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(gnus)IMAP

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IMAP
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   IMAP is a network protocol for reading mail (or news, or...), think
of it as a modernized NNTP.  Connecting to a IMAP server is much
similar to connecting to a news server, you just specify the network
address of the server.

   IMAP has two properties.  First, IMAP can do everything that POP
can, it can hence be viewed as POP++.  Secondly, IMAP is a mail storage
protocol, similar to NNTP being a news storage protocol.  (IMAP offers
more features than NNTP because news is more or less read-only whereas
mail is read-write.)

   If you want to use IMAP as POP++, use an imap entry in mail-sources.
With this, Gnus will fetch mails from the IMAP server and store them
on the local disk.  This is not the usage described in this section.
Note: Mail Sources.

   If you want to use IMAP as a mail storage protocol, use an nnimap
entry in gnus-secondary-select-methods.  With this, Gnus will
manipulate mails stored on the IMAP server.  This is the kind of usage
explained in this section.

   A server configuration in `~/.gnus' with a few IMAP servers might
look something like this:

     (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
           '((nnimap "simpleserver") ; no special configuration
             ; perhaps a ssh port forwarded server:
             (nnimap "dolk"
                     (nnimap-address "localhost")
                     (nnimap-server-port 1430))
             ; a UW server running on localhost
             (nnimap "barbar"
                     (nnimap-server-port 143)
                     (nnimap-address "localhost")
                     (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX" "mail/*")))
             ; anonymous public cyrus server:
             (nnimap "cyrus.andrew.cmu.edu"
                     (nnimap-authenticator anonymous)
                     (nnimap-list-pattern "archive.*")
                     (nnimap-stream network))
             ; a ssl server on a non-standard port:
             (nnimap "vic20"
                     (nnimap-address "vic20.somewhere.com")
                     (nnimap-server-port 9930)
                     (nnimap-stream ssl))))

   The following variables can be used to create a virtual `nnimap'
server:

`nnimap-address'
     The address of the remote IMAP server.  Defaults to the virtual
     server name if not specified.

`nnimap-server-port'
     Port on server to contact.  Defaults to port 143, or 993 for SSL.

     Note that this should be a integer, example server specification:

          (nnimap "mail.server.com"
                  (nnimap-server-port 4711))

`nnimap-list-pattern'
     String or list of strings of mailboxes to limit available groups
     to.  This is used when the server has very many mailboxes and
     you're only interested in a few - some servers export your home
     directory via IMAP, you'll probably want to limit the mailboxes to
     those in `~/Mail/*' then.

     The string can also be a cons of REFERENCE and the string as
     above, what REFERENCE is used for is server specific, but on the
     University of Washington server it's a directory that will be
     concatenated with the mailbox.

     Example server specification:

          (nnimap "mail.server.com"
                  (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX" "Mail/*" "alt.sex.*"
                                         ("~friend/Mail/" . "list/*"))))

`nnimap-stream'
     The type of stream used to connect to your server.  By default,
     nnimap will detect and automatically use all of the below, with
     the exception of SSL. (SSL is being replaced by STARTTLS, which
     can be automatically detected, but it's not widely deployed yet).

     Example server specification:

          (nnimap "mail.server.com"
                  (nnimap-stream ssl))

     Please note that the value of `nnimap-stream' is a symbol!

        * "gssapi:" Connect with GSSAPI (usually Kerberos 5).  Requires
          the `imtest' program.

        * "kerberos4:" Connect with Kerberos 4.  Requires the `imtest'
          program.

        * "starttls:" Connect via the STARTTLS extension (similar to
          SSL).  Requires the library `starttls.el' and program
          `starttls'.

        * "ssl:" Connect through SSL.  Requires OpenSSL (the program
          `openssl') or SSLeay (`s_client').

        * "shell:" Use a shell command to start an IMAP connection.

        * "network:" Plain, TCP/IP network connection.

     The `imtest' program is shipped with Cyrus IMAPD.  Nnimap supports
     both `imtest' version 1.5.x and version 1.6.x.  The variable
     `imap-kerberos4-program' contains parameters to pass to the
     `imtest' program.

     For SSL connections, the OpenSSL program is available from
     `http://www.openssl.org/'. OpenSSL was formerly known as SSLeay,
     and nnimap supports it too.  However, the most recent versions of
     SSLeay, 0.9.x, are known to have serious bugs making it useless.
     Earlier versions, especially 0.8.x, of SSLeay are known to work.
     The variable `imap-ssl-program' contains parameters to pass to
     OpenSSL/SSLeay.

     For IMAP connections using the `shell' stream, the variable
     `imap-shell-program' specifies what program to call.

`nnimap-authenticator'
     The authenticator used to connect to the server.  By default,
     nnimap will use the most secure authenticator your server supports.

     Example server specification:

          (nnimap "mail.server.com"
                  (nnimap-authenticator anonymous))

     Please note that the value of `nnimap-authenticator' is a symbol!

        * "gssapi:" GSSAPI (usually Kerberos 5) authentication.
          Requires the external program `imtest'.

        * "kerberos4:" Kerberos authentication.  Requires the external
          program `imtest'.

        * "digest-md5:" Encrypted username/password via DIGEST-MD5.
          Requires external library `digest-md5.el'.

        * "cram-md5:" Encrypted username/password via CRAM-MD5.

        * "login:" Plain-text username/password via LOGIN.

        * "anonymous:" Login as `anonymous', supplying your email
          address as password.

`nnimap-expunge-on-close'
     Unlike Parmenides, the IMAP designers decided that things that
     don't exist actually do exist.  More specifically, IMAP has the
     concept of marking articles `Deleted' which doesn't actually
     delete them, and this (marking them `Deleted', that is) is what
     nnimap does when you delete a article in Gnus (with `G <DEL>' or
     similar).

     Since the articles aren't really removed when we mark them with the
     `Deleted' flag we'll need a way to actually delete them.  Feel like
     running in circles yet?

     Traditionally, nnimap has removed all articles marked as `Deleted'
     when closing a mailbox but this is now configurable by this server
     variable.

     The possible options are:

    `always'
          The default behavior, delete all articles marked as "Deleted"
          when closing a mailbox.

    `never'
          Never actually delete articles.  Currently there is no way of
          showing the articles marked for deletion in nnimap, but other
          IMAP clients may allow you to do this.  If you ever want to
          run the EXPUNGE command manually, Note: Expunging mailboxes.

    `ask'
          When closing mailboxes, nnimap will ask if you wish to
          expunge deleted articles or not.

`nnimap-authinfo-file'
     A file containing credentials used to log in on servers.  The
     format is (almost) the same as the `ftp' `~/.netrc' file.  See
     `nntp-authinfo-file' for exact syntax.

     A file containing credentials used to log in on servers.  The
     format is (almost) the same as the `ftp' `~/.netrc' file.  See the
     variable `nntp-authinfo-file' for exact syntax; also see Note:
     NNTP.

Splitting in IMAP

Splitting mail with nnimap.

Editing IMAP ACLs

Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.

Expunging mailboxes

Equivalent of a "compress mailbox" button.