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 18:23:08
