email sync quite erratic against both Gmail and Nine on Android

[TDannhauer]

User reported:

'I have installed a fresh instance of Horde6 today in a separate LXC container and configured ActiveSync with 16.0 - but I find email sync quite erratic against both Gmail and Nine on Android. The Horde 5 instance in the same setup syncs predictably. '

[TDannhauer]

@xj25vm can you describe your Gmail and Nine behaviour so I have a starting point fo the analysis?

[xj25vm]

Thank you for opening this bug report. At the moment I have the Gmail app (v2024.07.21.656518540.Release) on an Android 14 phone configured with EAS 16. It is configured to sync the last 1 month of emails. It has synced the Inbox up to 30 June, and then stopped downloading any later emails. The Horde log shows the following - which might or might not be related:

2026-07-08T22:43:08+01:00 NOTICE: HORDE [imp] Login success for email@mydomain.co.uk (192.168.61.1) to {imap://mail.mydomain.co.uk:993/} [pid 328 on line 147 of "/srv/lighttpd/horde6.mydomain.co.uk/vendor/horde/imp/lib/Auth.php"]
HORDE 2026-07-08T22:43:08+01:00 debug: PHP ERROR: strcasecmp(): Passing null to parameter #1 ($string1) of type string is deprecated [pid 328 on line 503 of "/srv/lighttpd/horde6.mydomain.co.uk/vendor/horde/activesync/lib/Horde/ActiveSync/Imap/Message.php"]
HORDE 2026-07-08T22:43:08+01:00 debug: PHP ERROR: strcasecmp(): Passing null to parameter #1 ($string1) of type string is deprecated [pid 328 on line 503 of "/srv/lighttpd/horde6.mydomain.co.uk/vendor/horde/activesync/lib/Horde/ActiveSync/Imap/Message.php"]
HORDE 2026-07-08T22:43:08+01:00 debug: PHP ERROR: strcasecmp(): Passing null to parameter #1 ($string1) of type string is deprecated [pid 328 on line 503 of "/srv/lighttpd/horde6.mydomain.co.uk/vendor/horde/activesync/lib/Horde/ActiveSync/Imap/Message.php"]
</snip>

This continues on like that for quite a few lines. Let me know if I can provide something else or a different logging level. I am on:
PHP 8.4.22
Lighttpd 1.4.82
Postgresql 14.23

[TDannhauer]

Oh thanks! I'll investigate later when kids are in bed

[TDannhauer]

Found a likely contributor: Horde_ActiveSync_Imap_Message::getMimePart() calls strcasecmp($part->getCharset(), 'ISO-8859-1') for every MIME part fetched during a sync. Horde_Mime_Part::getCharset() returns null for any non-text part (attachments, inline images, etc.), and passing null there is deprecated on PHP 8.1+ -- which explains the flood of strcasecmp(): Passing null to parameter #1 ($string1) of type string is deprecated notices on every attachment/image part of every synced message.

With debug logging on, that's a lot of extra log I/O per Sync/Ping request, which is a plausible factor in the sync feeling erratic compared to the Horde 5 setup.

Opened #80 to fix it. @xj25vm once it's merged and you update, could you retest and let me know whether the notices are gone and whether the overall sync behavior (including emails stopping after a certain date) improves?

[TDannhauer]

another question: do the stability issues opnly occuir with log level = debug, or also with other levels an less logging load?

also feel free to hand over debug logs from your device as well as your activesync log, then i can analyse deep.

[xj25vm]

at the moment, after changing Horde logging to ERROR and turning off ActiveSync logging, it still refuses to download any emails after 30/06/2026 on this particular email account

[TDannhauer]

Another fix landed separately in #81 (merged into FRAMEWORK_6_0): when the folder hierarchy changes, concurrent FolderSync resets used to assign a new random EAS folder UID on every rebuild. Devices could then get stuck retrying stale folder IDs, and MoveItems sometimes failed as HTTP 500 instead of a proper protocol error.

#81 makes folder UIDs deterministic per backend folder and returns MoveItems STATUS_INVALID_SRC for stale folders so clients can recover via FolderSync.

@xj25vm if you can update to a build that includes both #80 and #81, a retest would be useful -- especially if sync still stalls after a certain date even with logging turned down.

[xj25vm]

Thank you for the update. Are there anywhere instructions on how to update to a build which includes the fixes you mentioned please?

[TDannhauer]

it is in package ActiveSync, latest FRAMEWORK_6_0

[xj25vm]

Thank you. I did a "composer require horde/activesync" which has upgraded activesync from 3.0.0RC4 to 3.0.2. Hopefully this version contains the 2 fixes.

[TDannhauer]

no this requires the latest stable, but not the framwork_6_0 branch. Try composer require horde/activesync:dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0

[xj25vm]

I might have made a bit of a mess of it - I did "composer update" - which seems to have updated everything to latest stable. But now Horde crashes when trying to access anything - even the login page. Do I need to change the entire install to track the "dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0" branch? And is there a way to do this from the point I am at now - or should I just wipe everything and start again? Sorry if these are rather basic questions.

Edit: looking at my composer.json, I think I am already tracking the dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0" branch?

{
    "name": "horde/bundle",
    "description": "A base project for a horde installation",
    "type": "project",
    "require": {
        "composer-plugin-api": "^2.2",
        "horde/horde-installer-plugin": "^3 || ^2.5.1 || dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 || dev-master",
        "horde/horde": "dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0",
        "horde/routes": "^3 || dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0",
        "horde/hordectl": "^1 || dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 || dev-master",
        "pear/console_color2": "^0.1.2",
        "pear/console_table": "^1.3",
        "horde/timeobjects": "^3.0@beta",
        "horde/content": "^3.0@RC",
        "horde/imap_client": "^3@RC",
        "horde/imp": "^7.0",
        "horde/dav": "^2.0",
        "horde/db": "^3.0@RC",
        "horde/activesync": "dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0"
    },
    "require-dev": {
        "horde/test": "^3 || dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 || dev-master"
    },

[TDannhauer]

for debuggin purposes and hunting bugs i recommend to go completely with FW_6_0, but i don't know how productive your instance is.

use composer show and you ´see your installation:

horde/activesync dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 a38a028 ActiveSync server library
horde/alarm dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 dbfdc40 Alarm library
horde/argv dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 955bf8d Command-line argument parsing library
horde/auth dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 70c3a31 Authentication and user management library
horde/autoloader dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 26f3eea Autoloader library
horde/browser dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 fc15164 Browser detection library
horde/cache dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 1bb8848 Caching library
horde/cli dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 3a549c2 Command line interface library
horde/cli_modular dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 ad12c96 Modular command line interface library
horde/composer dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 aef7e8c Handle composer.json files and composer directory structures without composer dependency
horde/compress dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 0cb6bf9 Compression library
horde/compress_fast dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 05a006a Fast compression library
horde/constraint dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 be888e1 Modern constraint library with PHP 8.1+ type safety
horde/content dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 9dc3cd1 Tagging application
horde/controller dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 392900d Controller library
horde/core dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 7a7194f Core Horde Framework library
horde/crypt dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 a668b2a Cryptography library
horde/crypt_blowfish dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 dea2765 Blowfish encryption library
horde/css_parser dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 b95a84e CSS parser library
horde/cssminify dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 1b5387a CSS minification library
horde/data dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 db58163 Data import and export library
horde/date dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 6662723 Date library
horde/date_parser dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 aa0b167 Date parser library
horde/dav dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 6070d31 WebDAV, CalDAV, and CardDAV library
horde/db dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 118ff4f Database abstraction library
horde/editor dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 36268c6 WYSIWYG editor library
horde/eventdispatcher dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 2545c4d A simple PSR-14 EventDispatcher / ListenerProvider system for Horde
horde/exception dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 e5c13bb Exception handler library
horde/form dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 93ea4f6 Form library
horde/gollem dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 d3519af File manager application
horde/group dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 ce099c6 User groups library supporting many backend types.
horde/hashtable dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 4450865 Hash table client library
horde/history dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 38b65c5 History tracking library
horde/horde dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 7e91f88 Horde base application
horde/horde-installer-plugin dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 09f030f Horde Installer Plugin for Composer
horde/hordectl dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 9a019a9 Scenario deployer library
horde/hordeymlfile dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 cbbca48 Handle .horde.yml file and changelog.yml file
horde/http dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 3946bef HTTP client library
horde/http_server dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 f3ae53d HTTP Request Handling Library adhering to PSR-15 standard. This evolved out of horde/controller.
horde/icalendar dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 e61ea01 iCalendar and vCard library
horde/identity dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 cdcd92b Short headline for Identity
horde/idna dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 3534180 IDNA normalization library
horde/image dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 338e790 Image library
horde/imap_client dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 98d7c3f IMAP client library
horde/imp dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 ae468ef Webmail application
horde/ingo dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 552680a Email filter rules manager application
horde/injector dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 e8479a6 Dependency injection container library
horde/itip dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 e4f637a iTip invitation response library
horde/javascriptminify dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 84b599c JavaScript minification library
horde/jwt dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 c842a11 Horde RFC 7519 JSON Web Token (JWT) Library
horde/kronolith dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 5576499 Calendar and scheduling application
horde/listheaders dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 f90af67 List headers parsing library
horde/lock dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 0ad444b Resource locking library
horde/log dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 11a5cc7 Logging library
horde/logintasks dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 d4bbf16 Login tasks library
horde/mail dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 5997171 Mail library
horde/mail_autoconfig dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 eaa0944 Mail server autoconfiguration library
horde/managesieve dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 0ebeb32 ManageSieve client library
horde/mapi dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 c6384a4 MAPI utility library
horde/memcache dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 a572b1c Memcache client library
horde/mime dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 e3b7b0b MIME library
horde/mime_viewer dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 9f398e9 MIME viewer library
horde/mnemo dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 140f35f Notes application
horde/nag dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 2dc2702 Task list application
horde/nls dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 a744528 Native language support library
horde/notification dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 4a17db5 Notification library implementing subject-observer pattern
horde/oauth dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 1ffbea7 OAuth 1.0a, OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect library
horde/pack dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 59fa89c Data packing library
horde/passwd dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 e5795aa Password changing application
horde/pdf dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 1c6f40f PDF writer library
horde/perms dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 25c0acd Permissions library
horde/phpconfigfile dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 62167cc Read and write config files as PHP Code
horde/prefs dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 a76cb27 User preferences library
horde/rdo dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 52cd8a0 ORM (object relational-mapping) library
horde/routes dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 258a653 URL routing/mapping library
horde/rpc dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 86ed178 RPC library
horde/secret dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 ac9bf7b Secret key encryption library with authenticated encryption
horde/serialize dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 582ef20 Data serialization library
horde/sessionhandler dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 f6d0151 Session handler library
horde/share dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 e11b4a3 Resource sharing library
horde/smtp dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 ace8fc4 SMTP and LMTP client library
horde/socket_client dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 1c6427d Network socket client library
horde/spellchecker dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 ba41593 Spellchecking library
horde/stream dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 30d7e0c PHP streams library
horde/stream_filter dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 0f0b4c9 PHP stream filters library
horde/stream_wrapper dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 78eb261 PHP stream wrappers library
horde/support dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 9ed4613 Supporting library
horde/template dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 bfa0642 Template library (deprecated)
horde/test dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 d7f7089 Unit testing library
horde/text_diff dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 cc0c469 Text diff generation and rendering library
horde/text_filter dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 d159848 Text filtering and conversion library
horde/text_flowed dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 7d75a7a Flowed text library
horde/text_wiki dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 d9ec60e Horde.org PSR-4 successor to the 2010s fork of the original pear/text_wiki
horde/theme-material dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 cacf364 Horde Material UI Theme
horde/timeobjects dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 7b25327 Time-based objects application
horde/timezone dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 67fdba7 Timezone library
horde/token dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 7d13d80 Tokens library
horde/translation dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 ef5b235 Translation library
horde/tree dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 c8f4e09 Tree rendering library
horde/turba dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 3c69ed4 Address book application
horde/url dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 f9a216c URL library
horde/util dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 ff7befd Utility library
horde/version dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 ff7fbbb Handle Semantic Version 2.0.0 format and similar semantic version formats
horde/vfs dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 1150998 Virtual file system library
horde/view dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 e5db8a7 View pattern library
horde/wicked dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 109df45 Wiki application
horde/xml_element dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 988f005 XML element library
horde/yaml dev-FRAMEWORK_6_0 e51f75c Roundtrip-capable YAML parsing and writing library