IMAP mutual exclusion

I occasionally get questions from people who want to have
multiple
clients process the messages in a single mailbox.  Usually
this
is done to balance load across multiple clients.  Each
message in
the mailbox needs to be processed by exactly one client.

Is there a well-defined way for clients to coordinate the
processing
of messages in the mailbox using the IMAP protocol?  Is
there an
equivalent of "test and set" in the IMAP protocol?
 Or is one of the
newer extensions required?
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Bill Shannon wrote:

> I occasionally get questions from people who want to
have multiple
> clients process the messages in a single mailbox. 
Usually this
> is done to balance load across multiple clients.  Each
message in
> the mailbox needs to be processed by exactly one
client.
>
> Is there a well-defined way for clients to coordinate
the processing
> of messages in the mailbox using the IMAP protocol?  Is
there an
> equivalent of "test and set" in the IMAP
protocol?  Or is one of the
> newer extensions required?

You need a server that supports RFC 4551 (CONDSTORE).

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