[Alpine-info] Running two copies of alpine - was Re: Gmail Access

[Carlos E. R. via Alpine-info]

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El 2024-05-25 a las 08:51 -0600, Eduardo Chappa via Alpine-info escribió:


> Carlos and Chime,

>

>  the loss of a session due to locking has nothing to do with imap access or 

> not, it has to do with the way that the messages are stored.

>

>  First, let us talk about local access. In its default configuration Alpine 

> uses the unix format for local folders (except in Windows, where it is called 

> mbx, more about this later). The unix format locks the full folder to avoid 

> that two users modify the folder in incompatible ways. This is the problem 

> that Chime is experiencing. Since only one of the alpine sessions can have a 

> lock, one has to lose the lock and the other one get it.

>

>  The unix format is also the default format for the UW IMAP server, so when 

> people access a folder in the unix format (typically inbox) through the UW 

> IMAP server, you will see the same issue that Chime is reporting. In other 

> words, the problem exists in this case because Chime is accessing a folder 

> that does not support concurrent access.

>

>  By the way, the reason why the second sessions steals the lock from the 

> first and the first does not retain its lock is exactly because of needing to 

> please IMAP users. Originally it was not possible to steal the lock. Once a 

> folder got the lock, no on could steal it, but this was contrary to remote 

> access, where users left their email open in the office, and they could not 

> access it later from home. So the University of Washington had to make the 

> last person to access the folder the winner of the lock.

>

>  The mbx format used by Windows Alpine does not have this issue. Every 

> session gets its lock and can be shared. You can have two alpine sessions 

> access the same folder at the same time and share all the information on 

> messages (for example, if a message is flagged "Answered" in one session, it 

> will also be flagged "Answered" in the other session without needing to 

> reopen the folder). If the UW IMAP server had the mbx format as default, then 

> concurrent IMAP access could be possible and the experience that Carlos has 

> with IMAP servers (such as Outlook, Gmail, GMX, etc.) could be repeated.

>

>  In summary, the appearance that IMAP allows concurrent access but Alpine 

> does not is just that. Concurrent access has to do with if the storage method 

> allows concurrent access or not. So what we know is that Chime has a folder 

> that does not allow it (most likely a folder in the unix format) while Carlos 

> has share access (for a folder that is clearly not in the unix format).

>

>  I hope this is enough information so that Chime can solve his issue.


Just to clarify, I am accessing all my local folders via imap (dovecot, on 
mbox). The only direct local folder is the main inbox. If I access this 
folder also via imap, then I can have concurrent Alpines.

Although I have a collection that is the local folders on mbox, I take 
care not to use it, specially not when using two alpine sessions.

I use a local imap (dovecot) server precissely to be able to access my 
local folders with several mail clients: Alpine, Thunderbird, evince, etc.


- -- 
Cheers,
        Carlos E. R.
        (from openSUSE 15.5 x86_64 at Telcontar)

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