KMail from many platforms

[Sylviane et Perry White]

On Monday 17 December 2007 15:59, Derek Broughton wrote:
> Sylviane et Perry White wrote:
> > So I installed dovecot under one of the user for Kubuntu.
>
> ???  Dovecot doesn't run per user.  It serves up messages for all users. 
> By default it expects the mails to be in /home/$USER/Maildir
I Knew that. I verified I could access dovecot from the other user.
The point is that if last mail download was on Ubuntu's side and the next time 
I boot under Suse, I won't be able to run Ubuntu's dovecot from the Suse side 
(of the same machine)...Or is there a way?
> > It will be necessary to install it also on the Suse side. Some files and
(snip)
> The other alternative that I do use is to have a user defined on the system
> that doesn't log in, and can't do anything but receive mail.  Then multiple
> users access that account to check its mail.
Actually there are only two users: me and my wife on Suse (boots by default 
and without password). I intend to make the passwordless autobooting system 
as the second (unprivileged) user for my wife.
We have always shared our mailbox and there is no problem of conficientiallity 
so she can read all the mail. I would like to make sure she can't goof and 
erase a mail item or a whole directory.
>
> Note, Dovecot should NOT be touching your ~/Mail directory - that's KMail's
> local folders.
Actually my intent was to get away form those multiple directories or have a 
way to sync them.
> > (I feel I'm using a steam-roller to crack a peanut, but I am having fun)
>
> Well, yeah :-)
>
> > I decided what I needed was the "Virtual User Installation" because my
> > wife's laptop could then be connected. Am I right?
>
> I don't think so.  Where did this come from?  I can't seem to find any
> debconf settings at all for dovecot.
After my first install attempt from sources I had a directory with the docs,
one of them was about "Virtual User Installation" and gave a config file for 
that. What I understood from my reading was that I would be looking at a 
"distant" execution of dovecot and that suited me , I'll explaine later what 
I expected.
>
> > I belive I need a mail transfer agent (installed under both KUbuntu and
> > Suse), would you recommend Exim?
>
> No.  If you're fetching your mail via fetchmail, you only need an MDA
> (maildrop or procmail).  If you need a minimal MTA, I like masqmail.  If
> you need a full-featured MTA, I think postfix is simpler to set up than
> Exim (I haven't used either in a long time, though).  One thing to note
> here is that (afaik) _all_ of the MTAs default to putting mail
> in /var/mail/$USER/, where Dovecot/Courier expect it to be
> in /home/$USER/Maildir/.  So either the MTA needs to be told to use the
> IMAP server's locations, or vice versa, or one needs to be symlinked to the
> other.  I _still_ after 10 years of doing this, haven't decided which way
> is best.  Keeping the mail under the User's directory tree has the
> advantage that any normal backup regime backs up the user's mail with
> everything else
I will have to study all that in detail (perhaps on next week end)
>
> > For a mail client I haven't yet found anything relevant in the docs (too
> > much of them and that subject is really new to me) but I hope Web
> > Konqueror could be used just the way I read my fresh mail directly from
> > my isp server when I'm not at home. Right?
>
> Once the mail is on an IMAP server you use _any_ IMAP capable user agent. 
> I use KMail.  
I have always used KMail to retrive my mail on *my* computer.
When I go on hollydays I unsubscribe from lists and read my personal mail with 
internet explorer (what is available).
The problem is that, as the same user on Suse and Ubu, there is no point in 
reading the same "new" mail, sorting, deleting them, marking as important, 
etc, on both sides.
> You can use a web browser - but then you need to be running a 
> webmail server (like squirrelmail, or horde) to get the "ISP" look
> (actually, konqueror _can_ handle imap: urls natively, but it would be
> pretty awkward).
See answer at the end.
>
> > P.S. Derek said:
> >> Pointing ~/Mail to the same location should be practically harmlesss :-)
> >> I'd still feel safer letting an IMAP server do that.
> >
> > I whish Derek or someone else could comment on that.
>
> ~/Mail is your KMail local folder, and it's just not intended to be shared.
Not sure it is intended for my case (I know it is very special)
> The IMAP folder
something missing here, makes no sense.
> --
> derek

*What I expected:*
Some way to sync my maildirs between Suse, Ubu1 and Ubu2 (with dumbproof 
restrictions in Ubu2).
That dovecot would always get fresh mail when it is there when I connect. If I 
read mail from any side it would appear as read from the other side too, if 
is sorted or deleted...
I absolutely don't want to download into local Kmail folders.
I'm looking for a program that would load and integrate new mail from wherever 
it is called as well as changes (into a single directory).

[When I use internet explorer or Konq, and connect directly to my mailbox in 
"Sunrise" I see some sort of structure, with a fresh mail directory and a 
spam directory. Furthermore I wonder if I'm able to create there a more 
intricate folder system, never investigated because I do it on my HD with 
KMail, and never leave anything on "Sunrise" but spam.]

At the end I'm not sure dovecot will do what I want.
Nisl solution did exactly this but for the dumbproof restrictions in Ubu2, but 
I was somewhat warned against that.

I looked around a lot but still didn't find the output adress from dovecot, 
i.e. how I can get Konq or KMaill to get its input from it.

I feel dumb and I'm completely lost		Perry


N.B. I swear the following BOFF was randomly selected, I love BOFH excuses.
-- 
BOFH excuse #139: UBNC (user brain not connected)