maildir support (Linux)

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tobi100
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Joined: May 9th, 2012, 12:01 pm

maildir support (Linux)

Post by tobi100 »

Hi every body,
I've some questions concerning new maildir support in Thunderbird 12 on ubuntu.
I switched to maildir.
I converted some mails from mbox using

Code: Select all

mb2md -s "/path/" -R   -d  "/path/" 


My problem is, doing so, the sub-folders are generated with a dot at the beginning of the folder name.

Question:
Why does thunderbird not show folders with leading dot in name.
Aren't that usual names processed by imap servers. Or is this maildir+ format - I'm no expert in this subject.

So, what is the best solution for me:
delete all dots per hand?
is there a switch in Thunderbird config to show names with leading dot?
Will there be a release in near future that can handle leading dots in mail folder names?
Other work around?

Best regards and thanks for your help.
Tobi
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tanstaafl
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Re: maildir support (Linux)

Post by tanstaafl »

The last I read the maildir code worked in 12.0, but the developer was still working on a framework to convert mbox based folders to maildir based folders from within Thunderbird. It sounds like your real problem might be with mb2md, there are lots of tools to convert mbox files to maildir files. I'd try to find a different script that didn't add a leading period (see below for one possibility). Another possibility might be to set mail.serverDefaultStoreContractID to @mozilla.org/msgstore/maildirstore;1 (to default to maildir in any new accounts) , create a new account, and then import the mail.

http://wiki2.dovecot.org/Migration/MailFormat claims "The default hierarchy separator with Maildir is '.' instead of '/' which is common with mboxes. To keep the migration transparent to users, you can keep the '/' separator by using namespaces. In any case you need to replace the '/' with '.' in the subscriptions file: " I notice it has a link to a Dovecot modified version of mb2md, and one of the comments in that script states it supports Courier IMAP's naming conventions for Maildir mailboxes.

https://wiki.mozilla.org/Thunderbird:Pl ... ail_Stores
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=58308
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=402392

I'm going to move this thread from Thunderbird Support to Thunderbird Builds since you will have a better chance of getting an answer there. The only KB documentation on maildir that I'm aware of is in http://kb.mozillazine.org/Thunderbird_6 ... rbird_12.0 :

Backend: Pluggable mailstores

A new major feature are "pluggable mailstores" [62], which however caused a regression with persistent/repeated new-mail notifications for POP accounts which are set to leave the messages on the server [63]. This and other issues are fixed in TB 12.0.1.

The mail backend has been extended by the "maildir" format in addition to the traditional "mbox" format [64], [65], [66]. A new preference mail.serverDefaultStoreContractID determines the format to be used. This defaults to "berkeleystore" which is the previously exclusively used "mbox" format, thus there shouldn't be any impact from the user's perspective at this time.

To enable the maildir format for new accounts, set mail.serverDefaultStoreContractID to @mozilla.org/msgstore/maildirstore;1 (there is no UI for any of this yet).

Note: Running TB 12 with local mail folders and pop3 mail filters may produce summary files that aren't correctly read by previous versions of Thunderbird. If you decide to go back to a previous version of Thunderbird after running TB 12, you should delete the .msf files for your local folders and pop3 accounts, or repair the folders using the folder properties dialog, to avoid potential data loss.
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tanstaafl
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Re: maildir support (Linux)

Post by tanstaafl »

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=753624 "Copy/Move of imap offline store messages not working for Maildir Lite"
wsmwk
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Re: maildir support (Linux)

Post by wsmwk »

Still a ton of work to be done, and being tracked in https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=845952 " finish "maildir" message storage [meta]"

volunteers needed
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tanstaafl
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Re: maildir support (Linux)

Post by tanstaafl »

It links to another bug report about "Copy/Move of mails with MaildirStore doesn't work well except when Copy/Move from "Non-IMAP Maildir with /cur use" to "Non-IMAP Maildir with /cur use", and if Move, mails are deleted despite Move failed."

What is "with /cur use" and how do you configure that?

I found https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic ... M0o4kaHKdc which talks about "your messages will be stored in /cur/ as plain text files named <unix time> + 6 (random?) digits, something like this: 1349710749106052" if you use maildir with Thunderbird. Which makes me wonder how/when using a cur directory is optional.
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