MBOX-Line: From mrc+uw at Panda.COM  Wed Dec 30 00:05:37 2009
To: imap-protocol@u.washington.edu
From: Mark Crispin <mrc+uw@Panda.COM>
Date: Fri Jun  8 12:34:43 2018
Subject: [Imap-protocol] Childless noselect mailboxes
In-Reply-To: <Gophermail.2.0.0912291824540.21747@vs-w.tc.umn.edu>
References: <1262106049.26478.745.camel@timo-desktop>
	<alpine.OSX.2.00.0912290938230.18442@hsinghsing.panda.com>
	<1262111858.26478.842.camel@timo-desktop>
	<alpine.OSX.2.00.0912291042070.18442@hsinghsing.panda.com>
	<1262114250.26478.864.camel@timo-desktop>
	<alpine.OSX.2.00.0912291425140.18442@hsinghsing.panda.com>
	<Gophermail.2.0.0912291824540.21747@vs-w.tc.umn.edu>
Message-ID: <alpine.DEB.2.00.0912300000110.22394@Higashi-Tomobiki>

On Tue, 29 Dec 2009, Brian Hayden wrote:
> Sorry if I was unclear. As noted I wasn't talking about the creation action, 
> but the concept of \NoSelect itself.

A \NoSelect object is a directory.

Select is the operation to open a mailbox.

> A directory in Windows, OS X, or most of the Linux desktop environments (for 
> example) is "selectable", both conceptually and in IMAP terms--because it is 
> "dual-use".

Nonsense.  I can not execute a directory on Windows, OS X, or Linux.  Nor 
can I edit it in my editor.  The only thing that can be done in a 
directory is access its children.

A mailbox is not a directory.  It is an object containing messages, just 
like a text file is an object containing paragraphs of text.

A text file doesn't contain other files, nor does it contain executable 
programs.  It is single use, just as a directory is.

A message is not an object in the named hierarchy tree.  It is a piece of 
an object in the named hierarchy tree.  The fact that some clients pretend 
that a message is something else doesn't change what it actually is.

Only IMAP has these bizarre "dual use" objects, and only because some 
people insisted upon it and I failed to say "no" when I should have.

