Pete Resnick wrote:
Do folks know how well, if at all, clients handle read-only anonymous access? Specifically, I'm wondering:1. Are clients OK with connecting to a server with no login and password?
If you mean the client can omit the LOGIN command, then this is not allowed by IMAP.
Anonymous access is typically done in 1 of 2 ways: either the client authenticates with LOGIN "anonymous" "<anything>", or it uses AUTHENTICATE ANONYMOUS. Any client should be able to do at least the former.
2. Are clients good about keeping their own local flags if the messages are read-only?
I haven't seen a client doing that apart from Eudora. I don't think clients store flags locally in such cases.
However clients should be able to handle server's inability to store flags. They should also cope with server returning READ-ONLY upon SELECT.
3. Any other known gopher holes?
Other holes are possible.