Problem in Mail deletion in POP3

Question

Hi
I am using Pop3.
I opened folder using
folder.open (Folder.READ_WRITE);
setting flag for deletion
mimeMessages.setFlag (Flags.Flag.DELETED, true);
then in finally block closing the folder
if (mailbox.isConnected ()) {
if(folder != null && folder.isOpen()) {
try {
folder.close (true);
sometimes it is not deleting the messages.
Please suggest something.
Thanks
Atal

Answer 1

I am sorry but what do u mean by this? can u please explain in detail.
actually most of times it works fine but in few cases mail deletion is failing.
In my code: after folder.close (true); I just take a dump that comes successfully.
The MailBox folder has been closed after deleting the ToBeDeleted Mails, if any, by folder.close method.
MessageId of 1 th message which has been marked for Deletion : 1150475083.23686.prod-util-1.aspdeploy.com,S=57857
MessageId of 2 th message which has been marked for Deletion : 1150475117.23813.prod-util-1.aspdeploy.com,S=6808
MessageId of 3 th message which has been marked for Deletion : 1150475120.23818.prod-util-1.aspdeploy.com,S=9425
MessageId of 4 th message which has been marked for Deletion : 1150475140.23852.prod-util-1.aspdeploy.com,S=6121
these 4 messages were marked for deletion.
then close called. after
The MailBox folder has been closed after deleting the ToBeDeleted Mails, if any, by folder.close method.
message, it again tries to retrieve the folder with messages
Retrieving messages for mailbox ..
MessageId of the: 1 th message is 1150475083.23686.prod-util-1.aspdeploy.com,S=57857
MessageId of the: 2 th message is 1150475117.23813.prod-util-1.aspdeploy.com,S=6808
MessageId of the: 3 th message is 1150475120.23818.prod-util-1.aspdeploy.com,S=9425
MessageId of the: 4 th message is 1150475140.23852.prod-util-1.aspdeploy.com,S=6121
MessageId of the: 5 th message is 1150475338.13255.prod-util-2.aspdeploy.com,S=7458
MessageId of the: 6 th message is 1150475387.13339.prod-util-2.aspdeploy.com,S=6394
MessageId of the: 7 th message is 1150475393.13357.prod-util-2.aspdeploy.com,S=59238
MessageId of the: 8 th message is 1150475553.13615.prod-util-2.aspdeploy.com,S=86236
first 4 messages are same which were not deleted.
I have just attached the code. If you want to have a look then plz.
thanks
atal
package com.deploy.email;
import com.baltimore.jpkiplus.vaults.Vault;
import com.baltimore.jpkiplus.x509.JCRYPTO_X509Certificate;
import com.baltimore.jsmt.smime.JSMTException;
import com.baltimore.jsmt.smime.SMIMEv2;
import com.deploy.email.api.EmailException;
import com.deploy.email.api.InitException;
import com.deploy.email.api.ReceivedMessage;
import com.deploy.email.config.LogicalMailboxConfiguration;
import com.deploy.email.config.MailConfiguration;
import com.deploy.email.config.PhysicalMailboxConfiguration;
import com.deploy.email.util.SecureEmailHelper;
import com.sun.mail.pop3.POP3Folder;
import java.io.ByteArrayInputStream;
import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStream;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;
import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.security.MessageDigest;
import java.security.NoSuchAlgorithmException;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Enumeration;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Vector;
import javax.mail.Address;
import javax.mail.AuthenticationFailedException;
import javax.mail.Flags;
import javax.mail.Folder;
import javax.mail.Message;
import javax.mail.MessagingException;
import javax.mail.Multipart;
import javax.mail.Part;
import javax.mail.Store;
import javax.mail.UIDFolder;
import javax.mail.internet.InternetAddress;
import javax.mail.internet.MimeMessage;
import javax.naming.NamingException;
import org.apache.log4j.Logger;
* This class spawns a thread for each mailbox and pulls messages from those mailboxes at a specified interval.
* Use start to initialize and stop to end the threads
* Bug Fixes
* - 8399 Broke out the mailServer into two separate potential servers; sendMailServer and receiveMailServer
* This class was updated to reflect the receiveMailServer setting
* 04/25/03 John Gemski
* - 10619 Added support for the Lotus Notes Client as per the 3.x fix. Copied logic from 3.x as detailed
* by Hari in the bug report
* 08/13/03 John Gemski
* - Added Email Client Calendaring support - John Gemski 10/21/2003
* @see com.deploy.email.EmailChannel
public class RetrieveMail implements Runnable {
/** Used to tell the threads when to stop */
private static boolean keepRunning=true;
//anish For nationwide
private int maximumsizeofinbox=-1;
/** The messages on the mail server that have been pulled but not deleted */
private HashMap messagesOnServer;
/** These are the mailbox types. Will only be one here for the Azetra impl */
private static List logicalMailboxes;
/** The list of running threads. Need to be tracked so they can be interrupted upon stop */
private static ArrayList receiveThreads;
/** A reference to the EmailChannel object, which may contain updated information. */
private static EmailChannel emailChannel = EmailChannel.getInstance();
private static Logger log = Logger.getLogger(EmailChannel.LOGGER_MODULE_NAME);
// Thread variables
/** the configuration for the physical mailbox from which the emails are being pulled. */
private PhysicalMailboxConfiguration tPhysicalMailbox;
/** the logical type (OLJB, ScanWorld, Task Response, Resume) that the physical mailbox thread is pulling for */
private String tLogicalType;
/** JavaMail Store */
private Store mailbox;
// Acceptable Protocols to retrieve mail from the mail server.
public static final int RECEIVE_MAIL_PROTOCOL_POP3 = 0;
public static final int RECEIVE_MAIL_PROTOCOL_IMAP = 1;
public static final int NUM_RECEIVE_MAIL_PROTOCOLS = 2;
public static String [] RECEIVE_MAIL_PROTOCOL_NAME;
/** Indicates whether or not the Secure Email feature is enabled. */
private static boolean secureEmailEnabled =false;
static {
RECEIVE_MAIL_PROTOCOL_NAME = new String [NUM_RECEIVE_MAIL_PROTOCOLS];
RECEIVE_MAIL_PROTOCOL_NAME [RECEIVE_MAIL_PROTOCOL_POP3] = "pop3";
RECEIVE_MAIL_PROTOCOL_NAME [RECEIVE_MAIL_PROTOCOL_IMAP] = "imap";
// FIX for socket hang issue (FIX PR 14253) while processing the mail
public static final String SOCKET_READ_ERROR = "No inputstream from datasource";
/** Constructor for new RetrieveMail thread.
* @param phys_config the mailbox configuration for a specific physical mailbox (i.e. [email protected])
* @param logical_type the logical type for this mailbox ("Resumes", "OLJB", "ScanWorld", or "TaskResponse")
private RetrieveMail(PhysicalMailboxConfiguration phys_config, String logical_type) {
this.tPhysicalMailbox = phys_config;
this.tLogicalType = logical_type;
* Retrieve email messages from a mail server for the particular physical mailbox indicated with the thread
* @throws EmailException if any fatal error occurs with the retrieval or processing of the incoming emails
private void retrieveMessages () throws EmailException {
Vector msgVector = new Vector ();
Vector deleteMsgVector = new Vector ();
ReceivedMessage [] recMessages;
MailConfiguration mailConfig = emailChannel.getMailConfiguration();
long maxReceivedEmailSize = mailConfig.getMaximumReceiveSize();
//Anish for Bug 20366 for Nationwide Patch 06
maximumsizeofinbox = mailConfig.getMaximumsizeofinbox();
// Synchronize on the mailbox object for the mailbox from which we
// are going to retrieve messages. We don't want more than one
// thread connected to a mailbox at a time, but we don't want to
// prevent multiple different threads from being connected to
// multiple different mailboxes simultaneously.
synchronized (mailbox) {
boolean throwingException = false;
Folder folder = null;
try {
/* Fix for 8399 - use the getReceiveMailServer call instead of the
* getMailServer call
// Connect to the server for receiving mail.
mailbox.connect (mailConfig.getReceiveMailServer(),
tPhysicalMailbox.getMailboxName(),
tPhysicalMailbox.getMailboxPassword());
// We are only interested in the "INBOX" folder.
folder = mailbox.getFolder ("INBOX");
// Open with write permissions as well, so we can delete messages from the server
folder.open (Folder.READ_WRITE);
// Anish for Bug 20366 for Nationwide Patch 06
//int numMessages = folder.getMessageCount ();
int numMessages1 = folder.getMessageCount ();
int numMessages = 0;
//log.info("Anish123 " + maximumsizeofinbox);
if (maximumsizeofinbox < 0)
numMessages = numMessages1;
else
          if (numMessages1 > maximumsizeofinbox) {
          numMessages = maximumsizeofinbox;
          //log.info("Anish try 1 " + numMessages1);
          else {
          numMessages = numMessages1;
          //log.info("Anish try 2 " + numMessages);
//     log.info("Anish try 4 " + numMessages);
// End by anish
if (numMessages > 0) { // There are messages to retrieve
Message [] messagesRaw = folder.getMessages ();
// We need to cast the messages to MIME message objects so
// that we can access some MIME message-specific functionality.
MimeMessage [] mimeMessages = new MimeMessage [numMessages];
for (int i = 0; i < numMessages; i++) {
mimeMessages = (MimeMessage) messagesRaw [i];
// We can only get messages totalling maxReceivedMessageSize bytes.
// Calculate how many messages we may get and still stay under the limit.
int numMessagesToRetrieve = 0;
int i = 0;
if( maxReceivedEmailSize > 0) {
int totalSize = 0;
numMessagesToRetrieve = 0;
boolean reachedLimit = false;
while ((i < numMessages) && !reachedLimit) {
int messageSize = mimeMessages[i].getSize ();
int newTotalSize = totalSize + messageSize;
if (newTotalSize > maxReceivedEmailSize) {
//if this is the first message then break out and process it
if( i == 0 ) {
i++;
totalSize = newTotalSize;
reachedLimit = true;
else {
totalSize = newTotalSize;
i++;
numMessagesToRetrieve = i;
i = 0;
else {
numMessagesToRetrieve = mimeMessages.length;
while( i < numMessagesToRetrieve )
boolean gotMessage = false;
String uniqueID = null;
if( numMessagesToRetrieve > 0 ) {
// Get the ID for the message
uniqueID = getUniqueID (mimeMessages[i], folder);
//By Anurag for Req#2907 to add Debugging Logs start
log.info("MessageId of the: " + (i+1) + " th message is " + uniqueID);
//By Anurag for Req#2907 to add Debugging Logs End
// Check if we have previoiusly retrieved this message.
Object value = messagesOnServer.get (uniqueID);
gotMessage = (value != null);
if (!gotMessage) { // Make sure message is filled in.
boolean processMessage = true;
try {
if(secureEmailEnabled) {
ByteArrayOutputStream os = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
mimeMessages[i].writeTo(os);
InternetAddress[] senders = (InternetAddress[])mimeMessages[i].getFrom();
InternetAddress[] recipients = (InternetAddress[])mimeMessages[i].getRecipients (Message.RecipientType.TO);
Exception lastException = null;
Vault v = null;
for (int countRecipients = 0; countRecipients < recipients.length; countRecipients++) {
lastException = null;
v = null;
// try to get the recipient's address from the Vault hash table
log.info("Trying to get Vault for address: " + recipients[countRecipients].getAddress ());
v = SecureEmailHelper.getVault (recipients[countRecipients].getAddress ());
// we can't decrypt if we don't have a private key from the vault!
if (v == null) {
log.info("The PFX file for the email account: " + recipients[countRecipients].getAddress () + " is not found or invalid. Please correct.");
lastException = new EmailException(EmailException.REASON_UNKNOWN, "The PFX file for the email account: " + recipients[countRecipients].getAddress () + " is not found or invalid. Please correct.");
else {
break;
// if we came out with all exceptions, throw the last one we received.
if (lastException != null) {
log.error(lastException.getMessage(), lastException);
throw lastException;
SMIMEv2 smimer = new SMIMEv2(v);
// Set up input and output streams to read an S/MIME message
byte[] originalMessageBytes = os.toByteArray();
String origMessStr = new String(originalMessageBytes);
// The SMIMEv2 can't handle extra characters.
// Noticed that messages contained an "+OK", which was causing problems
// removed the entire line
if(origMessStr.startsWith("+OK")) {
int index = origMessStr.indexOf("\n");
origMessStr = origMessStr.substring(index+1);
byte[] revMessageStr = origMessStr.getBytes();
ByteArrayInputStream input_source = new ByteArrayInputStream(revMessageStr);
ByteArrayOutputStream output_sink = null;
boolean smimeRecognized=true;
boolean wasSigned=false;
boolean wasEncrypted=false;
// Making changes to reflect Baltimore's suggestion about layers
ByteArrayInputStream newMessage = null;
boolean done=false;
// According to Baltimore, there can be two layers of encryption
// inner and outer. It could be encrypted & signed, with it being either
// encrypted on the outer layer and signed on the inner, or vice versa.
// We want to ensure that this loop breaks out after either
// 1. there were 2 layers sign/encrypted or encrypted/signed
// 2. there was an error
int layers=0;
while(!done && layers < 2) {
output_sink = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
layers++;
     try {
// This step must be don't before any cryptographic operations. It lets the SMIMEv2 class
// figure out what it has as an input and where to place the output
smimer.attachStreams(input_source, true, output_sink, false, false);
catch (JSMTException jse) {
// This is common since unencrypted and unsigned data cannot perform this function
// Ideally, Baltimore says to use the type SMIMEv2.TYPE_DATA, but it never gets this
// far since this fails.
// We will skip the attempts to decrypt/verify the signature, since we know we won't
// be able to interpret what type of message it is.
smimeRecognized=false;
// Will only be one layer
done=true;
     log.debug("SMIME recognized: " + smimeRecognized);
if(smimeRecognized) {
// Get the S/MIME message type
int nextdata = smimer.getMessageType();
log.info("SMIME message type: " + nextdata);
if (nextdata == smimer.TYPE_SIGNED) { // Signed message
wasSigned=true;
boolean matchedSender = false;
// Didn't know you could have multiple "from" in an email address
// Right now, only one of the "froms" has to have a certificate
for(int s=0; s < senders.length; s++) {
// get the sender's address
String from_sender = senders[s].getAddress();
try {
// retrieve the certificates from the LDAP
JCRYPTO_X509Certificate[] senderCerts = null;
senderCerts = SecureEmailHelper.getCertificatesFromLDAP(from_sender);
if(senderCerts!=null) {
// verify() needs to take in a chain of certificates
com.baltimore.jsmt.pkcs7.CertificateChain cc= new com.baltimore.jsmt.pkcs7.CertificateChain();
// create certificate chain
for(int k=0; k < senderCerts.length; k++) {
cc.addCertificate(senderCerts[k]);
// verify the Certificate Chain against the message's certs
if(smimer.verify(cc)) {
// found a match, the message was verified
matchedSender=true;
break;
else
log.error("Could not verify the sender" + from_sender);
done=true;
catch(NamingException ne) {
log.error("There was a problem connecting to the LDAP for " + from_sender,ne);
done=true;
// if none of the senders matched, we need to not process
// the email message, since it will be unreadable
if(!matchedSender) {
StringBuffer sendString = new StringBuffer();
for(int s=0; s < senders.length; s++) {
String from_sender = senders[s].getAddress();
sendString.append(" : " );
sendString.append(from_sender);
processMessage = false;
log.error("Could not find certificate for any of the senders" + sendString.toString());
done=true;
else if (nextdata == smimer.TYPE_ENVELOPED) { // Encrypted message
log.debug("SMIME Encrypted message!");
wasEncrypted = true;
try {
log.debug("SMIME Decrypting message...");
// Decrypts the message
smimer.openEnvelope();
catch (JSMTException jse) {
// Could not decrypt message
log.error("Could not decrypt message: " + jse.getMessage (), jse);
processMessage = false;
done=true;
else {
log.debug("Unrecognized type");
// doesn't seem to get here since Baltimore toolkit doesn't accept
// nonencrypted, nonsigned emails (it should though). Keep here for future
// releases of the toolkit
done = true;
// Now that we have output_sink,
// retrieve the bytes
byte[] processedBytes = output_sink.toByteArray();
newMessage = new ByteArrayInputStream(processedBytes);
input_source = new ByteArrayInputStream(processedBytes);
else {
// only for the first time around, revert to original
if(layers==1) {
// Keep original message
newMessage = new ByteArrayInputStream(revMessageStr);
log.debug("wasSigned: " + wasSigned + " wasEncrypted: " + wasEncrypted);
// create the mime message again
mimeMessages[i] = new MimeMessage(emailChannel.getSession(),newMessage);
mimeMessages[i].setFrom (senders[0]);
mimeMessages[i].setRecipients (Message.RecipientType.TO, recipients);
// decrypted/verified data is automatically written to output_sink
input_source.close();
output_sink.close();
// If the message wasn't signed, we can still process the message
// if the settings allow the server to process unsigned messages
// If not, set the flag to not process this message
if(!tPhysicalMailbox.getAcceptUnsignedEmail() && !wasSigned) {
     log.info("Server configuration does not allow unsigned emails.");
processMessage = false;
// If the message wasn't encrytped, we can still process the message
// if the settings allow the server to process unencrypted messages
// If not, set the flag to not process this message
if(!tPhysicalMailbox.getAcceptUnencryptedEmail() && !wasEncrypted) {
log.info("Server configuration does not allow unencrypted emails.");
processMessage = false;
if(processMessage) {
MimeMessage m = mimeMessages[i];
if( maxReceivedEmailSize > 0 && m.getSize() > maxReceivedEmailSize ) {
try {
m = constructDummyMsg( m, m.getSize() );
catch (Exception e) {
// Add message to a list of messages to be deleted after
// finished retrieving messages.
deleteMsgVector.addElement (uniqueID);
ReceivedMessage receivedMessage =
new ReceivedMessage (m, uniqueID);
msgVector.addElement (receivedMessage);
else {
log.info("Email could not be processed.");
deleteMsgVector.addElement (uniqueID);
catch (EmailException ee) {
log.error("Email Exception", ee);
deleteMsgVector.addElement (uniqueID);
} // mail socket hang fix
catch (javax.mail.MessagingException e) {
String message = e.getMessage();
// if it's a socket hang issue due to network outage, we want to logout and refetch the messages.
if (message.equals(SOCKET_READ_ERROR)) {
log.error("Socket timed out. Closing the connection", e);
messagesOnServer.clear();
throw new EmailException(