Thunderbird 3 IMAP bug with "Received" date

beq · 9 Jun 2010, 06:46 AM

By default Thunderbird 3 sorts the message list chronologically by the Date column (sent date), but users can also choose the new Received column (received date) or the Order Received column (internal numerical rank of each message in the folder). Other email clients often sort by "Received date" for incoming folders and "Sent date" for outgoing folders, although this can sometimes be customized.

Regardless, I think "Sent date" is usually taken from (or at least corresponds to) the message's Date: header... [unless the header is malformed or missing]

By comparison "Received date" is more complex.

With other clients, "Received date" is usually taken from:
- POP3: the client's date of message download
- IMAP: the server's INTERNALDATE message attribute

Whereas with Thunderbird, "Received date" is currently parsed from the message's Received: header, for both POP3 and IMAP. The topmost (most recent) Received: header containing a valid date is used, or failing that the Date: header (ie. "Sent date") is used as fallback.

For POP "Received date" I can see merit in both the traditional client download date and Thunderbird's server received date (taken from Received: header) -- having the choice would be nice.

IMAP only deals with server received date, BUT Thunderbird's implementation (taken from Received: header) has issues:

1. There's a bug whereby the Received: header is not fetched or indexed correctly on IMAP accounts, and therefore TB's Received column incorrectly duplicates the Date column. At least workarounds are available.

2. Even if the above IMAP Received: header bug could be fixed, TB should instead query IMAP INTERNALDATE from the server, which should be both less expensive and more reliable (no need to parse different multiline strings or deal with non-standard or missing headers).

beq · 9 Jun 2010, 06:49 AM

The above links are from Bugzilla@Mozilla reports.

Here's their summary (more votes for ongoing bugs could be helpful):

Bug 166254 (2002) resolved, with 278 comments!

IMAP/POP: added Received column (parsed from topmost Received: header)

Bug 402594 (2007) ongoing, see workaround for now

IMAP bug: Received mirrors Date column (due to faulty Received: header fetch)

Bug 570355 (new) ongoing

IMAP request: use INTERNALDATE from server (instead of Received: header)

9 Jun 2010, 06:46 AM	#1
beq Cornerstone of the Community Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: USA Posts: 895	Thunderbird 3 IMAP bug with "Received" date By default Thunderbird 3 sorts the message list chronologically by the Date column (sent date), but users can also choose the new Received column (received date) or the Order Received column (internal numerical rank of each message in the folder). Other email clients often sort by "Received date" for incoming folders and "Sent date" for outgoing folders, although this can sometimes be customized. Regardless, I think "Sent date" is usually taken from (or at least corresponds to) the message's Date: header... [unless the header is malformed or missing] By comparison "Received date" is more complex. With other clients, "Received date" is usually taken from: - POP3: the client's date of message download - IMAP: the server's INTERNALDATE message attribute Whereas with Thunderbird, "Received date" is currently parsed from the message's Received: header, for both POP3 and IMAP. The topmost (most recent) Received: header containing a valid date is used, or failing that the Date: header (ie. "Sent date") is used as fallback. For POP "Received date" I can see merit in both the traditional client download date and Thunderbird's server received date (taken from Received: header) -- having the choice would be nice. IMAP only deals with server received date, BUT Thunderbird's implementation (taken from Received: header) has issues: 1. There's a bug whereby the Received: header is not fetched or indexed correctly on IMAP accounts, and therefore TB's Received column incorrectly duplicates the Date column. At least workarounds are available. 2. Even if the above IMAP Received: header bug could be fixed, TB should instead query IMAP INTERNALDATE from the server, which should be both less expensive and more reliable (no need to parse different multiline strings or deal with non-standard or missing headers).

9 Jun 2010, 06:49 AM	#2
beq Cornerstone of the Community Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: USA Posts: 895	The above links are from Bugzilla@Mozilla reports. Here's their summary (more votes for ongoing bugs could be helpful): Bug 166254 (2002) resolved, with 278 comments! IMAP/POP: added Received column (parsed from topmost Received: header) Bug 402594 (2007) ongoing, see workaround for now IMAP bug: Received mirrors Date column (due to faulty Received: header fetch) Bug 570355 (new) ongoing IMAP request: use INTERNALDATE from server (instead of Received: header)