IMAP4 Hold connection

Question

hello all i'm working on imap library and i've got one question

should i send NOOP command while i'm fetching message headers (or message bodies) to hold the connection?

Answer 1

I've not written an IMAP client, but that doesn't sound necessary, NOOP is for use during inactivity, but when you're fetching data you're not actually inactive, you're just not issuing new commands.

Quote from the RFC (3501) Since any command can return a status update as untagged data, the NOOP command can be used as a periodic poll for new messages or message status updates during a period of inactivity (this is the preferred method to do this). The NOOP command can also be used to reset any inactivity autologout timer on the server.