On Fri, 20 Jun 2003, Mark Crispin wrote: > This is because, many years ago, CMU didn't want to be nailed down on a > more precise definition. It's you folks who came up with that wording. > > However, the intended purpose was always clear.
I can't accept responsibility for discussions I didn't participate in. However, the wording is unfortunate. > > Any client that requires its use, however, is broken. > > What do you mean by "requires its use"? Are you claiming that a client > which can use these flags for useful purposes is broken? No. By requires its use I mean that a client that fails to function in the absence of these flags is broken. Which is merely a restatement of "a mailbox can be neither \Marked or \Unmarked". > > Actually, now that I notice it, \Unmarked is not the inverse of \Marked. > > Well, of course. There is a third state: the server can not say either > way. Yes, but my first (quick) reading of the text was "\Marked and \Unmarked have inverse meanings, and may be absent if it is expensive to compute if a mailbox is interesting or not" > \Unmarked is the most useful status. It indicates to the client that it > can definitely skip consideration of a mailbox. Of course. > > So (to use Larry's example from a while back), if my server defines > > 'interesting' to mean "This folder has a message that contains the word > > 'penguins'.", then \Marked and \Unmarked have distinct and > > unrelated meanings. > > That "penguins" example is nonsensical and insulting. It obfuscates the > discussion and makes matters difficult for everyone. However, a literal reading of the specification allows this interpretation. > A more intelligent response from you (or for that matter anyone) on the > question would be: > A server should make a best effort to give an indication > via the \Marked and \Unmarked flags if some change happened > to the mailbox since the last time a client had it selected. > \Marked indicates the server's belief that something has > happened; \Unmarked indicates the server's certainty that > something has not happened. > If the server can not decide, it should return neither flag > rather than make a false guess. > A way of deciding \Marked vs. \Unmarked would be if the last > write is later than the last read. I agree that this is a substantially better description of the intent of the flags. In the current specification, this isn't the only interpretation, however. -Rob -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Rob Siemborski | Andrew Systems Group * Research Systems Programmer PGP:0x5CE32FCC | Cyert Hall 207 * [EMAIL PROTECTED] * 412.268.7456 -----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK---- Version: 3.12 GCS/IT/CM/PA d- s+: a-- C++++$ ULS++++$ P+++$ L+++(++++) E W+ N o? K- w O- M-- V-- PS+ PE++ Y+ PGP+ t+@ 5+++ R@ tv-@ b+ DI+++ G e h r- y? ------END GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
