Glenn,
This discussion -- of when mail on server has actually been deleted --
was covered in detail last year some time.
Yes, if you haven't chosen to leave mail on server, Arachne sends the
DELE message to the mailserver after each e-mail is downloaded. There
is no disagreement on that.
However, that is not pertinent to what I said.
Why? Because of the way the mailserver POP3 software itself works.
The mailserver software is designed on the principle of Murphy's Law.
"If you're going to lose connect, crash your computer, it will be when
you are in the middle of downloading e-mail files."
Thus the mailserver POP3 software is designed so that it *stores* the
DELE requests until it is told by you that everything is A-OK and the
download went fine. Then, and only then, does the mailserver software
actually delete those messages. What is the A-OK signal? It is your
computer sending QUIT to the server software.
If you have downloaded all your mail but for one piece, and you unplug
your modem or turn off your computer, you'll have the mail you
downloaded but when you go back to the mail server you will *also* have
all that "downloaded mail" waiting for you to download it. The mail is
waiting because unplugging modem or turning off computer prevents
Arachne from sending QUIT. When QUIT is not received, the DELE commands
are ignored.
You can check it if you want to, using 10 small files and BigRedButton
[small files may come down too fast to cut things short with
3-finger-salute]. If you're downloading #6 and turn off the computer,
when you get back you'll find all 10 files waiting for you. This is
despite the fact that the pop3.log shows the DELE command was sent.
OK, that out of the way...
Is there anyone else, besides the 2 of us who have reported in, who
experiences POP3 aborts and when they return to mail server it picks up
right after where it stops?
Since I have cable connect, I know darn well there is no modem time-out
causing problems [I can't get Arachne to even take the -c flag and start
without connecting]. And a modem time out doesn't send the QUIT command
necessary to have mailserver impliment the DELE commands.
It would appear to be an Arachne problem, not a problem with my ISP.
But unless/until more people notice this happening, it's not really
worth the time to attempt to find what is causing the problem.
l.d.
--
-- Arachne V1.61, NON-COMMERCIAL copy, http://arachne.cz/
