History
.
+ website
.
PREREQUISITES
In order to use OfflineIMAP, you need to have these conditions satis-
@@ -153,15 +153,15 @@ INSTALLATION
apt-get install offlineimap
If you are not tracking Debian unstable, download the Debian .deb pack-
- age from the OfflineIMAP website
-
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.
+ age from the OfflineIMAP website
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
-
. Then run these commands,
- making sure that you are the "root" user first:
+
. 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
@@ -173,76 +173,77 @@ INSTALLATION
SINGLE-ACCOUNT INSTALLATION
Download the tar.gz version of the package from the website
-
. Then run these commands:
+
. 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
+ 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-
+ 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 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.
+ 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
+ -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
+ 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
+ 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
+ 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,
+ 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
+ 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
+ -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
+ 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.
+ 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 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-
@@ -253,52 +254,52 @@ OPTIONS
--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
+ 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
+ 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-
+ 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
+ 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,
+ 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
+ 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
+ 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
+ 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-
+ 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
+ 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
+ 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
+ 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-
+ 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).
@@ -321,68 +322,68 @@ USER INTERFACES
indicates that message flags are being removed.
Red / Black Flashing
- corresponds to the countdown timer that runs between synchro-
+ corresponds to the countdown timer that runs between synchro-
nizations.
- The name of this interfaces derives from a bit of computer history.
+ 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
+ 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-
+ 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
+ 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 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
+ 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
+ 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
+ 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-
+ 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-
+ 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-
+ 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-
+ 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;
+ 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;
+ 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.
@@ -391,15 +392,15 @@ EXAMPLES
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-
+ 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
+ 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
+ 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].
@@ -420,10 +421,10 @@ EXAMPLES
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"
+ 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
+ (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]
@@ -454,8 +455,8 @@ EXAMPLES
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
+ 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:
@@ -487,96 +488,96 @@ EXAMPLES
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-
+ 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,
+ 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.
+ 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
+ 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
+ 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
+ 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
+ (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
+ 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
+ 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
+ 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
+ This question comes up frequently on the OfflineIMAP mailing list
. You can
- find a detailed discussion
of the
problem there.
USE WITH MS EXCHANGE SERVER
Several users have reported problems with Microsoft Exchange servers in
- conjunction with OfflineIMAP. This generally seems to be related to
+ conjunction with OfflineIMAP. This generally seems to be related to
the Exchange servers not properly following the IMAP standards.
- Mark Biggers has posted some information to the
OfflineIMAP mailing list about how he made it work.
Other users have indicated that older (5.5) releases of Exchange are so
bad that they will likely not work at all.
- I do not have access to Exchange servers for testing, so any problems
- with it, if they can even be solved at all, will require help from
+ I do not have access to Exchange servers for testing, so any problems
+ with it, if they can even be solved at all, will require help from
OfflineIMAP users to find and fix.
OTHER FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
- There are some other FAQs that might not fit into another section of
+ There are some other FAQs that might not fit into another section of
the document, so they are discussed here.
What platforms does OfflineIMAP run on?
- It should run on most platforms supported by Python, which are
- quite a few. I do not support Windows myself, but some have
+ It should run on most platforms supported by Python, which are
+ quite a few. I do not support Windows myself, but some have
made it work there; see the FAQ entry for that platform.
- I'm using Mutt. Other IMAP sync programs require me to use "set
+ I'm using Mutt. Other IMAP sync programs require me to use "set
maildir_trash=yes". Do I need to do that with OfflineIMAP?
- No. OfflineIMAP is smart enough to figure out message deletion
- without this extra crutch. You'll get the best results if you
+ No. OfflineIMAP is smart enough to figure out message deletion
+ without this extra crutch. You'll get the best results if you
don't use this setting, in fact.
I've upgraded and now OfflineIMAP crashes when I start it up! Why?
- You need to upgrade your configuration file. See [XRef to
+ You need to upgrade your configuration file. See [XRef to
UPGRADING.4.0] at the end of this manual.
How do I specify the names of my folders?
- You do not need to. OfflineIMAP is smart enough to automati-
+ You do not need to. OfflineIMAP is smart enough to automati-
cally figure out what folders are present on the IMAP server and
- synchronize them. You can use the folderfilter and nametrans
+ synchronize them. You can use the folderfilter and nametrans
configuration file options to request certain folders and rename
them as they come in if you like.
@@ -584,68 +585,68 @@ OTHER FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Use the folderfilter option in the configuration file.
How can I add or delete a folder?
- OfflineIMAP does not currently provide this feature, but if you
- create a new folder on the IMAP server, it will be created
+ OfflineIMAP does not currently provide this feature, but if you
+ create a new folder on the IMAP server, it will be created
locally automatically.
Are there any other warnings that I should be aware of?
Yes; see the Notes section below.
What is the mailbox name recorder (mbnames) for?
- Some mail readers, such as Mutt, are not capable of automati-
- cally determining the names of your mailboxes. OfflineIMAP can
- help these programs by writing the names of the folders in a
+ Some mail readers, such as Mutt, are not capable of automati-
+ cally determining the names of your mailboxes. OfflineIMAP can
+ help these programs by writing the names of the folders in a
format you specify. See the example offlineimap.conf for
details.
Can I synchronize multiple accounts with OfflineIMAP?
- Sure. Just name them all in the accounts line in the general
+ Sure. Just name them all in the accounts line in the general
section of the configuration file, and add a per-account section
for each one.
Does OfflineIMAP support POP?
No. POP is not robust enough to do a completely reliable multi-
- machine synchronization like OfflineIMAP can do. OfflineIMAP
+ machine synchronization like OfflineIMAP can do. OfflineIMAP
will not support it.
Does OfflineIMAP support mailbox formats other than Maildir?
- Not at present. There is no technical reason not to; just no
- demand yet. Maildir is a superior format anyway. However,
- OfflineIMAP can sync between two IMAP servers, and some IMAP
+ Not at present. There is no technical reason not to; just no
+ demand yet. Maildir is a superior format anyway. However,
+ OfflineIMAP can sync between two IMAP servers, and some IMAP
servers support other formats. You could install an IMAP server
on your local machine and have OfflineIMAP sync to that.
[technical] Why are your Maildir message filenames so huge?
OfflineIMAP has two relevant principles: 1) never modifying your
- messages in any way and 2) ensuring 100% reliable synchroniza-
- tions. In order to do a reliable sync, OfflineIMAP must have a
- way to uniquely identify each e-mail. Three pieces of informa-
- tion 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
+ messages in any way and 2) ensuring 100% reliable synchroniza-
+ tions. In order to do a reliable sync, OfflineIMAP must have a
+ way to uniquely identify each e-mail. Three pieces of informa-
+ tion 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.
- So, OfflineIMAP must store both a UID folder ID. The folder ID
+ So, OfflineIMAP must store both a UID folder ID. The folder ID
is necessary so OfflineIMAP can detect a message moved to a dif-
- ferent folder. OfflineIMAP stores the UID (U= number) and an
+ ferent folder. OfflineIMAP stores the UID (U= number) and an
md5sum of the foldername (FMD5= number) to facilitate this.
What is the speed of OfflineIMAP's sync?
- OfflineIMAP versions 2.0 and above contain a multithreaded sys-
- tem. A good way to experiment is by setting maxsyncaccounts to
+ OfflineIMAP versions 2.0 and above contain a multithreaded sys-
+ tem. A good way to experiment is by setting maxsyncaccounts to
3 and maxconnections to 3 in each account clause.
- This lets OfflineIMAP open up multiple connections simultane-
- ously. That will let it process multiple folders and messages
- at once. In most cases, this will increase performance of the
+ This lets OfflineIMAP open up multiple connections simultane-
+ ously. That will let it process multiple folders and messages
+ at once. In most cases, this will increase performance of the
sync.
- Don'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.
+ Don'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;
+ bog down. There are many variables in the optimal setting;
experimentation may help.
An informal benchmark yields these results for my setup:
@@ -664,26 +665,26 @@ OTHER FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Can I use OfflineIMAP on Windows?
These answers have been reported by OfflineIMAP users. I do not
- run OfflineIMAP on Windows myself, so I can't directly address
+ run OfflineIMAP on Windows myself, so I can't directly address
their accuracy.
The basic answer is that it's possible and doesn't require hack-
- ing OfflineIMAP source code. However, it's not necessarily
+ ing OfflineIMAP source code. However, it's not necessarily
trivial. The information below is based in instructions submit-
ted by Chris Walker.
- First, you must run OfflineIMAP in the Cygwin
+ First, you must run OfflineIMAP in the Cygwin
environment.
- Next, you'll need to mount your Maildir directory in a special
+ Next, you'll need to mount your Maildir directory in a special
way. There is information for doing that at
- . That site gives this
+ . That site gives this
example:
mount -f -s -b -o managed "d:/tmp/mail" "/home/of/mail"
- That URL also has more details on making OfflineIMAP work with
+ That URL also has more details on making OfflineIMAP work with
Windows.
CONFORMING TO
@@ -692,7 +693,7 @@ CONFORMING TO
o CRAM-MD5 as specified in RFC2195
- o Maildir as specified in the Maildir manpage
+ o Maildir as specified in the Maildir manpage
and
the qmail website .
@@ -700,120 +701,119 @@ CONFORMING TO
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
+ 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
+ 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
+ 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
+ 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-
+ 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
+ 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.
USE WITH EVOLUTION
- OfflineIMAP can work with Evolution. To do so, first configure your
- OfflineIMAP account to have sep = / in its configuration. Then, con-
- figure Evolution with the "Maildir-format mail directories" server
+ OfflineIMAP can work with Evolution. To do so, first configure your
+ OfflineIMAP account to have sep = / in its configuration. Then, con-
+ figure Evolution with the "Maildir-format mail directories" server
type. For the path, you will need to specify the name of the top-level
folder inside your OfflineIMAP storage location. You're now set!
USE WITH KMAIL
- At this time, I believe that OfflineIMAP with Maildirs is not compati-
- ble with KMail. KMail cannot work in any mode other than to move all
- messages out of all folders immediately, which (besides being annoying
+ At this time, I believe that OfflineIMAP with Maildirs is not compati-
+ ble 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 OfflineIMAP.
- However, I have made KMail version 3 work well with OfflineIMAP by
- installing an IMAP server on my local machine, having OfflineIMAP sync
+ However, I have made KMail version 3 work well with OfflineIMAP by
+ installing an IMAP server on my local machine, having OfflineIMAP sync
to that, and pointing KMail at the same server.
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.
+ 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
.
BUGS
- Reports of bugs should be sent via e-mail to the OfflineIMAP mailing
- list at offlineimap at complete dot org. Debian users are encouraged
+ Reports of bugs should be sent via e-mail to the OfflineIMAP mailing
+ list at offlineimap at complete dot org. Debian users are encouraged
to instead use the Debian bug-tracking system.
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
+ 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
+ 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-
+ 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
+ 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
+ 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, 2003 John
+ OfflineIMAP, and this manual, are Copyright (C) 2002, 2003 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
+ 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
+ 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
+ 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,
+ OfflineIMAP, its libraries, documentation, and all included files,
except where noted, was written by John Goerzen
and copyright is held as stated in the COPYRIGHT section.
OfflineIMAP may be downloaded, and information found, from its homepage
- via either Gopher or HTTP
- .
+ .
OfflineIMAP may also be downloaded using Subversion. Additionally, the
distributed tar.gz may be updated with a simple "svn update" command;
@@ -859,4 +859,4 @@ HISTORY
-John Goerzen 28 September 2005 OFFLINEIMAP(1)
+John Goerzen 29 November 2006 OFFLINEIMAP(1)
diff --git a/offlineimap.1 b/offlineimap.1
index d50a971..fe2cf56 100644
--- a/offlineimap.1
+++ b/offlineimap.1
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
.\"
.\" Please send any bug reports, improvements, comments, patches,
.\" etc. to Steve Cheng .
-.TH "OFFLINEIMAP" "1" "28 September 2005" "John Goerzen" "OfflineIMAP Manual"
+.TH "OFFLINEIMAP" "1" "29 November 2006" "John Goerzen" "OfflineIMAP Manual"
.SH NAME
OfflineIMAP \- Powerful IMAP/Maildir synchronization and reader support
@@ -141,7 +141,7 @@ 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 \&.
+website \&.
.SS "PREREQUISITES"
.PP
In order to use \fBOfflineIMAP\fR, you need to have these conditions
@@ -183,14 +183,14 @@ If you are tracking Debian unstable, you may install
\fBapt-get install offlineimap\fR
.PP
If you are not tracking Debian unstable, download the Debian .deb
-package from the \fBOfflineIMAP\fR website
+package from the \fBOfflineIMAP\fR website
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 \&.
+website \&.
Then run
these commands, making sure that you are the "root" user first:
@@ -207,7 +207,7 @@ invoke the program.
.SS "SINGLE-ACCOUNT INSTALLATION"
.PP
Download the tar.gz version of the package from the
-website \&.
+website \&.
Then run these commands:
.nf
@@ -941,8 +941,7 @@ noted, was written by John Goerzen and
copyright is held as stated in the COPYRIGHT section.
.PP
\fBOfflineIMAP\fR may be downloaded, and information found, from its
-homepage via either Gopher
-or HTTP \&.
+homepage \&.
.PP
\fBOfflineIMAP\fR may also be downloaded using Subversion. Additionally,
the distributed tar.gz may be updated with a simple "svn update"