Andy Petterson wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I installed a debian to act as a mail server using Postfix, Courier,
> Spam Assassin, Amavis, Squirrelmail and ClamAV. The clients are using a
> combination of Windows 98/2K/XP systems running predominantly Outlook
> Express with a few versions of Outlook sprinkled in. The server was
> installed to replace an ageing Windows NT (Workstation!) that had a POP3
> package on it.
>
> Anyway they are used to using POP3 to download their mail so rather than
> switch them over to IMAP I just set Outlook Express to leave the email on
> the server and remove it after 14 days. This should mean that they are able
> to use Squirrelmail to view the last few weeks of email and I didn't have to
> change the way they work very much.
>
> However 2 weeks after I installed the box I got a phone call that says
> instead of deleting the email, Outlook Express downloaded the last 2 weeks
> again!! I've checked the config of the box and made sure they had the latest
> version of Outlook Express and am not sure if it's going to do it again. Can
> anyone suggest where the problem might be?
>

Thats the way it works if you don't delete mail from the server.

It gets accessed again.

The POP3 clients and IIRC the protocol* isn't smart enough to determine
its already been downloaded.

*may be these days: wasn't when I started setting up these systems.

On Thu, 12 Jul 2007 13:10:49 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:


>
> Thats the way it works if you don't delete mail from the server.
>
> It gets accessed again.
>
> The POP3 clients and IIRC the protocol* isn't smart enough to determine
> its already been downloaded.
>
> *may be these days: wasn't when I started setting up these systems.

It *shouldn't* work like that anymore. Outlook Express has an option that
is supposed to delete all the old email from the POP3 box after a certain
time. This has worked previously fine on all other mail servers that I
have used before, just not the one I've built

Andy68man wrote:
> On Thu, 12 Jul 2007 13:10:49 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>
>
>> Thats the way it works if you don't delete mail from the server.
>>
>> It gets accessed again.
>>
>> The POP3 clients and IIRC the protocol* isn't smart enough to determine
>> its already been downloaded.
>>
>> *may be these days: wasn't when I started setting up these systems.
>
> It *shouldn't* work like that anymore. Outlook Express has an option that
> is supposed to delete all the old email from the POP3 box after a certain
> time. This has worked previously fine on all other mail servers that I
> have used before, just not the one I've built

Build a different one then!

On Fri, 13 Jul 2007 10:37:24 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

> Andy68man wrote:

>>
>> It *shouldn't* work like that anymore. Outlook Express has an option that
>> is supposed to delete all the old email from the POP3 box after a certain
>> time. This has worked previously fine on all other mail servers that I
>> have used before, just not the one I've built
>
> Build a different one then!

Sorry you missunderstand - I'm fairly sure that it should work as
courier-pop is supposed to be a good up to date POP3 package. But it
doesn't hence my cry for help.

Andy68man wrote:
> On Fri, 13 Jul 2007 10:37:24 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>
>> Andy68man wrote:
>
>>> It *shouldn't* work like that anymore. Outlook Express has an option that
>>> is supposed to delete all the old email from the POP3 box after a certain
>>> time. This has worked previously fine on all other mail servers that I
>>> have used before, just not the one I've built
>> Build a different one then!
>
> Sorry you missunderstand - I'm fairly sure that it should work as
> courier-pop is supposed to be a good up to date POP3 package. But it
> doesn't hence my cry for help.

Have you tried contacting it manually on port 110?

The parts of the protocol that allow you to download headers..and thus
ID which messages are old, or you have already, are only OPTIONAL parts.

As is another possible approach - the UIDL command.

See http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1939.txt for details..

Whether or not these are implemented I cannot say, but a manual login to
the pop server will settle those points.

Or simply download the standard debian pop package and try that.

On Fri, 13 Jul 2007 16:00:17 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

>
> Have you tried contacting it manually on port 110?
>
> The parts of the protocol that allow you to download headers..and thus
> ID which messages are old, or you have already, are only OPTIONAL parts.
>
> As is another possible approach - the UIDL command.
>
> See http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1939.txt for details..
>
> Whether or not these are implemented I cannot say, but a manual login to
> the pop server will settle those points.
>
> Or simply download the standard debian pop package and try that.

I tested the POP3 server using the commands you suggested and it does
indeed support the command. I also tried using a different computer and it
worked fine on that after setting it to leave copies on for one day.

I went back to the clients and found that the problem was only on a few
workstations, not on all of them as first reported. After checking the
settings turns out that some of the computers had a hidden Trend POP3 pack
installed that had changed the POP3 server to localhost and didn't support
the delete command. Once I reinstalled Trend it worked fine!

Thank you very much for your help!

Andy68man wrote:
> On Fri, 13 Jul 2007 16:00:17 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>
>> Have you tried contacting it manually on port 110?
>>
>> The parts of the protocol that allow you to download headers..and thus
>> ID which messages are old, or you have already, are only OPTIONAL parts.
>>
>> As is another possible approach - the UIDL command.
>>
>> See http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1939.txt for details..
>>
>> Whether or not these are implemented I cannot say, but a manual login to
>> the pop server will settle those points.
>>
>> Or simply download the standard debian pop package and try that.
>
> I tested the POP3 server using the commands you suggested and it does
> indeed support the command. I also tried using a different computer and it
> worked fine on that after setting it to leave copies on for one day.
>
> I went back to the clients and found that the problem was only on a few
> workstations, not on all of them as first reported. After checking the
> settings turns out that some of the computers had a hidden Trend POP3 pack
> installed that had changed the POP3 server to localhost and didn't support
> the delete command. Once I reinstalled Trend it worked fine!
>
> Thank you very much for your help!

It always help to bounce ideas around, and check everything logically
one step at a time!