downloading small messages first

Hi

I am running qmail in my linux box and qmail-pop3d for POP. I
would like to have the server such that if the client has downloaded
his mails then that mail gets deleted automatically from the server ,
no matter if he is interrupted in the middle of his POP session.

I would like it to have such that if he has downloaded his mail
no.1,2,3 completely and during the session of downloading mail no 4 ,
if he be disconnected, he neednot redownload the mails 1,2 and 3

By the way i am using Maildir format


Also is there anyway so the the user gets his small messages being
downloaded first ?

Suggestions will be highly appreciated.

Binaya

Hello,

* binaya <monday11@hotmail.com> wrote:
> I am running qmail in my linux box and qmail-pop3d for POP. I would
> like to have the server such that if the client has downloaded his
> mails then that mail gets deleted automatically from the server , no
> matter if he is interrupted in the middle of his POP session.

That's prohibited by POP3-RFC. See RFC 1939, sec. 5 "The TRANSACTION
State", comments about 'DELE' command and sec. 6 "The UPDATE State",
pages 7ff.

> I would like it to have such that if he has downloaded his mail
> no.1,2,3 completely and during the session of downloading mail no 4 ,
> if he be disconnected, he neednot redownload the mails 1,2 and 3

That's what 'UIDL' is for. Unique message ID the server generates for
one and the same identically every time asked. The client only needs to
fetch the output of 'UIDL' at session beginning, store locally which
messages have been downloaded sucessfully, and skip those messages with
"already downloaded UIDL" next time he connects.
And the best is: the _good_ POP3 clients have this already implemented;
there's no need to change qmail-pop3d.

> Also is there anyway so the the user gets his small messages being
> downloaded first ?

Yes. The client only needs to fetch the list of messages in mailbox via
'LIST' command and fetch them ordered by given size. The server _CAN'T_
force the client to fetch mails in _ANY_ order. The server can only
serve messages the client _REQUESTS_, if the client requests the big
messages first it's clients decision; there's nothing the server can or
should do about.

If you still insist in changing qmail-pop3d's behavior and properties:
UTSL.
--
Ciao,
Pit