[VM] Trying to install w/IMAP on Windows 7 (long)

[Uday Reddy]

(setq vm-keep-imap-buffers t)

Note that this variable is called `vm-imap-keep-trace-buffer'.

VM uses buffers with names like "trace of IMAP..." to record its
interactions with the IMAP server. These are the first places to check to
find out how VM is seeing the network.

A lot of people have reported with stunnel version 4. Downgrading to
stunnel version 3 seems to work. Please check Google Groups archive of the
newsgroup.

These wows will hopefully be resolved with the next release of VM and
Emacs24, which will have built-in SSL.

Cheers,
Uday

[Lewis Perin]

Hello. I’ve been using Rmail for what seems like a century, but at
work, where I use Windows 7, that’s coming to an end because the
organization’s new mail server will use IMAP only. As a result, I’m
exploring vm with stunnel. I’m using my little-used Gmail account as a
testbed. Sadly, I haven’t been able to read anything from Gmail yet, so
I’m asking for suggestions here as to what may be wrong with my setup.

I’m using vm-8.1.1-gnu23; and stunnel from stunnel-4.33-installer.exe,
which I installed, as advised, without make install.

Here’s my .vm, indented for clarity:

(setq vm-primary-inbox "~/vm/inbox.mbox")
(setq vm-crash-box "~/vm/inbox.crash.mbox")
(setq vm-imap-account-alist
'(
("imap-ssl:imap.gmail.com:993:*:login:my-gmail-login:*" "Gmail")
)
)
(setq vm-primary-inbox
"imap-ssl:imap.gmail.com:993:inbox:login:my-gmail-login:*")
(setq vm-spool-files `((,vm-primary-inbox
"imap-ssl:imap.gmail.com:993:inbox:login:my-gmail-login:*"
,vm-crash-box))
)
(setq vm-reply-subject-prefix "Re: ")
(setq vm-stunnel-program "c:/tools/stunnel/stunnel.exe")

(setq vm-debug t)
(setq vm-keep-imap-buffers t)
(setq vm-imap-log-sessions t)
(setq vm-stunnel-program-additional-configuration-file
"c:/tools/stunnel/stunnel.conf")

And here’s my stunnel.conf, also indented.

;[pop3s]
;accept = 995
;connect = 110

[imaps]
; Lew
client = yes
accept = 993
;connect = 143
; Lew
connect = imap.gmail.com:143

[ssmtp]
; Lew
client = yes
accept = 465
connect = 25

When I launch vm, I get a new frame with
“Checking for new mail for c:/etc/emacs/imap-cache-<long hex string>...”
in the minibuffer, but nothing beyond that. Stunnel runs, but it
doesn’t seem to achieve anything - there isn’t even anything in a
netstat display that seems related to all this.

Here’s my latest stunnel.log:

2011.12.22 13:00:10 LOG5[6148:6672]: Reading configuration from file c:\Users\lperin\AppData\Local\Temp\vm521094869
2011.12.22 13:00:10 LOG7[6148:6672]: Snagged 64 random bytes from c:\Users\lperin\AppData\Local\Temp\vm2345190073
2011.12.22 13:00:10 LOG7[6148:6672]: RAND_status claims sufficient entropy for the PRNG
2011.12.22 13:00:10 LOG7[6148:6672]: PRNG seeded successfully
2011.12.22 13:00:10 LOG7[6148:6672]: Certificate: stunnel.pem
2011.12.22 13:00:10 LOG7[6148:6672]: Certificate loaded
2011.12.22 13:00:10 LOG7[6148:6672]: Key file: stunnel.pem
2011.12.22 13:00:10 LOG7[6148:6672]: Private key loaded
2011.12.22 13:00:10 LOG7[6148:6672]: SSL context initialized for service imaps
2011.12.22 13:00:10 LOG7[6148:6672]: Certificate: stunnel.pem
2011.12.22 13:00:10 LOG7[6148:6672]: Certificate loaded
2011.12.22 13:00:10 LOG7[6148:6672]: Key file: stunnel.pem
2011.12.22 13:00:10 LOG7[6148:6672]: Private key loaded
2011.12.22 13:00:10 LOG7[6148:6672]: SSL context initialized for service ssmtp
2011.12.22 13:00:10 LOG5[6148:6672]: Configuration successful
2011.12.22 13:00:10 LOG5[6148:6672]: No limit detected for the number of clients
2011.12.22 13:00:10 LOG7[6148:6672]: FD=132 in non-blocking mode
2011.12.22 13:00:10 LOG7[6148:6672]: Option SO_REUSEADDR set on accept socket
2011.12.22 13:00:10 LOG7[6148:6672]: Service imaps bound to 0.0.0.0:993
2011.12.22 13:00:10 LOG7[6148:6672]: Service imaps opened FD=132
2011.12.22 13:00:10 LOG7[6148:6672]: FD=284 in non-blocking mode
2011.12.22 13:00:10 LOG7[6148:6672]: Option SO_REUSEADDR set on accept socket
2011.12.22 13:00:10 LOG7[6148:6672]: Service ssmtp bound to 0.0.0.0:465
2011.12.22 13:00:10 LOG7[6148:6672]: Service ssmtp opened FD=284
2011.12.22 13:00:10 LOG5[6148:6672]: stunnel 4.33 on x86-pc-mingw32-gnu with OpenSSL 1.0.0 29 Mar 2010
2011.12.22 13:00:10 LOG5[6148:6672]: Threading:WIN32 SSL:ENGINE Sockets:SELECT,IPv6

Thanks very much for your attention!

/Lew
---
Lew Perin / ***@acm.org
http://babelcarp.org

[Uday Reddy]

Post by Lewis Perin
(setq vm-imap-account-alist
'(
"Gmail")
)
)
(setq vm-primary-inbox
(setq vm-spool-files `((,vm-primary-inbox
"imap:127.0.0.1:143:inbox:login:lew.perin:*"
,vm-crash-box))
)

You have two versions of the maildrop spec here (one with "imap" and one
with "imap-ssl"). The "imap-ssl" version is correct, and the "imap" version
is something else. If you try to view some other mailbox on the gmail
account, the "imap" version will kick in and probably fail.

Secondly, you should not use vm-spool-files when you are using IMAP
folders. The spool-files are only needed for local folders. VM is probably
ignoring this setting, but it is liable to confuse you at some later stage.

In any case, congratulations on getting it to work!

All the best.

Uday

[Uday Reddy]

Hmm, I thought this was necessary because emacs was to speak IMAP to
the localhost stunnel, which would then talk IMAP-SSL to mighty
the nature of the tunneling.

Actually, it is the other way around. VM knows all about stunnel, but it
doesn't know (and doesn't care to know) anything about gmail. The point is
that the open source software is family. We will be here for eternity.
Companies come and go. Got the picture?

Uday, I’m very grateful for your patience and persistence - not to
mention your competence - and I fear if I keep asking for little bits
of clarification that it would take more of your time and effort than
if you just recoded my .vm. What do you think?

I think you are pretty much there. For an example of what to put in the .vm
file, please the file example.vm in the top-level directory of VM. It was
originally created by Rob F (the previous maintainer of VM), but I made a
few changes over the years.

But you shouldn't just accept everything that is there. Just take the bits
you need, and read the manual to find out why they are needed. The manual
is your friend indeed!

Cheers,
Uday