gmail/poplib: quickly detecting new mail

[Alex Martelli]

LJ <ljcell at gmail.com> wrote:
   ...
> 1. is this a standard behavior of pop protocol? (to give me the same
> results for any API call on a single login?)
> 2. OR is this a peculiarity of gmail

Definitely POP3 standard behavior, as a simple reading of the relevant
RFC will show (e.g., http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1939.txt):
summarizing... on entering Transaction state, a POP3 server acquires an
exclusive lock on the mailbox, to ensure that no modifications occur to
it throughout the session.

I'm not sure about the refresh frequency, but you may want to try the
Atom feed, https://mail.google.com/gmail/feed/atom .


Alex