[oclug] help request: is this a good email solution

[Taavi Burns]

On Thu, 23 Aug 2001, Olaf Baumann wrote:

> Hi,
>     Over the years I have never really been satisfied with my email
> access.  Issues like buggy email clients or wishing to access email from
> different platforms (or remotely) and such have always nagged at me.
>  Now I am setting out on a quest for my ultimate email solution.
>     Here are some of my requirements:
> - I would like to access my email from multiple platforms (mostly Linux,
> but sometimes from windows)
> - read email that is delivered to multiple email accounts that provide
> POP access
> - it would be nice to access my email while away from home (web email
> client like twig perhaps) securely
> - access the same email from both my desktop and my laptop
> - have my email retrieved from my POP accounts at regular intervals
> rather than initiating email retrieval

This is something I don't necessarily want.  If my cablemodem IP changes,
I don't want it fetching my mail without me being able to get at it.  But
read later for one of _my_ other "wants" in such a system.

> - some spam handling would be nice
> - GPG support would also be a plus
> - perhaps have specific scripts executed when certain email header
> criteria are met (e.g. if subject==SEND PAGE, then forward to my phone's
> SMS service)

Cool.  That sounds almost exactly what I would love to have.  The only
other thing is that if my home server goes down I still want to have
access to my e-mail.  Perhaps Fetchmail has a setting where it can leave
mail on the POP server for X number of days before deleting them (but
always downloading them).  Perhaps even some way to get a delete on the
home server to delete off of the POP server, so I don't have to wade
through spam twice?

>     My hardware resources include an @home service, a Coyote linux based
> firewall (up 24/7), a Debian server (up 24/7 as well), a desktop, and a
> laptop.  I've got a idea of what configuration is appropriate, I'm

Sounds almost exactly like what I'll have in a week or so when I go back
to school.

> asking the list to take a look and make any corrections/recommendations.
>  I'm not afraid to RTFM, nor am I a newbie (though I do admit to not
> fully understanding how email works), I just don't wish to loose any
> email while I make changes--every email is precious :-)

Indeed!  Being able to access your e-mail 24/7 is also precious.

>     I'm thinking of:
> - running exim on my server listening to its standard port 25
> - using fetchmail to retrieve messages from four or five POP accounts
> and sending them to exim on port 25
> - setting up an IMAP service on the server

I have no clue what IMAP _really_ does.  Time to RTFM.

> - either learning how to set up secure access to my IMAP service from
> the internet or find out if twig or phpGroupware will serve up my
> mailboxes via http

TWIG sounds neat, if it can do SSL.  I almost refuse to use non-anonymous
FTP and telnet.  I'm ticked off enough at my University for using telnet
to authenticate people using the local network.  If only they could
guarantee there's no packet leakage (which there might not be...if they
have nice switches).

> - using evolution as my main MUA

I'll be checking my mail from school most of the time, so I'd push more
for something I can use from Windoze or Linux via ssh or ssl, but using
something pretty at home still sounds good.  :)

>     The litmus test of my configuration would be to send an email from
> my laptop while at home, and seeing that message in my sent box when
> accessing my email across the internet.  BTW, I tried a simple

That would be _so_ sweet.
"And .NET can do THIS and THAT
and the OTHER for me!  Passport
makes everything so...all over
the place!"
                               "Really?  I've been doing that for
                                YEARS."


> fetchmail/procmail system and managed to send 600 email to the bit
> bucket (mostly oclug messages unfortunately).

Oops.  :)

>     Any help or recommendations would be very welcome.

I'll help, in the sense of setting up something similar but different for
my own use.
;)

> cheers,
> Olaf

taa

    Maybe daycare is like thalidomide.
--Empathic Parenting, p. 26, Volume 18, Issues 2&3&4, 1995
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