Weird Error using Thunderbird (IMAP)

[infrequently]

Hi there,
recently I started using stalwart mail-server for my personal purpose. I use the docker image and the version 0.4.2 of stalwart mail-server. E-Mails are stored on the local disk and accounts are stored in a SQLite database.

My old mail-server did not use maildir, mailbox or JMAP, so I transferred all messages using imapsync. As far as I can see, that did work very well. About 75k messages with 5GiB where successfully transferred.
I use Thunderbird to access my mails by IMAP with TLS, as before. Except port 25, all ports are only accessible over my VPN-Connection. I did this that way before, too. The reason is, that I don't want to expose the other ports to the whole internet.

So far, the setup was relatively easy (but I am still learning... more questions may occur) and it does its job very well.
Thumbs up and thank you very much for the good work!

But one thing is confusing me. If I move an E-Mail from my Inbox into a sub folder, sometimes I get an error message:
"The current operation on 'Inbox' did not succeed. The mail server for account responded: No Messages were found."
I can't see anything wrong in the logfiles (trace-level). Thunderbird doesn't show anything useful to me.
There seems to be no loss of data. But I am not 100% sure of that - let's say 95% sure.
The error message doesn't occur every time, it's about a 25% chance the error message shows up.
Thunderbird tells me, that there are 553 messages in the Inbox. But I did not check that number.

Any Ideas about the reason the error message occurs? And stopping its occurrence, if possible?
Thank you in advance!

PS: Sorry for my English - it is not my native language.

[enaut]

Hi,
I have a similar problem, it might be the same, it might not. I think it is like that:

1. Moving a message works the first time without error
2. The message vanishes for a second or half a second from the source
   • thunderbird reloads the message in the source folder
   • the message is also in the target folder
   • on the server, the message is only in the target folder
3. If you now try to move the message "again" the error appears because the message does not exist in the source folder.

On restarting thunderbird, the moved message is removed from the source folder.

Is that the same on your setup?

I created some logfiles on my setup and problem (its not the same email but both spam...)
stalwart.txt
thunderbird.txt

[infrequently]

Hi enaut,
maybe the reason of the error is similar.

In my case it's the first move of a message that may trigger the error.

In most cases I mark the message as read first. After that I move it into a sub folder. This (first) move triggers the error message.
I cannot remember if the error ever occurred if the message was already marked as read. If "marking as read" has a similar effect to moving, the reason of the error could be the same.

PS: How did you create the thunderbird-logfile?

[enaut]

For Thunderbird you have to set an environment variable depending on your OS that works differently: https://www.thunderbird-mail.de/lexicon/entry/215-protokoll-log-datei-der-server-verbindung-mit-imap-pop-und-smtp-erstellen/

For me (Linux) I just started thunderbird in the terminal with the command:

MOZ_LOG=IMAP:4 MOZ_LOG_FILE=~/thunderbird.txt  thunderbird

For Stalwart you have to set the etc/common/tracing.toml level="trace" and restart the mail-server.

[enaut]

@mdecimus could you have a look at the IMAP protocols and why the messages might reappear in thunderbird? Anything I could do to diagnose the problem further?

[mdecimus]

@mdecimus could you have a look at the IMAP protocols and why the messages might reappear in thunderbird? Anything I could do to diagnose the problem further?

Yes, I plan to look into this next week and include the fix in version 0.5.0.

[enaut]

Ok just let me know if I can help you anything testing or providing additional info.

[mdecimus]

Hi,

It would help if you could submit the Thunderbird logs of the IMAP commands sent to the server. Alternatively you can also set Stalwart to log using trace log level but the Thunderbird logs are more helpful as it usually explains why their client failed to perform a certain actions. Instructions on how to enable  logging on TB can be found here.

[enaut]

Does that mean, that you can move an email from one directory to another and it does not reappear in the source folder?

[infrequently]

Yes. In my main environment, a message never reappears in its source folder. In my case, it was the first move of a message that triggered the error message.

However, in my test environment I can reproduce the effect you described. This is my test environment:

• virtual machine
• 2 virtual processors
• 8 GiB RAM
• 30 GiB HD
• Debian Linux
• Thunderbird 115.5
• Docker image of Stalwart 0.4.2

Because the mail-server is running locally in my test environment, it does not resemble my main environment. My main environment has its mail-server on the internet and is connected by a (relatively) slow VPN connection. And Thunderbird is running on a windows machine.
How does your environment look like?

I don't know if both errors have the same cause or not. I'll do more tests.

[enaut]

That is rather different to my setup:

• virtual server
• 4 processors
• 16GB Ram
• Fedora
• Thunderbird 115.5.1
• native install (with default SQLite directory, one user besides admin, total mails in the different folders 75k)

I tried to make the inbox smaller by archiving old mails, but that did not help - but at least the initial download is much faster now.

[infrequently]

Thank you, I'll try to make my Inbox smaller, too.

I did some testing using my test environment. But I could not reproduce my error on my test environment. On my main environment the error occurred just one time in the last days. In that particular moment, logging was off. Murphy's law... Or the extended logging somehow prevents the error.

I would like to close my "case" because I can't reproduce my error.
The error @enaut reported can be discussed here, if necessary.

Thank you @mdecimus and @enaut for your help. :)

[mdecimus]

I am going to test this issue in detail during the week, I'll let you know in case I need help debugging. Thanks.

[mdecimus]

Hi @enaut and @infrequently , I think I have identified the problem. Stalwart is successfully moving the messages but not returning which messages uids were expunged after a MOVE command which is confusing Thunderbird. I'll include a fix for this on v0.5.0 will be released next week (hopefully).

[enaut]

Thank you so much!

[mdecimus]

Hi, version 0.5.0 was released yesterday and should fix this issue. This version requires a database migration and introduces breaking changes in the configuration file. Please read the UPGRADING.md file for more information.

[enaut]

Thank you I will test it as soon as I have upgraded. That won't be before new years eve though. I will report back then.

[infrequently]

Thank you very much, I am already testing the upgrade.

[infrequently]

With version 0.5.0 I can't reproduce the error @enaut reported in my test environment.
I would mark the announcement of @mdecimus as answer if @enaut can confirm my findings.

[mdecimus]

Version 0.5.1 has just been released with additional IMAP fixes that were affecting other clients.

[infrequently]

Thank you very much for your work!
The error @enaut reported is gone in Version 0.5.1, too.
I will test the version and the upgrade process again and report back. It may take one or two days due to other (mandatory) work.

[enaut]

Sorry for taking so long... I was without "serious" internet.

I can confirm that the issue with deleted mails reappearing is solved for now.

[infrequently]

Because I said I'll report back:
I did the upgrade again, this time from Version 0.4.2 to 0.5.1.
After all messages are downloaded, Thunderbird runs fine.
Thanks again for your good work!