IMAP
IMAP servers
There are basically three main IMAP server solutions:
- UW IMAP
- IMAP server developped by the University of Washington. Uses a proprietory mailbox format mbx, which is more or less a binary version of the usual mailbox format. A binary package exists on cygwin, but it regularly suffers from locking problems. A patch exists to use maildir format though, but patch seems outdated.
- Courier IMAP
- Courier-IMAP is a fast, scalable, enterprise IMAP server that uses Maildirs.
- Cyrus IMAP
- Developped by Carnegie Mellon. Also uses a private mailbox format.
Courier IMAP
References
- Courier IMAP homepage
- On openSUSE, check package documentation at /usr/share/doc/packages/courier-authlib and /usr/share/doc/packages/courier-imap.
- Manpages & package documentation:
- maildirmake(1)
- couriertcpd(1)
- imapd(8)
- userdb(8)
- makeuserdb(8)
- /usr/share/doc/courier-doc (on Ubuntu, with package courier-doc installed)
Courier IMAP on openSUSE
Binary package for Courier IMAP is available on openSUSE (package courier-authlib and courier-imap). However it conflicts with the default IMAP server, (UW IMAP), which must first be uninstalled.
Courier IMAP on Cygwin
There is no binary package for Cygwin. And building Courier IMAP on that platform is a true pain in the neck, if not something else. 2 packages must be built: courier-authlib and courier-imap. Some links I found on Internet:
- Building courier-authlib
- Building courier-imap
- There is a README.cygwin that provides some direction on how to build this package on Cygwin.
In summary, this is the furthest I went:
# First, installed these packages in Cygwin: gdbm, libgdbm-devel, minires-devel, libgdbm, libgdbm3, libtool
tar -xvjf courier-authlib-0.61.0.tar.bz2
cd courier-authlib-0.61.0
# Fix Makefile that builds makedatprog
sed -i 's/noinst_PROGRAMS = @makedatprog_target@/noinst_PROGRAMS = @makedatprog_target@$(EXEEXT)/' makedat/Makefile.in
./configure --with-mailuser=SYSTEM --with-mailgroup=SYSTEM --with-db=gdbm
make
# ... ERRORS!
But... Thierry succeeded in compiling and installing Courier-IMAP and Courier-authlib on Cywing. He has detailed the complete procedure on [Yobi Wiki]. Here the exact steps I applied myself
Cygwin Packages
Install required Cygwin packages (run Cygwin's setup.exe):
- patch, tar, make, gcc
- crypt
- libgdbm-devel
- libtool
- inetutils
- cygrunsrv
- psmisc
Install courier-authlib
untar courier-authlib
tar -xvjf courier-authlib-0.61.0.tar.bz2
cd courier-authlib-0.61.0
Apply this patch:
patch -Np1 <../courier-authlib-0.61.0-cygwin.patch
Configure (replace mailuser with an user name from /etc/passwd - I used my own username as suggested), build, check and install.
./configure --disable-root-check --with-waitfunc=wait --without-authpam --without-authldap --without-authpwd \
--without-authshadow --without-authcustom --without-authpipe --without-authmysql --without-authpgsql --with-mailuser=mailuser \
--with-mailgroup=mkgroup-l-d
make
make check
make install
Install courier-imap
Building and installing courier-imap
untar courier-imap
tar -xvjf courier-imap-4.4.1.tar.bz2
cd courier-imap-4.4.1
Apply this patch:
patch -Np1 <../courier-imap-4.4.1-cygwin.patch
Configure, build, check and install.
./configure --disable-root-check --with-waitfunc=wait
make
make install
make install-configure
Configuration
If not present yet, add /usr/local/bin and /usr/local/sbin to your path (ideally in /etc/bash.bashrc):
PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin:$PATH
Create courier-authlib configuration file,
cp /usr/local/etc/authlib/authdaemonrc.dist /usr/local/etc/authlib/authdaemonrc
and edit its content as follows:
# The number of daemon processes that are started. daemons=3
Create user mailbox (replace username with user account name). Repeat for all users:
mkdir -p /home/username #if don't exist yet...
cd /home/username
for i in "" .Drafts .Sent .Trash .Templates; do /usr/lib/courier-imap/bin/maildirmake ~username/MailDir/$i; done
# Create also default Maildir for new users
for i in "" .Drafts .Sent .Trash .Templates; do /usr/lib/courier-imap/bin/maildirmake /etc/skel/MailDir/$i; done
Create user authentication database:
touch /usr/local/etc/authlib/userdb
chmod 700 /usr/local/etc/authlib/userdb
#Repeat for each username:
pw2userdb | grep "^username">>/usr/local/etc/authlib/userdb # Fill userdb from /etc/passwd user entry
userdb username set mail=~username/MailDir # Specify user MailDir location
userdbpw | userdb username set systempw # Set user account password
...
makeuserdb # Create binary database
Edit the file /usr/lib/courier-imap/etc/imapd:
ADDRESS=127.0.0.1 #Typ. use 0 or 127.0.0.1 ... IMAP_ULIMITD=2097152 #Set same value as returned by 'ulimit -v' or imapd.rc will complain
Create link to authlib and imap daemon in /etc/rc.d/init.d
ln -s /usr/local/sbin/authdaemond /etc/rc.d/init.d/courier-authlib
ln -s /usr/lib/courier-imap/libexec/imapd.rc /etc/rc.d/init.d/courier-imap
Running
Start authlib and imap daemon:
/etc/rc.d/init.d/courier-authlib start
/etc/rc.d/init.d/courier-imap start
Testing
If not done yet, configure syslogd for capturing system message from courier-authlib
syslogd-config #if not configured yet
net start syslogd #if not started yet
Edit courier-authlib configuration file /usr/local/etc/authlib/authdaemonrcto enable full debug message:
# DEBUG_LOGIN=2 - turn on debugging + log passwords too DEBUG_LOGIN=2
and restart authdaemond to enable debug logging:
/etc/rc.d/init.d/courier-authlib stop
/etc/rc.d/init.d/courier-authlib start
Testing authlib (replace CCCCCC with your password:
$ export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/lib/bin #because authtest needs a library there (strace authtest $ authtest username CCCCCC
Output must be similar to
Authentication succeeded.
Authenticated: username (uid 1001, gid 10545)
Home Directory: /home/username
Maildir: /home/username/Maildir
Quota: (none)
Encrypted Password: XXXXXX
Cleartext Password: CCCCCC
Options: (none)
Check everything is fine in /var/log/messages
Testing courier-imap:
$ telnet localhost 143
Type the following commands
001 LOGIN username password 002 EXAMINE INBOX 003 LOGOUT
Server must reply with OK messages (and additionally more information)
When testing is done, don't forget to reset debugging in /usr/local/etc/authlib/authdaemonrc:
# DEBUG_LOGIN=2 - turn on debugging + log passwords too DEBUG_LOGIN=0
Install as a service
TBC
File location
- /usr/local/bin
- /usr/local/sbin
- /usr/lib/courier-imap
- /usr/local/etc/authlib