<P>
Hi,<BR>
Your mail was very insightful.<BR>
<BR>
You have stated in you mail as follows ..<BR>
<BR>
"But I think they create virtual users in database systems for email, I can't imagine all of the users they have are in one passwd file on one tiny machine."<BR>
<BR>
a. What do you mean by virtual users. <BR>
b. How does one link them to a mailbox.<BR>
<BR>
Very frankly i am confused...<BR>
<BR>
1.Well lets say i have a user who wants to create a new group say GROUP1.Lets say i have users who want to create GROUP1@pigeonhole.com or GROUP2@pigeonhole.com .This group name will be entered in my JSP page, now what do i have to do to create the group.<BR>
<BR>
2.How do i see to that anyone who sends a mail to GROUP2@pigeonhole receives it in it mailbox( Firstly does the group have a mails box in the groups name).Will one create a account(mailbox) for the group or how is it done.<BR>
<BR>
3.Lastly I actually want to create a mailing List manager.<BR>
<BR>
Please advice on how to go about it.<BR>
<BR>
Regards<BR>
Kartik<BR>
<BR>
On Sun, 18 Apr 2004 Wouter Van Hemel wrote :<BR>
>On Fri, 16 Apr 2004, Kartik Vaidyanathan wrote:<BR>
><BR>
> > Hi,<BR>
> ><BR>
> > I have actually configured dovecot because i required a mail server in<BR>
> > order to build a mailing list manager.A mail list manager is something<BR>
> > in the likes of yahoogroups, where each group in my case must have a<BR>
> > mailbox.<BR>
> ><BR>
><BR>
>You need a MTA, such as postfix, qmail, sendmail, exim, etc. It's more<BR>
>important than an imap server for what you want to do.<BR>
><BR>
>Actually, I don't really understand why you need an imap server when<BR>
>making a mailinglist manager.<BR>
><BR>
> > 1. I am using Debian OS.<BR>
> > The software that i am creating , which is going developed in JSP, will<BR>
> > take a new users name and password and create a account for him by<BR>
> > executing a shell script in my linux machine.I assume yahoo also does<BR>
> > something similar to this to create new mail boxes for any new<BR>
> > user.Please correct me if i am wrong.<BR>
> ><BR>
><BR>
>I don't know, I don't work at yahoo. But I think they create virtual users<BR>
>in database systems for email, I can't imagine all of the users they have<BR>
>are in one passwd file on one tiny machine.<BR>
><BR>
> > In fact this very mail that i have received from you is because i have<BR>
> > subscribed to the dovecott mailing list. How do you think dovecott has<BR>
> > been able to accomplish this. Is it not because that dovecott has a<BR>
> > mailbox in the group name "dovecott" in some system, that internally<BR>
> > does the sending of mails to all those in the groups refering to some<BR>
> > database.<BR>
> ><BR>
><BR>
>Dovecot doesn't have anything to do with that. It's mostly the MTA, aided<BR>
>by the mailing list manager.<BR>
><BR>
>Here's how majordomo (popular mailinglist manager) works:<BR>
><BR>
>Bob wants to subscribe to the pigeonhole mailinglist. He emails or enters<BR>
>his email address in a web form so it ends up in a database file with all<BR>
>the other users on that list. The mailinglist manager's job is to take<BR>
>care of adding (or removing) email addresses to (from) that file; it adds<BR>
>Bob's address.<BR>
><BR>
>When an email is sent to pigeonhole@pigeonhole.org, the mailer daemon<BR>
>(MTA) receives this email, and instead of delivering it to a local user,<BR>
>either it (1) delivers it to a pipe - it passes the email to the<BR>
>mailinglist software, which then just generates an email that replaces the<BR>
>original destination with the list of email addresses; or (2) the mailer<BR>
>daemon itself forwards the email by alias expansion to the list of email<BR>
>addresses the mailinglist software made.<BR>
><BR>
>In the former case, the mailinglist manager reads the original message and<BR>
>replaces the address with all those in the list's database; in the latter<BR>
>case, basically the only thing a mailinglist manager does, is taking care<BR>
>of an error-free database file with email addresses so the MTA can forward<BR>
>the email to the addresses in this file.<BR>
><BR>
>Because Bob's email address is in this file, his address will be inserted<BR>
>in the headers of the message, and he will receive the email.<BR>
><BR>
> > 2.Will the mail server support me in anyway by giving me some<BR>
> > functionality to add users, thereby creating maildir's (imap) for the<BR>
> > users.<BR>
> ><BR>
><BR>
>No, adding users is not the job of a mail server daemon. Or of an imap<BR>
>server. Usually, you don't allow people to add users to your system, for<BR>
>obvious reasons.<BR>
><BR>
>If you want to add users to a mailing list, you don't need accounts for<BR>
>those users, only when you also want to provide them with an email address.<BR>
><BR>
>What do you want to do: provide email addresses, or a mailinglist manager?<BR>
><BR>
> > 3.Dont I need to know the admin login and passwd, to create users?<BR>
> ><BR>
><BR>
>Yes, ofcourse. Unless your users are in a database server, in that case<BR>
>you need the ability to add records to that database.<BR>
><BR>
>(Shared webhosting accounts usually allow adding virtual users, if that's<BR>
>the reasoning behind your question.)<BR>
><BR>
> > 3.Lastly i know this is not that prevalent a question -> I was told mail<BR>
> > man does a similar job as to what my software will do.Do you know how<BR>
> > mailman works (or even yahoogroups)?.<BR>
> ><BR>
><BR>
>Not precisely, but pretty much like I said above. You can check out the<BR>
>documentation and source code of said software.<BR>
><BR>
>Yahoogroups probably uses custom written software, but still based on the<BR>
>simple approach of a mailinglist manager taking care of a list of<BR>
>subscribers, and the mailer daemon either itself or by aid of an external<BR>
>program multiplicating the recipients.<BR>
><BR>
><BR>
>A mailinglist manager has nothing to do with Dovecot. Dovecot has nothing<BR>
>to do with *sending* email, only with retrieving it from a system with<BR>
>IMAP of POP. It's the end-of-the-line for emails, delivery to final<BR>
>destination; it does not forward or duplicate.<BR>
><BR>
> > Please enlighten me on the above issues.<BR>
> > Thanks a lot for you time.<BR>
> ><BR>
><BR>
>I'll send you the bill later. ;)<BR>
><BR>
> > Regards<BR>
> > Kartik<BR>
> ><BR>
> ><BR>
> ><BR>
> ><BR>
><BR>
</P>
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