Release 1.07-PRE-4 of IMAP-IDLE, a plugin that provides "push-mail" support for Apple's email client, is available for download.

This version asks Mail to sync, rather than simply check for new mail, and listens to additional types of notifications from the IMAP server. The result is that your IMAP mailbox stays in sync with the server better. This version also determines IDLE capability by trying to use it, rather than by depending on the server reporting IDLE support in its CAPABILITY response (as it turns out, some servers don't have accurate CAPABILITY responses). It supports SSL and clear-text connections (for security reasons, please avoid non-encrypted IMAP sessions).

It does not support TLS, Kerberos or NTLM. Be aware that Pair.com's IMAP servers advertise IDLE support and even accept IDLE mode requests, but never actually send notifications, making IMAP-IDLE useless.

UPDATE
I uploaded a new build, which reports itself as "IMAP-IDLE Version 1.07-PRE-4b (2007-09-01)" in the console log. If you downloaded your version before 2:10pm Eastern time on Sept 1, 2007 -- download it again. You can also quit and re-launch Mail, and look for "IMAP-IDLE Version 1.07-PRE-4b (2007-09-01)" in the console log, to be sure you've got the right version.

I think that Pair's servers advertise and accept IDLE mode, but don't actually send any notifications. I added extra debug output (see below), and it's obvious that pair's mail server is accepting IDLE mode. You can see "+ Waiting for DONE", which is the IMAP server sending me a continuation after I requested IDLE mode. You can then see periodic "heartbeat" messages from the server ("* OK Timeout in X minutes"), indicating that the server is still connected and in IDLE mode.

However, no messages are ever received from the server regarding availability of new messages. As a control, I also tried using Thunderbird with the Pair account, as it supports IDLE natively, rather than via a plugin. It also does not see new messages -- no IDLE-mode notifications are received.

It looks like pair's IMAP Servers are just dysfunctional, as far as IDLE mode is concerned.


2007-08-18 22:02:44.663 Mail[2165] [* OK [CAPABILITY IMAP4REV1 LITERAL+ SASL-IR LOGIN-REFERRALS AUTH=PLAIN AUTH=LOGIN] XXXX.pair.com IMAP4rev1 2004.357-p2k server ready at Sat, 18 Aug 2007 22:02:48 -0400 (EDT)]
2007-08-18 22:02:45.016 Mail[2165] [1692ea42 OK [READ-ONLY] EXAMINE completed]
2007-08-18 22:02:45.086 Mail[2165] [+ Waiting for DONE]
2007-08-18 22:02:45.086 Mail[2165] Account 'PAIR' has accepted IDLE mode
2007-08-18 22:03:45.086 Mail[2165] [* OK Timeout in 30 minutes]
2007-08-18 22:05:45.112 Mail[2165] [* OK Timeout in 28 minutes]
2007-08-18 22:07:45.111 Mail[2165] [* OK Timeout in 26 minutes]
2007-08-18 22:09:45.111 Mail[2165] [* OK Timeout in 24 minutes]
2007-08-18 22:11:45.274 Mail[2165] [* OK Timeout in 22 minutes]
2007-08-18 22:13:45.274 Mail[2165] [* OK Timeout in 20 minutes]