as
above and then type ./offlineimap.py; there is no installation step
necessary.
CONFIGURATION
OfflineIMAP is regulated by a configuration file that is normally
stored in ~/.offlineimaprc. OfflineIMAP ships with a file named
offlineimap.conf that you should copy to that location and then edit.
This file is vital to proper operation of the system; it sets every-
thing you need to run OfflineIMAP. Full documentation for the configu-
ration file is included within the sample file.
OfflineIMAP also ships a file named offlineimap.conf.minimal that you
can also try. It's useful if you want to get started with the most
basic feature set, and you can read about other features later with
offlineimap.conf.
OPTIONS
Most configuration is done via the configuration file. Nevertheless,
there are a few command-line options that you may set for OfflineIMAP.
-1 Disable most multithreading operations and use solely a single-
connection sync. This effectively sets the maxsyncaccounts and
all maxconnections configuration file variables to 1.
-P profiledir
Sets OfflineIMAP into profile mode. The program will create
profiledir (it must not already exist). As it runs, Python pro-
filing information about each thread is logged into profiledir.
Please note: This option is present for debugging and optimiza-
tion only, and should NOT be used unless you have a specific
reason to do so. It will significantly slow program perfor-
mance, may reduce reliability, and can generate huge amounts of
data. You must use the -1 option when you use -P.
-a accountlist
Overrides the accounts option in the general section of the con-
figuration file. You might use this to exclude certain
accounts, or to sync some accounts that you normally prefer not
to. Separate the accounts by commas, and use no embedded
spaces.
-c configfile
Specifies a configuration file to use in lieu of the default,
~/.offlineimaprc.
-d debugtype[,...]
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 -1 to make
the results more sensible.
-d requires one or more debugtypes, separated by commas. These
define what exactly will be debugged, and include three options:
imap, maildir, and thread. The imap option will enable IMAP
protocol stream and parsing debugging. Note that the output may
contain passwords, so take care to remove that from the debug-
ging output before sending it to anyone else. The maildir
option will enable debugging for certain Maildir operations.
And thread will debug the threading model.
-l filename
Enables logging to filename. This will log everything that goes
to the screen to the specified file. Additionally, if any
debugging is specified with -d, then debug messages will not go
to the screen, but instead to the logfile only.
-o Run only once, ignoring all autorefresh settings in the configu-
ration file.
-h
--help Show summary of options.
-u interface
Specifies an alternative user interface module to use. This
overrides the default specified in the configuration file. The
pre-defined options are listed in the User Interfaces section.
USER INTERFACES
OfflineIMAP has a pluggable user interface system that lets you choose
how the program communicates information to you. There are two graphi-
cal interfaces, two terminal interfaces, and two noninteractive inter-
faces suitable for scripting or logging purposes. The ui option in the
configuration file specifies user interface preferences. The -u com-
mand-line option can override the configuration file setting. The
available values for the configuration file or command-line are
described in this section.
TK.BLINKENLIGHTS
Tk.Blinkenlights is an interface designed to be sleek, fun to watch,
and informative of the overall picture of what OfflineIMAP is doing. I
consider it to be the best general-purpose interface in OfflineIMAP.
Tk.Blinkenlights contains, by default, a small window with a row of
LEDs, a small log, 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. The optional, toggleable, log shows more detail about what
is happening and is color-coded to match the color of the lights.
Tk.Blinkenlights is the only user interface that has configurable
parameters; see the example offlineimap.conf for more details.
Each light in the Blinkenlights interface represents a thread of execu-
tion -- that is, a particular task that OfflineIMAP is performing right
now. The colors indicate what task the particular thread is perform-
ing, and are as follows:
Black indicates that this light's thread has terminated; it will light
up again later when new threads start up. So, black indicates
no activity.
Red (Meaning 1)
is the color of the main program's thread, which basically does
nothing but monitor the others. It might remind you of HAL 9000
in 2001.
Gray indicates that the thread is establishing a new connection to
the IMAP server.
Purple is the color of an account synchronization thread that is moni-
toring the progress of the folders in that account (not generat-
ing any I/O).
Cyan indicates that the thread is syncing a folder.
Green means that a folder's message list is being loaded.
Blue is the color of a message synchronization controller thread.
Orange indicates that an actual message is being copied. (We use fuch-
sia for fake messages.)
Red (meaning 2)
indicates that a message is being deleted.
Yellow / bright orange
indicates that message flags are being added.
Pink / bright red
indicates that message flags are being removed.
Red / Black Flashing
corresponds to the countdown timer that runs between synchro-
nizations.
The name of this interfaces derives from a bit of computer history.
Eric Raymond's Jargon File defines blinkenlights, in part, as:
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.
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:
ACHTUNG! ALLES LOOKENSPEEPERS!
Das computermachine ist nicht fuer gefingerpoken und mitten-
grabben. 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.
CURSES.BLINKENLIGHTS
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't have access to graphics, it isn't
quite as pretty, but it still gets the job done.
Please see the Tk.Blinkenlights section above for more information
about the colors used in this interface.
TK.VERBOSEUI
Tk.VerboseUI (formerly known as Tk.TkUI) is a graphical interface that
presents a variable-sized window. In the window, each currently-exe-
cuting thread has a section where its name and current status are dis-
played. This interface is best suited to people running on slower con-
nections, as you get a lot of detail, but for fast connections, the
detail may go by too quickly to be useful. People with fast connec-
tions may wish to use Tk.Blinkenlights instead.
TTY.TTYUI
TTY.TTYUI interface is for people running in basic, non-color termi-
nals. It prints out basic status messages and is generally friendly to
use on a console or xterm.
NONINTERACTIVE.BASIC
Noninteractive.Basic is designed for situations in which OfflineIMAP
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 auto-
matically 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.
NONINTERACTIVE.QUIET
Noninteractive.Quiet 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.
EXAMPLES
Here are some example configurations for various situations. Please e-
mail any other examples you have that may be useful to me.
MULTIPLE ACCOUNTS WITH MUTT
This example shows you how to set up OfflineIMAP to synchronize multi-
ple accounts with the mutt mail reader.
Start by creating a directory to hold your folders by running mkdir
~/Mail. Then, in your ~/.offlineimaprc, specify:
accounts = Personal, Work
Make sure that you have both an [Account Personal] and an [Account
Work] section. The local repository for each account must have differ-
ent localfolder path names. Also, make sure to enable [mbnames].
In each local repository section, write something like this:
localfolders = ~/Mail/Personal
Finally, add these lines to your ~/.muttrc:
source ~/path-to-mbnames-muttrc-mailboxes
folder-hook Personal set from="youremail@personal.com"
folder-hook Work set from="youremail@work.com"
set mbox_type=Maildir
set folder=$HOME/Mail
spoolfile=+Personal/INBOX
That's it!
UW-IMAPD AND REFERENCES
Some users with a UW-IMAPD server need to use OfflineIMAP's "reference"
feature to get at their mailboxes, specifying a reference of "~/Mail"
or "#mh/" depending on the configuration. The below configuration from
(originally 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.
[Account Gerf]
localrepository = GerfLocal
remoterepository = GerfRemote
[Repository GerfLocal]
type = Maildir
localfolders = ~/Mail
[Repository GerfRemote]
type = IMAP
remotehost = gerf.org
ssl = yes
remoteuser = docwhat
reference = Mail
# Trims off the preceeding Mail on all the folder names.
nametrans = lambda foldername: \
re.sub('^Mail/', '', foldername)
# Yeah, you have to mention the Mail dir, even though it
# would seem intuitive that reference would trim it.
folderfilter = lambda foldername: foldername in [
'Mail/INBOX',
'Mail/list/zaurus-general',
'Mail/list/zaurus-dev',
]
maxconnections = 1
holdconnectionopen = no
PYTHONFILE CONFIGURATION FILE OPTION
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.
In ~/.offlineimap.rc, he adds these options:
[general]
pythonfile=~/.offlineimap.py
[Repository foo]
foldersort=mycmp
Then, the ~/.offlineimap.py file will contain:
prioritized = ['INBOX', 'personal', 'announce', 'list']
def mycmp(x, y):
for prefix in prioritized:
xsw = x.startswith(prefix)
ysw = y.startswith(prefix)
if xsw and ysw:
return cmp(x, y)
elif xsw:
return -1
elif ysw:
return +1
return cmp(x, y)
def test_mycmp():
import os, os.path
folders=os.listdir(os.path.expanduser('~/data/mail/tv@hq.yok.utu.fi'))
folders.sort(mycmp)
print folders
This code snippet illustrates how the foldersort option can be cus-
tomized with a Python function from the pythonfile to always synchro-
nize certain folders first.
ERRORS
If you get one of some frequently-encountered or confusing errors,
please check this section.
UID VALIDITY PROBLEM FOR FOLDER
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's synchronization scheme; they are
used to match up messages on your computer to messages on the server.
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
OfflineIMAP might still have the UIDs from the previous folder by the
same name stored. OfflineIMAP will detect this condition and skip the
folder. This is GOOD, because it prevents data loss.
You can fix it by removing your local folder and cache data. For
instance, if your folders are under ~/Folders and the folder with the
problem is INBOX, you'd type this:
rm -r ~/Folders/INBOX
rm -r ~/.offlineimap/Account-AccountName
rm -r ~/.offlineimap/Repository-RepositoryName
(Of course, replace AccountName and RepositoryName with the names as
specified in ~/.offlineimaprc).
Next time you run OfflineIMAP, 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.
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. OfflineIMAP is incompatible with such servers. Using
OfflineIMAP 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.)
This question comes up frequently on the OfflineIMAP mailing list
<URL:http://lists.complete.org/offlineimap@complete.org/>. You can
find a detailed discussion <URL:http://lists.com-
plete.org/offlineimap@complete.org/2003/04/msg00012.html.gz> of the
problem there.
CONFORMING TO
o Internet Message Access Protocol version 4rev1 (IMAP 4rev1) as speci-
fied in RFC2060 and RFC3501
o CRAM-MD5 as specified in RFC2195
o Maildir as specified in the Maildir manpage
<URL:http://www.qmail.org/qmail-manual-html/man5/maildir.html> and
the qmail website <URL:http://cr.yp.to/proto/maildir.html>.
o Standard Python 2.2.1 as implemented on POSIX-compliant systems.
NOTES
DELETING LOCAL FOLDERS
OfflineIMAP does a two-way synchronization. That is, if you make a
change to the mail on the server, it will be propagated 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't understand this, don't worry; you probably won't encounter this
situation)
MULTIPLE INSTANCES
OfflineIMAP is not designed to have several instances (for instance, a
cron job and an interactive invocation) run over the same mailbox
simultaneously. It will perform a check on startup and abort if
another OfflineIMAP is already running. If you need to schedule syn-
chronizations, please use the autorefresh settings rather than cron.
Alternatively, you can set a separate metadata directory for each
instance.
COPYING MESSAGES BETWEEN FOLDERS
Normally, when you copy a message between folders or add a new message
to a folder locally, OfflineIMAP will just do the right thing. How-
ever, sometimes this can be tricky -- if your IMAP server does not pro-
vide the SEARCH command, or does not return something useful,
OfflineIMAP 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. OfflineIMAP makes
sure that the message was properly uploaded before deleting it, so
there should be no risk of data loss.
MAILING LIST
There is an OfflineIMAP mailing list available. To subscribe, send the
text "Subscribe" in the subject of a mail to offlineimap-request@com-
plete.org. To post, send the message to offlineimap@complete.org.
Archives are available at
<URL:http://lists.complete.org/offlineimap@complete.org/>.
BUGS
Reports of bugs should be reported online at the OfflineIMAP homepage.
Debian users are encouraged to instead use the Debian bug-tracking sys-
tem.
UPGRADING TO 4.0
If you are upgrading from a version of OfflineIMAP prior to 3.99.12,
you will find that you will get errors when OfflineIMAP starts up
(relating to ConfigParser or AccountHashGenerator) and the configura-
tion file. This is because the config file format had to change to
accommodate new features in 4.0. Fortunately, it's not difficult to
adjust it to suit.
First thing you need to do is stop any running OfflineIMAP instance,
making sure first that it's synced all your mail. Then, modify your
~/.offlineimaprc file. You'll need to split up each account section
(make sure that it now starts with "Account ") into two Repository sec-
tions (one for the local side and another for the remote side.) See
the files offlineimap.conf.minimal and offlineimap.conf in the distri-
bution if you need more assistance.
OfflineIMAP's status directory area has also changed. Therefore, you
should delete everything in ~/.offlineimap as well as your local mail
folders.
When you start up OfflineIMAP 4.0, it will re-download all your mail
from the server and then you can continue using it like normal.
COPYRIGHT
OfflineIMAP, and this manual, are Copyright (C) 2002 - 2006 John
Goerzen.
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.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MER-
CHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General
Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
imaplib.py comes from the Python dev tree and is licensed under the
GPL-compatible PSF license as stated in the file COPYRIGHT in the
OfflineIMAP distribution.
AUTHOR
OfflineIMAP, its libraries, documentation, and all included files,
except where noted, was written by John Goerzen <jgoerzen@complete.org>
and copyright is held as stated in the COPYRIGHT section.
OfflineIMAP may be downloaded, and information found, from its homepage
<URL:http://software.complete.org/offlineimap>.
SEE ALSO
mutt(1), python(1)
HISTORY
Detailed history may be found in the file ChangeLog in the OfflineIMAP
distribution. Feature and bug histories may be found in the file
debian/changelog which, despite its name, is not really Debian-spe-
cific. This section provides a large overview.
Development on OfflineIMAP began on June 18, 2002. Version 1.0.0 was
released three days later on June 21, 2002. Point releases followed,
including speed optimizations and some compatibility fixes.
Version 2.0.0 was released on July 3, 2002, and represented the first
time the synchronization became multithreaded and, to the best of my
knowledge, the first multithreaded IMAP syncrhonizing application in
existance. The last 2.0.x release, 2.0.8, was made on July 9.
Version 3.0.0 was released on July 11, 2002, and introduced modular
user interfaces and the first GUI interface for OfflineIMAP. This man-
ual also was introduced with 3.0.0, along with many command-line
options. Version 3.1.0 was released on July 21, adding the Noninterac-
tive user interfaces, profiling support, and several bugfixes. 3.2.0
was released on July 24, adding support for the Blinkenlights GUI
interface. OfflineIMAP entered maintenance mode for awhile, as it had
reached a feature-complete milestone in my mind.
The 3.99.x branch began in on October 7, 2002, to begin work for 4.0.
The Curses.Blinkenlights interface was added in 3.99.6, and many archi-
tectural changes were made.
4.0.0 was released on July 18, 2003, including the ability to synchro-
nize directly between two IMAP servers, the first re-architecting of
the configuration file to refine the notion of an account, and the new
Curses interface.
John Goerzen 01 December 2006 OFFLINEIMAP(1)

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offlineimap.1
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.\" This manpage has been automatically generated by docbook2man
.\" from a DocBook document. This tool can be found at:
.\" <http://shell.ipoline.com/~elmert/comp/docbook2X/>
.\" Please send any bug reports, improvements, comments, patches,
.\" etc. to Steve Cheng <steve@ggi-project.org>.
.TH "OFFLINEIMAP" "1" "01 December 2006" "John Goerzen" "OfflineIMAP Manual"
.SH NAME
OfflineIMAP \- Powerful IMAP/Maildir synchronization and reader support
.SH SYNOPSIS
\fBofflineimap\fR [ \fB-1\fR ] [ \fB-P \fIprofiledir\fB\fR ] [ \fB-a \fIaccountlist\fB\fR ] [ \fB-c \fIconfigfile\fB\fR ] [ \fB-d \fIdebugtype[,...]\fB\fR ] [ \fB-l \fIfilename\fB\fR ] [ \fB-o\fR ] [ \fB-u \fIinterface\fB\fR ]
\fBofflineimap\fR \fB-h\fR | \fB--help\fR
.SH "DESCRIPTION"
.PP
\fBOfflineIMAP\fR is a tool to simplify your e-mail
reading. With \fBOfflineIMAP\fR, 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. \fBOfflineIMAP\fR 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.
.PP
\fBOfflineIMAP\fR is \fBFAST\fR; 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't even support it
at all. Unlike other mail tools, \fBOfflineIMAP\fR features a
multi-threaded synchronization algorithm that can dramatically
speed up performance in many situations by synchronizing
several different things simultaneously.
.PP
\fBOfflineIMAP\fR is \fBFLEXIBLE\fR; 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 "unplugged") reading is supported; and esoteric IMAP
features are supported to ensure compatibility with the widest
variety of IMAP servers.
.PP
\fBOfflineIMAP\fR is \fBSAFE\fR; 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 \fBOfflineIMAP\fR pre-release, development, and beta
releases. Of course, legally speaking, \fBOfflineIMAP\fR comes
with no warranty, so I am not responsible if this turns out
to be wrong.
.SS "METHOD OF OPERATION"
.PP
\fBOfflineIMAP\fR traditionally
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. \fBOfflineIMAP\fR 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.
.PP
With \fBOfflineIMAP\fR 4.0, a powerful new ability has been
introduced -- the program can now synchronize two IMAP
servers with each other, with no need to have a Maildir
layer in-between. Many people use this if they use a mail
reader on their local machine that does not support
Maildirs. People may install an IMAP server on their local
machine, and point both \fBOfflineIMAP\fR and their mail reader
of choice at it. This is often preferable to the mail
reader's own IMAP support since \fBOfflineIMAP\fR supports many
features (offline reading, for one) that most IMAP-aware
readers don't. However, this feature is not as time-tested
as traditional syncing, so my advice is to stick with normal
methods of operation for the time being.
.SH "QUICK START"
.PP
If you have already installed \fBOfflineIMAP\fR system-wide,
or your system administrator has done that for you, your task
for setting up \fBOfflineIMAP\fR for the first time is quite
simple. You just need to set up your configuration file, make
your folder directory, and run it!
.PP
You can quickly set up your configuration file. The distribution
includes a file \fIofflineimap.conf.minimal\fR
(Debian users
may find this at
\fI/usr/share/doc/offlineimap/examples/offlineimap.conf.minimal\fR) that is a basic example of setting of \fBOfflineIMAP\fR\&. You can
simply copy this file into your home directory and name it
\fI\&.offlineimaprc\fR (note the leading period). A
command such as \fBcp offlineimap.conf.minimal ~/.offlineimaprc\fR will do it. Or, if you prefer, you can just copy this text to
\fI~/.offlineimaprc\fR:
.nf
[general]
accounts = Test
[Account Test]
localrepository = Local
remoterepository = Remote
[Repository Local]
type = Maildir
localfolders = ~/Test
[Repository Remote]
type = IMAP
remotehost = examplehost
remoteuser = jgoerzen
.fi
.PP
Now, edit the \fI~/.offlineimaprc\fR file with
your favorite editor. All you have to do is specify a directory
for your folders to be in (on the \fIlocalfolders\fR
line), the host name of your IMAP server (on the
\fIremotehost\fR line), and your login name on
the remote (on the \fIremoteuser\fR line). That's
it!
.PP
To run \fBOfflineIMAP\fR, you just have to say
\fBofflineimap\fR -- it will fire up, ask you for
a login password if necessary, synchronize your folders, and exit.
See? You can just throw away the rest of this finely-crafted,
perfectly-honed manual! Of course, if you want to see how you can
make \fBOfflineIMAP\fR FIVE TIMES FASTER FOR JUST $19.95 (err, well,
$0), you have to read on!
.SH "INSTALLATION"
.PP
If you are reading this document via the "man" 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 \fBOfflineIMAP\fR from
the \fBOfflineIMAP\fR
website <URL:http://software.complete.org/offlineimap/>\&.
.SS "PREREQUISITES"
.PP
In order to use \fBOfflineIMAP\fR, you need to have these conditions
satisfied:
.TP 0.2i
\(bu
Your mail server must support IMAP. Most Internet Service
Providers
and corporate networks do, and most operating systems
have an IMAP
implementation readily available.
.TP 0.2i
\(bu
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
the Python website <URL: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.
.TP 0.2i
\(bu
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 "qmail"
format, so any mail reader compatible with it will work
with \fBOfflineIMAP\fR\&. If you do not have a mail reader
that supports Maildir, you can often install a local
IMAP server and point both \fBOfflineIMAP\fR and your mail
reader at it.
.SS "SYSTEM-WIDE INSTALLATION, DEBIAN"
.PP
If you are tracking Debian unstable, you may install
\fBOfflineIMAP\fR by simply running the following command as root:
.PP
\fBapt-get install offlineimap\fR
.PP
If you are not tracking Debian unstable, download the Debian .deb
package from the \fBOfflineIMAP\fR website <URL:http://software.complete.org/offlineimap/>
and then run \fBdpkg -i\fR to install the downloaded
package. Then, skip to [XRef to CONFIGURATION] below. You will type \fBofflineimap\fR to
invoke the program.
.SS "SYSTEM-WIDE INSTALLATION, OTHER"
.PP
Download the tar.gz version of the package from the
website <URL:http://software.complete.org/offlineimap/>\&.
Then run
these commands, making sure that you are the "root" user first:
.nf
tar -zxvf offlineimap_x.y.z.tar.gz
cd offlineimap-x.y.z
python2.2 setup.py install
.fi
.PP
On some systems, you will need to use
\fBpython\fR instead of \fBpython2.2\fR\&.
Next, proceed to [XRef to CONFIGURATION] below. You will type \fBofflineimap\fR to
invoke the program.
.SS "SINGLE-ACCOUNT INSTALLATION"
.PP
Download the tar.gz version of the package from the
website <URL:http://software.complete.org/offlineimap/>\&.
Then run these commands:
.nf
tar -zxvf offlineimap_x.y.z.tar.gz
cd offlineimap-x.y.z
.fi
.PP
When you want to run \fBOfflineIMAP\fR, you will issue the
\fBcd\fR command as above and then type
\fB\&./offlineimap.py\fR; there is no installation
step necessary.
.SH "CONFIGURATION"
.PP
\fBOfflineIMAP\fR is regulated by a configuration file that is normally
stored in \fI~/.offlineimaprc\fR\&. \fBOfflineIMAP\fR
ships with a file named \fIofflineimap.conf\fR
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 \fBOfflineIMAP\fR\&. Full documentation for the configuration file
is included within the sample file.
.PP
\fBOfflineIMAP\fR also ships a file named
\fIofflineimap.conf.minimal\fR that you can also try.
It's useful if you want to get started with
the most basic feature set, and you can read about other features
later with \fIofflineimap.conf\fR\&.
.SH "OPTIONS"
.PP
Most configuration is done via the configuration file. Nevertheless,
there are a few command-line options that you may set for
\fBOfflineIMAP\fR\&.
.TP
\fB-1\fR
Disable most multithreading operations and use
solely a single-connection
sync. This effectively sets the
\fImaxsyncaccounts\fR
and all \fImaxconnections\fR configuration file
variables to 1.
.TP
\fB-P \fIprofiledir\fB\fR
Sets \fBOfflineIMAP\fR into profile mode. The program
will create \fIprofiledir\fR
(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 \fB-1\fR option when
you use \fB-P\fR\&.
.TP
\fB-a \fIaccountlist\fB\fR
Overrides the \fIaccounts\fR option
in the \fIgeneral\fR section of the configuration
file. You might use this to exclude certain accounts, or to sync
some accounts that you normally prefer not to. Separate the
accounts by commas, and use no embedded spaces.
.TP
\fB-c \fIconfigfile\fB\fR
Specifies a configuration file to use in lieu of
the default, \fI~/.offlineimaprc\fR\&.
.TP
\fB-d \fIdebugtype[,...]\fB\fR
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
\fB-1\fR to make the results more sensible.
\fB-d\fR requires one or more debugtypes,
separated by commas. These define what exactly will be
debugged, and include three options: \fIimap\fR,
\fImaildir\fR, and \fIthread\fR\&.
The \fIimap\fR
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
\fImaildir\fR option will enable debugging for
certain Maildir operations. And \fIthread\fR
will debug the threading model.
.TP
\fB-l \fIfilename\fB\fR
Enables logging to filename. This will log everything
that goes to the screen to the specified file.
Additionally, if any debugging is specified with -d,
then debug messages will not go to the screen, but
instead to the logfile only.
.TP
\fB-o\fR
Run only once, ignoring all
\fIautorefresh\fR settings in the configuration
file.
.TP
\fB-h\fR
.TP
\fB--help\fR
Show summary of options.
.TP
\fB-u \fIinterface\fB\fR
Specifies an alternative user interface module
to use. This overrides the default specified in the
configuration file. The pre-defined options are listed in
the User Interfaces section.
.SH "USER INTERFACES"
.PP
\fBOfflineIMAP\fR 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
\fIui\fR option in the configuration file specifies
user interface preferences. The \fB-u\fR command-line
option can override the configuration file setting. The available
values for the configuration file or command-line are described
in this section.
.SS "TK.BLINKENLIGHTS"
.PP
Tk.Blinkenlights is an interface designed to be sleek, fun to watch, and
informative of the overall picture of what \fBOfflineIMAP\fR
is doing. I consider it to be the best general-purpose interface in
\fBOfflineIMAP\fR\&.
.PP
Tk.Blinkenlights contains, by default, a small window with a row of
LEDs, a small log, 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. The optional, toggleable, log shows more
detail about what is happening and is color-coded to match the color
of the lights.
.PP
Tk.Blinkenlights is the only user interface that has configurable
parameters; see the example \fIofflineimap.conf\fR
for more details.
.PP
Each light in the Blinkenlights interface represents a thread
of execution -- that is, a particular task that \fBOfflineIMAP\fR
is performing right now. The colors indicate what task
the particular thread is performing, and are as follows:
.TP
\fBBlack\fR
indicates that this light's thread has terminated; it will light up
again later when new threads start up. So, black indicates no
activity.
.TP
\fBRed (Meaning 1)\fR
is the color of the main program's thread, which basically does
nothing but monitor the others. It might remind you of HAL 9000 in
2001\&.
.TP
\fBGray\fR
indicates that the thread is establishing a new connection to the IMAP
server.
.TP
\fBPurple\fR
is the color of an account synchronization thread that is monitoring
the progress of the folders in that account (not generating any I/O).
.TP
\fBCyan\fR
indicates that the thread is syncing a folder.
.TP
\fBGreen\fR
means that a folder's message list is being loaded.
.TP
\fBBlue\fR
is the color of a message synchronization controller thread.
.TP
\fBOrange\fR
indicates that an actual message is being copied.
(We use fuchsia for fake messages.)
.TP
\fBRed (meaning 2)\fR
indicates that a message is being deleted.
.TP
\fBYellow / bright orange\fR
indicates that message flags are being added.
.TP
\fBPink / bright red\fR
indicates that message flags are being removed.
.TP
\fBRed / Black Flashing\fR
corresponds to the countdown timer that runs between
synchronizations.
.PP
The name of this interfaces derives from a bit of computer
history. Eric Raymond's Jargon File defines
\fIblinkenlights\fR, in part, as:
.sp
.RS
.PP
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.
.PP
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:
.PP
\fBACHTUNG! ALLES LOOKENSPEEPERS!\fR
.PP
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.
.RE
.SS "CURSES.BLINKENLIGHTS"
.PP
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't have access to graphics, it isn't
quite as pretty, but it still gets the job done.
.PP
Please see the Tk.Blinkenlights section above for more
information about the colors used in this interface.
.SS "TK.VERBOSEUI"
.PP
Tk.VerboseUI (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.
.SS "TTY.TTYUI"
.PP
TTY.TTYUI interface is for people running in basic, non-color terminals. It
prints out basic status messages and is generally friendly to use on a console
or xterm.
.SS "NONINTERACTIVE.BASIC"
.PP
Noninteractive.Basic is designed for situations in which \fBOfflineIMAP\fR
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.
.SS "NONINTERACTIVE.QUIET"
.PP
Noninteractive.Quiet 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.
.SH "EXAMPLES"
.PP
Here are some example configurations for various situations.
Please e-mail any other examples you have that may be useful to
me.
.SS "MULTIPLE ACCOUNTS WITH MUTT"
.PP
This example shows you how to set up \fBOfflineIMAP\fR to
synchronize multiple accounts with the mutt mail reader.
.PP
Start by creating a directory to hold your folders by running
\fBmkdir ~/Mail\fR\&. Then, in your
\fI~/.offlineimaprc\fR, specify:
.nf
accounts = Personal, Work
.fi
.PP
Make sure that you have both an
\fI[Account Personal]\fR
and an \fI[Account Work]\fR section. The
local repository for each account must have different
\fIlocalfolder\fR path names.
Also, make sure
to enable \fI[mbnames]\fR\&.
.PP
In each local repository section, write something like this:
.nf
localfolders = ~/Mail/Personal
.fi
.PP
Finally, add these lines to your \fI~/.muttrc\fR:
.nf
source ~/path-to-mbnames-muttrc-mailboxes
folder-hook Personal set from="youremail@personal.com"
folder-hook Work set from="youremail@work.com"
set mbox_type=Maildir
set folder=$HOME/Mail
spoolfile=+Personal/INBOX
.fi
.PP
That's it!
.SS "UW-IMAPD AND REFERENCES"
.PP
Some users with a UW-IMAPD server need to use \fBOfflineIMAP\fR\&'s
"reference" feature to get at their mailboxes, specifying a reference
of "~/Mail" or "#mh/" depending on the configuration. The below
configuration from (originally from docwhat@gerf.org)
shows using a \fIreference\fR of Mail, a \fInametrans\fR
that strips
the leading Mail/ off incoming folder names, and a
\fIfolderfilter\fR that
limits the folders synced to just three.
.nf
[Account Gerf]
localrepository = GerfLocal
remoterepository = GerfRemote
[Repository GerfLocal]
type = Maildir
localfolders = ~/Mail
[Repository GerfRemote]
type = IMAP
remotehost = gerf.org
ssl = yes
remoteuser = docwhat
reference = Mail
# Trims off the preceeding Mail on all the folder names.
nametrans = lambda foldername: \\
re.sub('^Mail/', '', foldername)
# Yeah, you have to mention the Mail dir, even though it
# would seem intuitive that reference would trim it.
folderfilter = lambda foldername: foldername in [
'Mail/INBOX',
'Mail/list/zaurus-general',
'Mail/list/zaurus-dev',
]
maxconnections = 1
holdconnectionopen = no
.fi
.SS "PYTHONFILE CONFIGURATION FILE OPTION"
.PP
You can have \fBOfflineIMAP\fR
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.
.PP
In \fI~/.offlineimap.rc\fR, he adds these options:
.nf
[general]
pythonfile=~/.offlineimap.py
[Repository foo]
foldersort=mycmp
.fi
.PP
Then, the \fI~/.offlineimap.py\fR file will
contain:
.nf
prioritized = ['INBOX', 'personal', 'announce', 'list']
def mycmp(x, y):
for prefix in prioritized:
xsw = x.startswith(prefix)
ysw = y.startswith(prefix)
if xsw and ysw:
return cmp(x, y)
elif xsw:
return -1
elif ysw:
return +1
return cmp(x, y)
def test_mycmp():
import os, os.path
folders=os.listdir(os.path.expanduser('~/data/mail/tv@hq.yok.utu.fi'))
folders.sort(mycmp)
print folders
.fi
.PP
This code snippet illustrates how the \fIfoldersort\fR
option can be customized with a Python function from the
\fIpythonfile\fR to always synchronize certain
folders first.
.SH "ERRORS"
.PP
If you get one of some frequently-encountered or confusing errors,
please check this section.
.SS "UID VALIDITY PROBLEM FOR FOLDER"
.PP
IMAP servers use a unique ID (UID) to refer to a specific message.
This number is guaranteed to be unique to a particular message
\fBforever\fR\&.
No other message in the same folder will ever get the same
UID. UIDs are an integral part of \fBOfflineIMAP\fR\&'s synchronization
scheme; they are used to match up messages on your computer to
messages on the server.
.PP
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
\fBOfflineIMAP\fR might still have the UIDs from the previous folder by the
same name stored. \fBOfflineIMAP\fR will detect this condition and skip the
folder. This is GOOD, because it prevents data loss.
.PP
You can fix it by removing your local folder and cache data. For
instance, if your folders are under \fI~/Folders\fR
and the folder with the problem is INBOX, you'd type this:
.nf
rm -r ~/Folders/INBOX
rm -r ~/.offlineimap/Account-\fIAccountName\fR
rm -r ~/.offlineimap/Repository-\fIRepositoryName\fR
.fi
.PP
(Of course, replace AccountName and RepositoryName
with the names as specified
in \fI~/.offlineimaprc\fR).
.PP
Next time you run \fBOfflineIMAP\fR, 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.
.PP
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. \fBOfflineIMAP\fR is incompatible with such servers.
Using \fBOfflineIMAP\fR with them will not destroy any mail, but at the same time,
it will not actually synchronize it either. (\fBOfflineIMAP\fR will detect
this condition and abort prior to synchronization.)
.PP
This question comes up frequently on the
\fBOfflineIMAP\fR
mailing list <URL:http://lists.complete.org/offlineimap@complete.org/>\&. You can find a
detailed
discussion <URL:http://lists.complete.org/offlineimap@complete.org/2003/04/msg00012.html.gz> of the problem there.
.SH "CONFORMING TO"
.TP 0.2i
\(bu
Internet Message Access Protocol version 4rev1 (IMAP 4rev1) as
specified in RFC2060 and RFC3501
.TP 0.2i
\(bu
CRAM-MD5 as specified in RFC2195
.TP 0.2i
\(bu
Maildir as specified in
the Maildir manpage <URL:http://www.qmail.org/qmail-manual-html/man5/maildir.html> and
the qmail website <URL:http://cr.yp.to/proto/maildir.html>\&.
.TP 0.2i
\(bu
Standard Python 2.2.1 as implemented on POSIX-compliant systems.
.SH "NOTES"
.SS "DELETING LOCAL FOLDERS"
.PP
\fBOfflineIMAP\fR does a two-way synchronization. That is, if you
make a change to the mail on the server, it will be propagated 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 \fBOfflineIMAP\fR, remember to also remove your local status
cache (\fI~/.offlineimap\fR by default). Otherwise, \fBOfflineIMAP\fR 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't understand this, don't worry; you probably won't
encounter this situation)
.SS "MULTIPLE INSTANCES"
.PP
\fBOfflineIMAP\fR is not designed to have several instances (for instance, a cron job and an interactive invocation) run over the same
mailbox simultaneously. It will perform a check on startup and
abort if another \fBOfflineIMAP\fR is already running. If you need
to schedule synchronizations, please use the
\fIautorefresh\fR settings rather than cron.
Alternatively, you can set a separate \fImetadata\fR
directory for each instance.
.SS "COPYING MESSAGES BETWEEN FOLDERS"
.PP
Normally, when you copy a message between folders or add a new message
to a folder locally, \fBOfflineIMAP\fR
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, \fBOfflineIMAP\fR
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.
\fBOfflineIMAP\fR makes sure that the message was properly uploaded before deleting it,
so there should be no risk of data loss.
.SS "MAILING LIST"
.PP
There is an OfflineIMAP mailing list available.
To subscribe, send the text "Subscribe" in the subject of a mail to
offlineimap-request@complete.org. To post, send the message to
offlineimap@complete.org. Archives are available at
<URL:http://lists.complete.org/offlineimap@complete.org/>\&.
.SS "BUGS"
.PP
Reports of bugs should be reported online at the
\fBOfflineIMAP\fR homepage.
Debian users are encouraged to instead use the
Debian
bug-tracking system.
.SH "UPGRADING TO 4.0"
.PP
If you are upgrading from a version of \fBOfflineIMAP\fR prior to
3.99.12, you will find that you will get errors when
\fBOfflineIMAP\fR starts up (relating to ConfigParser or
AccountHashGenerator) and the
configuration file. This is because the config file format
had to change to accommodate new features in 4.0. Fortunately,
it's not difficult to adjust it to suit.
.PP
First thing you need to do is stop any running \fBOfflineIMAP\fR
instance, making sure first that it's synced all your mail.
Then, modify your
\fI~/.offlineimaprc\fR file. You'll need to
split up each account section (make sure that it now starts
with "Account ") into two Repository sections (one for the
local side and another for the remote side.) See the files
\fIofflineimap.conf.minimal\fR and
\fIofflineimap.conf\fR in the distribution if
you need more assistance.
.PP
\fBOfflineIMAP\fR\&'s status directory area has also changed.
Therefore, you should delete everything in ~/.offlineimap as
well as your local mail folders.
.PP
When you start up \fBOfflineIMAP\fR 4.0, it will re-download all
your mail from the server and then you can continue using it
like normal.
.SH "COPYRIGHT"
.PP
OfflineIMAP, and this manual, are Copyright (C) 2002 - 2006 John Goerzen.
.PP
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.
.PP
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.
.PP
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
.PP
imaplib.py comes from the Python dev tree and is licensed under
the GPL-compatible PSF license as stated in the file
\fICOPYRIGHT\fR in the \fBOfflineIMAP\fR
distribution.
.SH "AUTHOR"
.PP
\fBOfflineIMAP\fR, its libraries, documentation, and all included files, except where
noted, was written by John Goerzen <jgoerzen@complete.org> and
copyright is held as stated in the COPYRIGHT section.
.PP
\fBOfflineIMAP\fR may be downloaded, and information found, from its
homepage <URL:http://software.complete.org/offlineimap>\&.
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.PP
\fBmutt\fR(1),
\fBpython\fR(1)
.SH "HISTORY"
.PP
Detailed history may be found in the file ChangeLog in the
\fBOfflineIMAP\fR distribution. Feature and bug histories may be
found in the file debian/changelog which, despite its name, is
not really Debian-specific. This section provides a large
overview.
.PP
Development on \fBOfflineIMAP\fR began on June 18, 2002. Version
1.0.0 was released three days later on June 21, 2002. Point
releases followed, including speed optimizations and some
compatibility fixes.
.PP
Version 2.0.0 was released on July 3, 2002, and
represented the first time the synchronization became
multithreaded and, to the best of my knowledge, the first
multithreaded IMAP syncrhonizing application in existance.
The last 2.0.x release, 2.0.8, was made on July 9.
.PP
Version 3.0.0 was released on July 11, 2002, and introduced
modular user interfaces and the first GUI interface for
\fBOfflineIMAP\fR\&. This manual also was introduced with 3.0.0,
along with many command-line options. Version 3.1.0 was
released on July 21, adding the Noninteractive user
interfaces, profiling support, and several bugfixes. 3.2.0
was released on July 24, adding support for the Blinkenlights
GUI interface. \fBOfflineIMAP\fR entered maintenance mode for
awhile, as it had reached a feature-complete milestone in my
mind.
.PP
The 3.99.x branch began in on October 7, 2002, to begin work
for 4.0. The Curses.Blinkenlights interface was added in
3.99.6, and many architectural changes were made.
.PP
4.0.0 was released on July 18, 2003, including the ability to
synchronize directly between two IMAP servers, the first
re-architecting of the configuration file to refine the
notion of an account, and the new Curses interface.