Need some input on IMAP

[Charles Rishel]

Bob,
Thanks much for the input.  This may be the ticket for me at this time 
then.  I was also looking at patching up UW IMAP and trying to go that 
route.  I will look into courier imap today and see if that is the solution 
that will work best at this time.  As I noted previously, I don't "believe" 
that the use of directories is a 'need' at this point, but I think it would 
definitely simplify some issues.
Also as I noted, this is an interim solution, but a good "life 
experience".  :^)

Chaz03

At 07:35 AM 10/24/02 -0700, you wrote:
>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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"If you want others to follow, give them leadership that they can believe in."