email pop3 question

I am using dovecot email on my server - Users can connect
via IMAP or POP3.

I have a user who is using pop3 but not removing the email
from the 
server - so the email stays on the server, -and- it is
collecting on their
computer - as the emails build up, will there be a problem
with this?

For IMAP it stays on the server, so I assume the server will
not be presented
with any problem - but will the user suffer any problem
eventually?  
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> I am using dovecot email on my server - Users can
connect via IMAP or POP3.
>
> I have a user who is using pop3 but not removing the
email from the
> server - so the email stays on the server, -and- it is
collecting on their
> computer - as the emails build up, will there be a
problem with this?
>
> For IMAP it stays on the server, so I assume the server
will not be presented
> with any problem - but will the user suffer any problem
eventually?

all depends how clients are configured. if right - no
problems.
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David Banning wrote:
> I am using dovecot email on my server - Users can
connect via IMAP or POP3.
>
> I have a user who is using pop3 but not removing the
email from the 
> server - so the email stays on the server, -and- it is
collecting on their
> computer - as the emails build up, will there be a
problem with this?
>
> For IMAP it stays on the server, so I assume the server
will not be presented
> with any problem - but will the user suffer any problem
eventually?  
>   

The assumption that just because the user is using IMAP will
alleviate 
any problems isn't necessarily true.
I'd suggest getting over to the dovecot mailling lists and
asking them 
specifically the same question.

I don't use dovecot exclusively where I work, but generally
when there 
is a problem, it's because of a user
having way too much email.  Whether the user keeps their
mail on the 
server via pop or uses imap exclusively, the
majority of the time it takes to grab headers and/or parse
through all 
the emails is limited by disk.

It's not uncommon for some of our users to have 4000+ emails
in their 
inbox, and it's not uncommon for me to tell them
why their pop/imap client is slow.

~Paul
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On Wed, Mar 12, 2008 at 04:49:18PM -0400, David Banning
wrote:
>
> I am using dovecot email on my server - Users can
connect via IMAP or POP3.
> 
> I have a user who is using pop3 but not removing the
email from the 
> server - so the email stays on the server, -and- it is
collecting on their
> computer - as the emails build up, will there be a
problem with this?

Probably not. But it suggests to me that the user has
probably
misconfigured his pop client to not delete email after he's
picked it
up. Unless, he's using some peculiar kind of back-up
strategy!

> 
> For IMAP it stays on the server, so I assume the server
will not be presented
> with any problem - but will the user suffer any problem
eventually?  

He could do. The pop3 protocol is painfully slow and
deleting
thousands of emails that have built up is no fun. You have
to write a
script that deletes them one by one unless dovecot supports
a "delete
all" mode for pop3.

You might want to drop them an email to tell them that their
email
isn't being deleted after collection.

Here's a script for deleting them, if he wants it:


#!/usr/local/bin/ksh
#
# Deletes mail off pop3 server
#
# Usage: e.g: Clear 3000 emails:
#
#$ clean_pop3 3000 | telnet popserver.net 110

username="user";
password="pass";
MAX_MESS=$1
[ $# -eq 0 ] && exit 1 || :
sleep 2
echo USER $username
sleep 1
echo PASS $password
sleep 2
while [[ $MAX_MESS -gt 0 ]]
do
echo DELE $MAX_MESS
sleep 1
(( MAX_MESS -= 1 ))
done
sleep 2
echo QUIT
sleep 2


-- 

 Frank 

	
 Contact info: http://www.
shute.org.uk/misc/contact.html 

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> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-freebsd-questionsfreebsd.org
> [mailto:owner-freebsd-questionsfreebsd.org]On Behalf Of
David Banning
> Sent: Wednesday, March 12, 2008 12:49 PM
> To: questionsfreebsd.org
> Subject: email pop3 question
>
>
> I am using dovecot email on my server - Users can
connect via
> IMAP or POP3.
>
> I have a user who is using pop3 but not removing the
email from the
> server - so the email stays on the server, -and- it is
collecting on their
> computer - as the emails build up, will there be a
problem with this?
>
> For IMAP it stays on the server, so I assume the server
will not
> be presented
> with any problem - but will the user suffer any problem
eventually?

It depends on a lot of variables.

For example, I have a 64-bit mailserver running uw-imapd.  I
have
a 500MB mailbox with around 16,000 e-mail messages in it. 
When I
connect with Outlook, it takes about a minute for the server
and
client to sync with each other.  Beyond that, it's not even
noticable.

However, some of the webmail clients do have a lot of
problems
with this large of a mailbox.

With POP3 you start having problems with more than a couple
hundred
messages in the inbox.

Ted

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