diff -ru fetchmail-6.2.1/driver.c fetchmail-6.2.1cg1/driver.c
--- fetchmail-6.2.1/driver.c	Thu Dec 26 22:56:58 2002
+++ fetchmail-6.2.1cg1/driver.c	Sat Feb  8 03:40:09 2003
@@ -70,9 +70,16 @@
 int mailserver_socket_temp = -1;	/* socket to free if connect timeout */ 
 
 static int timeoutcount;		/* count consecutive timeouts */
+static int idletimeout;			/* timeout occured in idle stage? */
 
 static jmp_buf	restart;
 
+int isidletimeout(void)
+/* last timeout occured in idle stage? */
+{
+    return idletimeout;
+}
+
 void set_timeout(int timeleft)
 /* reset the nonresponse-timeout */
 {
@@ -82,6 +89,8 @@
     if (timeleft == 0)
 	timeoutcount = 0;
 
+    idletimeout = 1;
+
     ntimeout.it_interval.tv_sec = ntimeout.it_interval.tv_usec = 0;
     ntimeout.it_value.tv_sec  = timeleft;
     ntimeout.it_value.tv_usec = 0;
@@ -92,8 +101,11 @@
 static RETSIGTYPE timeout_handler (int signal)
 /* handle SIGALRM signal indicating a server timeout */
 {
-    timeoutcount++;
-    longjmp(restart, THROW_TIMEOUT);
+    if(stage != STAGE_IDLE) {
+	timeoutcount++;
+	longjmp(restart, THROW_TIMEOUT);
+    } else
+	idletimeout = 1;
 }
 
 static RETSIGTYPE sigpipe_handler (int signal)
diff -ru fetchmail-6.2.1/fetchmail.h fetchmail-6.2.1cg1/fetchmail.h
--- fetchmail-6.2.1/fetchmail.h	Thu Dec 26 22:57:02 2002
+++ fetchmail-6.2.1cg1/fetchmail.h	Sat Feb  8 02:34:29 2003
@@ -94,6 +94,7 @@
 #define		PS_BSMTP	12	/* output batch could not be opened */
 #define		PS_MAXFETCH	13	/* poll ended by fetch limit */
 #define		PS_SERVBUSY	14	/* server is busy */
+#define		PS_IDLETIMEOUT	15	/* timeout on imap IDLE */
 /* leave space for more codes */
 #define		PS_UNDEFINED	23	/* something I hadn't thought of */
 #define		PS_TRANSIENT	24	/* transient failure (internal use) */
@@ -426,6 +427,7 @@
 
 /* driver.c -- main driver loop */
 void set_timeout(int);
+int isidletimeout(void);
 int do_protocol(struct query *, const struct method *);
 
 /* transact.c: transaction support */
diff -ru fetchmail-6.2.1/imap.c fetchmail-6.2.1cg1/imap.c
--- fetchmail-6.2.1/imap.c	Thu Dec 26 22:57:03 2002
+++ fetchmail-6.2.1cg1/imap.c	Sat Feb  8 04:15:48 2003
@@ -526,11 +526,33 @@
 static int imap_idle(int sock)
 /* start an RFC2177 IDLE */
 {
+    int ok;
+
+    /* special timeout to terminate the IDLE and re-issue it
+     * at least every 28 minutes:
+     * (the server may have an inactivity timeout) */
     stage = STAGE_IDLE;
     saved_timeout = mytimeout;
-    mytimeout = 0;
+    mytimeout = 1680; /* 28 min */
+
+    /* enter IDLE mode */
+    ok = gen_transact(sock, "IDLE");
+
+    if(ok == PS_IDLETIMEOUT) {
+	/* send "DONE" continuation */
+	SockWrite(sock, "DONE\r\n", 6);
+	if (outlevel >= O_MONITOR)
+	    report(stdout, "IMAP> DONE\n");
+
+	/* restore normal timeout value */
+	mytimeout = saved_timeout;
+	stage = STAGE_FETCH;
 
-    return (gen_transact(sock, "IDLE"));
+	/* get OK IDLE message */
+	return imap_ok(sock, NULL);
+    } else
+	/* not idle timeout */
+	return ok;
 }
 
 static int imap_getrange(int sock, 
diff -ru fetchmail-6.2.1/transact.c fetchmail-6.2.1cg1/transact.c
--- fetchmail-6.2.1/transact.c	Tue Nov 26 05:04:56 2002
+++ fetchmail-6.2.1cg1/transact.c	Sat Feb  8 02:35:22 2003
@@ -1450,7 +1450,10 @@
     {
 	set_timeout(0);
 	phase = oldphase;
-	return(PS_SOCKET);
+	if(isidletimeout())
+	  return(PS_IDLETIMEOUT);
+	else
+	  return(PS_SOCKET);
     }
     else
     {