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

[Bob Newell]

> 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.)

Appendix: At least with gmail, the IMAP server appears to be
pretty consistently updated with 'read' status from gnus when
leaving the group.  So (say) q-uitting the INBOX group updates
the INBOX status on the server, as evidenced by the web
interface.

But there are still some inconsistencies with the All Mail
folder.  To wit, if I read an email in gnus INBOX, and then archive
it to the All Mail folder (from gnus) /before/ I exit INBOX,
then the mail remains 'unread' in All Mail on the web
interface.  Furthermore if I reload All Mail on gnus, that
same email shows up now as unread.

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.)

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.  It would have updated INBOX but the email is
already gone.  Gnus doesn't know, hey this is gmail, they do
things the gmail way.

Similarly the email in question has yet to be seen in the gnus
All Mail group, so when that group is entered/refreshed, the
email comes up as a new unseen (unread) item.

This points to an issue with gnus and gmail, namely that gnus
follows a traditional paradigm which doesn't reflect how gmail
actually works.  I do not view this as a big issue, however,
and fixing it would require, I think, massive rework well
beyond the limited added value.

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.

-- 
Bob Newell
Honolulu, Hawai`i

- Via GNU/Linux/Emacs/Gnus/BBDB