Re: RFC mailbox interface

[Pawel Salek <pawsa theochem kth se>]

On 2001.11.21 21:33 M . Thielker wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> On 2001.11.20 07:52 Kenneth Haley wrote:
>> You're assuming that the shadow is always on and that it keeps a 
>> complete mirror of the IMAP server, both of which are faulty.  A user 
>> may not want
> If any of these is untrue, there would be no point in having the shadow. 
> In my opinion, one of the most valuable uses for such a shadow is on 
> notebook computers. It allows me to work with my email as if I were 
> connected, while in fact I'm not.

There are a number of situations when shadowing is just a waste of space 
and bandwidth and enforcing it always would be a mistake. Imagine you have 
a mailbox that you look at the headers only (say, auction subscription 
list, or similar), removing messages without looking at them when the 
subject seems uninteresting. Shadowing such a mailbox would be a mistake.

I think if the library is designed to provide client-side caching, it is 
fine. If it only does its primary job of standard-compliant communication 
with the server, fetching, storing and searching data, it is fine, too.

/Pawel
-- 
Pawel Salek, Theoretical Chemistry, SCFAB, Stockholm
http://www.theochem.kth.se/~pawsa/