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From: Jim Dennis <jim@starshine.org>
Message-Id: <199607080911.CAA01859@starshine>
Subject: Re: mailbox
To: dwhite@resnet.uoregon.edu
Date: Mon, 8 Jul 1996 02:11:57 -0700 (PDT)
Cc: malvin@webscape.net, questions@FreeBSD.ORG
In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.3.91.960707233137.221E-100000@gdi.uoregon.edu> from "Doug White" at Jul 7, 96 11:36:18 pm
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> 
> On Sat, 6 Jul 1996, Malvin C. wrote:
> 
> > I like to inquire if it is possible to setup a single login account 
> > while at the same time having multiple mailboxes each having their own 
> > passwd.
> 
> I don't know of any way to do this under the current mail system.  You 
> can have multiple email addresses for one account (through aliases) but 
> they are not separately password protected, they end up all in the same 
> mailbox.
> 
> Doug White                              | University of Oregon  

	Doug, your slipping.

	You have the user access a single login account but have the
	backend configured with each of the mailboxes as a different
	account.  Then you create a script that goes something like
	this:

		#! /usr/bin/bash
			# mailbox script
		[ -z "$1" ] \
			&& su -c "$1" $mailreader $mua_args \
			|| echo ${0}: "usage: $0 mailbox -- must specify which box"

	Not the user types:

		mailbox foo
		(assuming the name mailbox for the script and 'foo' for one of 
		the mailboxes)

	'su' then asks for a password and launches an MUA.  A similar
	effect could be obtained by configuring a particular MUA as the
	login shell for this set of users and using 'su - $1'  Yet 
	another effect could be obtained by using 'popclient'.

	Technically these all require Unix accounts to be created --
	but this is a backend fact that need not be visible to the user.


	Another method would be to create a set of sendmail aliases that 
	fed into files (rather than addresses) -- the syntax for that
	is simply:

		aliasname:	/where/ever/you/want/to/store/it/full/path/to/file

	Now you have several choices about how to provide access to
	these files.  A set of entries in /etc/group with passwords
	and a port of the 'newgrp' command, a few lines of suid perl,
	access controlled through your httpd's htaccess file (or it's
	equivalent) whatever.

	There are some POP servers that maintain a separate password/user
	database.  One could install and configure that -- and use popclient
	for the access.

	There are lots of options.  

Jim Dennis