PHP has some problems, at least in the SquirrelMail arena. First I want to say I use it, like it, and my clients like it. But I've had to create some work-arounds.
The one that is most striking is that it will not easily download attachments of any great size. Some of my clients have sent me attachments of up to 6M, and SquirrelMail will not handle that. It seems the memory for a PHP app must be set aside before it is loaded into Apache. I assume there is a reason such as not allowing it to break as easily, but SquirrelMail out of the package won't handle attachments much larger than 1.5M. Since it is easier to just mime decode the stupid things than to talk someone through FTP (some of my clients are, shall we say, less than technically apt), I either go to the server and manually decode it, or use Netscrape mail to fetch it off the server (then ask the client not to do that again). Increasing the amount of memory in the PHP config file did not help (I set aside 64M and still couldn't download it). Also, I have had SquirrelMail break on upgrades due to differences in the configuration format. This happened in testing, so is probably not a big problem (I run testing on my production server, yes, I know). It has (appearantly permenantly) lost the themes. I'd suggest installing SquirrelMail, but be prepared to get your hands dirty a little. Great little program and there are tons of add-on modules you can, but don't have to, install. I especially like the fortune module. :) Perl vs PHP? I'm a Perl programmer, and have a bias. But, it seems PHP is more prone to breaking. However, whether it is a problem with the language or a problem with the type of programmers using it, I don't know. VisualBasic is actually a pretty good language, but the programmers who use it are generally not professionals or experienced, so you get lower quality software as a result. SquirrelMail is, as far as I've seen, done by some programmers who know what they are doing, and it is pretty stable. Rod > On Tue, May 06, 2003 at 11:13:05AM -0700, Jeremy Zawodny wrote: >> >> I always wonder what people really mean when they say things like >> that--especially in this sort of context. Can you clarify why it >> matters? Are you trying to imply that PHP software is less likely to >> work? >> > > I just think that's because he like perl and is more confortable with > perl than php so he prefer to have perl softwares... of course, it's not > really interesting to have bash written in perl, but a webmail is often > modified for own purpose so a known (and easy for you) language could be > one think to consider in such a choice. > > That's my analyze, and I agree with me ;-) > > -- > Emmanuel Lacour ------------------------------------ Easter-eggs > 44-46 rue de l'Ouest - 75014 Paris - France - Métro Gaité > Phone: +33 (0) 1 43 35 00 37 - Fax: +33 (0) 1 41 35 00 76 > mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] - http://www.easter-eggs.com > > > -- > To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > -- Ameobit, noun- Ameoba/Rabbit cross. It can multiply and divide simultaneously.