Re: gnus & mbsync: mbsync error: UID is beyond highest assigned UID & mu4e's mu4e-change-filenames-when-moving

[Andreas Reuleaux]

Hi, thanks for reaching out to me / asking:

My e-mail provider (zoho) allows for imap access (pretty standard today,
I guess) - and this is how I get my mail, indeed (from an incoming
folder there).

While I could have configured my gnus to access this imap folder
directly (these imap folders - more on this plural below ...) - and indeed:
when accessing mail from my iphone or ipad: that's what I do -
I have on my Linux-PC / main machine (where I am also running
gnus), a local imap server intalled: dovecot (and in particular
dovecot-imapd) - allowing for a local (folder-) perspective of my mail:

e-mail arriving at my machine gets sorted into maildir folders: misc,
etc, gnus, gauche, hare, etc, spam (these folders corresponding to my
interests / mailing lists that I am subscribed to) - and they are sorted
in there for the most part automatically (with some exim-sieve filters -
having used procmail for that kind of sorting before) - but also by hand
(more on that below).

Now my Gnus is configured to look at these local maildir folders:
nnimap:misc corresponds to my local misc maildir folder, likewise
nnimap:etc to my (maildir/)etc folder, and so on.

The advantages of having a local imap server are: access is faster,
and I can work (on my mail) regardless of current internet connection
(on a train, in a tunnel, say).

Mail then gets synchronized from time to time: in my case with mbsync
(offline imap is another candidate - written in python this one). - I
prefer mbsync (...). - And this synchronisation happens: whenever I
wish to do so manually (call mbsync [params] ...), and automatically: with
a cron job every 20 min in my case - and it works in both directions
from my computer (maildir folders) to my remote e-mail provider,
and vice versa.

Thus locally I have (as mentioned already): maildir folders
misc, etc, gauche, spam, ... - accessible in gnus as nnimap:misc, nnimap:etc,
nnimap:gauche - but my e-mail provider also allows for more than just one
(incoming) imap folder - and I make use of that feature: I have created
imap folders: Misc, Etc, Spam, ... on my e-mail providers mail account.
- and not too surprisingly: when e-mail gets synced with mbsync: mail in
my local (maildir/) misc folder get synchronised to my remote (imap)
Misc folder (and likewise etc to remote Etc, and so on - I mentioned
that synchronisation works in both directions).

So far so standard - I guess: One can find good documentation / examples
configs for mbsync / as well as for gnus / imap (and I shall be happy
to provide further details of my config, in case there is interest).

Now the problem is (as it appears to me):

As long as I am working locally
with gnus on my imap folders - move some mail within gnus from
(maildir/)misc to (maildir/etc) say - visible to my in gnus as
folders/groups nnimap:misc and nnimap:etc - and I move mail in gnus
from one folder to another with B-m ... - then so far there are no
restrictions: everthing works fine / gnus does what seems
appropriate (with regards to mail numbers within maildir folders for
example: this is nothing, I want to bother about usually, and I rely on
on gnus just doing the right thing in this regard).

However, the similar (imap) folder structure on my e-mail providers end
(Misc, Etc, ...), seems to be more restrictive: each of these folders
has some (highest allowed) e-mail number, as I understand - and when
syncing between my provider and my local machine, such restritions are
enforced / get in my way:

Locally (under gnus) an e-mail of mine (that I have just moved to
the local etc folder say), may have too high a number for that remote
Etc folder on my providers end, such e-mail number restrictions better
be respected, or mbsync complains (or whatnot). 

And apparently other people (mu4e users) have run into such issues,
and then have provided a means that their (local) mu4e client better respects
such restrictions on the remote side - allowing for automatically
renumbering messages, if needed.

This is what I am hoping for (to be possible) in Gnus.

Thanks, A'

--
PS: One can also do the e-mail sorting remotely (on the imap server) -
which I may try to accomplish some time - but so far I am happy with my
(local) sieve filter (and then they appear sorted remotely,
once synced again with mbsync...).






James Thomas <jimjoe@gmx.net> writes:

> Andreas Reuleaux wrote:
>
>> while being a (long time) happy gnus user, I regularly run into this
>> issue: when moving mails from one nnimap:... group/folder to another
>> (w/ B-m ...),
>> and then syncing these folders with my remote mail server, I get mbsync
>> errors:
>
> I'm not sure I understand: nnimap directly operates on the remote
> server, no? Are you running an IMAP server offline and then syncing?
>
> --