- [16/02/2004 01:01] Joshua Goodall <joshua@roughtrade.net>:
You need to mentally sort out the distinction between different roles in email systems.
Indeed. It's the reason I mailed in the first place... ;-)
Email is originated (created) by a Mail User Agent - e.g. Mutt, Outlook, Evolution, Webmail.
Email is transported by a Mail Transfer Agent (MTA) - e.g. Postfix, Sendmail, Exim, Qmail.
Email is stored in a Message Store - e.g. Maildir, mbox, various custom databases.
Email in a store is made available by POP3 or IMAP servers e.g. Dovecot. (or you may have direct access to the filesystem).
Finally, Email is displayed by another Mail User Agent (mutt/outlook/webmail).
Ah. So nothing would change, actually, by installing an IMAP server, right? The roles played by Exim, procmail and whatever I might use remain the same, and the IMAP server only serves (obviously, the termi was well chosen) mail to remote users who are able to authenticate themselves, and is thus just an extra step between stored mail and the user (instead of just viewing mail ("direct access to the filesystem"), I'd use IMAP to display mails somewhere else using a MUA)?
Great. I get the concept, now. It really was the kind of answer that makes one wonder why one could not get it in the first place. :-/
Thanks a lot, Tom
-- "Mongolian drivers do not care much about pedestrians."
np: gar nix