[UAUG] Mail.app eating mail server processes

[Jonathan Duncan]

Ok, this is one that has been perplexing me for at least a year or so  
now.

I run my own web/mail server.  I have several POP/IMAP accounts on my  
mail server.

I noticed a long while ago that when I open Mail.app, each of my IMAP  
accounts will spawn several "imapd" processes on the server.  In fact  
I just counted right now and there were 4-5 processes for each IMAP  
user.  If I close Mail.app, all of those processes go away.

I have tried many different settings in Mail.app and none of them seem  
to make Mail.app relinquish all of those processes.

Why is this a big deal?

Well, consider that if I alone have 4 IMAP accounts, each with 4-5  
"imapd" processes running, that quickly adds up to 16-20 processes on  
my mail server just to keep my own Mail.app happy.  What if everyone  
else on the server is also using Mail.app with several IMAP accounts  
each.  The server could quickly run out of resources.

Anyone know of a way to stop this?  I guess I could use POP instead,  
but I enjoy the benefits of IMAP.

I posted a similar question on Apple Discussions last year and never  
got an answer.  Might be time to reopen that.
( http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=7455757#7455757 )

Regards,
Jonathan