[Zope] IMAP vs POP in worldpilot (was Re: Worldpilot (was Re: Any news from ZOPE track? )) ZOPE track? ))

Ryan Hughes rh@n-h.net
Sat, 29 Jan 2000 05:26:53 +0100


Anthony Baxter wrote:
> 
> >>> Jochen Haeberle wrote
> > Why only IMAP? POP is used much more and does not have all the
> > problems IMAP implementaions have these days. Do you inted WorldPilot
> > to be used as the only MailClient or as a supplement when out of
> > office? This way a POP client would suffice (could be set to not
> > delete messages from the server by default)
> 
> The problem with POP is that the webserver has to download all
> the messages to itself to be able to do anything with it. Once it's
> downloaded them, it can't put them back afterwards.
> 
> "keep mail on server" is a really really nasty hack. It just doesn't
> work for a mailbox of any complexity.
>

Furthermore with most POP servers, it causes an unnecessary high load on
the server side, by copying the whole mailbox to a temporary file on
every new POP connection. If you don't delete mail your mailbox can
reach a considerable size.

Like Anthony pointed out it's not possible to retrieve header
information separately. The download time could considerably exceed the
timeout time of your browser, depending on if the POP server is local or
not, and the size of the mailbox. Therefore POP is actually only a mail
download protocol. 
If POP get's implemented sometime into Worldpilot it will be used as a
download protocol to retrieve mail to be stored in a "local" worldpilot
storage, but would require removing it from the POP server. We're
currently refraining from implementing it, since it does require some
thought in regard to browser timeouts.

Cheers,
Ryan

> > OT: With all the mail I keep in my local mailbox I don't know how
> > IMAP will ever be the way for me, although I'd love to have access to
> > all the mail from everywhere...
> >
> > Jochen
> >
> >
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> 
> --
> Anthony Baxter     <anthony@interlink.com.au>
> It's never too late to have a happy childhood.

--
Ryan Hughes <rh@n-h.net>
Neuberger & Hughes GmbH
http://www.n-h.net