#!/bin/cat
# $Id: FAQ,v 1.224 2016/06/08 21:32:09 gilles Exp gilles $
+-------------------+
| FAQs for imapsync |
+-------------------+
http://imapsync.lamiral.info/FAQ
http://imapsync.lamiral.info/FAQ.d/
Unix versus Windows syntax.
There are several differences between Unix and Windows
in the command line syntax.
- Character \ versus ^
- Character ' versus "
A) \ versus ^
On Unix shells you can write a single command on multiple lines
by using the escape character \ at the end of each line
(except the last one). On Windows this character is ^
Unix example:
./imapsync \
--host1 imap.truc.org --user1 foo --password1 secret1 \
--host2 imap.trac.org --user2 bar --password2 secret2
Windows example:
imapsync ^
--host1 imap.truc.org --user1 foo --password1 secret1 ^
--host2 imap.trac.org --user2 bar --password2 secret2
Of course you can write the command on one only line without
characters \ nor ^. I use them because the output is
better, no truncation, pretty print. It's just sugar.
In this FAQ I use \ for examples. Transcript to ^ if
you're on a Windows system.
B) ' versus "
On Windows the single quote character ' doesn't work
like on Unix so in the examples of this FAQ the
command containing single quotes ' will fail on Windows.
To fix it just replace single quotes ' by double quotes "
Also on Windows, in examples with \$1 replace
any \$1 by $1 (remove the \ before $).
=======================================================================
Q. How to verify imapsync.exe I got is the right file bit per bit?
R. Use md5sum to check integrity of the file.
Get md5sum.exe at http://etree.org/md5com.html
md5sum imapsync.exe
Then compare the checksum with the one given by the author.
=======================================================================
Q. How to install imapsync?
R. Read the INSTALL files in the tarball also available at
http://imapsync.lamiral.info/INSTALL
http://imapsync.lamiral.info/INSTALL.d/
=======================================================================
Q. How to configure and run imapsync?
R. Read the README, OPTIONS and FAQ files in the tarball also
available at:
http://imapsync.lamiral.info/README
http://imapsync.lamiral.info/OPTIONS
http://imapsync.lamiral.info/FAQ
=======================================================================
Q. Can you give some configuration examples?
R1. Basic usage is described there:
http://imapsync.lamiral.info/#DOC_BASIC
imapsync --host1 test1.lamiral.info --user1 test1 --password1 secret1 \
--host2 test2.lamiral.info --user2 test2 --password2 secret2
R2. The FAQ files contains many examples for several scenarios
http://imapsync.lamiral.info/FAQ
=======================================================================
Q. How can I have commercial support?
R. Buy support from imapsync author and expert: Gilles LAMIRAL
http://imapsync.lamiral.info/#buy_all
=======================================================================
Q. How can I have gratis support?
R. Use the mailing-list
To write on the mailing-list, the address is:
<imapsync@linux-france.org>
To subscribe, send a message to:
<imapsync-subscribe@listes.linux-france.org>
To unsubscribe, send a message to:
<imapsync-unsubscribe@listes.linux-france.org>
To contact the person in charge for the list:
<imapsync-request@listes.linux-france.org>
The list archives may be available at:
http://www.linux-france.org/prj/imapsync_list/
So consider that the list is public, anyone
can see your post. Use a pseudonym or do not
post to this list if you want to stay private.
Thank you for your participation.
=======================================================================
Q. Where I can find old imapsync releases?
R. Search the Internet.
=======================================================================
Q. Where I can find free open and gratis imapsync releases?
R. Search the Internet.
Q. Is is legal to find imapsync gratis (or not) elsewhere?
R. Yes, the license permits it
http://imapsync.lamiral.info/NOLIMIT
=======================================================================
Q. How "Facts and figures" are known on http://imapsync.lamiral.info/
R. To know wether a newer imapsync exists or not imapsync does a http
GET to http://imapsync.lamiral.info/VERSION
Via the User-agent parameter it also send:
* imapsync release
* Perl version
* Mail::IMAPClient version
* Operating System
You can remove this behavior by adding option --noreleasecheck on the
command line (or by setting $releasecheck = 0 in the source code)
or by using github release.
=======================================================================
Q. I use --useuid which uses a cache in /tmp or --tmpdir, the hostnames
host1 or host2 has changed but mailboxes are the same. Will imapsync
generate duplicate messages on next runs?
R. Yes
Q. How can I fix this?
R. The cache path reflects exactly hostnames or ip addresses given via
--host1 and --host2 values. So just change the directory names
of host1 or host2. Use --dry to see if next runs will generate
duplicates.
By default on Unix the cache is like
/tmp/imapsync_cache/host1/user1/host2/user2/...
=======================================================================
Q. How can I speed up transfers?
R. By using --useuid imapsync avoid getting messages headers and build
a cache. On Unix a good thing is to add also --tmpdir /var/tmp
to keep the cache since /tmp is often cleared on reboot.
imapsync ... --useuid
On Unix:
imapsync ... --useuid --tmpdir /var/tmp/
R. Add also --nofoldersizes since the default behavior is to compute
folder sizes. Folder sizes are useless for the transfer, just
useful to see what has to be done on each folder and guess when
the transfer will end (ETA).
R. Add also --noexpungeaftereach if you use --delete.
But be warn that an interrupted transfer can loose messages
on host2 in a second run if you use a (silly) combination like
imapsync ... --delete --noexpunge --noexpungeaftereach --expunge2
R. Add also --nocheckmessageexists
--nocheckmessageexists is on by default since release 1.520.
Since transfer can be long on a huge mailbox imapsync checks
a message exist before copying it, but it takes time and
cpu on the host1 server.
Notes about --useuid
Case where building the cache first is necessary (to avoid multiples transfers)
If you run again imapsync with --useuid on a transfer already done without
--useuid then, to avoid messages be copied again, first run imapsync
with --usecache but without --useuid, example scenario:
A] Running with the default options, I began without --useuid
1) First run with default options
imapsync ...
Too slow, I want to speed up!
2) Build the cache
imapsync ... --usecache
3) Speed up now
imapsync ... --useuid
B] I began with --useuid from the first time
1) First run and next runs with --useuid
imapsync ... --useuid
Inodes number issue.
The cache is simple, it uses the file-system natively,
it's just an empty file per message transfered.
When mailboxes are huge the cache can exhaust the number of inodes
allowed in the filesystem, that's a limitation like limitation
size but it's less often encountered.
On Unix, to predict whether your tmpdir filesystem used by imapsync
will support the whole cache, just run the command "df -i /var/tmp",
if /var/tmp is the --tmpdir argument.
On windows, search and drop me a note about how to count the number
of files allowed in the filesystem.
It seems FAT32 supports 268 435 445 clusters.
Choosing the number of inodes allowed by a filesystem can be done
at the creation of it with "mkfs -N number-of-inodes ..."
imapsync can predict how many messages have to be synced with the
option --justfoldersizes (no transfer will be done)
imapsync ... --justfoldersizes
=======================================================================
Q. I see warning messages like the following:
"Host1 Sent/15 size 1428 ignored (no header so we ignore this message.
To solve this: use --addheader)".
What can I do to transfer those messages?
R1. Like suggested inline, use --addheader option.
Option --addheader will add an header line like
Message-Id: <15@imapsync>
where 15 is the message UID number on host1.
Then imapsync will transfer the changed message on host2.
Duplicates won't happen on next runs.
imapsync ... --addheader
R2. Other solution.
Use --useuid then imapsync will avoid dealing with headers.
imapsync ... --useuid
=======================================================================
Q. On Windows, with --useuid or --usecache a problem occurs with long
nested folder names. The error message is:
"No such file or directory; The filename or extension is too long"
R. This comes from a Windows limitation on pathnames.
No more than 260 characters are allowed for pathnames.
See more details on page
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa365247.aspx#maxpath
The workaround solution given at the previous link,
ie using \\?\D:", does not work for imapsync.
So this imapsync Windows bug is still pending and needs a fix using
a different technique to cache, like a database file for example.
A solution to fix the issue is to use a Linux virtual host on a
Windows box, with VirtualBox or VmWare etc. There is no bug this way,
pathnames can be several thousands characters long.
Better said that done but not so difficult nor expensive these days,
VirtualBox is free and VmWare Player is free for personal or test use.
If you have to stick on Windows, there are two good workarounds
to reduce the cache directory name:
1) Use --tmpdir "D:\\temp" or simply --tmpdir "D:" and imapsync
will build and use the cache in the sub directory
D:\imapsync_cache\
2) add two equivalent entries in the etc/hosts for host1 imap.truc.org
and host2 imap.trac.org.
If you map the ip of imap.truc.org just with the letter a
and same thing for imap.trac.org then you gain characters
etc/hosts
192.168.12.1 a
192.168.55.3 b
Then use:
imapsync --host1 a --host2 b ...
You can get the ip of a host with the ping command line
C:\> ping imap.truc.org
Fixing the long path problem directly in imapsync is in the TODO file.
=======================================================================
Q. How can I try imapsync with latest Mail::IMAPClient 3.xx perl module?
Three solutions at least.
R1 - Look at the script named "i3" in the tarball, it can be used to
run imapsync with the included Mail-IMAPClient-3.38/ wherever you
unpacked the imapsync tarball
R2 Run:
cpanm Mail::IMAPClient # this uses cpanminus
or
cpan -i Mail::IMAPClient
or
perl -MCPAN -e "install Mail::IMAPClient"
R3 If you want to install the Perl module locally in a directory
- Download latest Mail::IMAPClient 3.xx at
http://search.cpan.org/dist/Mail-IMAPClient/
- untar it anywhere:
tar xzvf Mail-IMAPClient-3.xx.tar.gz
- Get any imapsync (latest is better).
- run imapsync with perl and -I option tailing to use the perl
module Mail-IMAPClient-3.xx. Example:
perl -I./Mail-IMAPClient-3.38/lib ./imapsync ...
or if imapsync is in directory /path/
perl -I./Mail-IMAPClient-3.38/lib /path/imapsync ...
=======================================================================
Q. How can I use imapsync with Mail::IMAPClient 2.2.9 perl module?
R. Mail::IMAPClient 2.2.9 is no longer supported.
=======================================================================
Q. Can I use imapsync to migrate emails from pop3 server to imap server?
R1. No.
You can migrate emails from pop server to imap server with pop2imap:
http://www.linux-france.org/prj/pop2imap/
R2. Yes
Many pop3 servers runs in parallel with an imap server on exactly
the same mailboxes. They serve the same INBOX
(imap serves INBOX and several other folders, pop3 serves only INBOX)
So have a try with imapsync on the same host1.
=======================================================================
Q. Folders are not created on host2. What happens?
R. Do you use IMAP or POP3 with your client software?
It looks like you use POP3 instead of IMAP, POP3 sees only INBOX.
=======================================================================
Q. I am interested in creating a local clone of the IMAP on a LAN
server for faster synchronizations, email will always be delivered
to the remote server and so the synchronization will be one way - from
remote to local. How suited is imapsync for continuous one-way
synchronization of mailboxes? Is there a better solution?
R. If messages are delivered remotely and you play locally with the
copy, in order to have fast access, then the synchronization can't
be one way. You may change flags, you may move messages in
different folders etc. The issue described is clearly
two-ways sync.
A better tool with this scenario is offlineimap,
designed for this issue, and faster than imapsync.
=======================================================================
Q. I need to log every output on a file named log.txt
R1. imapsync logs on a file by default, its name is given at the
beginning and the end of each run. This name is unique since
it is compound of the current date and time and user2 value.
R2. To change this default name, use --logfile log.txt
imapsync ... --logfile log.txt
=======================================================================
Q. Quantifier in {,} bigger than 32766 in regex; marked by <-- HERE in
m/(.{ <-- HERE 1,49947})(?:,|$)/ at Mail/IMAPClient.pm line 2121.
R. Do not use a bigger value than 3276 with --split1 or --split2
=======================================================================
Q. Couldn't create [INBOX.Ops/foo/bar]: NO Invalid mailbox name:
INBOX.Ops/foo/bar
Let begin by an explanation.
Example:
sep1 = /
sep2 = .
imapsync reverts each separator automatically.
a) All / character coming from host1 are converted to . (convert the separator)
b) All . character coming from host1 are converted to / (to avoid
intermediate unwanted folder creation).
So
INBOX/Ops.foo.bar (Ops.foo.bar is just one folder name) will be translated to
INBOX.Ops/foo/bar
Sometimes the sep1 character is not valid on host2 (character "/" usually)
R. Try :
--regextrans2 "s,/,X,g"
It'll convert / character to X
Choose X as you wish: _ or SEP or
any string (including the empty string).
This issue is automatically fixed by default since imapsync
release 1.513, use --nofixslash2 to suppress the fix.
=======================================================================
Q. Is it possible to sync also the UIDL of the POP3 server?
R. imapsync does not POP3 but I think you mean UID in IMAP.
See next question.
=======================================================================
Q. Is it possible to sync also the UIDs of the IMAP server?
UIDs in IMAP are chosen and created by the servers, not by the clients,
imapsync is a client. So UIDs cannot be synced by any imap method.
UIDs might be synced via a rsync command on the server part.
=======================================================================
Q. The option --subscribe does not seem to work
R1. Use it with --subscribed
R2. There is also the --subscribe_all option that subscribe
to all folders on host2.
=======================================================================
Q. On Unix, some passwords contain * and " characters. Login fails.
R. Use a backslash to escape the characters:
imapsync ... --password1 \"password\"
It works for the star * character,
I don't know if it works for the " character.
=======================================================================
Q. With huge account (many messages) when it comes to reading the
destination server it comes out this error:
"To Folder [INBOX.foobar] Not connected"
What can I do?
R. May be spending too much time on the source server, the connection
timed out on the destination server.
Try options --nofoldersizes
======================================================================
Q. Can Imapsync filter Spam during the sync?
R. No, imapsync doesn't detect Spam by itself and currently it can't
delegate this job during its IMAP syncs. But I've seen blogs and
Spamassassin documentation explaining solutions to apply Spamassassin
to a imap mailbox. So you can apply one of these solutions on the host1
source mailbox before the imapsync run or on the destination host2
mailbox after the imapsync transfer.
http://www.stearns.org/doc/spamassassin-setup.current.html#isbg
http://euer.krebsco.de/using-spamassassin-on-a-remote-imap-host.html
https://github.com/ook/isbg
======================================================================
Q. How to migrate from uw-imap with an admin/authuser account?
R. Use the following syntax:
imapsync ... --user1="loginuser*admin_user" --password1 "admin_user_password"
======================================================================
Q. How to migrate from cyrus with an admin account?
R. Use:
imapsync ... \
--authuser1 admin_user ----password1 admin_user_password \
--user1 foo_user --ssl1
Instead of --ssl1 the alternative --tls1 can be used.
With --authuser1, the option --authmech1 PLAIN is set
automatically, you don't have to add it.
PLAIN authentication is the only way to go with --authuser1 for now.
So don't use --authmech1 SOMETHING with --authuser1 admin_user,
it will not work.
Same behavior with the --authuser2 option.
Do not forget the option --ssl1 or --tls1 since PLAIN auth is only
supported with ssl encryption most of the time. But it can
work without --ssl1 nor --tls1 if PLAIN is permitted in clear text
transmissions (the normal mode).
Add the AdminAccount to admins line in /etc/imapd.conf
Give AdminAccount lrswipkxtecda to the Cyrus Imap account
being migrated from, "joe" here.
Here is an example:
imapsync \
--host1 server1 \
--user1 joe \
--authuser1 AdminAccount \
--password1 AdminAccountPassword \
--ssl1 \
--host2 server2 \
--user2 joe \
--password2 joespassonserver2 \
--exclude "^user\."
======================================================================
Q: How to migrate from Sun Java Enterprise System / Sun One / iPlanet /
Netscape servers with an admin account?
R: Those imap servers don't allow the typical use of --authuser1 to use an
administrative account. They expect the use of an IMAP command called
proxyauth that is issued after login in as an administrative account.
For example, consider the administrative account 'administrator' and your
real user 'real_user'. The IMAP sequence would be:
OK [CAPABILITY IMAP4 IMAP4rev1 ACL QUOTA LITERAL+ NAMESPACE UIDPLUS
CHILDREN BINARY UNSELECT LANGUAGE STARTTLS XSENDER X-NETSCAPE XSERVERINFO
AUTH=PLAIN] imap.server IMAP4 service (Sun Java(tm) System Messaging
Server ...))
1 LOGIN administrator password
1 OK User logged in
2 PROXYAUTH real_user
2 OK Completed
In imapsync, you can achieve this by using the following options:
--host1 source.imap.server \
--user1 real_user \
--authuser1 administrator \
--proxyauth1 \
--passfile admin.txt
======================================================================
Q. Is there anyway of making imapsync purge the destination folder
when the source folder is deleted?
R. Yes, use --delete2folders
--delete2folders : Delete folders in host2 that are not in host1 server.
For safety, first try it like this (it is safe):
--delete2folders --dry --justfolders --nofoldersizes
--delete2foldersonly <regex>: Deleted only folders matching regex.
Example: --delete2foldersonly "/^Junk$|^INBOX.Junk$/"
--delete2foldersbutnot <regex>: Do not delete folders matching regex.
Example: --delete2foldersbutnot "/Tasks$|Contacts$|Foo$/"
=======================================================================
Q. I want to play with headers line and --regexmess but I want to leave
the body as is.
R. The header/body separation is a blank line so an example:
--regexmess 's{\A(.*?(?! ^$))^Date:(.*?)$}{$1Date:$2\nX-Date:$2}gxms'
Will replace the next three lines
Message-ID: <499EF800.4030002@blabla.fr>
Date: Fri, 20 Feb 2009 19:35:44 +0100
From: Gilles LAMIRAL <lamiral@linux-france.org>
by the next four lines
Message-ID: <499EF800.4030002@blabla.fr>
Date: Fri, 20 Feb 2009 19:35:44 +0100
X-Date: Fri, 20 Feb 2009 19:35:44 +0100
From: Gilles LAMIRAL <lamiral@linux-france.org>
This example just add an header line "X-Date:" based on "Date:" line.
=======================================================================
Q. My imap server does not accept a message and warns
"Invalid header". What is the problem?
R. You fall in the classical mbox versus Maildir/ format
problem. May be you use a misconfigured procmail rule.
A header beginning like the following one is in the mbox
format, header line 1 has no colon behind "From", header
lines 2 through N do have a colon :
From foo@yoyo.org Sat Jun 22 01:10:21 2002
Return-Path: <foo@yoyo.org>
Received: ...
Any Maildir/ configured imap server may refuse this message since its
header is invalid. The first "From " line is not valid. It lacks a
colon character ":". To solve this issue you have several solutions
a) Remove manually this first "From " line for each message before
using imapsync.
b) Replace manually the whitespace by a colon in string "From " but you
might end with two "From:" lines (just have a look at the other
header lines of the message)
c) Run imapsync with the following option (this replaces "From "by "From:"):
--regexmess 's/\AFrom /From: /'
or may be better (no other "From:" collision):
d) Run imapsync with the following option (this replaces "From "by "X-om:"):
--regexmess 's/\AFrom /X-From: /'
e) Run imapsync with the following option (this removes the whole "From " line):
--regexmess 's{\AFrom\ [^\n]*(\n)?}{}gxms'
Solution e) is solution a) made by imapsync itself.
Solutions c) and d) keep "From " lines information
(normally it's useless to keep them)
Best solutions are e) or d).
=======================================================================
Q. The contact folder isn't well copied.
How to copy the contact folder?
R. Forget the destination server (choose the same)
Change the script around line 1426
# ITSD
$new_id = $from->copy($t_fold,$f_msg);
#$new_id = $to->append_string($t_fold,$string, $flags_f, $d);
and tried a copy of the mail instead an append_string. Because we are
using the same server, we can use $from->copy Therefore we seem to not
download and upload the message and therefore we do not have any
format issues. And now it works fine. (Thanks to Hansjoerg.Maurer)
======================================================================
Q: How can I write an .rpm with imapsync
R. You'll find an RPM imapsync.spec file in the directory learn/rpm/
It has been downloaded from
https://svn.fysik.dtu.dk/projects/rpmbuild/trunk/SPECS/imapsync.spec
It has been tested with imapsync 1.434 (May 2011) on CentOS5
and RedHat RHEL5 Linux. (Thanks to Ole Holm Nielsen).
This imapsync.spec is coming from Neil Brown work in 2007.
=======================================================================
Q. Where I can read up on the various IMAP RFCs?
R. Here:
RFC 3501 - INTERNET MESSAGE ACCESS PROTOCOL - VERSION 4rev1
http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc3501.html
RFC2683 - IMAP4 Implementation Recommendations
http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc2683.html
RFC 2595 - Using TLS with IMAP, POP3 and ACAP
http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc2595.html
RFC 2822 - Internet Message Format
http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc2822.html
RFC 2342 - IMAP4 Namespace
http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc2342.html
RFC2180 - IMAP4 Multi-Accessed Mailbox Practice
http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc2180.html
RFC 4549 - Synchronization Operations for Disconnected IMAP4 Clients
http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc4549.html