diff -Naur fetchmail-5.9.6.orig/imap.c fetchmail-5.9.6/imap.c
--- fetchmail-5.9.6.orig/imap.c	Tue Jan  1 14:55:49 2002
+++ fetchmail-5.9.6/imap.c	Thu Jan  3 10:49:49 2002
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
 #define IMAP4		0	/* IMAP4 rev 0, RFC1730 */
 #define IMAP4rev1	1	/* IMAP4 rev 1, RFC2060 */
 
-static int count, unseen, deletions, imap_version, preauth; 
+static int count = 0, recentcount = 0, unseen, deletions, imap_version, preauth; 
 static int expunged, expunge_period, saved_timeout;
 static flag do_idle;
 static char capabilities[MSGBUFSIZE+1];
@@ -76,6 +76,10 @@
 		stage = STAGE_FETCH;
 	    }
 	}
+	else if (strstr(buf, "RECENT"))
+	{
+	    recentcount = atoi(buf+2);
+	}
 	else if (strstr(buf, "PREAUTH"))
 	    preauth = TRUE;
 	/*
@@ -496,10 +500,14 @@
 	}
 
 	/*
-	 * count is already set here by the last EXPUNGE or any other imap
-	 * command which returned EXISTS on detecting mailbox modification.
+	 * recentcount is already set here by the last imap command which
+	 * returned RECENT on detecting new mail. if recentcount is 0, wait
+	 * for new mail.
 	 */
-	if (count == 0 && do_idle) {
+
+	/* this is a while loop because imap_idle() might return on other
+	 * mailbox changes also */
+	while (recentcount == 0 && do_idle) {
 	    ok = imap_idle(sock);
 	    if (ok)
 	    {
@@ -512,6 +520,7 @@
     }
     else
     {
+	count = 0;
 	ok = gen_transact(sock, 
 			  check_only ? "EXAMINE \"%s\"" : "SELECT \"%s\"",
 			  folder ? folder : "INBOX");
@@ -547,6 +556,7 @@
     }
 
     *countp = count;
+    recentcount = 0;
 
     /* OK, now get a count of unseen messages and their indices */
     if (!ctl->fetchall && count > 0)