From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Apr 22 06:51:50 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 41B8816A4CE for ; Thu, 22 Apr 2004 06:51:50 -0700 (PDT) Received: from idoru.mine.nu (cpc3-cdif2-3-0-cust202.cdif.cable.ntl.com [81.103.32.202]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id F128943D4C for ; Thu, 22 Apr 2004 06:51:49 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from rasputin@idoru.mine.nu) Received: from rasputin by idoru.mine.nu with local (Exim 4.22) id 1BGecG-0002vZ-S4; Thu, 22 Apr 2004 14:51:48 +0100 Date: Thu, 22 Apr 2004 14:51:48 +0100 From: Dick Davies To: Danny MacMillan Message-ID: <20040422135148.GC21116@lb.tenfour> References: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: User-Agent: Mutt/1.4.2.1i Sender: Rasputin cc: FreeBSD Questions Subject: Re: IMAP server and client recommendations? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list Reply-To: Dick Davies List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 22 Apr 2004 13:51:50 -0000 * Danny MacMillan [0423 05:23]: > Hello. > > I have six or seven hundred megabytes of email imprisoned in a few .pst > (Microsoft Outlook "Personal Folders") files. I've been looking for an > alternative email client lately. Of course, the issue is converting these > old messages so that they are usable by the new software -- ideally so > that multiple clients could access the mail. The thought that immediately > occurred to me was that one of the standard Unix formats -- mbox or > maildir -- would be appropriate for this task. > > After scouring the internet for possibilities for converting between the > hated .pst format and mbox or Maildir, I found a few people who'd > seemingly hit upon an ideal solution: add an IMAP folder to Outlook and > copy their mail to that folder, then do the reverse inside a client that > stores its mail in mbox or maildir format. Then it struck me -- =leaving= > the mail in the IMAP server would give me even more flexibility. I use cyrus with - mozilla, mutt, outlook express, squirrelmail, thunderbird osx and zaurus clients - it's great. Add an LDOP address book and use sieve instead of the evil thet is Procmail and you have a single point of failure^W control for all your maily needs.... (Mail is again 1 per file, but you don't usually access it direct. That's a Good Thing IMO, a Maildir in my home directory is too breakable...) Courier didn't scale for me, dovecot wasn't configurable enough. Cyrus is a bit more complex, but behaves itself and performs very well. Lots of howtos, try a few and see what you like. -- Blood is thicker than water, and much tastier. Rasputin :: Jack of All Trades - Master of Nuns