central mail

[Chris Aitken]

Paul Mora wrote:

> On Mon, 2004-01-05 at 08:16, Chris Aitken wrote:
> > Thanks to everyone for your suggestions. I included most of the original
> > post below as it has been a while. I have not switched to IMAPI (and I don't
> > know yet if my ISP's server supports it) - things will have to get more
> > painful before I switch - because pop is now doing what I want it to do.
>
> Hi Chris.
>
> I missed your original post, so I don't know all the details regarding
> why you want central mail, but I thought I'd describe what I'm doing at
> home with email, and how you can implement something similar yourself.
>
> My problem was that I wanted to access my email from any computer in the
> house.  This included the Inbox.

But shouldn't the 'Inbox' be the same in every PC's mail client unless you uncheck
'Leave Messages on Server' (or whatever the setting is in your mail client)?

> Most ISPs only give you access to mail
> via POP3.  This is basically a download protocol, to get mail from the
> server to your email client.  The problem with POP3 is that once you've
> downloaded the mail from the server, it gets deleted.

Again, shouldn't the 'Inbox' on the ISP's server and your mail clients' Inboxes be
the same unless you uncheck 'Leave Messages on Server' (or whatever the setting is
in your mail client)?

In NSMail I have set  Edit > Preferences > Mail Servers > [incoming mail server
name] > Edit > POP > 'Leave Messages on Server' & 'When deleting a message
locally, remove it from the server' (or whatever the setting is in your mail
client of choice)?

> Also, it is
> stored in the email client's local folders.

But it should also still be in the ISP's server's Inbox, uncheck  'Leave Messages
on Server' (or somesuch).

> Going to another PC, you
> wouldn't be able to see the mail you just read on the first PC.

As per my explanation above you would be able to see the same mail over and over
unless you uncheck 'Leave Messages on Server'. I'm not trying to be pompous or the
Devil's Advocate. It's just that POP is doing for me everything that you say it
should not. I probably will switch to IMAPI eventually, but things will have ot
get more painful before I do. I sometimes wonder if IMAPI just delivers on the
promises that POP makes. : )

> Here's where IMAP comes in.  IMAP is not a download protocol.  The email
> stays on the server always,

Again, and so it does with POP - for me anyways.

> and you use your email client to manipulate
> it remotely.  Because nothing is downloaded, you can see your Inbox and
> all your other folders from any IMAP capable client on any machine.

Yes, I can see that if I want to extend this
leave-the-mail-on-the-server-so-that-all-mail-clients-can-see-it to multiple
folders, maybe *that's* where I would need IMAPI.

> Most ISPs do not provide IMAP access, because then they would have to
> store your email, and they don't want to do that.

Right on.

>  But, you could set up
> a simple Linux machine at home and have it pull down your email from
> your provider on a periodic basis, then read your mail using your email
> client software and IMAP.

Hmmm...

> The software you need to do this is included in pretty much every Linux
> distribution out there.  Personally, my mail server runs Red Hat Linux
> 9, but you can really use any distro that has the following tools:
>
> - fetchmail (to retrieve mail from your ISP and deliver it to a local
>   user
> - sendmail/postfix (to deliver outgoing mail)
> - imap (either the standard UW IMAP service, or another one like
>   Courier-IMAP
>
> Once you get the basic setup going, you can add all sorts of other
> things like webmail (to access your email via web browser from anywhere
> on the Internet), spam filtering, attachment virus scanning, etc.  My
> server scans all inbound email through Spamassassin, and also does some
> basic virus checking.
>
> Anyway, if you're interested in setting up something like that, feel
> free to email me.  I can send you some documents I found helpful in
> setting this whole mess up.

Alright, thanks, you may be hearing from me.

Chris

> pm
>
> --
> Paul Mora <paulmora-bJEeYj9oJeDQT0dZR+AlfA at public.gmane.org>

[...]


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