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- From: pauls@etext.org
- Newsgroups: comp.mail.misc,comp.answers,news.answers
- Subject: Client-server mail protocols FAQ
- Supersedes: <mailclient-faq-1-868014001@CIC.Net>
- Followup-To: comp.mail.misc
- Date: 30 Jul 1997 00:26:30 GMT
- Organization: The ETEXT Archives
- Lines: 426
- Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.Edu
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- Expires: 09/02/97 20:34:08
- Message-ID: <mailclient-faq-1-870222848@etext.org>
- Reply-To: pauls@etext.org (Paul Southworth)
- NNTP-Posting-Host: locust.etext.org
- Keywords: FAQ MAIL POP IMAP
- X-Posting-Frequency: posted on the 4th of each month
- Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu comp.mail.misc:40742 comp.answers:27300 news.answers:108451
-
- Posted-By: auto-faq 3.1.1.2
- Archive-name: mail/mailclient-faq
-
- Mini FAQ on client-server mail protocols
- ----------------------------------------
-
- $Id: mailclientfaq.1,v 1.38 1997/01/23 17:11:58 pauls Exp pauls $
-
- This is a mini FAQ covering client-server mail protocols, available
- software packages (commercial, shareware, freeware and sourceware), and
- pointers to sources and FAQs. Send email with any suggested additions,
- or if you'd like to have your product or package listed.
-
- This FAQ can be found on the web at:
-
- http://www.etext.org/~pauls/mailclientfaq.txt
-
- Or via anonymous ftp at:
-
- ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet-by-hierarchy/comp/answers/mail/mailclient-faq
-
-
- --
- Paul Southworth
- http://www.cic.net/~pauls
- pauls@cic.net
-
-
- A. Servers
- 1. Where can I get a POP server?
- 2. Where can I get a IMAP server?
- 3. What's the difference between POP and IMAP?
- 4. What are the relevant RFCs for POP and IMAP?
-
- B. Clients
- 1. Where can I get a POP client?
- 2. Where can I get a IMAP client?
-
-
- A Servers
- 1. Where can I get a POP server?
-
- For Unix:
-
- The "qpop" distribution is a direct descendent of the UCB "popper"
- and should be used instead of the UCB popper package since popper hasn't
- been maintained in 2+ years. qpop supports many platforms and
- also supports Kerberos IV. It is maintained by Qualcomm, makers of
- the popular Eudora POP client. Free product.
- ftp://ftp.qualcomm.com/quest/unix/servers/popper
-
- The IMAP distribution contains the ipop2d and ipop3d servers (in
- addition to imapd) which are POP2 and POP3 respectively. The IMAP
- distribution has also been ported to many platforms.
- ftp://ftp.cac.washington.edu/imap/imap.tar.Z
-
- Post.Office is a commercial SMTP/POP3 server distributed by
- Netmanage. Administration of the server is conducted via
- web forms or commands sent via e-mail. Unix version supports
- SunOS 4.x and Solaris 2.x. NT version also available.
- http://www.netmanage.com/products/zcentral
-
- Z-POP is a free server distributed by Netmanage. It is fully POP-3
- compliant, and also has several extra hooks built in for use with
- Z-Mail. These include IMAP - like mailbox synch, as well as client
- configuration and preferences uploading and downloading.
- ftp://ftp.netmanage.com/pub/z-stuff/z-code/supported/z-pop
-
- BlitzMail is Dartmouth College's freeware client-server Internet
- e-mail system (supports POP3 and POP password changing protocol).
- More information about BlitzMail can be found at:
- http://www.dartmouth.edu/pages/softdev/blitz.html
- ftp://ftp.dartmouth.edu/pub/mac/BlitzMail/Export
-
- Pop3d is a POP server produced by Katie Stevens at the University of
- California, Davis. It has apparently not been maintained in some
- time, and has not been widely ported. Notes indicate that it was
- coded based on RFC1225, which has been obsoleted by RFC1460 and
- RFC1725 since pop3d was released.
- ftp://ftp.ucdavis.edu/unix-public/pop3d.tar
-
- For OpenVMS:
-
- There is a free OpenVMS POP3 server available in
- ftp://ftp.indiana.edu/pub/vms/iupop3.
- [Thanks to "Mark H. Wood" <MWOOD@INDYVAX.IUPUI.EDU>]
-
- For Macintosh:
-
- MailShare runs on the Macintosh, and supports SMTP and POP services.
- For information: http://www.winternet.com/~carl/mailshare/mailshare.html
- To download: ftp://ftp.winternet.com/users/carl
-
- For Windows95:
-
- Seattle Labs' SLmail95 is a Windows95 POP3/SMTP server. Win32
- native. Commercial and freeware versions are available. Company
- also distributes a C64 emulator, but unfortunately no POP server for
- the C64. :(
- http://www.seattlelab.com
-
- For Windows NT:
-
- Net Shopper offers NTMAIL which supports SMTP and POP. For information:
- http://www.net-shopper.co.uk/software/mail.htm
-
- Seattle Labs' SLmailNT is a Windows NT POP3/SMTP server. 32-bit
- and runs as an NT service. Commercial product.
- http://www.seattlelab.com
-
- EMWAC Internet Mail Services (IMS) for Windows NT supports SMTP and POP.
- This package is freeware.
- http://www.emwac.ed.ac.uk/html/internet_toolchest/ims/ims.htm
-
- Post.Office is a commercial SMTP/POP3 server distributed by
- Netmanage. Administration of the server is conducted via
- web forms or commands sent via e-mail. Unix version also available.
- http://www.netmanage.com/products/zcentral
-
- For Netware:
-
- Mercury Mail supports SMTP and POP3 running on a Novell Netware server.
- ftp://risc.ua.edu/pub/network/pegasus/merc121.zip
-
- 2. Where can I get a IMAP server?
-
- For Unix:
-
- The Washington IMAP distribution is the most widely used IMAP
- server. Widely ported and easy to install. Includes POP2 and POP3
- servers as well.
- ftp://ftp.cac.washington.edu/imap/imap.tar.Z
-
- The Cyrus IMAP server differs from other IMAP server implementations
- in that it is generally intended to be run on "sealed" servers, where
- normal users are not permitted to log in. The mailbox database is
- stored in parts of the filesystem that are private to the Cyrus IMAP
- system. All user access to mail is through the IMAP, POP3, or KPOP
- protocols. For information, http://andrew2.andrew.cmu.edu/cyrus/cyrus
- ftp://ftp.andrew.cmu.edu/pub/cyrus-mail
-
- For OpenVMS:
-
- Innosoft International, Inc. includes POP2, POP3, and IMAP2 servers
- in their PMDF email package, which runs on OpenVMS.
- [Thanks to: "Mark H. Wood" <MWOOD@INDYVAX.IUPUI.EDU>]
-
- 3. What's the difference between POP and IMAP?
-
- Terry Gray's "imap.vs.pop" document in the IMAP distribution describes
- this in detail. Stealing from that document:
-
- With POP (Post Office Protocol), mail is delivered to a shared
- server, and a personal computer user periodically connects to
- the server and downloads all of the pending mail to the
- "client" machine. Thereafter, all mail processing is local to
- the client machine. Think of POP as providing a
- store-and-forward service, intended to move mail (on demand)
- from an intermediate server (drop point) to a single
- destination machine, usually a PC or Mac. Once delivered to the
- PC or Mac, the messages are typically deleted from the POP
- server.
-
- IMAP is a client-server mail protocol designed to permit
- manipulation of remote mailboxes as if they were local. With
- IMAP, mail is again delivered to a shared server, but the mail
- client machine does not normally copy it all at once and then
- delete it from the server. It's more of a client-server model,
- where the IMAP client can ask the server for headers, or the
- bodies of specified messages, or to search for messages meeting
- certain criteria. Messages in the mail repository can be marked
- as deleted and subsequently expunged, but they stay on the
- repository until the user takes such action.
-
- Need more? Go read the document yourself. It's stored on
- ftp://ftp.cac.washington.edu/mail/imap.vs.pop
-
- 4. What are the relevant RFCs for POP and IMAP?
-
- ftp://ftp.uu.net/inet/rfc
-
- For POP3:
-
- RFC1734 Myers, J. POP3 AUTHentication command. 1994 December; 5
- p. (Format: TXT=8499 bytes)
-
- RFC1725 Myers, J.; Rose, M. Post Office Protocol - Version 3.
- 1994 November; 18 p. (Format: TXT=35058 bytes) (Obsoletes RFC1460)
-
- RFC1082 Rose, M. Post Office Protocol: Version 3: Extended
- service offerings. 1988 November; 11 p. (Format: TXT=25423
- bytes)
-
- For IMAP:
-
- RFC1733 Crispin, M. DISTRIBUTED ELECTRONIC MAIL MODELS IN
- IMAP4. 1994 December; 3 p. (Format: TXT=6205 bytes)
-
- RFC1732 Crispin, M. IMAP4 COMPATIBILITY WITH IMAP2 AND
- IMAP2BIS. 1994 December; 5 p. (Format: TXT=9276 bytes)
-
- RFC1731 Myers, J. IMAP4 Authentication Mechanisms. 1994
- December; 6 p. (Format: TXT=11433 bytes)
-
- RFC1730 Crispin, M. INTERNET MESSAGE ACCESS PROTOCOL - VERSION
- 4. 1994 December; 73 p. (Format: TXT=156660 bytes)
-
- RFC1203 Rice, J. Interactive Mail Access Protocol: Version 3.
- 1991 February; 49 p. (Format: TXT=123325 bytes) (Obsoletes RFC1064)
-
- RFC1176 Crispin, M. Interactive Mail Access Protocol: Version
- 2. 1990 August; 30 p. (Format: TXT=67330 bytes) (Obsoletes
- RFC1064)
-
- 5. Where can I find more about available IMAP software?
-
- ftp://ftp.cac.washington.edu/mail/imap.software
-
- or
-
- http://andrew2.andrew.cmu.edu/cyrus
-
-
- B. Clients
- 1. Where can I get a POP client?
-
- For Unix:
-
- The Rand Mail Handler supports POP.
- ftp://ftp.ics.uci.edu/pub/mh
-
- POP3 support has been added to mailx.
- ftp://ftp.cic.net/pub/Software/unix/mail/popmail.shar.gz
-
- Mutt is a full-screen (curses) mail user agent for Unix. Source
- distribution is available under the GNU Public License. POP3 is
- supported. Michael Elkins, mutt's author/maintainer, gives the
- following recommendation: "All mail clients suck. This one just
- sucks less." Manual pages and HTML documentation are included.
- ftp://cs.hmc.edu/pub/me/mutt
-
- Fetchmail is a simple POP mail retrieval client for U*ix. It supports
- the POP2 and POP3 protocols, and compiles/runs under a fairly wide
- variety of systems. Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com> is the current
- maintainer. Fetchmail supercedes the older "popclient" utility which
- has been discontinued.
- ftp://ftp.ccil.org/pub/esr
- http://www.ccil.org/~esr/fetchmail
-
- gwpop is a perl-based mail downloader. Used in conjunction with
- procmail, gwpop can fetch mail from a mail hub via POP and deliver
- it locally to user mailboxes. Includes some security features not
- found in other POP clients. Supports but does not require perl v5.
- ftp://ftp.pasteur.fr/pub/computing/unix/network/gwpop
-
- fetchpop is a POP mail downloader which can run as a daemon, downloading
- mail from a POP server at user-defined intervals and handing it to
- either procmail or sendmail. Written in C. Latest version as of
- this writing is 1.9. Author is seung-hong oh <oh@cis.ohio-state.edu>.
- ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/system/Mail/pop
-
- popc is a simple perl-based mail downloader which can be used to
- fetch a mailbox from a POP server and distribute the messages to
- multiple users.
- ftp://ftp.imag.fr/pub/Linux/net
-
- Z-Mail for Unix is a commercial POP3 client, and IMAP support
- is planned for future releases. Motif and terminal-based versions
- available. Binary releases for many Unix platforms are available.
- http://www.netmanage.com/products/zmail
-
- Pine supports POP3 although it's not really recommended by the
- authors. Make your inbox-path= line in the .pinerc look like this:
- inbox-path={your.mail.host/110}inbox
- See below under the IMAP client section for information about Pine.
-
- XF-Mail is an X11 mail reader based on the XForms toolkit. It supports
- POP, and keeps mail in mh-style folders. Free alpha releases are
- available now. Lengthy "TODO" list before full release comes out...
- http://www.netvision.net.il/xfmail/xfmail.html
-
- The Netscape Navigator web client includes a POP3 client.
- Commercial software. Some people might be able to use it for free.
- http://www.netscape.com/comprod/mirror/client_download.html
-
- For Emacs:
-
- The "vm" elisp package supports POP for emacs (versions 18 and 19 are
- supported).
- ftp://ftp.uu.net/networking/mail/vm
-
- For MSDOS:
-
- Pegasus Mail supports POP.
- ftp://risc.ua.edu/pub/network/pegasus
-
- Minuet is the successor of UMinn "popmail". It supports POP (as well
- as gopher, NNTP, and ftp protocols).
- ftp://boombox.micro.umn.edu/pub/pc/minuet
-
- NuPOP is an MSDOS POP client offering both real and protected-mode
- versions. Includes built-in dialup functionality, or can interface
- with packet drivers or a handful of other TCP/IP stacks. From
- Northwestern University.
- ftp://ftp.acns.nwu.edu/pub/nupop
-
- For Windows:
-
- Eudora works under Windows and Windows NT. Both free and commercial
- versions are available.
- http://www.eudora.com
- ftp://ftp.qualcomm.com/quest/eudora/windows
-
- Windows Pegasus Mail supports POP. Very popular client with
- attractive licensing terms.
- ftp://risc.ua.edu/pub/network/pegasus
-
- Z-Mail Pro for Windows is a commercial POP3 client, distributed
- by Netmanage, which supports Windows95 and NT.
- http://www.netmanage.com/products/zmailpro
-
- Microsoft Internet Mail & News is a POP3 client add-on for
- Microsoft Internet Explorer. Free software.
- http://www.microsoft.com/ie/download/ieadd.htm
-
- The Netscape Navigator web client includes a POP3 client.
- Commercial software. Some people might be able to use it for free.
- http://www.netscape.com/comprod/mirror/client_download.html
-
- For Macintosh:
-
- Eudora works on the Mac (PPC versions too). Both free and commercial
- versions are available.
- http://www.eudora.com
- ftp://ftp.qualcomm.com/quest/eudora/mac
-
- POPMail II is another.
- ftp://archive.umich.edu/mac/util/comm/popmail2.2.sit.hqx
-
- Macintosh Pegasus Mail supports POP.
- ftp://risc.ua.edu/put/network/pegasus
-
- Z-Mail for Macintosh is a POP3 client, distributed by Netmanage,
- which supports MacOS 7.x and higher.
- http://www.netmanage.com/products/zmail
-
- Microsoft Internet Mail & News is a POP3 client add-on for
- Microsoft Internet Explorer. Free software.
- http://www.microsoft.com/ie/download/ieadd.htm
-
- The Netscape Navigator web client includes a POP3 client.
- Commercial software. Some people might be able to use it for free.
- http://www.netscape.com/comprod/mirror/client_download.html
-
- 2. Where can I get an IMAP client?
-
- For Unix:
-
- The popular "pine" mail package is probably the most widely used.
- ftp://ftp.cac.washington.edu/pine/pine.tar.Z
-
- ML is a Motif IMAP mail client. It provides advanced mail
- processing features as well as being easy to use for "the masses".
- Source is available, as are binaries for SunOS, Solaris, Linux,
- and IRIX.
- http://www-camis.stanford.edu/projects/imap/ml
- ftp://camis.stanford.edu/pub/ml/ml.tar.Z
-
- Simeon (formerly ECS Mail) is a commercial Motif IMAP
- client. Full-featured demo versions are available on the ESYS
- web site. Currently supported Unix platforms are Solaris, SunOS,
- IRIX, AIX, Digital Unix, and HP/UX.
- http://www.esys.ca
-
- For MSDOS:
-
- Pine works on MSDOS too.
- ftp://ftp.cac.washington.edu/pine/pcpine
-
- The PCPINE versions go like this (from the README)
-
- There are five versions of PC-Pine:
-
- o DOS: FTP Inc's PC-TCP file name: pcpine_f.zip
- o DOS: Novell's LAN Workplace for DOS file name: pcpine_n.zip
- o DOS: Sun's PC-NFS file name: pcpine_s.zip
- o DOS: WATTCP/Packet Driver file name: pcpine_p.zip
-
- For Windows:
-
- Pine works on Windows too. Uses Winsock API, but does not have
- a "real" Windows interface.
- ftp://ftp.cac.washington.edu/pine/pcpine/pcpine_w.zip
-
- Simeon (formerly ECS Mail) is a commercial Windows-based IMAP
- client. Full-featured demo versions are available on the ESYS
- web site. Both 16-bit (Windows 3.1) and 32-bit (95 and NT)
- versions are available.
- http://www.esys.ca
-
- For Macintosh:
-
- POPMail II supports IMAP2. See above under Mac POP clients.
-
- Mailstrom is a Mac IMAP client. Seems to like to crash a lot on
- some systems. Supposedly on info-mac, but good luck getting logged
- in. Washington has a copy, although this is not the official site:
- ftp://ftp.cac.washington.edu/imap/mac
-
- Mail Drop is a Macintosh IMAP client written by Carl Bell of Baylor
- University, available at:
- ftp://ackmo.baylor.edu/pub/bell/Mail_Drop/Mail_Drop.hqx.
- [Thanks to Brian Forney <bforney@umich.edu>]
-
- Simeon (formerly ECS Mail) is a commercial Macintosh IMAP client.
- Full-featured demo versions are available on the ESYS web site.
- http://www.esys.ca
-
- For Acorn RISCOS:
-
- The ANT Internet Suite includes the "Marcel" mail & news package which
- supports POP2, POP3, IMAP, SMTP and NNTP for mail/news transports, and
- file attachments can be sent and received in MIME, UUencode, !EMail and
- BtoA formats. Commercial software.
- http://www.ant.co.uk
-