Hi Dean,
On 3 Aug 2004 at 10:32, Dean Jackson spoke, thus:
> As has been pointed out on this thread to you, it isn't possible to delete
> messages as they are being downloaded due to the way that the POP3
> protocoled works. However, there are improvements that could be made in
> future releases of KeySoft that would make it easier to resolve this sort
> of situation. Indeed, you should find that KeyMail in KeySoft 6.1 is a lot
> more stable and reliable as this Keysoft functionality has been rewritten.
The limitation I indicate can be mitigated in a number of ways. The POP3
protocol will only act upon deletion requests when the connection is
closed by a client who terminates the session with the quit command. It
cannot be said that the POP3 protocol is totally useless in the situation
where a disconnection occurs before the quit command is issued - the basic
definition in RFC 1939, and a number of extensions, provide a number of
ways to make POP3 useful as more than just a pull system (in fact, there's
even an extension to make POP3 useful as a message submission protocol!),
so that keeping messages on a server and retrieving only new ones is
possible. The problem is not caused exclusively by defficiencies in the
protocol, even if the protocol goes admirably far beyond its usual
capacities (and the minimum implementation) by implementing features not
normally associated with mail retrieval. Even if only the minimum
implementation is available, there is no reason why the unit itself cannot
do some work to discard already-downloaded messages, perhaps using message
digests of each message in the database to be searched upon a new
message's retrieval. There are basic recommendations in the protocol
definition that PulseData does not follow, even for a minimum
implementation of a POP3 client, and some of those recommendations are
directly connected with this problem. Please consider reading those
standards documents, or else using whatever facilities in whatever
libraries you use to make this situation less of an issue by perhaps
utilising those features of the protocol. IMAP4 is of course one way of
doing away with the whole problem, but a lot of BrailleNote users here do
use their BrailleNote product exclusively and hence, if on many mailing
lists and with only access to a POP3 service, to download large amounts of
email. This problem is quite a showstopper as far as the email system is
concerned for any intermediate to power user.
I will hold off any more comments about this and the email system in
general (except where necessary to help folks) until I have seen the new
release. I look forward to seeing the new email system as a useful ajunct
to the BrailleNote, rather than just as a space and timekiller for the
email power user.
Cheers,
Sabahattin
--
Thought for the day:
Bagpipes (n): an octopus wearing a kilt.
Sabahattin Gucukoglu
Phone: +44 20 7,502-1615
Mobile: +44 7986 053399
http://www.sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/
Email/MSN: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
