[Spambayes] Imap use certainly is platform specific.

[Tony Meyer]

> I realize I am being a pain but the last statement above is simply not
> true. When you execute these commands to a linux server the 
> list command returns 900 some lines which are all the files in my home
> directory. 

By "linux server", I assume you mean an IMAP4 mail server running on linux.
The server is therefore configured such that any file in ~ is a valid
mailbox.  A more sensible configuration would be having it set to (eg)
~/Mail.

> Now imagine what happens when I go to the web interface and try to
> check which files contain my mail, which contain spam, which contain
> unsure. Each section of the display that allows you check boxes
> of which there are three contains 900 entries to potentially be
> checked.

This is the correct behaviour.  The IMAP4 server says that those are the
available mailboxes.  If I knew your username and password and connected to
the IMAP4 server from here, I would still get the exact same list.  It has
nothing to do with the OS, nothing to do with Python, and nothing to do with
SpamBayes.  If IMAP4 responses were different depending on which OS the
client was using, then it would be an extremely difficult protocol to use
(what if I sometimes connect with Windows, and sometimes with linux?).

All the IMAP4 server gets is a stream of bytes over a (presumably) TCP/IP
connection.  All it sends is a stream of bytes over a (presumably) TCP/IP
connection.  Nowhere in there is the OS specified (at least, it is not
required to be, and I've never seen an IMAP server or client that does).

> I discussed this with our Windows system people and they are going to
> check this out on the IMAP4 server (which, of course linux does not
> use)

What do you mean linux doesn't use?  I don't understand what you mean here.
Do you mean that the IMAP4 server is running a Windows box?  It shouldn't
matter what OS it's running on.  Do you mean that when retrieving your mail,
using a linux machine, you don't connect via IMAP4?  If so, then why are you
wanting to use sb_imapfilter?  And if you *do* use sb_imapfilter, and it
runs on the linux machine, then the linux machine *is* using the IMAP4
server.

> Please someone who does spambayes on a linux or Unix system confirm or
> correct my experience.

*I* 'do' SpamBayes on several linux systems.  Primarily I use Windows, yes,
but I use linux a lot, too.  I also wrote the majority of sb_imapfilter, and
all of sb_pop3dnd (which includes an IMAP4 server).  I also manage an IMAP4
mail server that runs on a linux box.  Trust me, I know the IMAP4 RFC very
well (much better than I wish I did!).

=Tony Meyer