Re: Sorting Extension - was Re: IMAP4: reordered mailbox during session

[Mike Macgirvin <[e-mail]>]

> What is the status (if any) of the server side sorting extenions proposal?
> I Ask this in reference to the thread (partially quoted below) about
> messages being copied into mailboxes and always appearing at the end of
> the mailbox. Presumably, if a server side sort is enabled for the mailbox
> in question, the message may sort to some other location. The question is
> whether the action of sorting is initiated by the client, or whether the
> server will keep a mailbox sorted as new messages are copied into it.
> Presumably such issues are addressed in the SORT proposal?

It's been in experimental status for a couple of years now, and no draft
has ever been written. If you want to see something happen, probably best
to get a description from Mark on what he's done and then run with it. 

The experimental extension (as I recall, it's been a while since I looked
at it) is client initiated - i.e. the client submits a SORT command and
gets back a list of messages representing the order. The server does
nothing to maintain ordering; it just runs the requested sort and spits
back the results. There are options to set the ordering algorithm and also
to supply a message list and/or search filter.