[Kroupware] Citadel/UX server

[Art Cancro]

Ok, I've been lurking on this list since just about the beginning, and I was
planning to be silent until Cornelius brought this up:

<<
The Kroupware
project is doing the best job we have seen so far to integrate the KDE
clients with a groupware server, but there is also work going on to
integrate with Exchange and implementations for other servers like
phpGroupware or Citadel/UX are also very welcome. It's just that we
can't do all the work ourselves.
>>
 
 I just wanted to say that the Citadel/UX project is watching the Kroupware
project with *great* interest.  We will absolutely, positively make sure that
the Citadel server complies with the interoperability specifications laid
out in the Kroupware documentation.  I'm sure Kolab will be a better solution
for some sites, and Citadel will make sense for others.
 
 For those of you not familiar with Citadel, let me fill you in.  Citadel is
an open source groupware project which has been brewing very quietly for the
last four years or so.  Some of you might be familiar with Citadel as a BBS
package -- yes, it's the same software.  If you haven't checked it out
recently you'd be amazed at how much we've done.
 
 Where Kolab (and things like the SuSE mail server) are built from existing
pieces integrated together after-the-fact, Citadel has been built from the
ground up as a fully integrated solution.  Here are some of the things we've
managed to do over the last couple of years:
 
 --> Database-backed message store.  We use Berkeley DB for all of our
storage needs.  This allows us to provide transactions/journaling support,
along with all of the wonderfulness that comes with that.  No more tedious
mucking about with maildirs.
 
 --> The open source community's only single-instance message store (as far
as I know, anyway).  Send a message to 100 users?  Only one copy goes to
disk instead of 100 copies.
 
 --> ESMTP, POP3, and IMAP implementations designed specifically for Citadel.
 
 --> High-performance, multithreaded server core.
 
 --> Web-based front end ("WebCit")
 
 --> Text-based client for BBS applications
 
 --> vCard-based address book (LDAP is planned)
 
 --> Multiple domain support
 
 --> Support for spreading a Citadel site out across multiple servers (much
like Groupware and Exchange can do -- send a message to user@domain.com and
any Citadel server acting as MX is capable of handling the internal routing
to get to the user's home server)
 
 --> Instant messaging is built-in
 
 --> MIME object exchange (for example, you can program the system to
recognize when a user is trying to upload a vCard into his configuration
folder, and automatically add that vCard to the Global Address Book)
 
 --> An API and loadable-module architecture for easy extensibility
 
 --> Its own client protocol (using IANA registered port 504/tcp) for
custom client/server applications
 
 
 
 Right now we're busy adding calendaring/scheduling support to the web-based
front end.  There's still quite a bit to do, but let there be no doubt:  we
are ecstatic to see the Kroupware project come to life.  It will provide a
client application that will go wonderfully with the Citadel server.
 
 
 Happy hacking to all.
 
 
   Art Cancro <ajc@uncensored.citadel.org>
 
 (Oh, and visit UNCENSORED! BBS at http://uncensored.citadel.org and/or
check out the Citadel/UX software page at
http://uncensored.citadel.org/citadel for more info.)