Hi,

is there a virtual mail capable imap server ?

for now I'm using
SMTP: postoffice (www.nethence.com/postoffice)
POP: vm-pop3d
IMAP: uw-imapd

is it possible to tweek imapd to manage virtual mboxes ?
(/var/spool/virtual/domainname/user & confs: /etc/virtual/domains.cf for
postoffice, /etc/virtual/domainname/passwd / aliases)

thanks
pierre-philipp braun

On Wed, 19 Apr 2006, pierre-philipp braun wrote:
> is it possible to tweek imapd to manage virtual mboxes ?
> (/var/spool/virtual/domainname/user & confs: /etc/virtual/domains.cf for
> postoffice, /etc/virtual/domainname/passwd / aliases)

The distribution version of UW imapd does not support virtual domains,
although some people have modified it to do so. The modifications are not
particularly difficult, given a particular fixed specification on how
virtual domains work.

Some other IMAP servers may have more extensive virtual domain support
built in.

A serious problem is that, unlike HTTP, the IMAP protocol has no way to
identify a virtual domain, unless the server is multi-homed (has multiple
IP addresses) and thus it is possible to discriminate based upon the
server IP address used to contact the server.

Put another way, there is no way in IMAP to set up a single IP address for
the servers blurdybloop.com and sarasoop.com, and to have a user "jones"
on each server that is different from "jones" on the other server.

One way that some virtual domains implement this is to include the virtual
domain in the user name; in other words, the login id is
"jones@blurdybloop.com" instead of just "jones". I think that this is how
all the third-party modified versions of UW imapd work.

-- Mark -- (author of UW imapd)

http://panda.com/mrc
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Liberty is a well-armed sheep contesting the vote.