Re: Email

[Rick Stevens <rstevens vitalstream com>]

Tim Currie wrote:
> Mugleston, Brad wrote:
>
> > I think a better answer to these questions is that you need to run an 
> > IMAP server on the machine running fetchmail. That way, your incoming 
> > mail ends up in your IMAP inbox, and there it will stay until deleted, 
> > regardless of what client you use. I personally run Netscape Mail on 
> > my desktop to read my IMAP inbox on my mailserver. When I'm at work 
> > (or elsewhere) I use a web browser to access the Squirrelmail webmail 
> > client. Since the mail and it's state are kept on the server, whatever 
> > changes I make from one location show up when I get to the other. 
> > Which is to say that if I read or delete an email through the 
> > Squirrelmail client when I'm at work, when I get home the mail shows 
> > up (or doesn't, if I deleted it) as read or deleted in Netscape Mail.
> >
> > -Tim
> >
> > That sounds like what I'm looking for.  Can IMAP be configured to Deliver
> > the mail?  I'd like my kids to keep track of their own emails if 
> > possible.
> >
> > I'll get the IMAP HOWTO read this week and see what I come up with.
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Brad
> >  
> um... no. IMAP is a mailbox protocol. Some Mail Transfer Agent  (or, 
> MTA: sendmail, postfix, etc.) has to deliver the mail to it. In fact, 
> the Cyrus IMAP server (which I use) has a command called "deliver" which 
> is called by the MTA to actually put the email in someone's inbox.
>  What you apparently need is an IMAP server for yourself and a POP 
> server for your kids. Some mailbox server packages (such as Cyrus) do 
> both transparently. I'm not sure if RedHat's included tools will do this.

imapd and ipopd (based on Mark Crispin's WU software are included with
RH, as well as sendmail/procmail (the MTA and final delivery agent).

>  The main problem with POP is that if your client explodes, all your old 
> email is lost. While some POP clients let you leave mail on the server, 
> the client is responsible for keeping track of what has been seen and 
> what has not, so in the event of a disaster you'd still have all your 
> old mail but it would all download to your newly re-installed client as 
> "new" mail and you'd have to re-create all your mail folders and re-sort 
> it again. This is exactly the problem IMAP was invented to address.

Uh, not quite why IMAP was invented, but sorta.  IMAP has many, many
features that POP doesn't (multiple mail folders, subscriptions, mailing
lists, etc.), but one of its primary "good things" is that it doesn't do
mass copies of your inbox to and from a temporary spot as POP does.

POP is a resource pig on the server.  And since I run a mail system with
almost 80,000 accounts, I oughta know.  I have two incoming mail
servers, two outgoing mail servers, two IMAP servers and EIGHT POP
servers.  I hate the bloody things!

> Since your inbox and all it's subfolders, plus the state of your mailbox 
> and all the mail it contains reside on the server, you can access your 
> mail from as many different clients as you like, even simultaneously, 
> with no confusion or lost mail. If your client crashes and destroys 
> itself completely, you can just re-install it, re-connect to your IMAP 
> server and, Voila! All you mail is back. sorted just the way you had it, 
> the thousands of spams are still deleted, as are all the chain-letters 
> from your mother-in-law. :)
>
> -Tim
>
>
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--
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- Rick Stevens, Senior Systems Engineer     rstevens vitalstream com -
- VitalStream, Inc.                       http://www.vitalstream.com -
-                                                                    -
-                   To err is human, to moo bovine.                  -
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