lib/PublicInbox/IMAPD.pm | 5 -----
 t/imapd.t                | 4 +++-

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/IMAPD.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/IMAPD.pm
index fe50de0f7cdee63295eba919172dc8f07a514e83..09bedf5ca9b42c7b74129a94bab7b50b5df0acc3 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/IMAPD.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/IMAPD.pm
@@ -74,11 +74,6 @@ 			my $no = $mailboxes->{$_} == $dummy ? '' : 'No';
 			my $u = $_; # capitalize "INBOX" for user-familiarity
 			$u =~ s/\Ainbox(\.|\z)/INBOX$1/i;
 			qq[* LIST (\\Has${no}Children) "." $u\r\n]
-		} sort {
-			# shortest names first, alphabetically if lengths match
-			length($a) == length($b) ?
-				($a cmp $b) :
-				(length($a) <=> length($b))
 		} keys %$mailboxes
 	];
 	$imapd->{pi_config} = $pi_config;
diff --git a/t/imapd.t b/t/imapd.t
index e3cce2d30f07ee9aa4339e93b475a2a33a755a40..c7e0baaa10b18d3cbfbe5593afebbffccf0fccb8 100644
--- a/t/imapd.t
+++ b/t/imapd.t
@@ -405,7 +405,9 @@ 	like($new_list[-1], qr/\A\S+ OK List done\r\n/, 'new LIST');
 	pop @new_list;
 	pop @orig_list;
 	# TODO: not sure if sort order matters, imapd_refresh_finalize
-	# sorts, for now, but maybe clients don't care...
+	# doesn't sort, hopefully clients don't care...
+	@new_list = sort @new_list;
+	@orig_list = sort @orig_list;
 	is_deeply(\@new_list, \@orig_list, 'LIST identical');
 }
 ok($mic->close, 'CLOSE works');