folder structure and nametrans using Dovecot and Evolution

[awg1 at gmx.com]

----- Original Message -----
From: awg1 at gmx.com
Sent: 12/28/12 09:02 AM
To: offlineimap-project at lists.alioth.debian.org
Subject: folder structure and nametrans using Dovecot and Evolution

I have the following folder structure on Dovecot:

 .INBOX
 .DRAFTS
 .SENT
 .FOLDER1
 .FOLDER1.SUBFOLDER1
 .FOLDER1.SUBFOLDER1.SUBFOLDER2
 etc
 .FOLDERN.SUBFOLDER1
 .FOLDERN.SUBFOLDER1.SUBFOLDER2

 When I do an initial sync using "offlineimap.conf.minimal" the leading period ('.') gets removed. This has the effect of removing the directory structure when I view mails with Evolution (and Thunderbird). So instead of, for example, FOLDER1 at the top level, then FOLDER1/SUBFOLDER1 and then FOLDER1/SUBFOLDER1/SUBFOLDER2 (where the subfolders are nested), I get a flat structure of three folders on the same level: FOLDER1, FOLDER1.SUBFOLDER1, FOLDER1.SUBFOLDER1, FOLDER1.SUBFOLDER1.SUBFOLDER2.

 It seem like the absence of a leading period is the problem (if I manually append one to a local folder, the directory structure reappears). I'm wondering though, why is the leading period being removed if I have no nametrans rules in place?

 Absent an answer to that question, I've tried dabbling with nametrans. I've added the following rule to the remote repository to add back the ".": "lambda f: "." + f". However I'm not sure regarding the reverse nametrans, the reason being my "forward" nametrans rule is not actually changing what's on the server, rather it's making an adjustment to conform with what's on the server (e.g: .FOLDER1 is synced as FOLDER1; this is "forward" transed to ".FOLDER1" which is already on the server). I've played around with some reverse trans rules, namely removing the period but this isn't what I want to do as it seems I should be leaving Dovecot's structure alone. Additionally, I keep getting the infinite folder creation warning.

 To summarise then:
 * why does the "." at the front of folder names get removed in the first place
 * if this is something I have to live with, what are the correct nametrans and reverse nametrans rules to deal with this.
 * I hesitate in adding this point but I should note, while Evolution and Thunderbird don't like the absence of a leading ".", when I use Mutt, it can't view the subfolders unless the leading "." is removed. However I'm thinking one thing at a time and best to get to the bottom of what's actually happening first

 P.S. I'm new to this but have spent the last two days trying to find an answer so, while this may suggest I'm a complete dunce, I would like to point out I've done a lot of reading and experimenting before making this post.



 Sorry for the second mail but I forget to mention, I've also tried using "sep = /" in the config file. These seems to work for an initial sync but if I try again, I get a message saying:

 "ERROR: Creating folder .Folder.subfolder.subfolder on repository Remote Folder '.Folder.subfolder.subfolder'[Remote] could not be created. Server responded: ('NO', ["Character not allowed in mailbox name: '.'"])"
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