thunderbird / thunderbird/thunderbird-android

Remove POP3 support

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#4,974 12 comments 6 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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type: enhancement
Dominant language
Kotlin
Stars
14k
Forks
2.8k
Avg merge
3d 3h
Merged PRs (30d)
57

Description

Remove support for the POP3 protocol.

K-9 Mail never supported POP3's "download then delete from server" model. The app tries to treat POP3 accounts similar to IMAP where we download copies of messages but treat the server as single source of truth. Some settings exist to weaken that model, but the goal of #4970 is to get rid of these, too.

The hardest part about the removal is a deprecation strategy. We'll have to inform users that support for POP3 is going away before we actually remove it. They should have plenty of time to prepare moving to another protocol or another email client. I propose we show a non-dismissable info message above the message list. Clicking it could lead to a blog post with more information on the topic.

I don't want us to automatically delete user data. So once POP3 support is removed I propose we convert remaining POP3 accounts to read-only accounts. Users will still be able to view messages. They won't be able to copy, move, delete, or compose new messages from that account.

This is part of the effort to remove support for local messages.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by tracing the POP3 account flow and the message-list entry point described in the issue, then review the linked effort in #4970. Map the deprecation notice and the conversion of remaining POP3 accounts to read-only behavior; done means POP3 support is removed without automatically deleting user data.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
kotlin
Domain
mobile
Issue type
Refactor
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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