JavaMail client reads new messages but not existing messages - email

Question

JavaMail newbie here. I'm trying to figure out what's wrong with a Javamail client that's embeded in a very large system. Sorry I do not have a short, self-contained example, but I'm hoping that someone might be able to give me some tips on how to go about debugging this issue.
It's JavaMail 1.4.3 in Java 7, running on Windows 7. The email server is on a Linux box. The intent of the code is to read all emails in an inbox, delete and expunge them, do some work on the emails, pause for a while, then repeat, looping forever. The problem is that if there are already emails in the inbox when this program starts and the JavaMail client code executes, it does not retrieve them. However, if I send emails to the inbox once the code is running, it retrieves them just fine.
The code gets the inbox with Store.getFolder("INBOX"), opens it with Folder.open(Folder.READ_WRITE) and does a Folder.getMessages(). The getMessages() call always returns no messages when first starting up, but does return the messages sent after the program's been started.
I'm using Pine to verify that the inbox does or does not contains messages, but am not opening the messages in Pine, so they should still be new. And if I use Pine to look at the inbox after running this code, it still contains old messages that were sent before the program was launched, but not any that were sent to it while the program was running (they've been successfully read, deleted and expunged).
The code should also be reading messages that are already in the inbox when it starts. I set mail.debug=true and that output follows. Again, any tips for how to dig into this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
// first attempt to read mail when program starts
DEBUG: JavaMail version 1.4.3
DEBUG: successfully loaded resource: /META-INF/javamail.default.providers
DEBUG: Tables of loaded providers
DEBUG: Providers Listed By Class Name: {com.sun.mail.smtp.SMTPSSLTransport=javax.mail.Provider[TRANSPORT,smt
ps,com.sun.mail.smtp.SMTPSSLTransport,Sun Microsystems, Inc], com.sun.mail.smtp.SMTPTransport=javax.mail.Provider[TRANSP
ORT,smtp,com.sun.mail.smtp.SMTPTransport,Sun Microsystems, Inc], com.sun.mail.imap.IMAPSSLStore=javax.mail.Provider[STOR
E,imaps,com.sun.mail.imap.IMAPSSLStore,Sun Microsystems, Inc], com.sun.mail.pop3.POP3SSLStore=javax.mail.Provider[STORE,
pop3s,com.sun.mail.pop3.POP3SSLStore,Sun Microsystems, Inc], com.sun.mail.imap.IMAPStore=javax.mail.Provider[STORE,imap,
com.sun.mail.imap.IMAPStore,Sun Microsystems, Inc], com.sun.mail.pop3.POP3Store=javax.mail.Provider[STORE,pop3,com.sun.m
ail.pop3.POP3Store,Sun Microsystems, Inc]}
DEBUG: Providers Listed By Protocol: {imaps=javax.mail.Provider[STORE,imaps,com.sun.mail.imap.IMAPSSLStore,S
un Microsystems, Inc], imap=javax.mail.Provider[STORE,imap,com.sun.mail.imap.IMAPStore,Sun Microsystems, Inc], smtps=jav
ax.mail.Provider[TRANSPORT,smtps,com.sun.mail.smtp.SMTPSSLTransport,Sun Microsystems, Inc], pop3=javax.mail.Provider[STO
RE,pop3,com.sun.mail.pop3.POP3Store,Sun Microsystems, Inc], pop3s=javax.mail.Provider[STORE,pop3s,com.sun.mail.pop3.POP3
SSLStore,Sun Microsystems, Inc], smtp=javax.mail.Provider[TRANSPORT,smtp,com.sun.mail.smtp.SMTPTransport,Sun Microsystem
s, Inc]}
DEBUG: successfully loaded resource: /META-INF/javamail.default.address.map
DEBUG: getProvider() returning javax.mail.Provider[STORE,imap,com.sun.mail.imap.IMAPStore,Sun Microsystems,
Inc]
DEBUG: mail.imap.fetchsize: 16384
DEBUG: mail.imap.statuscachetimeout: 1000
DEBUG: mail.imap.appendbuffersize: -1
DEBUG: mail.imap.minidletime: 10
DEBUG: trying to connect to host "10.128.200.85", port 143, isSSL false
* OK [CAPABILITY IMAP4REV1 LOGIN-REFERRALS STARTTLS AUTH=LOGIN] pristine.ame.xx.com IMAP4rev1 2001.315rh at Mon, 30 Dec 2013 11:15:26 -0500 (EST)
IMAP DEBUG: AUTH: LOGIN
DEBUG: protocolConnect login, host=10.128.200.85, user=venuswmpublic, password=<non-null>
A0 AUTHENTICATE LOGIN
+ VXNlciBOYW1lAA==
dmVudXN3bXB1YmxpYw==
+ UGFzc3dvcmQA
d2VibTEyMzQ=
A0 OK [CAPABILITY IMAP4REV1 IDLE NAMESPACE MAILBOX-REFERRALS SCAN SORT THREAD=REFERENCES THREAD=ORDEREDSUBJECT MULTIAPPEND] User venuswmpublic authenticated
A1 LIST "" INBOX
* LIST (\NoInferiors) NIL INBOX
A1 OK LIST completed
DEBUG: connection available -- size: 1
A2 SELECT INBOX
* 0 EXISTS
* 0 RECENT
* OK [UIDVALIDITY 1] UID validity status
* OK [UIDNEXT 1] Predicted next UID
* FLAGS (\Answered \Flagged \Deleted \Draft \Seen)
* OK [PERMANENTFLAGS ()] Permanent flags
A2 OK [READ-WRITE] SELECT completed
A3 EXPUNGE
A3 OK EXPUNGE completed
Monitoring incoming email...
* OK [CAPABILITY IMAP4REV1 LOGIN-REFERRALS STARTTLS AUTH=LOGIN] pristine.ame.xx.com IMAP4rev1 2001.315rh at
Mon, 30 Dec 2013 11:15:38 -0500 (EST)
IMAP DEBUG: AUTH: LOGIN
A0 AUTHENTICATE LOGIN
+ VXNlciBOYW1lAA==
dmVudXN3bXB1YmxpYw==
+ UGFzc3dvcmQA
d2VibTEyMzQ=
A0 OK [CAPABILITY IMAP4REV1 IDLE NAMESPACE MAILBOX-REFERRALS SCAN SORT THREAD=REFERENCES THREAD=ORDEREDSUBJECT MULTIAPPEND] User venuswmpublic authenticated
IMAP DEBUG: IMAPProtocol noop
A1 NOOP
A1 OK NOOP completed
IMAP DEBUG: IMAPProtocol noop
A4 NOOP
A4 OK NOOP completed
A5 EXPUNGE
A5 OK EXPUNGE completed
A6 EXPUNGE
A6 OK EXPUNGE completed
DEBUG: pool is full, not adding an Authenticated connection
A7 CLOSE
A7 OK CLOSE completed
A8 LOGOUT
* BYE pristine.ame.xx.com IMAP4rev1 server terminating connection
A8 OK LOGOUT completed
A2 LOGOUT
* BYE pristine.ame.xx.com IMAP4rev1 server terminating connection
A2 OK LOGOUT completed
DEBUG: IMAPStore connection dead
DEBUG: IMAPStore cleanup, force false
DEBUG: IMAPStore cleanup done
// and a bunch of these...
Monitoring incoming email...
IMAP DEBUG: IMAPProtocol noop
A33 NOOP
A33 OK NOOP completed
IMAP DEBUG: IMAPProtocol noop
A77 NOOP
A77 OK NOOP completed
A78 EXPUNGE
A78 OK No messages deleted, so no update needed
Monitoring incoming email...
IMAP DEBUG: IMAPProtocol noop
A34 NOOP
A34 OK NOOP completed
IMAP DEBUG: IMAPProtocol noop
A79 NOOP
A79 OK NOOP completed
A80 EXPUNGE
A80 OK No messages deleted, so no update needed
etc...
------------------------------------
// If I send in an email while the program is running, it picks it up, but still leaves the previous ones unread in the inbox.
Monitoring incoming email...
IMAP DEBUG: IMAPProtocol noop
A4 NOOP
A4 OK NOOP completed
IMAP DEBUG: IMAPProtocol noop
A10 NOOP
* 1 EXISTS
* 1 RECENT
* OK [UIDVALIDITY 1388420519] UID validity status
* OK [UIDNEXT 2] Predicted next UID
* FLAGS (\Answered \Flagged \Deleted \Draft \Seen)
* OK [PERMANENTFLAGS (\* \Answered \Flagged \Deleted \Draft \Seen)] Permanent flags
* OK [READ-WRITE] Mailbox status
* OK [UNSEEN 1] first unseen message in /var/spool/mail/venuswmpublic
A10 OK NOOP completed
A11 EXPUNGE
A11 OK Mailbox checkpointed, but no messages expunged
A12 STORE 1 +FLAGS (\Flagged)
* 1 FETCH (FLAGS (\Recent \Flagged))
A12 OK STORE completed
A13 FETCH 1 (ENVELOPE INTERNALDATE RFC822.SIZE)
* 1 FETCH (ENVELOPE ("Mon, 30 Dec 2013 19:43:42 +0000" "test.testService"
* (("LName, FName" NIL "FName.LName" "Company.com")) (("LName, FName" NIL "FName.LName"
"Company.com")) (("LName, FName" NIL "FName.LName"
"Company.com")) (("venuswmpublic#pristine.ame.xx.com" NIL "venuswmpublic" "pristine.ame.xx.com")) NIL NI
L NIL "<DAF6C79D86A80C49A9F66B898B2821A327FD50E6#hqmbx6.eur.ad.sag>") INTERNALDATE "30-Dec-2013 11:21:51 -0500" RFC822.S
IZE 3774)
A13 OK FETCH completed
A14 FETCH 1 (BODYSTRUCTURE)
* 1 FETCH (BODYSTRUCTURE (("TEXT" "PLAIN" ("CHARSET" "us-ascii") NIL NIL "QUOTED-PRINTABLE" 15 1 NIL NIL NIL
)("TEXT" "HTML" ("CHARSET" "us-ascii") NIL NIL "QUOTED-PRINTABLE" 1899 60 NIL NIL NIL) "ALTERNATIVE" ("BOUNDARY" "_000_D
AF6C79D86A80C49A9F66B898B2821A327FD50E6hqmbx6euradsag_") NIL "EN-US"))
A14 OK FETCH completed
A15 FETCH 1 (BODY[1]<0.15>)
* 1 FETCH (BODY[1]<0> {15}
a=3D111111111
)
* 1 FETCH (FLAGS (\Recent \Seen \Flagged))
A15 OK FETCH completed
A16 FETCH 1 (BODY[1]<0.15>)
* 1 FETCH (BODY[1]<0> {15}
a=3D111111111
)
A16 OK FETCH completed
A17 FETCH 1 (BODY[2]<0.1899>)
* 1 FETCH (BODY[2]<0> {1899}
<html xmlns:v=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o=3D"urn:schemas-micr=
osoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" =
xmlns:m=3D"http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns=3D"http:=
//www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
<head>
<meta http-equiv=3D"Content-Type" content=3D"text/html; charset=3Dus-ascii"=
>
<meta name=3D"Generator" content=3D"Microsoft Word 14 (filtered medium)">
<style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
#font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
#font-face
{font-family:"Trebuchet MS";
panose-1:2 11 6 3 2 2 2 2 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;}
span.EmailStyle17
{mso-style-type:personal-compose;
font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";
color:windowtext;
font-weight:normal;
font-style:normal;
text-decoration:none none;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}
#page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
--></style><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext=3D"edit" spidmax=3D"1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext=3D"edit">
<o:idmap v:ext=3D"edit" data=3D"1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]-->
</head>
<body lang=3D"EN-US" link=3D"blue" vlink=3D"purple">
<div class=3D"WordSection1">
<p class=3D"MsoNormal"><span style=3D"font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tr=
ebuchet MS","sans-serif"">a=3D111111111<o:p></o:p></span></p=
>
</div>
</body>
</html>
)
A17 OK FETCH completed
A18 FETCH 1 (BODY[1]<0.15>)
* 1 FETCH (BODY[1]<0> {15}
a=3D111111111
)
A18 OK FETCH completed
DEBUG: JavaMail version 1.4.3
DEBUG: successfully loaded resource: /META-INF/javamail.default.providers
DEBUG: Tables of loaded providers
DEBUG: Providers Listed By Class Name: {com.sun.mail.smtp.SMTPSSLTransport=javax.mail.Provider[TRANSPORT,smt
ps,com.sun.mail.smtp.SMTPSSLTransport,Sun Microsystems, Inc], com.sun.mail.smtp.SMTPTransport=javax.mail.Provider[TRANSP
ORT,smtp,com.sun.mail.smtp.SMTPTransport,Sun Microsystems, Inc], com.sun.mail.imap.IMAPSSLStore=javax.mail.Provider[STOR
E,imaps,com.sun.mail.imap.IMAPSSLStore,Sun Microsystems, Inc], com.sun.mail.pop3.POP3SSLStore=javax.mail.Provider[STORE,
pop3s,com.sun.mail.pop3.POP3SSLStore,Sun Microsystems, Inc], com.sun.mail.imap.IMAPStore=javax.mail.Provider[STORE,imap,
com.sun.mail.imap.IMAPStore,Sun Microsystems, Inc], com.sun.mail.pop3.POP3Store=javax.mail.Provider[STORE,pop3,com.sun.m
ail.pop3.POP3Store,Sun Microsystems, Inc]}
DEBUG: Providers Listed By Protocol: {imaps=javax.mail.Provider[STORE,imaps,com.sun.mail.imap.IMAPSSLStore,S
un Microsystems, Inc], imap=javax.mail.Provider[STORE,imap,com.sun.mail.imap.IMAPStore,Sun Microsystems, Inc], smtps=jav
ax.mail.Provider[TRANSPORT,smtps,com.sun.mail.smtp.SMTPSSLTransport,Sun Microsystems, Inc], pop3=javax.mail.Provider[STO
RE,pop3,com.sun.mail.pop3.POP3Store,Sun Microsystems, Inc], pop3s=javax.mail.Provider[STORE,pop3s,com.sun.mail.pop3.POP3
SSLStore,Sun Microsystems, Inc], smtp=javax.mail.Provider[TRANSPORT,smtp,com.sun.mail.smtp.SMTPTransport,Sun Microsystem
s, Inc]}
DEBUG: successfully loaded resource: /META-INF/javamail.default.address.map
2013-12-30 14:43:53 EST [ISS.0015.0005D] Invoking service test.testService.
2013-12-30 14:43:53 EST [ISP.0090.0001C] ---
2013-12-30 14:43:53 EST [ISP.0090.0001C] --- test.testService EXECUTED !!!
2013-12-30 14:43:53 EST [ISP.0090.0001C] ---
A19 STORE 1 +FLAGS (\Deleted)
* 1 FETCH (FLAGS (\Recent \Seen \Deleted \Flagged))
A19 OK STORE completed
A20 EXPUNGE
* 1 EXPUNGE
* 0 EXISTS
* 0 RECENT
A20 OK Expunged 1 messages

Answer 1

Your server is telling JavaMail that there are no messages in the Inbox ("0 EXISTS") when it first opens it, then a message appears ("1 EXISTS"), which your program processes, deletes, and expunges. That all looks perfectly normal.
If you think there are other messages in the Inbox, the server disagrees. Perhaps you have some messages cached in your Pine client? Perhaps you've set Pine up to work similarly to how most POP3 clients work - download messages from the server, cache them locally, and delete them from the server?