[Owncloud] Email handling in ownCloud

Wed Nov 9 14:00:51 UTC 2011

I think we don't need a complete email server solution. An imap client
is quite easy to use and for sending emails we could simply use php mail().

We won't change the pain of installing a mailserver (on shared or home
hosting environments) so fast, but with an imap client we would at least
ease the interaction/usability between self hosted
contacts/calender-dates and webmail-usage - i am thinking of
calendar-mouse-over events on dates in emails, and an autocomplete
interface to the carddav data in the to/cc fields when writing an email...

Everybody who is capable of hosting her own imap server could of course
still do it on the same box as owncloud is hosted on.

Perhaps the whole email-server out-of-the-box solution is better for a
later project stage? It could be developed close to independent of
owncloud.

Nils Jansen

Am 07.11.2011 22:20, schrieb Robin Appelman:
> Yes, but email isn't simple,
> no matter how much we want it, there currently isn't a viable way for
> us to provide a complete mail solution.
> 
> 
> - Robin Appelman
> 
> 
> 
> On Mon, Nov 7, 2011 at 21:42, Nicolas Le Manchet
> <nicolas.le.manchet at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Hello everyone,
>> yes the idea around OC is to keep it simple, but also to make your data
>> being YOUR data. Having a simple way to get full email support in owncloud
>> would be a killer feature, and I know a lot of people that would love to
>> have such a thing.
>>
>> Regards,
>> Nicolas
>>
>> 2011/11/7 Daniel <nix at tek12.com>
>>>
>>> On 11/07/2011 03:13 PM, Advrk Aplmrkt wrote:
>>>>
>>>> On 7 November 2011 07:51, Thomas Müller<thomas.mueller at tmit.eu>  wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> Am Montag, den 07.11.2011 um 13:10 schrieb Frank Karlitschek:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On 07.11.2011, at 12:33, Advrk Aplmrkt wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On 7 November 2011 05:15, Frank Karlitschek<karlitschek at kde.org>
>>>>>>>  wrote:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Hi Thomas,
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> having a full fledged email server in ownCloud is not an option at
>>>>>>>> the moment because it requires an SMTP daemon, spam filtering, an imap
>>>>>>>> server, dns configuration and more which is not easily doable for normal
>>>>>>>> users.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Hello,
>>>>>>> I've been trying Citadel groupware server
>>>>>>> (http://www.citadel.org/doku.php). It is a complete, well-established,
>>>>>>> fully GPL'ed, email server that's extremely easy to setup (it has an
>>>>>>> automated install script).
>>>>>>> I might be hard to bundle a Citadel server as part of ownCloud, but
>>>>>>> perhaps some integration could be developed so that the two work well
>>>>>>> together?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Absolutely. It would be cool to integrate different Groupware solutions
>>>>>> into the ownCloud webinterface.
>>>>>> I already started a simple proof of concept integration for Kolab.
>>>>>> https://gitorious.org/owncloud/apps/trees/master/kolab
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Cheers
>>>>>> Frank
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Frank Karlitschek
>>>>>> karlitschek at kde.org
>>>>>
>>>>> I totally disagree on that - sorry! ;-)
>>>>>
>>>>> First of all it feels odd!
>>>>>
>>>>> Second any groupware out there offers calendar, contacts and file
>>>>> management - why did
>>>>> ownCloud implement that - but not the mailing stuff?
>>>>>
>>>>> All these groupware solutions mainly rely on other components for
>>>>> emailing (CourierIMAP, PostFix, spamassassin ......) and
>>>>> ship scripts for (almost) automated installation. At least this in my
>>>>> experience with GroupOffice.
>>>>> ownCloud could deliver such scripts as well - but that's now what I want
>>>>> to have!
>>>>>
>>>>> I want all my data stored within my cloud! And this - most of all -
>>>>> includes my emails as well!
>>>>> For sure integration of the email client with contacts and calendars
>>>>> must work smooth as well.
>>>>>
>>>>> I'd like to see ownCloud become my private data vacuum clean - sucking
>>>>> it all in! ;-)
>>>>>
>>>>> Cheers,
>>>>>
>>>>> Thomas
>>>>
>>>> I agree with your disagreement in that it may seem odd. :p
>>>> But, I think ultimately it would be the most awesome if ownCloud could
>>>> provide its users with the flexibility to:
>>>>
>>>> (1) Integrate with other groupware systems such as Kolab or Citadel to
>>>> gain email functionality. This can be done by providing plugins to
>>>> ownCloud for integrating with other groupwares.
>>>>
>>>> OR
>>>>
>>>> (2) Using email functionality that comes with ownCloud.
>>>>
>>>> If ownCloud can provide *both* (1) and (2), then that's a huge win for
>>>> flexibility. For instance, some users could "add" ownCloud to their
>>>> existing server infrastructure, while other users would use ownCloud's
>>>> builtin services to start a whole new groupware server. This would be
>>>> a killer feature of ownCloud that makes it stand out from other
>>>> groupwares, and potentially welcome swathes of new users!
>>>>
>>>> Unfortunately I have almost no programming experience, but would love
>>>> to help in any way possible to help realise (1) and (2).
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Owncloud mailing list
>>>> Owncloud at kde.org
>>>> https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/owncloud
>>>
>>>
>>> I think the idea around Owncloud is to keep it simple (correct me if I'm
>>> wrong). IMHO, there's nothing simple about properly configuring an
>>> email/spam filtering solution - and it requires maintenance to some degree.
>>> I think that puts owncloud out of reach for some peoples technical ability.
>>>
>>> +1 for the idea of integrating roundcube as a plugin, and really all your
>>> missing after that is a postfix admin module. Then owncloud could have all
>>> the bits and pieces that one would need without requiring any of it.
>>>
>>> Daniel
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Owncloud mailing list
>>> Owncloud at kde.org
>>> https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/owncloud
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>> Owncloud at kde.org
>> https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/owncloud
>>
>>
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-- 
Nils Jansen
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