Minimalistic IMAP web client...

[nimrod]

Hi,

I set up Dovecot as an IMAP server just for local users on a server: so no database, no LDAP, just local users with Maildir in their own home directory.

SMTP in this scenario is unrelevant, because my users just have to access archived email. The server doesn't send nor receive mail. Don't try to understand why.

But my users are very "primitive" and I don't have time to waste with their Thunderbird configuration, so I would just point them to a web site where they can access the same mail. What I need is just a web interface for the IMAP access. This web site should allow users to login with their local credentials on the server (remember, they are local Unix users).

It seems very simple, but I didn't find anything just like that. Roundcube, for instance, seems a good choice, but installing it on Debian forces me to configure a database for the users, which I really don't need and don't even want to use. Squirrelmail is another good choice, I thought it was a typical PHP application that you just drop in /var/www/html, making just some changes on some config.php, but it's not exactly like that.

Any hint would be really appreciated!

Best regards.

[Dan Ritter]

It's not packaged in Debian, but it is AGPL, and it is exactly as you describe:i
rainloop.

http://www.rainloop.net/

-dsr-

[Dan Ritter]

> It seems very simple, but I didn't find anything just like that.
> Roundcube, for instance, seems a good choice, but installing it on
> Debian forces me to configure a database for the users, which I really
> don't need and don't even want to use. Squirrelmail is another good
> choice, I thought it was a typical PHP application that you just drop
> in /var/www/html, making just some changes on some config.php, but it's
> not exactly like that.
>
> Any hint would be really appreciated!
>

I just recommended RainLoop, but I have to withdraw that: the
consensus on their GitHub issues is that the fork SnappyMail is
better maintained.

That said, Rainloop has worked very well for me over the years,
and I suspect that SnappyMail will continue that.

https://snappymail.eu/
https://github.com/the-djmaze/snappymail

-dsr-

[nimrod]

On mer, 2022-03-02 at 16:23 -0500, Dan Ritter wrote:

It seems very simple, but I didn't find anything just like that.

Roundcube, for instance, seems a good choice, but installing it on

Debian forces me to configure a database for the users, which I really

don't need and don't even want to use. Squirrelmail is another good

choice, I thought it was a typical PHP application that you just drop

in /var/www/html, making just some changes on some config.php, but it's

not exactly like that.

Any hint would be really appreciated!

I just recommended RainLoop, but I have to withdraw that: the

consensus on their GitHub issues is that the fork SnappyMail is

better maintained.

Thanks a lot, I will give it a try, seems very interesting.

In the meantime I made Squirrelmail to work, but it has the same UI I saw many many years ago. This is very good for me, since I'm looking for a minimalistic approach, but it's really too minimalistic for my users. RainLoop and SnappyMail are modern.

Best regards.

[Greg Wooledge]

On Wed, Mar 02, 2022 at 10:44:33PM +0100, nimrod wrote:
> In the meantime I made Squirrelmail to work, but it has the same UI I
> saw many many years ago. This is very good for me, since I'm looking
> for a minimalistic approach, but it's really too minimalistic for my
> users. RainLoop and SnappyMail are modern.

Remember, there's no law that says you have to choose just one. You
can install more than one simultaneously. Make the "modern" one
easier to find (shorter URL, more prominently linked from the home
page, etc.) and make the "minimalist" one available but less prominently
promoted.