I am building (intend to build:-) a web application for users to interface with their
standard pop accounts which I
currently serve using qmail-pop3d. I have a few theoretical problems to overcome
before I begin. Firstly timeouts.
As I want there to be as little delay as possible in accessing emal functions from the
webpage yet I also want the
users' sessions to be spread out through their entire online session (ie they never
close the webpage) I have a
problem with pop3 authentication. I do not wish the program I run from the webserver
to reopen a connection and
reauthenticate each time the user requires a single function such as rechecking the
directory. Would an extremely
long timeout be advisable or would this be wasteful as users may disconnect within
seconds and leave the
script/program and the pop server connected for the remainder of the duration of the
timeout. What is the best way to
overcome this problem? Secondly is the problem of folders. Qmail-pop3d uses maildir
and as such I can easily scan
the subfolder New to check for un listed mails however I would like to extend this to
allow users to specify folders for
the mails to be stored in without actually moving the emails. My initial idea was to
utilise the maildir extensions to the
filenames of mails in cur eg add a numeric code to specify which "virtual folder" the
email resides in. The web app
could then scan for the number and provide the user with categorised mails that way.
This method would require a
modification to qmail-pop3d to allow it to accept extra commands which would specify
and request the extra number
in the filename. How easy would it be for a relatively novice c programmer to add that
functionality to the existing code
and would it be preferable to using an imap daemon? I am reluctant to do this as it
would mean telling my users some
300 currently and soon to escalate to the tens of thousands that we don't support
popmail and they should now use
imap! Does anyone have a solution to this problem other than those which I have
already outlined? If so I would be very
grateful for a response.
Cheers all,
--
Marek Narkiewicz, Systems Director WelshDragon ltd
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
02/19/2000 at 20:10:59
