I've tracked this down to be more a client issue than plugin. Both clients I've tried (oddly both M$) fail to present credentials it seems. From the qpsmtpd system to the IMAP server a command-line "AUTH PLAIN" and "AUTH LOGIN" with the credentials work into qpsmtpd via 'telnet localhost 25'. I've had success with both auth_imap with and without SSL. This eliminates the plugin as being suspect.
Does anyone have any success with Outlook doing SMTP auth to any version of qpsmtpd? I'll keep poking at this. It seems that the server isn't presenting what the client is expecting, or something. Ideas? Thanks, Peter