@FaheemMitha you can configure IMAP synchronisation tools such as isync in any way you want, including downloading all your emails and deleting them from the server. I use isync to download and keep copies, so I get all my email offline but still have them on the server too.

@StephenKitt So you can configure isync to download the emails and delete them on the server, like POP3? What are tradeoffs between isync and POP3, in that case?

I'm not familiar with isync. I have used IMAP in the past.

@FaheemMitha isync is a tool, POP3 is a protocol, so I don’t know how to compare them ;-).

@StephenKitt Hmm. Looking at isync now.

One question is how isync copes with unstable networks, like what I have here. POP3 copes OK.

@FaheemMitha looking into it again, you’d need to help isync actually delete the emails, it only propagates deletes, it doesn’t delete itself

It's just a simple download thingy. If it hasn't completely downloaded, it just aborts, the message stays on the server. The end result is that nothing happens. It's a no-op.

@FaheemMitha it copes fine, but if your network is too unstable for a sync to fully complete you’ll never process all your folders

@StephenKitt "propagates deletes", meaning it marks the messages on the server in some way?

@FaheemMitha that’s what your tool does, it’s not inherent in the protocol

@StephenKitt It's not super unstable. I recently switched to Fiber Optic. It seems OK for now. But Indian networks are never very reliable.

I do like the symmetric up down bandwidth. With DSL up is just too slow.

@FaheemMitha meaning that it deletes messages on the server if they have been deleted on the client (and vice versa). To produce the behaviour you’re after, you’d sync all your email, then move it locally to an unsynchronised folder (that can be done automatically), and then the next server sync would delete it all on the server.

@StephenKitt The IMAP protocol? So an extra layer on top of that.

@FaheemMitha I thought you were talking about POP3

@StephenKitt That was a response to you writing "that’s what your tool does, it’s not inherent in the protocol". I assumed you were referring to isync or similar.

@FaheemMitha look at the message I was replying to

The provider (Airtel) is pushing their 100 Megabits/sec option. My current line is 50 Megabits/sec, which seems to work just fine.

@FaheemMitha 50Mbps on fibre?

@StephenKitt Sorry, my mistake. You mean that's not a POP3 thing per se? Downloading, then deleting on the server?

@StephenKitt Correct. megabits/sec.

According to them, it's very slow for Fiber Optic. So I should get a faster connection, and of course, pay more. Which I suppose is what they care about. But what I have seems fine, anyway. Stability is the really important thing, of course.

@FaheemMitha yes, it’s not a POP3 thing per se. It’s fetchmail’s default behaviour, but that can be changed too (keep), even on POP3.

@StephenKitt Yes, I'm aware that you can configure it to keep on the remote.

@FaheemMitha right, I wasn’t asking about the unit, I was surprised at the amount. It’s less than you can get on VDSL...

@StephenKitt It's their lowest speed, and therefore the cheapest plan. I think you can get it for much faster. Perhaps they throttle it. I dunno.

It's around Rs. 600 a month. Right around USD 8 per month.

I just timed it, and it's pretty close to 50 megabits/sec up and down.

I don't really even need something this fast. No doubt some people could think up uses for it.

@FaheemMitha right, 50Mbps is sufficient for most uses ;-) and you’re right, stability is more important than speed

@StephenKitt I expect you have a much faster line.

@FaheemMitha yes, 10Gbps on my ISP’s base plan!

@FaheemMitha yup

@StephenKitt dedicated cable, presumably, right?

Even so, that's ridiculously fast. The best my ISP can offer me in London if I were to go for their highest speed, dedicated wire connection, is 72-73Mbps with "18 Mbps Average Upload".

@terdon yes, it’s a dedicated fibre; I happen to live in a “medium-density area” where homes get a dedicated fibre all the way to the in-home router.

Yeah, I'm just really impressed since even with a dedicated fibre installed to my home, my local ISP in London (not exactly the boonies) still can't offer more than 73.

I hear speeds in the UK are still quite slow. I don't know about the reliability.

OTOH, speeds in continental Europe are quite fast.

I remember someone in Switzerland quoted their speeds to me years ago, and it was very fast. And relatively cheap.

Actually, I think I looked at the vendor's web page myself for the Swiss one.

airtel.in/broadband/mumbai suggests that the options are 40, 100, 200 Mbps and 1 Gbps.

I don't see the price mentioned for the last one. The one I have corresponds to 40, but is actually around 50.

Unless one has some fairly specialised need, like the requirement for moving huge amounts of data around regularly, I don't think anything more than the lowest plan would be necessary. I know for example, that bioinformatics data can get quite large. Like hundreds of Gbs for a single file.

Oh yes, easily.

@FaheemMitha It is all a big string :D

I was wondering where this question, assuming it is a sensible one, would be most suitable, U&L, SuperUser, or StackOverflow. Thoughts?

@FaheemMitha Seems like a purely programming question about python, so I'd go for Stack Overflow. It wouldn't even be on topic on Super User, and I would argue it's off topic here too.

@FaheemMitha SO, but you shouldn't ask yet

s/wise/lazy

eh, reinventing the stdlib wheel with a lower-level stdlib wheel is worse than pointless