Forum .LRN Q&A: email client

1: email client

Posted by Al Guyer on 02/02/06 11:29 PM

What is the recommended mail client with dotLRN?

Thanks,

-al

2: Re: email client (response to 1)

Posted by Carl Robert Blesius on 02/03/06 01:26 AM

I personally like Apple Mail, but I assume you mean <acronym title="Mail Transfer Agent">MTA</acronym>. If that is what you mean, there is a detectable migration towards Postfix in the community (away from qmail). I think there is some documentation for setting it up on openacs.org, but I am not sure.

3: Re: email client (response to 1)

Posted by Al Guyer on 02/03/06 01:49 AM

Actually, I was thinking more of an MUA. I am still a fan of sendmail as the MTA.

Sendmail supports, postgresql, ldap, and pam, and does quite handily what I need it to do. I was thinking of possibly using tcl / openacs scripts to process the mail instead of using procmail. What would REALLY be cool is to build an openACS app to configure sendmail. Maybe just put a wrapper around the M4 files?

So, there is a mail client for dotLRN or openACS? It didn't look like that was "acs-mail-lite"?

Thanks for the input,

-al

4: Re: Re: email clientA (response to 3)

Posted by Carl Robert Blesius on 02/03/06 03:47 AM

Here you go:

https://openacs.org/doc/current/webmail/

Caveat emptor: it is likely VERY stale (do not know of anyone using it right now). It is an Arsdigita package so it is likely that it needs some serious petting to get up and running.

IIRC Nima tried to get it to work a while back, so he might be able to comment.

Summary: it is not (yet) part of .LRN (it needs a rich uncle or someone with some serious cahones to clean it up... you sticking around after what I would call a suboptimal install experience shows that you might have the latter so you might want to take a look at it).

5: Re: email client (response to 1)

Posted by Andrew Piskorski on 02/03/06 09:29 AM

There is no "recommended mail client" for dotLRN, nor should there be.

Jin's ancient ACS Webmail package is indeed a mail client, but AFAIK no one anywhere is using it, and no one has for years, so I would not recommend that you use it either.

6: Re: email client (response to 1)

Posted by Al Guyer on 02/05/06 01:16 AM

Carl,

Thank you for the complement. I thought maybe I was just hard headed... :)

Actually, I see so very much potential in the whole OpenACS /
DotLRN model, that I couldn't let my own inadequacies cause me
to just give up. There are too many others that were having too much success!

Andrew, I hope you are not implying that dotLrn doesn't need an email client? If so, then maybe we have different visions.

A little while ago, I had to admit the stark, ugly truth, I am
a Windows administrator. That revelation precipitated deep depression and no little time in the fetal postion with much weeping and gnashing of teeth. A dark chapter in my life. I have administered the windows world since before NT 3.51 days. I have administered windows domains from linux since Redhat 5.1. Consequently, I love linux; I despise ANYTHING from MS. Words cannot express the depth of loathing that I have for anything Microsoft.

I see dotLRN/OpenACS as having the potential to move my users to a better world. I see it as having the potential to replace ALL client based activities, and move them to a DotLRN/OpenACS platform. I can not just merely replace the windows boxes with linux. I can however provide linux based services, rendering the client platform type irrelavent. On that wonderful day, I will send my minions out with a CD that builds a linux thinclient that boots to X and a web browser, a kiosk type platform.

I could build a portlet that connects to something like squirrel mail. The problem with that is while they can send email, they now lose all the functionality so wonderfully built into dotLrn. If the email client is a dotLrn app, they now have access to all their files, all their homework, gradebook, class info, etc while in the mail client.

I believe the dotlrn / openACS platform is so much more than "Exchange killer", it has the potential to be a Microsoft killer.

That's the dream, that's the motivation.

...as it Shall be written, as it Shall be done,

amen

-al

also, I believe a real email client should be server non-specific. It should be nothing more than an MUA.