cpython/Misc
Forest 572d1e5676 gh-55454: Add IMAP4 IDLE support to imaplib
This extends imaplib with support for the rfc2177 IMAP IDLE command,
as requested in #55454.  It allows events to be pushed to a client as
they occur, rather than having to continually poll for mailbox changes.

The interface is a new idle() method, which returns an iterable context
manager.  Entering the context starts IDLE mode, during which events
(untagged responses) can be retrieved using the iteration protocol.
Exiting the context sends DONE to the server, ending IDLE mode.

An optional time limit for the IDLE session is supported, for use with
servers that impose an inactivity timeout.

The context manager also offers a burst() method, designed for programs
wishing to process events in batch rather than one at a time.

Notable differences from other implementations:

- It's an extension to imaplib, rather than a replacement.
- It doesn't introduce additional threads.
- It doesn't impose new requirements on the use of imaplib's existing methods.
- It passes the unit tests in CPython's test/test_imaplib.py module
  (and adds new ones).
- It works on Windows, Linux, and other unix-like systems.
- It makes IDLE available on all of imaplib's client variants
  (including IMAP4_stream).
- The interface is pythonic and easy to use.

Caveats:

- Due to a Windows limitation, the special case of IMAP4_stream running
  on Windows lacks a duration/timeout feature. (This is the stdin/stdout
  pipe connection variant; timeouts work fine for socket-based
  connections, even on Windows.) I have documented it where appropriate.

- The file-like imaplib instance attributes are changed from buffered to
  unbuffered mode. This could potentially break any client code that
  uses those objects directly without expecting partial reads/writes.
  However, these attributes are undocumented. As such, I think (and
  PEP 8 confirms) that they are fair game for changes.
  https://peps.python.org/pep-0008/#public-and-internal-interfaces

Usage examples:

https://github.com/python/cpython/issues/55454#issuecomment-2227543041

Original discussion:

https://discuss.python.org/t/gauging-interest-in-my-imap4-idle-implementation-for-imaplib/59272

Earlier requests and suggestions:

https://github.com/python/cpython/issues/55454

https://mail.python.org/archives/list/python-ideas@python.org/thread/C4TVEYL5IBESQQPPS5GBR7WFBXCLQMZ2/
2024-09-01 09:01:51 -07:00
..
NEWS.d gh-55454: Add IMAP4 IDLE support to imaplib 2024-09-01 09:01:51 -07:00
rhel7 gh-95957: Add instructions for Tcl/Tk and OpenSSL on RHEL/CentOS 7 (#95964) 2022-08-16 13:44:02 +02:00
ACKS gh-55454: Add IMAP4 IDLE support to imaplib 2024-09-01 09:01:51 -07:00
coverity_model.c bpo-35808: Retire pgen and use pgen2 to generate the parser (GH-11814) 2019-03-01 15:34:44 -08:00
externals.spdx.json gh-116145: Updated bundled Tcl/Tk on Windows to 8.6.14 (GH-117030) 2024-05-31 13:07:19 +01:00
HISTORY gh-123492: Remove unnecessary :func: parentheses (#123493) 2024-08-30 14:34:09 +03:00
indent.pro
platform_triplet.c gh-114099: Modify preprocessor symbol usage to support older macOS SDKs (GH-118073) 2024-04-19 14:56:33 -04:00
Porting
python-config.in bpo-45101: Add consistency in usage message IO between 2 versions of python-config (GH-28162) 2024-02-26 22:04:44 +02:00
python-config.sh.in gh-116622: Rename build variable MODULE_LDFLAGS back to LIBPYTHON (#122764) 2024-08-09 00:00:55 +02:00
python-embed.pc.in bpo-36721: Add --embed option to python-config (GH-13500) 2019-05-23 03:30:23 +02:00
python.man gh-121101: Document -Wall option (an alias for -Walways) (#121102) 2024-06-29 12:10:13 +05:30
python.pc.in gh-116622: Rename build variable MODULE_LDFLAGS back to LIBPYTHON (#122764) 2024-08-09 00:00:55 +02:00
README gh-102809: Remove gdbinit mention in Misc/README (#103269) 2023-04-08 00:04:23 -07:00
README.AIX bpo-42087: Remove support for AIX 5.3 and below (GH-22830) 2020-11-16 16:16:10 +01:00
README.coverity
README.valgrind closes docs: remove references to Py_USING_MEMORY_DEBUGGER (GH-30284) 2021-12-29 16:20:42 -06:00
sbom.spdx.json gh-99108: Add HACL* Blake2 implementation to hashlib (GH-119316) 2024-08-13 21:42:19 +00:00
SpecialBuilds.txt gh-108634: Py_TRACE_REFS uses a hash table (#108663) 2023-08-31 18:33:34 +02:00
stable_abi.toml Fix typos in docs, error messages and comments (#123336) 2024-08-28 14:41:04 +03:00
svnmap.txt
valgrind-python.supp gh-121096: Ignore dlopen() leaks in Valgrind suppression file (#121097) 2024-06-28 13:10:11 +02:00
vgrindefs

Python Misc subdirectory
========================

This directory contains files that wouldn't fit in elsewhere.  Some
documents are only of historic importance.

Files found here
----------------

ACKS                    Acknowledgements
HISTORY                 News from previous releases -- oldest last
indent.pro              GNU indent profile approximating my C style
NEWS                    News for this release (for some meaning of "this")
Porting                 Mini-FAQ on porting to new platforms
python-config.in        Python script template for python-config
python.man              UNIX man page for the python interpreter
python.pc.in            Package configuration info template for pkg-config
README                  The file you're reading now
README.AIX              Information about using Python on AIX
README.coverity         Information about running Coverity's Prevent on Python
README.valgrind         Information for Valgrind users, see valgrind-python.supp
SpecialBuilds.txt       Describes extra symbols you can set for debug builds
svnmap.txt              Map of old SVN revs and branches to hg changeset ids,
                        help history-digging
valgrind-python.supp    Valgrind suppression file, see README.valgrind
vgrindefs               Python configuration for vgrind (a generic pretty printer)