MBOX-Line: From dave at cridland.net  Fri Feb  6 02:21:48 2015
To: imap-protocol@u.washington.edu
From: Dave Cridland <dave@cridland.net>
Date: Fri Jun  8 12:34:53 2018
Subject: [Imap-protocol] Use of namespace in LIST command
In-Reply-To: <54D41703.6060403@comaxis.com>
References: <54D41703.6060403@comaxis.com>
Message-ID: <CAKHUCzzsi8tRLxGj8s+isS0pNpP2NyVCs1oD_z6L29pktEMHQg@mail.gmail.com>

On 6 February 2015 at 01:21, Jeff McKay <jjmckay@comaxis.com> wrote:

> I think I need a refresher, or I am confused about something.  I log on to
> imap account "bob" (not sure which server
> right now), and the NAMESPACE command gives me:
>
> * NAMESPACE (("" "/")("#mhinbox" NIL)("#mh/" "/")) (("~" "/"))
> (("#shared/" "/")("#ftp/" "/")("#news." ".")("#public/" "/"))
>
> My usual command:  LIST "" *
>
> tells me that there is an INBOX and nothing more, and the customer says
> there should be a bunch of other folders.  I have
> tried:
>
> LIST "" "~bob/%"
> LIST "" "~/bob/%"
> LIST "" "#mh/bob/%"
> LIST "" "#mhinbox/bob/%"
>
> but for each of the above, the command returns no folder names. What I am
> doing wrong?
>

So the NAMESPACE here is giving you three sets; for example the first is
here:

(("" "/")("#mhinbox" NIL)("#mh/" "/"))

This is your own mailboxes, and it notes that the namespaces are:

("" "/")

An empty string prefix - which apparently contains only INBOX.

("#mhinbox" NIL)

This one has no separator, and therefore no hierarchy:

. LIST "" "#mhinbox"

Might give you a mailbox for the MH inbox. Or might not - it's telling you
where it *would* be if it exists.

("#mh/" "/")

Other MH mailboxes for bob:

. LIST "" "#mh/%"

Note that it has a hierarchy separator, but also that there is one in the
prefix. This is common, but as we'll see, not essential.

The next section is other users' mailboxes. Let's consider that there
exists another user "alice"; one might find Alice's mailboxes with:

. LIST "" "~alice/%"

But really, all this tells us is that if you find a mailbox beginning "~",
it's another user's one.

The final group is shared mailboxes; by now you've got the idea:

. LIST "" "#shared/%"
. LIST "" "#ftp/%"
. LIST "" "#news.%"

I'm pretty sure the server is UW or Panda.

Dave.
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