[Alpine-info] alpine 1.0 "invalid remote specification"

[Benjamin R. Haskell]

On Sun, 24 Feb 2008, Mark Crispin wrote:


> In a mailbox specification, the text inside {} is a remote server (IMAP, 

> POP3, NNTP) name and its speciffications.

>

> /var/spool/mail is not a server name.  It is a directory path.

>

> I don't know how you set up your Alpine configuration, but somehow you 

> entered a directory path as a server.  I doubt that was your intent; it 

> certainly won't work.

>

> Since the default Alpine behavior is the smart-search for a local INBOX 

> (which includes the spool directory), you should probably not have 

> anything at all set as your inbox-path in your Alpine configuration.

>

> Assuming that the problem is your inbox path, from the main menu do S 

> (for Setup) then C (for Config), and then scroll down to Inbox Path (it 

> should be the 5th item down).  Do D (for Delete Val[ue]) to set it to 

> the default, then E (for Exit Setup) to save the change.  Now, quit 

> Alpine and restart it.


Two related things:

1. The help text for 'Server:' when setting up a collection list is mute 
on the point of what to enter there for a collection on the local 
filesystem. It might be nice to add something to the effect of:

"If your collection is a directory on the local host, you should leave the 
server field blank."


2. Is there a way to add a single (mbox) folder from a local directory 
without making it the inbox-path or an incoming folder?

E.g. I tried adding one through M S (X) L A:

Nickname  : vsm
Server    :
Path      : /var/spool/mail/
View      : bhaskell

But, this creates a folder collection that shows:

                  Local folders in /var/spool/mail/
----------------------------------------------------------

.bhaskell/     bhaskell       old-bhaskell/


The other folders are various dovecot-related tests I'd run in the past, 
but the problem is that the 'bhaskell' view specification is treated as if 
I'd entered: '*bhaskell*'.

It shows up as I intended it to, in my .pinercex:

folder-collections= INHERIT,
  ...,
  vsm /var/spool/mail/[bhaskell]

Is this a bug or the intended behavior? If the latter, is there an option 
to prevent it?

I also tried specifying the full filename as the Path, but that fails when 
I try to exit:

"Exit, saving changes and creating Path?"

(I type 'Y', and get:)

[ Can't create folder node /var/spool/mail/bhaskell/: File exists ]

Best,
Ben