Problems setting up imapfilter and to make it easier for the consumer

[Nicolas Sebrecht]

On Thu, Oct 21, 2021 at 07:14:58AM +0200, Tom wrote:

>    Now, you maybe say: Noob, RTFM. Ah, well, i did. It says just to configure
>    your accounts and storage... and you are good to go.

You're correct. offlineimap has been started years before SSL becomes a
widely used technology on IMAP. We didn't update the documentation
enough.

>    FAQ Says:
>    Checking the SSL certificate and then it tells you without any explanation
>    todo this:
>    $SSL_CERT_DIR="" openssl s_client -connect hosname:993 < /dev/null
>    2>/dev/null | openssl x509 -fingerprint -noout -text -in /dev/stdin

offlineimap is usually installed by advanced users and we've always made
this assumption, at least. We didn't feel the hard requirement to
explain why we need to do this but just share a reminder of the expected
command to get this done quickly.

Perhaps we should not make this assumption anymore and explain the
reasons in the doc. OTOH, offlineimap still requires advanced
configuration with enough skills to get this done correctly.

Offlineimap is more complex than usual IMAP client because offlineimap
is not only a client for the IMAP protocol to work on emails; it's a
synchronizer between two IMAP/maildir repositories. Also, offlineimap is
not a GUI tool with configuration wizards.

>    [4]http://www.offlineimap.org/doc/quick_start.html
>    should have some mention about that. Who uses IMAP without SSL these days
>    ?

I agree. The usage of SSL has sightly changed over time and we should
improve the doc in this area.

-- 
Nicolas Sebrecht