In <[log in to unmask]> [log in to unmask] writes:

> > The POP protocol has no facility for control (or direct access to) host-
> > based "folders". To a POP client, all mail resides in one host-based
> > folder, and can only be filed locally (either by downloading messages -by
> > setting the don't leave mail on server flag in your client, or with modern
> > pop clients that support the UIDL command extension in POP, messages on
> > the host can be referred to from folders on the client).
>
> Quite true, and many POP servers don't support UIDL.  UCB's current
> "popper" does, the relatively new POP server for OpenMail doesn't (so
> I've been told), don't know about 3K's.  If your POP client has options
> to "leave mail on server" or any type of filtering (download messages
> that are < nn Kb in size) it requires UIDL support.

Our (3k) Pop Server supports UIDL (we did even before many of the clients
did.. :-) ) With the latest releases, all of the POP clients we've tried now
support UIDL, though interestingly, Eudora is the only client that supports
a facility to change your (host) mailbox's password from the client -- a
feature administrators of POP servers really grow to appreciate (3k's POP
Server also supports this password server).

> > > Is this a limitation of the POP protocol or just of these POP clients?
> >
> > Yes (as I noted above). IMAP is probably the answer there. It allows you
> > to manipulate host-based folders, do searching of your host-based message
> > store, and has features that generally make it easier if you switch around
> > among PCs accessing your mailbox.
>
> IMAP is an option.  It was also the subject of a recent CERT advisory
> for having some security holes.

Actually, POP servers were recently highlighted in the CERT advisory (I think
we forwarded a copy to the list)... Of course, the alert doesn't include MPE
based servers. :-) I believe the bug was another similar to the old sendmail
bug where incoming clients could overflow a buffer and cause nasty things to
happen on the server.

> Another issue I have to deal with is playing "multiple roles" when
> reading mail - I need access to several mailboxes.  The newer Netscape
> Communicator (Netscape 4) allows multiple user profiles on the same
> machine.  This has saved me a good deal of grief, but doesn't sound like
> it's applicable to your particular problem.

Eudora Pro supposedly does a nice job of handling multiple profiles also FWIW;
though their freeware client doesn't (you have to fake it out with multiple
copies of the client in different directories).

                 -Chris Bartram