Re: Does Gnus read and sync the read with IMAP?

[Björn Bidar]

Bob Newell <bobnewell@bobnewell.net> writes:

>> 3. But here's the big one, and one that I thought I understood
>> but seem to get inconsistent results.  At what point does gnus
>> update the IMAP server?  In other words, I read an article.
>> In the summary buffer that article definitely is now shown as
>> read.  But that doesn't propagate instantly to the IMAP
>> server.  I can see this by (say) opening a gmail web interface
>> and noting that the article I just read on gnus is still
>> unread on gmail web.  (I will try a few test cases on my own
>> to see what I can learn.)

>
> Although this is getting pretty gmail specific, it makes some
> sense.  To gmail, INBOX and All Mail are simply labels and an
> email is not actually moved from one to the other; /all/ mail
> /always/ exists in All Mail and 'moving' from INBOX simply
> means removing the INBOX label.  (The exception is Trash and
> Spam.)
>

These folders also exist in other imap servers such as dovecot.
I'm not sure if they are standard but dovecot creates them by
grouping all folders with for example the seen flag.


> But gnus treats these as actual groups (call them folders if
> you wish).  Now, when the email is moved out of INBOX to All
> Mail, and you exit INBOX, I'm guessing that the All Mail
> 'read' status isn't updated because gnus views that as a truly
> separate group.

I know GNUS can create virtual groups but I don't think
that's transferred of to these Groups coming from Imap folders.

https://doc.dovecot.org/configuration_manual/namespace/#core_setting-namespace/mailbox/special_use

Based upon RFC 6154.

> I think things are a lot simpler with traditional email which
> has true IMAP folders.  But as a practical matter, if a few
> emails are shown as unread, whether in gnus or another client,
> it isn't a show-stopper.

It's not about inconsistency is an issue I think.