How do I add the sort extension to an IMAP server?

Question

if we do own a Mail server supporting, how is it possible to add a sort extension to it?

Also how is it possible for a client using java mail to check if the server does indeed support the Sort extension?

For ref: question asked at http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1388208/how-do-i-add-the-sort-extension-to-the-imap-server

Answer 1

It depends on the mail server you're using. It will either be a simple matter of changing a config option, installing a plugin, patching the software, or bugging a commercial vendor to make the necessary changes.

As far as determining whether the server supports it, yes the client should be able to determine whether the server supports the extension by examining the list of capabilities printed when the client connects. For example, my IMAP server says:

* OK [CAPABILITY IMAP4rev1 UIDPLUS CHILDREN NAMESPACE THREAD=ORDEREDSUBJECT THREAD=REFERENCES SORT QUOTA IDLE ACL ACL2=UNION]

Which indicates that my server already supports sorting.