Hello All,

I have been thinking about this for many years, and could not find a good way to do this. I wonder now, if any software already exists for this purpose.

Okay, basically a POP3/IMAP/SMTP server which fully uses a database, for example MySQL. When mail is send to the server via SMTP, the user is checked via MySQL, and the mail is then stored in a database table following a strict configuration layout the user chooses when he/she sets up the server. Now this is where is gets fun... The POP3/IMAP server would fetch the mail from the database table. A configuration can be set for this as well. Now, the mail can also be accessed by a MySQL-enabled language. For example Perl or PHP, to create a webmail interface which communicates directly with the database instead of through a network protocol. Ultimately creating a fully customized mail server/webmail system.

As in customization, the server owner can add flags into the database for special purposes, such as letting a user flag specific Email for download, or flag specific Email as webmail only, or even download only, making a type of next-gen mail server.

Does anyone know of any software which can do this natively or even through a plug-in system? Would anyone know how I can create this type of system through either from scratch or by modifying an existing mail server?

Thank you, any information on this would be most helpful.
Kevin.

yeah there are plenty of ways to do this, fairly common too....

http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Secure_..._using_Dovecot

for example

I want the mail spool to be stored in a database. The link you provided explains how enable username/password lookups via a database, but it does not store the mail itself in the database. I already have my mail server set-up to retrieve username/passwords from a database.

For example, when mail is sent to SMTP, it would do a query like this:
insert into mailspool values ($UID,$Headers,$Message,$etc,$etc)

When mail is retrieved using POP3/IMAP, it would do a query like this:
select * from mailspool where uid=$UID

I hope this provides a better understand of what I would like to attempt.

Thanks.

Here is something.