Need some input on IMAP

[Robert Meyer]

Well, as it happens, I have VERY recent experience with this...

Case history, I've been using 'sendmail' and 'mbox' format mail forever
(don't ask, let's just say a long time and leave it at that) and I had
to set up a new system where I currently work.  My first inclination was
to use uw-imap and mbox format but one of the requirements was to have
hierarchical folders with messages and folders in any particular
folder.  This ruled out mbox format.  Next on the list was to implement
'courier' imap which uses 'mbox' format.  Almost all of the users here
run Outlook (another thing I can't control) and courier didn't seem to
like Outlook terribly much.  Kept getting problems with outlook trying
to resync the inbox and failing.

Since I was under the gun to do things in a hurry, I gave up on courier
imap (bad idea) and found 'maildir' patches for uw-imap.  After about a
month of solid misery, we decided to try courier, again.  Outlook tends
to try to open as many as a dozen connections to the imap server at a
time.  While this is not a violation of the rules, it's incredibly
stupid.  Courier's problem was that the configuration files limit the
number of connections per IP to four and the number of total connections
to something fairly low.  I changed both values to 1000 (all of our users
access the mail through a masquerading firewall) and we just deployed it
yesterday.  So far, it is screaming fast and we haven't had any more
problems with UID errors on folders, etc.

My recommendation would be to use courier imap and set up fetchmail to
generate 'maildir' format messages.  You can do this by running
sendmail/procmail with a procmailrc script like:

# Please check if all the paths in PATH are reachable, remove the ones that
# are not.

PATH=$HOME/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/ucb:/bin:/usr/local/bin:.
MAILDIR=$HOME/Maildir	# You'd better make sure it exists
DEFAULT=$MAILDIR/
LOGFILE=$MAILDIR/from
LOCKFILE=$HOME/.lockmail

Make sure that each user has a 'Maildir' in his/her home directory with
'cur', 'new' and 'tmp' directories in it and make sure that you have
define(`PROCMAIL_MAILER_PATH',`/usr/bin/procmail')dnl
in your /etc/mail/sendmail.mc file.  Run the m4 command:
m4 /etc/mail/sendmail.mc > /etc/sendmail.cf
to build your 'sendmail.cf' file.  'Fetchmail' connects to port 25
on the local machine to deliver it's mail so you'll have to start
sendmail.  You should then be able to start courier imap and run.
'fetchmail' configuration is left as an exercise for the reader :-).

Good luck and let us know if you have any problems...

Cheers!

Bob


--- Charles Rishel <chaz03 at localnet.com> wrote:
> Hey all,
> 
> I have seen many people talking about fetchmail and such for retrieval of 
> email to a local server.  Me and my g/f are starting a home-based sales 
> business and a web-site.  I would like to setup an imap server so that we 
> can both access emails for the business, off of my local server.  I will 
> likely use fetchmail to retrieve the emails from the server and store them 
> locally to be accessed via imap.
> 
> I am looking for input on the various imap implementations that are out 
> there.  Just like anything in Linux there is much to choose from.  Having 
> no need for an imap server previously, I am looking for any real-world 
> advice from those who have dealt with the various imap software packages.
> 
> (Side note)
> I find it funny that I always hear that "there's no software for Linux" all 
> the time, I find it ironic because one of the biggest problems I have found 
> with Linux is the over-abundance of software.  There are usually 3+ 
> programs that can do equivalent things, it is just a matter of 
> preference,sometimes stability, and ease of installation that usually sets 
> them apart.
> 
> Thanks,
> Chaz03
> 
> "If you want others to follow, give them leadership that they can believe
> in."
> 

=====
Bob Meyer
Knightwing Communications, Inc.
36 Cayuga Blvd
Depew, NY 14043
Phone: 716-308-8931 or 716-681-0076
Meyer_RM at Yahoo.com

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