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- Path: sparky!uunet!dtix!darwin.sura.net!spool.mu.edu!caen!uvaarpa!murdoch!usenet
- From: usenet@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU
- Newsgroups: comp.mail.sendmail
- Subject: Re: Replacing UUCP with SMTP in this age...
- Summary: POP or IMAP ( or both )
- Message-ID: <1992Sep11.144712.221@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU>
- Date: 11 Sep 92 14:47:12 GMT
- References: <1992Sep9.220304.5690@tigger.jvnc.net>
- Organization: University of Virginia
- Lines: 198
-
- In article <1992Sep9.220304.5690@tigger.jvnc.net> aggarwal@tigger.jvnc.net (Vikas Aggarwal) writes:
- >
- >More and more people are moving to dialup IP protocols like SLIP, CSLIP
- >and PPP. IN all of these 'dialup' cases, mail has to be typically stored
- >on another system and transferred when the dialup system connects.
- >
- >Typically, UUCP provides a very good store and transfer mechanism.
- >What's unique about the protocol is that the messages are stored on the
- >mailserver, and transferred when the *dialup* host is ready to download
- >them.
- >
- >What I need (and I think is needed by a lot in this community), is a
- >similar functionality using IP instead of UUCP. IDA sendmail has a
- >batched SMTP feature, but what is needed is for the mail to wait on the
- >server and a way for the dialup host to force the server to start
- >delivering the mail via SMTP when it dials up.
- >
- >IN other words, is there a way for an Internet host to store mail for
- >a remote (dialup) host and then initiate the SMTP connection when the
- >remote host wants (typically when the remote host connects via
- >PPP/SLIP).
- >
-
-
- POP ( which several peoples have already mentioned ) and IMAP.
- Which one is better for you depends on the users usage patterns and
- bandwidth of the connection: POP is simpler and is more oriented
- ( at least in the vanilla unhacked version ) towards a PC or workstation
- user who wants to download all of his mail to his personal system and
- work on it there, using the remote system mostly as an intermediate
- maildrop. IMAP is designed for a more distributed system - i.e. you
- want to sort your mail into several folders on the mailhost, and access
- it from possibly several workstations or PC's. ( Or alternatively, for
- a PUBLIC PC where each user's mail is kept separately on a UNIX host )
-
-
- ======== "If you have a hammer, find a nail" - George Bush,'91 =========
- Steven D. Majewski University of Virginia Physiology Dept.
- sdm7g@Virginia.EDU Box 449 Health Sciences Center
- Voice: (804)-982-0831/32 1300 Jefferson Park Avenue
- FAX: (804)-982-1616 Charlottesville, VA 22908
-
-
- Enclosed is a short summary that's been circulating around:
- (See one of the comp.mail.misc FAQ's for a description of some of the programs)
- ----
-
- Date: 13 Aug 1992 09:01:42 -0400
- From: David Collier-Brown <davecb%nexus.yorku.ca@lux.levels.unisa.edu.au>
- Subject: Re: A Unix (SunOS) compatible mailer for MSDOS
- To: goconnel
-
- I think you'll get a lot of message about POP3 and IMAP2...
- Here's a list of programs and sites:
- Author: John Wobus
- Syracuse University
- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
- Serving PCs and Workstations Using a Central Mail Server on an Internet
- - ------- --- --- ------------ ----- - ------- ---- ------ -- -- --------
-
- There are advantages to collecting mail destined to PCs and workstations
- on a central server, to be turned over to the PC or workstation on
- demand:
-
- - - Your PC or workstation may be down quite a bit and less network bandwidth
- and less of the processing resouces of the sending computer are used
- if the computer receiving your mail is ready.
- - - Some people use more than one PC or workstation to read mail.
- - - A PC or workstation may not have the resources to store all the mail
- you receive.
- - - It can make your e-mail address more like other users'.
-
- The easiest way to "implement" this is to run the central mail server like
- any multi-user system: let people sign on to it and use some mail utility.
- Then PC and workstation users can use "terminal sessions" to sign on to the
- central mail server and read their mail. This has the disadvantage of
- making the PC and workstation users learn and use the central mail
- server's procedures.
-
- SMTP, the "internet" mail protocol used to deliver mail between multi-user
- systems only supports mail transfer initiated by the sender. Other
- protocols have been devised to allow a workstation or PC to request
- transfer of mail, thus able to make use of a cnetral server. These
- include the published protocols POP (probably not used anymore), POP2,
- POP3, IMAP2, and DMSP.
-
- POP, POP2, POP3:
- These are rather minimal and are designed to be so. The three are similar
- but not enough alike to be interoperable. They are basically designed to
- identify the user by username and password, to transfer the mail from
- server to PC or workstation and to delete the mail transferred. It is
- assumed that SMTP will be used to send mail. Messages can be retrieved
- individually, but the only information you can get about a message without
- transferring it is its length in bytes-- useful for PCs with limited
- storage.
-
- POP2 and POP3 are still used a good deal. POP3 has a couple of optional
- extensions: one to avoid sending passwords, and one to aid in reading
- bulletin boards.
-
- IMAP2:
- This is similar to the POP family, but also gives clients a way to do
- string searches through mail that still resides on the server. This is
- designed to allow the PC or workstation to be more selective as to which
- mail will be transferred. The POP protocols, on the other hand, are
- designed for simpler server software.
-
- DMSP (aka PCMAIL):
- PCs and workstations can use this protocol to both send and receive mail.
- The system is designed around the idea that each user can own more than
- one workstation; however, the system doesn't seem to handle the idea of a
- "public workstation" very well. The PCs and workstations are assumed to
- hold state information about the mail, a directory so to speak, and when
- the PC or workstation is connected to the server, this directory is
- updated to "reality".
-
- More about the protocols:
-
- Name: Post Office Protocol, Version 2
- Nickname: POP2
- Document: RFC 937 (Butler et al, February 1985)
- TCP-port: 109
- Sites:
-
- Name: Post Office Portocol, Version 3
- Nickname: POP3
- Document: RFC 1081 (Rose, November 1988)
- TCP-port: 110 (109 also often used)
- Sites: UC Irvine, MIT
-
- Name: Distributed Mail Service Protocol
- Nickname: DMSP, Pcmail
- Document: RFC 1056 (Lambert, June 1988)
- TCP-port: 158
- Sites: MIT
-
- Name: Interactive Mail Access Protocol, Version 2
- Nickname: IMAP2
- Document: RFC 1064
- TCP-port: 143
- Sites: Stanford
-
- Implementations:
-
- Prot Computer Implementation End Source
- - ------ ----------- ------------------- ------- -------------------------------
- DSMP ? Pcmail 3.1 reposit. server allspice.lcs.mit.edu
- DSMP PC pc-epsilon (3.1) client allspice.lcs.mit.edu
- DSMP PC pc-netmail (3.1) client allspice.lcs.mit.edu
- DSMP PC pc-reader client allspice.lcs.mit.edu
- DSMP Unix/EMACS Pcmail 3.1 client allspice.lcs.mit.edu
- DSMP PC & OS/2 PC/TCP client FTP Software
- DSMP OS/2 ? client Essex Systems
- IMAP2 Macintosh MacMS 2.1b1 client sumex-aim.stanford.edu
- IMAP2 Macintosh Mailstrom (future) client
- IMAP2 NeXT EasyMail client ftphost.cac.washington.edu
- IMAP2 NeXT MailManager server ftphost.cac.washington.edu
- IMAP2 TOPS20 ? server ?
- IMAP2 Unix ? client ftphost.cac.washington.edu
- IMAP2 Unix imapd 3.1 server sumex-aim.stanford.edu
- IMAP2 Unix imapd server ftphost.cac.washington.edu
- IMAP2 Unix pine client ftp.cac.washington.edu
- IMAP2 Xrx Lsp Mch ? client ?
- IMAP2 PC pine (future) client
- POP2 Macintosh MacPOP 1.5 client trident.arc.nasa.gov
- POP2 Macintosh MailStop server boombox.micro.umn.edu
- POP2 PC PC POP 2.1 client trident.arc.nasa.gov
- POP2 PC LifeLine Mail client SunSelect
- POP2 PC ka9q server ?
- POP2 PC MD/DOS-IP client U Maryland
- POP2 Unix ? server boombox.micro.umn.edu
- POP2 Unix popd (USC-ISI) server trident.arc.nasa.gov
- POP2 Unix imapd/ipop2d server ftphost.cac.washington.edu
- POP2 Unix mh-6.7 (UCI RandMH) server lilac.berkeley.edu
- POP2 VM FAL server IBM
- POP2 PC PC/TCP client FTP Software
- POP3 Macintosh Eudora 1.1 client ftp.cso.uiuc.edu
- POP3k Macintosh Eudora X client run at Brown U.
- POP3 Macintosh MacPOP (Berkeley) client ftp.cc.berkeley.edu
- POP3k Macintosh TechMail 2.0 client net-dist.mit.edu
- POP3 Macintosh TCP/Connect II client Interconnect, inc
- POP3 Macintosh MacMH client Stanford?
- POP3&2 Macintosh POPMail II client boombox.micro.umn.edu
- POP3 Unix popper-1.7 server lilac.berkeley.edu
- POP3 Unix mh-6.7 (UCI RandMH) both ics.uci.edu
- POP3 Unix imapd/ipop3d server ftphost.cac.washington.edu
- POP3 PC PC/TCP client FTP Software
- POP3 PC TechMail(future) client ?
- POP3 PC ? client logos.ucs.indiana.edu
- POP3 PC NUPOP (in beta) client (ftp.acns.nwu.edu)
- POP3 VMS IUPOP3 (1.7) server logos.ucs.indiana.edu
- POP3 VMS MULTINet both (commercial)
- POP? PC UCDmail client ucdavis.ucdavis.edu
- POP? PC NUPOP client ftp.acns.nwu.edu
- POP? PC PC POP client ?Bill Schweickert/Sterling Fed
- POP? Macintosh MEWS client ?
- POP? Macintosh byupopmail client ?
- - ------ ----------- ------------------- ------- -------------------------------
-