[Users] Can't read from local server when offline

[Olivier de Mirleau]

Hi claws community,

I run a mail server on a laptop which is sometimes offline,
and I can't access my mails @localhost in that offline situation:

==================
The server is reachable from the command line:
-------------------
$ telnet localhost 143
Trying ::1...
Connected to localhost.
Escape character is '^]'.
* OK [CAPABILITY IMAP4rev1 LITERAL+ SASL-IR LOGIN-REFERRALS ID ENABLE
IDLE STARTTLS AUTH=PLAIN] Dovecot ready.

==================
claws-mail however doesn't want to read mail from that server at localhost
in the offline situation:
-------------------
  This message can't be displayed.
  This is probably due to a network error.

  Use 'Network Log' in the Tools menu for more information.
==================
The Network Log displays this:
-------------------
* NetworkManager: network is offline.
===================
The routing table looks as follows:
-------------------
$ route
Kernel IP routing table
Destination     Gateway         Genmask         Flags Metric Ref    Use
Iface
192.168.122.0   *               255.255.255.0   U     0      0        0
virbr0
===================
Interfaces:
-------------------
$ ifconfig
lo: flags=73<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING>  mtu 65536
        inet 127.0.0.1  netmask 255.0.0.0
        inet6 ::1  prefixlen 128  scopeid 0x10<host>
        loop  txqueuelen 0  (Local Loopback)
        RX packets 889  bytes 222530 (217.3 KiB)
        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 889  bytes 222530 (217.3 KiB)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

p3p1: flags=4099<UP,BROADCAST,MULTICAST>  mtu 1500
        ether 00:90:f5:e3:93:0f  txqueuelen 1000  (Ethernet)
        RX packets 0  bytes 0 (0.0 B)
        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 0  bytes 0 (0.0 B)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

virbr0: flags=4099<UP,BROADCAST,MULTICAST>  mtu 1500
        inet 192.168.122.1  netmask 255.255.255.0  broadcast 192.168.122.255
        ether a2:e8:43:9c:e1:5a  txqueuelen 0  (Ethernet)
        RX packets 0  bytes 0 (0.0 B)
        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 0  bytes 0 (0.0 B)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

wlan0: flags=4099<UP,BROADCAST,MULTICAST>  mtu 1500
        inet6 fe80::ed2:92ff:fe3b:f074  prefixlen 64  scopeid 0x20<link>
        ether 0c:d2:92:3b:f0:74  txqueuelen 1000  (Ethernet)
        RX packets 192979  bytes 45091908 (43.0 MiB)
        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 266107  bytes 347421563 (331.3 MiB)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0
===================
Hosts file:
-------------------
$ cat /etc/hosts | grep local
127.0.0.1   localhost localhost.localdomain localhost4
localhost4.localdomain4
::1         localhost localhost.localdomain localhost6
localhost6.localdomain6
===================
Versions:
-------------------
$ cat /etc/redhat-release
Fedora release 18 (Spherical Cow)
$ uname -a
Linux coach 3.8.9-200.fc18.i686.PAE #1 SMP Fri Apr 26 13:01:35 UTC 2013
i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux
$ rpm -q claws-mail
claws-mail-3.9.0-1.fc18.i686


(The reason I'm running a mailserver on a laptop is that I was using
kmail before with which I got stuck several times over the years when
upgrading the OS: Their storage model changed or something and
I couldn't read my mails any more. After yet another 'Oh no not again',
I went for separation of storage from client).


Question:
Is there a way in which I can make claws-mail read from a server
@localhost when not connected to an outside network?

Thanks,
Olivier