[Dovecot] Difference between LOGIN and PLAIN

[Patrick Ben Koetter]

* Simon Brereton <simon.brereton at buongiorno.com>:
> On 3 November 2011 17:01, Stephan Bosch <stephan at rename-it.nl> wrote:
> > On 11/3/2011 9:42 PM, Simon Brereton wrote:
> >>
> >> Hi
> >>
> >> Could someone explain to me the difference between LOGIN and PLAIN?
> >> I've been googling for a while, but haven't found anything.
> >
> > The LOGIN SASL mechanism is an obsolete plain text mechanism. It is
> > documented here:
> >
> > http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-murchison-sasl-login-00
> >
> > Some clients still support it, but I would not recommend using it when PLAIN
> > or a better SASL mechanism is also available at both ends. The PLAIN
> > mechanism is documented here:
> >
> > http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4616
> >
> > The main technical difference between the two is that the PLAIN mechanism
> > transfers both username and password in a single SASL interaction, where
> > LOGIN needs two. The PLAIN mechanism also provides support for having an
> > authorization id different from the authentication id, allowing for master
> > user login for example.
> 
> Thanks to both of you.  Can I bet that Outlook doesn't support
> anything but plain?

Outlook > 2007
        LOGIN, NTLM
Outlook 2010 >
        LOGIN, NTLM2, DIGEST-MD5

> I'm not sure I've ever heard of a client supporting other than
> Evolution supporting MD5 passwords..

Two come to mind: mutt, Thunderbird
However DIGEST-MD5 has been marked deprecated this summer.

p at rick

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