IMAP enhancements, by priority:

[ -- socket -- ]
* Smarter connection code. Mutt should handle dropped connections/routing
  problems gracefully. It should be able to transparently reconnect. This
  is facilitated by the next item.

  PRIORITY: [***]

* General connection code rewrite. All commands should be queued via
  a single interface for communicating with the server. Nothing should
  have to read or write directly to the socket.

  PRIORITY: [***]

[ -- browsing -- ]
* Investigate a new way of displaying folders with subfolders and messages.
  Possibly we could use a tree-view in the browser, w/ expand, collapse.
  For low-bandwidth lines we could defer getting subfolder lists until the
  folder is expanded.
  Current thought is that  will select a mailbox if it doesn't have
  subfolders or enter the folder if it does. If it has messages and subfolders,
  we'll use a new key to select it as a mailbox.
  We should maybe add a new imap_format string for IMAP browsing, without all
  the stat variables but with tags like how many messages are in the folders,
  how many subfolders, that weird \Marked tag, etc.
 
  PRIORITY: [** ]

* See if we can't add more info to the IMAP browser than just name (without
  incurring too much overhead). eg which folders contain new mail, size,
  number of messages.

  PRIORITY: [** ]

[ -- speed -- ]
* Persistent caching of data. I think the nicest way to do this is to store
  local copies like IMAP does, with an invisible control message at the top,
  and extra invisible headers in the message (for UID/dirty bits). This does
  some nice things:
  o We can use the existing mbox driver.
  o Mutt can read mail stored in IMAP spools transparently and
    nondestructively.
  o An IMAP server could function off of a local cache - maybe we can begin
    to develop some sort of IMAP clustering system.
  Disadvantage:
  o IMAP can't discriminate between its own store and a fake Mutt cache. If
    the server changes its file format, bad things might happen. Could be
    worked around with a specific Mutt header in all messages, probably.

  PRIORITY: [*  ]

* Instead of testing for the existence of a mailbox for APPEND, just append
  and create/retry on failure. This is only a small bandwidth savings, but
  it should be easy.

  PRIORITY: [*  ]

[ -- new features -- ]
* Implement the received folder on IMAP, now that COPY is done

  PRIORITY: [** ]

* Commands for creating/deleting folders on the server, since users may not
  otherwise be able to do this on IMAP servers.
  Delete done, still must implement create.

  PRIORITY: [** ]

* Implement READ-ONLY support, and the x (quit without saving changes)
  command.

  PRIORITY: [** ]

* Create a logout command, so users can reconnect with different account
  information without quitting mutt. Note: Tommi Komulainen's
  multiple-account code makes this unnecessary - just use an account of
  the form {username@host}

  PRIORITY: [*  ]

Brendan Cully 
Updated: 19991227