Exchange server - VM BAD Command Argument

[Uday Reddy]

John Stoffel reports (viewmail-info, 2013-04-02):

I'm still using vm-visit-imap-folder from 8.2.0b inside 23.1.1 on
x86_64 CentOS to read my eamil from Microsoft Exchange (probably 2010,
not sure). But right now I occasionally run into problems where I
can't seem to get new email. Looking the saved trace log I see:

    Starting IMAP session Tue Apr 2 12:21:44 2013
    -- connecting to exmail1.taec.toshiba.com:143
    * OK The Microsoft Exchange IMAP4 service is ready.
    -- connected for general operation
    VM CAPABILITY
    * CAPABILITY IMAP4 IMAP4rev1 AUTH=NTLM AUTH=GSSAPI AUTH=PLAIN STARTTLS
    UIDPLUS CHILDREN IDLE NAMESPACE LITERAL+
    VM OK CAPABILITY completed.
    VM LOGIN <parameters omitted>
    VM OK LOGIN completed.
    VM SELECT "inbox"
    * 543 EXISTS
    * 0 RECENT
    * FLAGS (\Seen \Answered \Flagged \Deleted \Draft $MDNSent)
    * OK [PERMANENTFLAGS (\Seen \Answered \Flagged \Deleted \Draft
    $MDNSent)] Permanent flags
    * OK [UNSEEN 437] Is the first unseen message
    * OK [UIDVALIDITY 5840] UIDVALIDITY value
    * OK [UIDNEXT 45167] The next unique identifier value
    VM OK [READ-WRITE] SELECT completed.
    VM FETCH 1:543 (UID RFC822.SIZE FLAGS)
    * 1 FETCH (UID 782 RFC822.SIZE 1705 FLAGS (\Seen))
    .
    .
    .
    * 542 FETCH (UID 45161 RFC822.SIZE 11435 FLAGS ())
    * 543 FETCH (UID 45164 RFC822.SIZE 93423 FLAGS ())
    VM OK FETCH completed.
    VM STORE 460 +FLAGS.SILENT (filed)
    VM BAD Command Argument Error. 11
    VM STORE 477 +FLAGS.SILENT (filed)
    VM BAD Command Argument Error. 11
    VM STORE 478 +FLAGS.SILENT (filed)
    VM BAD Command Argument Error. 11
    VM STORE 490 +FLAGS.SILENT (filed)
    VM BAD Command Argument Error. 11
    VM STORE 494 +FLAGS.SILENT (filed)
    VM BAD Command Argument Error. 11
    VM STORE 503 +FLAGS.SILENT (filed)
    VM BAD Command Argument Error. 11
    VM STORE 504 +FLAGS.SILENT (filed)
    VM BAD Command Argument Error. 11
    VM STORE 505 +FLAGS.SILENT (filed)
    VM BAD Command Argument Error. 11
    VM STORE 506 +FLAGS.SILENT (filed)
    VM BAD Command Argument Error. 11
    VM STORE 507 +FLAGS.SILENT (filed)
    VM BAD Command Argument Error. 11

    Process IMAP connection broken by remote peer

[Uday Reddy (reddyuday)]

John Stoffel again:

I hate to follow up so quickly, but I managed to do
'vm-imap-synchronize' which completed though it had 12 errors. This
then let me get the new emails.

[Uday Reddy (reddyuday)]

The IMAP standard (RFC 3501) says:

   59) It is not an error for the client to store a flag that is not in
   the PERMANENTFLAGS list; however, the server will either ignore the
   change or make the change in the session only.

So, unfortunately, your Exchange server is not adhering to the standard.
Please do complain to whoever is running your Exchange server.

All that I can do is to make VM resilient so that it carries on regardless
of the error messages. So, what happens after these error messages arise?
Does VM break in some way?

[Uday Reddy (reddyuday)]

Kyle Farrell reports (viewmail-info, 2013-07-22):

This surfaces as a "vm-imap-send-command: writing to process:
invalid argment, IMAP over SSL" and I can't get new mail or run
vm-imap-synchronize. The workaround I've employed is to expunge filed
messages prior to getting new mail.

[Uday Reddy (reddyuday)]

I believe that VM recovers from the "BAD Command" errors fine. VM knows
that they don't matter. But John Stoffel's trace log showed that the server
was disconnecting him after a few such errors. This could leave VM in a
confused or inconsistent state. I can't tell from your description what
exactly happened.