IMAP and outlook 5$!&85!!

Fri Sep 13 08:13:50 EDT 2002

if i've been following this thread correctly are you saying that you're 
looking for an IMAP server that has support for sub-folders, and doesn't 
use mbox format.

i run the Cyrus imap server, it stores message as individual files and 
maintains the messages "State" in a db file. i have users that have 
subfolders 5+ deep, which they can share to other users on the system if 
they are so inclined. the server itself runs with one master process 
that spawns off subprocesses, imap, imaps, pop3, pop3s, ltmp, etc.

i'm just throwing out some information for those that are interested. 
while i am biased to cyrus due to my experiences, i realize that others 
choose solution that fit there needs and solve there problems.

Justin Bennett wrote:
> Cool, I'll prob load up a test box and play with it.. Thanks!
> 
> Robert Meyer said:
> 
>>It wasn't hard but you have to get an older version of uw-imap 'cuz
>>there doesn't seem to be anyone maintaining the maildir patches and the
>>guy at UW doesn't want to handle it in his source tree...
>>
>>The place that I found it is: http://greboguru.org/qmail/
>>
>>I've been hacking around with the stuff tonight and I think that I can
>>get imap-2001a to build with the patches but I had to change stuff in
>>src/osdep/unix/Makefile to point to the right place for the openssl
>>includes.  I changed line 33 to read:
>>SSLINCLUDE=/usr/include/openssl
>>
>>That worked on Mandrake 8.1 but will probably have to be changed if it
>>lives elsewhere.
>>
>>I then did a 'make slx' and it compiled.  I'm going to play with it
>>tomorrow at work to see what happens.
>>
>>You will have to get imap2001a from:
>>ftp://ftp.cac.washington.edu/imap/old/imap-2001a.tar.Z
>>
>>and the patch from:
>>http://greboguru.org/qmail/imap-2001a.4-patch-with-delete-fix
>>
>>Then untar the imap source:
>>tar xvfz imap-2001a.tar.Z
>>
>>Then patch the source:
>>patch -p0 < imap-2001a.4-patch-with-delete-fix
>>
>>Then 'cd' to imap-2001a
>>change line 33 as mentioned above to:
>>SSLINCLUDE=/usr/include/openssl
>>
>>Type 'make slx' to build the thing
>>
>>Copy imapd/imapd to your favorite location for such things.
>>Fix your xinetd.conf (or xinetd.d/imap) file for the right
>>path for imapd, 'killall -HUP xinetd' and you're in business.
>>
>>I may have a problem with a user that seems to still generate
>>mbox files.  I think it has to do with not having a proper 'Maildir'
>>when he started.  There is mention of a kludge on the page to remove the
>>'mbox' driver.  I may just do that.  Of course, the workaround is to
>>send email to each user before he tries to copy folders to the IMAP
>>server :-).  It seems that if the thing doesn't find a 'Maildir' in the
>>user's home directory with the appropriate 'cur', 'new' and 'tmp'
>>directories, it tries to do 'mbox' format.  This really annoys outlook
>>when you try to copy folders to the IMAP server.  I managed to crash my
>>boss' Outlook many times before I left today but I think this is the
>>reason.  I will try to remove the 'mbox' driver in the morning.
>>
>>Sorry for the stream-of-consiousness vomit-stream but I just collected
>>my thoughts
>>for the morning and I will probably read this message when I log in to
>>get started.
>>
>>I also found a program that purports to convert mbox to maildir format
>>at: http://qmail.sgi.net/qmail/mbox2maildir
>>
>>You'll have to read the file and probably get 'qmail' from
>>http://www.qmail.org/
>>and read and understand 'maildir2mbox' and experiment a lot before
>>trying this in a production environment.
>>
>>
>>Hope this helps...
>>
>>I'm VERY tired, now.  I'm going to bed.
>>
>>Cheers!
>>
>>Bob
>>
>>--- Justin Bennett <Justin.Bennett at dynabrade.com> wrote:
>>
>>>Bob,
>>>
>>>Great! Glad you got it fixed, do you have info on the maildir
>>>extention setup, or a URL? I recently converted our Luxembourg office
>>>to Imap using squirrelmail, they had all kinds of stuff, outlook,
>>>mozilla, netscape. It gets kinda hairy when their PC crashes or the
>>>loose messages when it's on the local machine and thier support staff
>>>is 4000 miles away. They all had subfolders upon subfolders, this all
>>>went away when they went to Imap (UW out of box). It'd be nice if I
>>>could give them their subfolders back. Don't know what kind of greif
>>>would involved in converting from file based to directory imap though,
>>>could be more trouble than it's worth.
>>>
>>>Justin
>>>
>>>Robert Meyer said:
>>>
>>>>Well, Justin, you win the prize.  It was a combination of xinetd
>>>
>>>instances being set for 60 and stupid Outlook initiating sometimes
>>>as many as 10 or 12 simultaneous connections to the IMAP server.  It
>>>turns out that there is mention of this behavior on one of the
>>>University of Washington's web pages.  I set the number of instances
>>>to 'UNLIMITED' and it looks like it wants to hang out between 80 and
>>>110 sessions alive at any one time.
>>>
>>>>I mentioned Cyrus IMAP, when I actually meant Courier IMAP.  I tried
>>>
>>>that after it became aparent that these folks needed to have folders
>>>with sub folders and messages in them.  'mbox' format doesn't
>>>support that kind of thing, 'cuz mbox uses one file for all messages
>>>and you can't stick a directory in a file.  I tried Courier IMAP but
>>>kept getting messages to the effect that outlook couldn't
>>>synchronize with new messages.  I checked the courier site for
>>>information and he mentioned that outlook had problems and he wasn't
>>>inclined to do anything about it.
>>>
>>>>Insanity prevails...
>>>>
>>>>Cheers!
>>>>
>>>>Bob
>>>>--- Justin Bennett <Justin.Bennett at dynabrade.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>Your fireing it out of xinetd I assume. In the /etc/xinetd.conf
>>>>
>>>what is instances set for? You may be running out of imap
>>>processes. Just a thought. I had this the default is something like
>>>60, I have 70+ users. See a problem. It took a while to become an
>>>issue cuz netscape only has one imap at a time.. :) but at times
>>>there was over 60 active, and any new requests to connect would get
>>>connection refused.
>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>Robert Meyer said:
>>>>>
>>>>>>OK, this is bad.  I have IMAP running (UW-IMAP) with a zillion
>>>>>
>>>>>outlook users.  Some of the outlook processes create
>>>>>
>>>>>>as many as 10 connections to IMAP and hold them there,
>>>>>>never closing them.  What the heck is going on, here?
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Eventually, they start getting 'imap.domain.com' is offline and
>>>>>
>>>can't get their Email.  If I kill all of the 'imapd'
>>>
>>>>>>processes, they immediately get reconnected.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>I'm running this on RedHat 7.3 with UW-imap 4.5 with
>>>>>>the maildir extensions.  Don't mention Cyrus 'cuz
>>>>>>Outlook REALLY hates that one and the maintainer
>>>>>>claims that it's outlook's problem and he ain't
>>>>>>gonna fix it...
>>>>>>
>>>>>>HELP!!!
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Cheers!
>>>>>>Bob
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>=====
>>>>>>Bob Meyer
>>>>>>Knightwing Communications, Inc.
>>>>>>36 Cayuga Blvd
>>>>>>Depew, NY 14043
>>>>>>Phone: 716-308-8931 or 716-681-0076
>>>>>>Meyer_RM at Yahoo.com
>>>>>>
>>>>>>__________________________________________________
>>>>>>Do you Yahoo!?
>>>>>>Yahoo! News - Today's headlines
>>>>>>http://news.yahoo.com
>>>>>>
>>>>>>--
>>>>>>This message has been scanned for viruses and
>>>>>>dangerous content by Dynabrade using Mailscanner,
>>>>>>and is believed to be clean.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>--
>>>>>-------------------------------------------
>>>>>Justin Bennett
>>>>>Red Hat (Linux) Certified Engineer
>>>>>Network Administrator
>>>>>Dynabrade Inc.
>>>>>8989 Sheridan Dr
>>>>>Clarence, NY 14031
>>>>>716-631-0100 ext 215
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>=====
>>>>Bob Meyer
>>>>Knightwing Communications, Inc.
>>>>36 Cayuga Blvd
>>>>Depew, NY 14043
>>>>Phone: 716-308-8931 or 716-681-0076
>>>>Meyer_RM at Yahoo.com
>>>>
>>>>__________________________________________________
>>>>Do you Yahoo!?
>>>>Yahoo! News - Today's headlines
>>>>http://news.yahoo.com
>>>>
>>>>--
>>>>This message has been scanned for viruses and
>>>>dangerous content by Dynabrade using Mailscanner,
>>>>and is believed to be clean.
>>>
>>>
>>>--
>>>-------------------------------------------
>>>Justin Bennett
>>>Red Hat (Linux) Certified Engineer
>>>Network Administrator
>>>Dynabrade Inc.
>>>8989 Sheridan Dr
>>>Clarence, NY 14031
>>>716-631-0100 ext 215
>>>
>>
>>=====
>>Bob Meyer
>>Knightwing Communications, Inc.
>>36 Cayuga Blvd
>>Depew, NY 14043
>>Phone: 716-308-8931 or 716-681-0076
>>Meyer_RM at Yahoo.com
>>
>>__________________________________________________
>>Do you Yahoo!?
>>Yahoo! News - Today's headlines
>>http://news.yahoo.com
>>
>>--
>>This message has been scanned for viruses and
>>dangerous content by Dynabrade using Mailscanner,
>>and is believed to be clean.
> 
> 
> 

-- 
Darin Perusich
Unix Systems Administrator
Cognigen Corp.
darinper at cognigencorp.com