164746 - Compact Folders doesn't compact all open IMAP folders

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

(MailNews Core :: Networking: IMAP, defect)

Description

[Bill Shannon]

Using the Compact Folders menu item in Netscape 4.x would compact all the open
IMAP folders.  In Mozilla it only compacts the current folder.  I believe the
reason is due to the following code in nsImapMailFolder.cpp:

NS_IMETHODIMP nsImapMailFolder::CompactAll(nsIUrlListener *aListener,  nsIMsgWin
dow *aMsgWindow, nsISupportsArray *aFolderArray, PRBool aCompactOfflineAlso, nsI
SupportsArray *aOfflineFolderArray)
{
  return Compact(aListener, aMsgWindow);  //for now
}

This is similar to bug 61960 that reports the same problem with local folders.
This problem has existed since early Netscape 6 through Mozilla 1.1beta at least.

Comment 1

[Jo Hermans]

*** Bug 185984 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 2

[Jo Hermans]

see also bug 94251 that wants to rename the menu to avoid confusion

Comment 3

[Peter Runestig]

I also think "Compact folders" should compact all faolders, and have used this
patch since 1.1 with good results:

Comment 4

[Peter Runestig]

Attachment: Compact all folders

Comment 5

[Pablo Stern]

1) Is it possible for regular users (like me) to use this patch, or does it need
to be compiled into the code?
2) Is there a reason this patch can't be just put in the main code, for the
suite and Firebird?  
3) The 'Assigned to' person is 'gone' - does that mean nothing will happen
unless the bug is reassigned?  That would be a shame - this bug is a pain for
IMAP users as we have a limited mail box store and compacting each folder
individually is a real chore - I for instance have a couple of hundred as I use
Moz at work.

Comment 6

[Gyles Harvey]

The release notes for 1.6 seem to suggest this may have been fixed. I've not
been able to verify this myself yet. Has anyone else?

Comment 7

[Calum Mackay]

Yes, it's been working for a while now. you need to use the folder context menu
if you want to compact only one folder.

Comment 8

[Bill Shannon]

This still doesn't seem to be working for me, using Mozilla 1.6 on Linux.
If I visit one folder, delete all messages, visit another folder, delete
all messages, and so on, and then use File / Compact All Folders, only the
currently selected folder is compacted.  A protocol trace shows only a single
IMAP EXPUNGE command being issued, not one for each folder.

Comment 9

[Calum Mackay]

This was fixed as part of bug 222938. The checkin happened very recently, on
January 10th, and I see no mention of it also going into the 1.6 branch, which
surely would have closed by then anyway?

The required functionality is now present in both mozilla seamonkey mailnews &
Thunderbird.

Comment 10

[Calum Mackay]

... trunk builds, that is.

Comment 11

[Bill Shannon]

I tried the latest nightly build and this seems to work, but...

When you say "all", you mean *ALL*!  Ouch.

If I have 300 folders and I open two folders and delete messages from them,
then do Compact All Folders, it opens all 300 of my folders!  This takes a
long time and a lot of network bandwidth.  It's been a while, but my
impression was that Netscape 4 worked differently.  I believe it only compacted
the folders that I had opened during this session, or maybe only the folders in
which I had actually deleted any messages in this session.  Opening all these
other folders is just a waste.

Yes, I know, I can still get the old Mozilla behavior by compacting folders
one at a time using the folder menu.  But is there any chance of getting an
intermediate version of "compact all" that's a bit more efficient?

Also, some status line feedback of what's going on might be nice.

Thanks.

Comment 12

[Gyles Harvey]

I'm with comment #6. In v1.6 this doesn't work for me.

I created a new profile, and it worked, but then I added options to download
items for offline use and to check folders for new messages and it stopped
working. All options selected using GUI.

I'd really like this to work!

Comment 13

[Matthew Elvey]

Gyles, et. al. - still having problems in more recent (than 1.6, which comment 9
& 10 suggest doesn't have the fix) releases?
I use Thunderbird with offline mode, and it WFM.  (Thanks Peter!)

Re. Comment 11 - I'd say more users want a 'compact all' than a 'compact some'
(e.g. compact open) and so if there was a 'compact some', it would mean an
additional UI element and documentation and code and support, for a little
efficiency gain.  Not worth it, IMO.  If the fix is working, let's mark this bug
fixed.

Comment 14

[Bill Shannon]

I think most users would want this to work the same way it worked in Netscape
4.x, which is not what the latest version is doing.  With hundreds of IMAP
folders, "compact all" is just too aggressive, and expensive.

Comment 15

[Chris Andrichak]

> 4.x, which is not what the latest version is doing.  With hundreds of IMAP
> folders, "compact all" is just too aggressive, and expensive.
> 

If this bug has to be fixed (I was just fine with it only compacting the current
folder), than I am definitely in favor of a more efficient version that only
compacts the recently opened folders. I also have many folders, and compact
folders for me now takes a long time compared to what it used to take.

Comment 16

[David :Bienvenu]

this was fixed a while ago.