
                                    README

   This  is  an  IMAP server for maildir mailboxes. This IMAP server does
   NOT handle traditional mailbox files, it was written for the exclusive
   purpose of supporting maildir access via IMAP.

   Courier-IMAP  can  provide  access  to  your INBOX. It also implements
   folders.  Its  folder  implementation  is  compatible  with the folder
   implementation  in  SqWebmail  - see http://www.inter7.com/sqwebmail/,
   and    maildrop    -   see   http://www.flounder.net/~mrsam/maildrop/.
   Courier-IMAP  clients  will  be  able to share folders with SqWebmail.
   Courier-IMAP  also supports the maildir voluntary quota extension used
   by  both  maildrop  and  sqwebmail. See README.maildirquota.(txt|html)
   elsewhere in this tarball.

IMAP client notes

   Configuring  IMAP  clients  can  be tricky for any server. You have to
   know  a  little  bit  about  how  the  IMAP  server works. Recommended
   Courier-IMAP configuration for popular IMAP client software follows.

  Pine (version tested: 4.10)

   Older  versions  of  Pine may require the IMAP_OBSOLETE_CLIENT flag in
   the  imapd  configuration file. This setting disables the CHILREN IMAP
   extension,  which  breaks  older  versions of Pine. Current version of
   Pine do not appear to have this problem.

   To configure Pine to use Courier-IMAP for the main INBOX, go to Pine's
   main  menu,  select  S)etup,  then C)onfigure. Go down to "inbox-path"
   setting, set it as follows:

   {hostname}INBOX

   "hostname" is the name of the server that's running Courier-IMAP. Exit
   and restart Pine.

    Folder configuration

   Pine  can  also  create  and use folders with Courier-IMAP, instead of
   creating  mailbox  files in $HOME/mail. Go to Pine's main menu, select
   S)etup, then choose collectionL)ist.

   Choose  A)ddcollection.  Pick a name for this folder collection. Enter
   the  hostname  of the Courier-IMAP server. For "Path", enter INBOX. Do
   not enter anything for "View". Press ^X to save and exit.

   Now,  when  you select a folder listing from Pine's main menu, instead
   of a folder list, you will see two "folder collections" in a menu. The
   first  one  will  be "Mail - Local folders in mail/". Open that folder
   collection, and you will see your familiar Pine folders (note, you may
   also  see  INBOX  there,  that's  a  bit misleading because your INBOX
   really  comes  from  Courier-IMAP,  it's  just that Pine always sticks
   INBOX into the first folder collection). The second menu entry will be
   your  Courier-IMAP folders. If you open it, you'll see just one folder
   -  "Trash".  This  folder  is  not  really  used by Pine, so it can be
   ignored. You can now create your Courier-IMAP folders by pressing A.

    Shared folder access

   If your Maildir INBOX has been previously linked, by maildirmake, with
   one  or  more  sharable  maildirs,  you  can  access shared folders by
   repeating  the  previous  procedure,  but  entering  "shared" into the
   "Path"  field,  instead  of  "INBOX"  (of  course, you'll have to pick
   another name for this shared folder collection).

   Unfortunately,  Pine  lists *ALL* of your sharable folders by default.
   There  is,  apparently, no individual subscribe/unsubscribe mechanism,
   by  which  you  get  to  choose  which sharable folders you want to be
   listed.

   For  the  FAQ:  In  a  shared  folder,  "expunge" does not remove some
   deleted  messages, why?. ANSWER: You can only delete your own messages
   in  a  shared  folder (owners of sharable maildirs can delete anyone's
   messages, though). You may be able to mark the message as deleted, but
   you won't be able to actually remove it.

   Also,  when  you  delete your own messages, others will still see them
   until you expunge.

    Creating folders

   The  names of Courier-IMAP folders may not contain periods or slashes.
   Periods  are  used as hierarchy delimiters - Courier-IMAP and Pine can
   create folders within other folders.

   Choose  A)dd  folder,  then  enter  "Work.Important". Instead of a new
   folder being created, Pine will display a new entry "Work.". This is a
   subdirectory  of  folders.  Move  the cursor and press Enter, and Pine
   will  open  the contents of "Work", which will contain an empty folder
   "Important".  Choose  A)dd  folder,  and  create  a  folder named "Not
   Important".  You  now  have  two  folders  shown, "Important" and "Not
   Important".  You can go back to the root folder collection by pressing
   '<'.

   When  saving messages to folders in Pine, you can manually type in the
   complete  folder  name,  "Work.Not  Important",  or press Ctrl-T, then
   navigate your folder hierarchy.

   You can only delete folders after you've deleted all messages from the
   folder.  If  you  display  the  folder  collection  listing, go to the
   "Work."  subdirectory and then delete both Important and Not Important
   folders,  when  you  return  to  the root folder collection, the Work.
   subdirectory  will  automatically  disappear. Subdirectories disappear
   automatically when all folders in the subdirectory are deleted.

    Folders containing both messages and subfolders.

   It's  possible  to have both a folder named "Work", and a subdirectory
   named  "Work."  that  contains  other  folders,  however  Pine doesn't
   implement  it  very  well.  You can go to the folder collections list,
   then add a folder named "Work", then add a folder named "Work.Slacking
   Off".

   Pine  will  display  one  entry:  "Work[.]". Pressing the '>' key will
   display  all  subfolders  in the Work subdirectory, and pressing Enter
   will open the Work folder.

   There  will  be  a minor problem navigating the folder collection when
   you're  saving messages in Pine. When Pine prompts you for a folder to
   save  a  message,  you  can  bring  up  the  folder collection list by
   pressing  Ctrl-T,  however  there  is no way to select the Work folder
   from  the  menu.  The  '>'  key will not work, and pressing Enter will
   always  display  all  subfolders in the Work subdirectory. To save the
   message in the Work folder you will have to type in its name manually.

    Displaying all folders

   If  your folder hierarchy has gotten too confusing, and you don't know
   where  a particular folder is, you can display all folders at the same
   time.  You  will have to create a different folder collection for this
   view. Go to Pine's main menu, choose S)etup then collectionL)ist, then
   A)dd CollectionList. Select a name for this collection, enter the name
   of the Courier-IMAP server. Enter the following for the "Path":

   #allfolders.INBOX.

   The  trailing period is required. Leave "View" empty. If you open this
   folder  collection, you will now see every folder in your Courier-IMAP
   mailbox.

    Removing the local mail folder collection

   You  may  find  it cumbersome to have two folder collections in Pine -
   the  default  folder collection of mailbox files in $HOME/mail and the
   Courier-IMAP folder collection.

   From  Pine's  main  menu,  choose S)etup then collectionL)ist. You can
   simply delete your local mail folder collections. Pine will now create
   its  usual  "postponed-msgs"  and "sent-mail" folders in Courier-IMAP,
   instead of creating mailbox files in $HOME/mail.

   Note  -  you  will  lose all your messages saved in local mail folders
   when  you  do  that,  so make sure to back up any messages you want by
   copying  them into a Courier-IMAP folder. Also, even if you remove the
   local  mail folder collection, Pine will not remove $HOME/mail, and it
   will take up space until you manually delete it.

   NOTE - if you use SqWebmail, resist the urge to go into Pine setup and
   rename  "postponed-msgs"  to  "Drafts".  SqWebmail will have a problem
   with Pine creating and deleting the Drafts folder at will.

  Netscape Messenger (version tested: 4.7)

   Go  to  Edit|Preferences.  Click  on  Mail  & Newsgroups, choose "Mail
   Servers".

   Enter  the  name  of  the  Courier-IMAP server, for server type choose
   "IMAP", and make sure to enter your login name.

   Click  on  the  "Advanced"  tab,  and  UNCHECK  the  option "Show only
   subscribed  folders".  Make  sure  that  "server supports folders that
   contain subfolders and messages" is checked.

   Under  "Personal  Namespace",  enter  "INBOX.",  and  don't forget the
   trailing period. Under "Public (shared)", enter "shared.". You may not
   actually  need to do this, if you use a recent version of Messenger (I
   believe  that  Messenger  4.5  and  later support the NAMESPACE server
   extension which automatically configures these values).

   There  are several known bugs in Netscape Messenger's IMAP client. See
   BUGS for additional information.

   For  the  FAQ:  Clicking  on  "Get  new  messages" results in an error
   message "Error in IMAP command received by server", or nothing happens
   at  all when I know there are new messages in a shared folder. ANSWER:
   this  is a known bug in Messenger's IMAP client. Complain to Netscape.
   You     can     try     reinstalling     Courier-IMAP     with     the
   --enable-workarounds-for-imap-client-bugs option, to see if it helps.

  Microsoft Outlook Express (version tested: 4.72)

   Open  the  "Tools"  menu,  choose  "Accounts".  This  is  done for you
   automatically  the  first time you run Outlook Express. If you already
   use Outlook Express, select this option manually.

   Press the "Add" button, select "Mail".

   Enter  your  personal  information  -  name,  E-mail  address  -  when
   prompted.

   Choose 'IMAP' server type, of course.

   Specify  the  name  of  the server that's running Courier-IMAP, in the
   "Incoming Mail Server" field.

   Specify your usual SMTP server for outgoing mail.

   On the next screen, enter your Courier-IMAP logon name and password.

   Finish  the  rest of the set up by giving a name to this mail account.
   Specify your appropriate connection settings.

   You will receive the following prompt:

     Would  you like to download folder list for the IMAP account you've
     just created?

   Click on "NO".

   You will be returned to the "Internet Accounts" dialog. If you are not
   returned  to  this  screen,  choose  "Accounts"  from the "Tools" menu
   account.

   There  will be an entry there for the new IMAP server account that you
   just  entered.  Click  on  it,  then  choose  "Properties".  Click  on
   "Advanced".

   If you don't need to access any shared folders, enter "INBOX" (without
   the  quotes) in the "Root folder path" field, and make sure that "Only
   show subscribed folders" is NOT checked.

   If  you  need  to  access shared folders, leave the "Root folder path"
   field  blank.  If you don't have a lot of shared folders, then leaving
   "Only  show  subscribed  folders"  also  unchecked  would  probably be
   easier.  Otherwise,  after  you download your folder list "see below",
   shared  folders  will  not  immediately  show  up.  You  will  have to
   right-click  on the folder list and select "Subscribe to all folders".
   Then,  after  all  shared  folders  are  downloaded and shown, you can
   right-click  and  select  "unsubscribe" in order to remove any folders
   that you are not interested in.

   Save your changes, and go back to the main Outlook Express window. You
   will  see  a  new  entry  in  the left navigation tab for the new IMAP
   server you've just entered.

   Click  on  the  new  entry. You will be asked again whether or not you
   would like to download the folder list. This time, answer "Yes".

   If you did not configure access to shared folders, all your folders on
   the  Courier-IMAP  server  will be shown as a single hierarchy. If you
   enabled  access  to  shared folders, there will be two separate folder
   hierarchies  shown: "INBOX" - your private folders, and "shared" - all
   your shared folders.

   When  shared  folder  access is enabled, you can only create or delete
   folders  by  making  them  subfolders  of  INBOX.  That's your private
   personal  folder  space.  You  cannot  create any "shared" subfolders,
   because  that  has  to be configured on the server side, either by you
   logging into your shell account, or by the system administrator.
     _________________________________________________________________

   Pine is a trademark of the University Of Washington

   Netscape  Communicator  is  a trademark of the Netscape Communications
   Corporation

   Outlook Express is a trademark of the Microsoft Corporation
     _________________________________________________________________
