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Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/jdobbels/www/blog/inc/config.php:40) in /home/jdobbels/www/blog/inc/clearbricks/common/lib.http.php on line 247 JDobbelstein.dev() - Tag - mtaTo infinity, and beyond !2011-01-10T00:04:33+01:00Johanurn:md5:98d5e93307cb5ee6e20feba0dc3f35ebDotclearManaging mails the Unix wayurn:md5:539192a7d0f20bd37c6e224c31a5e1e62010-05-10T15:14:00+02:00Johannetworkdovecotemailgetmailmdamramsamtamuapostfixprocmailstunnel<p>I am quite allergic to modern email programs such as Microsoft Outlook,
KMail, Evolution or Thunderbird. After digging the web for a mail program
that "sucks less", I've adopted mutt. In the same time, I've
learned a lot of (not so useful) stuff about the email flow from servers to
servers to servers to my brave old Unix mailbox. I am now using a split set
of software to manage my emails. This could be confusing at first sight,
but eventually I get the so-called do-one-thing-but-do-it-right quality of
Unix systems. To summarize it, my messages go through the following
path:</p>
<pre style="width : 34em; margin : auto;">
.--.
_ -( )- _
.--,( ),--.
_.-( )-._
( INTERNET )
'-._( )_.-'
'__,( ),__'
- ._(__)_. -
^ |
| |
| v
.---------. .-----------.
encryption | stunnel | | getmail | deliver
'---------' '-----------'
^ |
| |
| v
.---------. .----------.
send | postfix | | procmail | filter
'---------' '----------'
^ |
| |
| v
.------. .---------.
read/write | mutt |<============>| dovecot | store
'------' '---------'
</pre>
<p>Getmail, procmail, dovecot, mutt, postfix and stunnel. That's 6 programs
to do what your Microsoft Outlook or Thunderbird do. But I can assure you
that the former 6 programs offer a better experience compared to the latter
ones.</p> <p>I. Some vocabulary
Before going further, let's redefine here some acronyms commonly used
to talk about email systems. The list is based on the mail concept overview from
the mutt wiki.
MRA: Mail Retrieval Agent, the program fetching mails from the
internet (such as fetchmail or getmail)
MDA: Mail Delivery Agent, the program actually... <em><a href="http://www.jdobbelstein.eu/blog/post/2010/05/10/Managing-mails-the-Unix-way">Read</em> Managing mails the Unix way</a></p>