popa3d and Maildir or mbox
 

Hi there,

I'm doing a lot of time to figure out the POP3 client coming with slackware ... popa3d.
It works nicely on my slackware-10.1 server.

Now I want to change the mail into the user's HOME directories - using Maildir/.
There's a patch for popa3d to use it with Maildir (hhg.to/popa3d/maildir.html)

Fro testing purpose I use procmail to have mail sent to users be stored in 3 places:
/var/spool/mail
$HOME/mbox
$HOME/Maildir

I found a place distributing how slackware alters the params.h and Makefile for popa3d - which is very helpful ... will add it in the end (forgot the URL)

I got popa3d source, altered params.h and Makefile, patched it, and make it, make install ...
The whole installing process works alright. (/usr/sbin/popa3d (original size 22956) now 27100 bytes).

FROM NOW ON I cannot get (retrieve using Thunderbird on my local PC) any mail any more, and in most cases receive an "-ERR" or a "Authentication failed" message.

I've tried many varieties, even using the patched popa3d with Option #define POP_MAILDIR 0 (off). It looks to me like the patch doesn't work???

If I rebuild popa3d from source applying belows alterations, I receive mail perfectly from my users boxes living in /var/spool/mail

I'VE SPENT several days on this ... and I think I read about ANY post on the net ... cannot find any explanation, solution or _real_ help on the matter.

I'd like to use popa3d with Maildir/ (and not switching to for example "qmail").

Any experience, any solutions, any help is most appreciated! Thanks in advance...

+ + + Slackware popa3d.diff + + +

--- ./Makefile.orig 2003-11-16 16:43:35.000000000 -0800
+++ ./Makefile 2005-07-13 22:36:31.000000000 -0700
@@ -5,11 +5,11 @@
INSTALL = install -c
CFLAGS = -Wall -O2 -fomit-frame-pointer
# You may use OpenSSL's MD5 routines instead of the ones supplied here
-#CFLAGS += -DHAVE_OPENSSL
+CFLAGS += -DHAVE_OPENSSL
LDFLAGS = -s
LIBS =
# Linux with glibc, FreeBSD, NetBSD
-#LIBS += -lcrypt
+LIBS += -lcrypt
# HP-UX trusted system
#LIBS += -lsec
# Solaris (POP_STANDALONE, POP_VIRTUAL)
@@ -21,10 +21,10 @@
# libwrap may also want this
#LIBS += -lnsl
# OpenSSL (-DHAVE_OPENSSL)
-#LIBS += -lcrypto
+LIBS += -lcrypto

DESTDIR =
-PREFIX = /usr/local
+PREFIX = /usr
SBINDIR = $(PREFIX)/sbin
MANDIR = $(PREFIX)/man

--- ./params.h.orig 2005-05-26 08:35:15.000000000 -0700
+++ ./params.h 2005-07-13 22:36:31.000000000 -0700
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
/*
* Are we going to be a standalone server or start via an inetd clone?
*/
-#define POP_STANDALONE 0
+#define POP_STANDALONE 1

#if POP_STANDALONE

@@ -103,13 +103,13 @@
* A pseudo-user to run as before authentication. The user and its UID
* must not be used for any other purpose.
*/
-#define POP_USER POP_SERVER
+#define POP_USER "pop"

/*
* An empty directory to chroot to before authentication. The directory
* and its parent directories must not be writable by anyone but root.
*/
-#define POP_CHROOT "/var/empty"
+#define POP_CHROOT "/var/spool/pop"

/*
* Sessions will be closed if idle for longer than POP_TIMEOUT seconds.
@@ -191,7 +191,7 @@
*
* #undef this for qmail-style $HOME/Mailbox mailboxes.
*/
-#define MAIL_SPOOL_PATH "/var/mail"
+#define MAIL_SPOOL_PATH "/var/spool/mail"

#ifndef MAIL_SPOOL_PATH
/*

I've had qmail with pop3ad with maildir support installed and running for about 2 years now. Here's what I did to get maildir support for popa3d.

-Makefile in popa3d source all I edited was the line
#LIBS += -lcrypt to LIBS += -lcrypt

These are my files I've used I put them up here for you to look at hopefully they help. http://slackbox.com/tmp

I've always used a stock slackware system. After I patch and make popa3d I just usually copy the popa3d to /usr/local/bin and add a new popa3d line to inetd.conf. I like to keep the slackware existing popa3d intact just for backup.
pop3 stream tcp nowait root /usr/sbin/tcpd /usr/local/bin/popa3d

Hope this helps if not let me know.

Hi Pierow,

tx for the fast reply.
I'm using sendmali (to receive/send) and procmail to deliver to the Maildir.
params.h and Makefile of yours look similar, eventhough I made all the changes of the slackware.diff in Makefile and have a slash in the end of Maildir/.

However, if you're using qmail ... do you use popa3d at all? I thought qmail is doing the POP3 too.

ANYHOW, as usual ... once posted ... I found out more by myself ... still - not there, yet!

In my case, I got rid of a lot of problems by chown and chgrp USER the (mbox or) Maildir (and containing directories new, cur and tmp).

One question remains ... how do I get procmail to a) create and b) write Directories and Mail files as Owned and Grouped by USER .... hmmm ... guess I have to dig a bit deeper into procmail...

and again ... here we go with solutions...

setting my procmailrc to the following:

ORGMAIL=/var/spool/mail/

LOGFILE=/var/log/procmail.log

LOGNAME=$HOME

DROPPRIVS=yes

:0Hhb
$HOME/Maildir/

... >>> ... did the trick. -> DROPPRIVS=yes executes everything below on behalf of the USER.

That's it.... unless someone see's a security risk in it ...in that case, pls let me know.

courier-imap works native with maildirs and includes both pop3 and imap servers