Problem with IMAP via iPhone

Greenman

posted Apr 2 '12 at 1:51 pm

Thanks a lot for that, Thomas. I've posted on Apple's forum so I'll let you know if I get a response. Another iPhone user reported the same issue last year but no responses were made :(

Greenman

posted Mar 26 '12 at 2:56 pm

Hello

One of our staff is experiencing a problem with Pegasus Mail 4.63. When PM is started, a window pops up saying that the mailbox appears to be locked by another process etc. Once PM opens after clicking Continue, previews are disabled and messages cannot be viewed without enabling Window > Preview mode when in Preview Mode. When PM is closed it closes properly.

When I look at the mailbox folder on the server while Pegasus Mail is open, there are two LCK files: MAILBOXP.LCK and MAILBOXM.LCK.

The member of staff affected by this also uses IMAP from their iPhone via our installation of Mercury (4.74). However, we have looked at this and what does not help is that the MAILBOXM.LCK file is not always created when the users mailbox is accessed via IMAP through their iPhone. Also, when the file is created, it may take several minutes for the LCK file to disappear from the file list after the iPhone application is closed.

The member of staff uses IMAP out of the office, but obviously uses Pegasus Mail in the office.

Anyone else use an iPhone with IMAP via Mercury/32? Is there anything I can do from within Mercury/32 to prevent this issue or is it an iPhone problem?

If anyone can help, or shed some light on this I will be very grateful.

Thanks.

Hello One of our staff is experiencing a problem with Pegasus Mail 4.63. When PM is started, a window pops up saying that the mailbox appears to be locked by another process etc. Once PM opens after clicking Continue, previews are disabled and messages cannot be viewed without enabling Window &gt; Preview mode when in Preview Mode. When PM is closed it closes properly. When I look at the mailbox folder on the server while Pegasus Mail is open, there are two&nbsp;LCK files: MAILBOXP.LCK and MAILBOXM.LCK. The member of staff affected by this also uses IMAP from their iPhone via our installation of Mercury (4.74).&nbsp;However, we have looked at this and what does not help is that the MAILBOXM.LCK file is not always created when the users mailbox is accessed via IMAP through their iPhone. Also, when the file is created, it may take several minutes for the LCK file to disappear from the file list after the iPhone application is closed. The member of staff uses IMAP out of the office, but obviously uses Pegasus Mail in the office. Anyone else use an iPhone with IMAP via Mercury/32? Is there anything I can do from within Mercury/32 to prevent this issue or is it an iPhone problem? If anyone can help, or shed some light on this&nbsp;I will be very grateful.&nbsp; Thanks.

bfluet

posted Mar 29 '12 at 11:51 pm

[quote user="Greenman"]

[/quote]

I don't know which Preview mode you are talking about here. There is the attachment preview which can be enabled or disable by default with the setting "Turn off attachment preview by default in the attachment view " located in Tools | Options | Incoming mail | Message reader. There is also the folder Preview mode which may not be opening in that state by default because the save desktop state between session setting (in Tools | Options |General settings | Basic settings) was last enabled when Pegasus was shut down in List mode.

[quote user="Greenman"]

When I look at the mailbox folder on the server while Pegasus Mail is open, there are two LCK files: MAILBOXP.LCK and MAILBOXM.LCK.

The member of staff uses IMAP out of the office, but obviously uses Pegasus Mail in the office.

Anyone else use an iPhone with IMAP via Mercury/32? Is there anything I can do from within Mercury/32 to prevent this issue or is it an iPhone problem?

[/quote]

It sounds like the user has an active IMAP connection while simultaneously trying to access the mailbox via Pegasus. I have two iPad via IMAP users and haven't encountered any problems but they use Pegasus Mail in the office most of the time and their iPad to access their mailbox via IMAP only when traveling.

I don't know why it takes Mercury several minutes to release it's IMAP lock. I have never paid any attention to it here.

[quote user="Greenman"] One of our staff is experiencing a problem with Pegasus Mail 4.63. When PM is started, a window pops up saying that the mailbox appears to be locked by another process etc. Once PM opens after clicking Continue, previews are disabled and messages cannot be viewed without enabling Window &gt; Preview mode when in Preview Mode. When PM is closed it closes properly.[/quote]I don't know which Preview mode you are talking about here.&nbsp; There is the attachment preview which can be enabled or disable by default with the setting "Turn off attachment preview by default in the attachment view " located in Tools | Options | Incoming mail | Message reader.&nbsp; There is also the folder Preview mode which may not be opening in that state by default because the save desktop state between session setting (in Tools | Options |General settings | Basic settings) was last enabled when Pegasus was shut down in List mode.&nbsp; &nbsp;[quote user="Greenman"] When I look at the mailbox folder on the server while Pegasus Mail is open, there are two&nbsp;LCK files: MAILBOXP.LCK and MAILBOXM.LCK. The member of staff affected by this also uses IMAP from their iPhone via our installation of Mercury (4.74).&nbsp;However, we have looked at this and what does not help is that the MAILBOXM.LCK file is not always created when the users mailbox is accessed via IMAP through their iPhone. Also, when the file is created, it may take several minutes for the LCK file to disappear from the file list after the iPhone application is closed. The member of staff uses IMAP out of the office, but obviously uses Pegasus Mail in the office. Anyone else use an iPhone with IMAP via Mercury/32? Is there anything I can do from within Mercury/32 to prevent this issue or is it an iPhone problem?[/quote]It sounds like the user has an active IMAP connection while simultaneously trying to access the mailbox via Pegasus.&nbsp; I have two iPad via IMAP users and haven't encountered any problems but they use Pegasus Mail in the office most of the time and their iPad to access their mailbox via IMAP only when traveling.&nbsp; I don't know why it takes Mercury several minutes to release it's IMAP lock.&nbsp; I have never paid any attention to it here.

Greenman

posted Mar 30 '12 at 11:42 am

Hi, bfluet, thanks for replying.

The member of staff uses Preview mode to view mail.

They have their iPhone with them, switched on, at all times. I use an iPod touch and can see that when the mail application is started it automatically polls all mail accounts for new mail. So, when the member of staff wants to check their hotmail account, for example, from work, I assume that the application on the iPhone behaves in the same way and by default checks all mail accounts. This would create the LCK file.

The issue of course, is that the LCK file is not removed in a timely fashion. Unfortunately, as I said above, the creation of the LCK file is not always guaranteed. It would be interesting to see if anyone else has noticed this behaviour. I will explore Apple's forums and see if this issue has been reported before.

In the meantime, if anyone else has any experience of this, please share.

Thanks!

Hi, bfluet, thanks for replying. The member of staff uses&nbsp;Preview mode to view mail. They have their iPhone with them, switched on, at all times. I use an iPod touch and can see that when the mail application is started it automatically polls all mail accounts for new mail. So, when the member of staff wants to check their hotmail account, for example,&nbsp;from work, I assume that the application on the iPhone behaves in the same way and by default checks all mail accounts. This would create the LCK file. The issue of course, is that the LCK file is not removed in a timely fashion. Unfortunately, as I said above, the creation of the LCK file is not always guaranteed. It would be interesting to see if anyone else has noticed this behaviour. I will explore Apple's forums and see if this issue has been reported before. In the meantime, if anyone else has any experience of this, please share. Thanks! &nbsp;

Thomas R. Stephenson

posted Mar 30 '12 at 8:42 pm

> The issue of course, is that the LCK file is not removed in a timely
> fashion. Unfortunately, as I said above, the creation of the LCK file
> is not always guaranteed. It would be interesting to see if anyone
> else has noticed this behaviour. I will explore Apple's forums and see
> if this issue has been reported before.

The lck file is removed when the IMAP4 connection is closed. I suspect that the IMAP4 client is not in fact closing the connection but just disconnecting. If this is true then that LCK file is going to remain in place until the connection finally times out. I'm not even sure that the timeout will clear the lck file. FWIW, IAW the RFC all IMAP4 clients MUST close the connection before disconnecting and a number of them do not.

&gt; The issue of course, is that the LCK file is not removed in a timely &gt; fashion. Unfortunately, as I said above, the creation of the LCK file &gt; is not always guaranteed. It would be interesting to see if anyone &gt; else has noticed this behaviour. I will explore Apple's forums and see &gt; if this issue has been reported before. The lck file is removed when the IMAP4 connection is closed.&nbsp; I suspect that the IMAP4 client is not in fact closing the connection but just disconnecting.&nbsp; If this is true then that LCK file is going to remain in place until the connection finally times out.&nbsp; I'm not even sure that the timeout will clear the lck file.&nbsp; FWIW, IAW the RFC all IMAP4 clients MUST close the connection&nbsp; before disconnecting and a number of them do not.

Related Topics

Pending draft

Confirm move posts

Insufficient permissions

Select a different topic

Edit history