Dovecot - Revision history

Jimbo at 11:43, 3 January 2009

2009-01-03T11:43:19Z

DrModiford: /* Links */

2007-10-02T23:23:25Z

Links

DrModiford: /* See Also */

2007-10-02T23:08:32Z

DrModiford: /* Mail Formats */

2007-10-02T23:07:17Z

Mail Formats

DrModiford: /* Features */

2007-10-02T23:06:06Z

Features

DrModiford: /* Security Enhancements */

2007-10-02T23:03:03Z

Security Enhancements

DrModiford: /* Security Enhancements */

2007-10-02T22:57:59Z

Security Enhancements

DrModiford: /* Origins */

2007-10-02T22:50:48Z

Origins

DrModiford at 22:49, 2 October 2007

2007-10-02T22:49:07Z

New page

Dovecot is an implementation of the [[IMAP]] and [[POP3|POP]]3 mail retrieval protocols. It is typically installed alongside a mail transfer server such as Sendmail, [[Postfix]] or [[qmail]]. It was designed to be very secure both in terms of quality of the code and the encryption methods it can apply to the mail protocols.

== Origins ==

Dovecot is a relative newcomer to the mail services arena, only appearing in July 2002. Despite this it is very mature and fully featured. It was designed to be light on system resources while being quick to respond to requests and simple to setup. It is available from the [[Ports]] system.

== Features ==

Dovecot supports both [[IMAP]] (the Internet Mail Access Protocol) and [[POP]]3 (the Post Office Protocol version 3) as well as various [[SSL]] (Secure Socket Layer) methods to encrypt data running over them.

It was also designed to be secure. The code is produced to be clean and free from potential exploits (while this sounds like an obvious and possibly expected requirement for programs, search the internet for Sendmail and you will realise that even long-standing code can be extremely exploitable). It also uses various methods to secure and optionally encrypt data by the following options:

=== Authentication Methods ===
* APOP;
* Cram-MD5;
* Digest-MD5;
* Login;
* Plain text (usually default on POP3, not secure at all);
* SSL.

=== Authentication Sources ===
* BSD authentication;
* Custom password file;
* Default PAM service (dovecot);
* External program;
* LDAP;
* Other (Dovecot);
* PAM service;
* PostgreSQL;
* SQL database;
* Unix passwd (password) file;
* Unix shadow file;
* VPOPMail library.

=== Security Enhancements ===

Dovecot can, when using local account-based authentication, specify which UIDs between a set range can be authenticated. This is set using a minimum / maximum value. Typically the minimum value is set to a UID above the system and service account range while the maximum can be left blank for all remaining accounts beyond the minimum setting. In the same way local groups can be contained within the minimum / maximum range as well as additional secondary groups.

Similar to most other key FreeBSD services Dovecot can be run [[chroot]] in its own directory.

← Older revision		Revision as of 11:43, 3 January 2009
Line 65:		Line 65:

	The [http://www.dovecot.org/ Dovecot] project website.		The [http://www.dovecot.org/ Dovecot] project website.
		+
		+	[[Category: FreeBSD for Servers]] [[Category: Ports and Packages]]

@@ Line 52: / Line 52: @@
 * Inbox in ~/Maildir, folders in ~/mail;
 * Other location (Dovecot).
 == Links ==
 The [http://www.dovecot.org/ Dovecot] project website.

@@ Line 53: / Line 53: @@
 * Other location (Dovecot).
-== See Also ==
+== Links ==
-The [http://www.dovecot.org/ | Dovecot] project website.
+The [http://www.dovecot.org/ Dovecot] project website.

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:07, 2 October 2007
Line 52:		Line 52:
	* Inbox in ~/Maildir, folders in ~/mail;		* Inbox in ~/Maildir, folders in ~/mail;
	* Other location (Dovecot).		* Other location (Dovecot).
		+
		+	== See Also ==
		+
		+	The [http://www.dovecot.org/ \| Dovecot] project website.

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:03, 2 October 2007
Line 40:		Line 40:

	The network interface (or interfaces) with which Dovecot will listen to can also be selected and whether it is uses IPv4 or IPv6.		The network interface (or interfaces) with which Dovecot will listen to can also be selected and whether it is uses IPv4 or IPv6.
		+
		+	=== Mail Formats ===
		+
		+	Dovecot is capable of handling various mail formats:
		+
		+	* Inbox (and folders) in ~/Maildir ([[Maildir]] format);
		+	* Inbox under /var/mail ([[mbox]] format);
		+	* Inbox in ~/mail;
		+	* Inbox in ~/Maildir, folders in ~/mail;
		+	* Other location (Dovecot).

@@ Line 7: / Line 7: @@
 == Features ==
-Dovecot supports both [[IMAP]] (the Internet Mail Access Protocol) and [[POP]]3 (the Post Office Protocol version 3) as well as various [[SSL]] (Secure Socket Layer) methods to encrypt data running over them.
+Dovecot supports both [[IMAP]] (the Internet Mail Access Protocol) and [[POP3]] (the Post Office Protocol version 3) as well as various [[SSL]] (Secure Socket Layer) methods to encrypt data running over them.
 It was also designed to be secure.  The code is produced to be clean and free from potential exploits (while this sounds like an obvious and possibly expected requirement for programs, search the internet for Sendmail and you will realise that even long-standing code can be extremely exploitable).  It also uses various methods to secure and optionally encrypt data by the following options:

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:57, 2 October 2007
Line 38:		Line 38:

	Similar to most other key FreeBSD services Dovecot can be run [[chroot]] in its own directory.		Similar to most other key FreeBSD services Dovecot can be run [[chroot]] in its own directory.
		+
		+	The network interface (or interfaces) with which Dovecot will listen to can also be selected and whether it is uses IPv4 or IPv6.

@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 == Origins ==
-Dovecot is a relative newcomer to the mail services arena, only appearing in July 2002.  Despite this it is very mature and fully featured.  It was designed to be light on system resources while being quick to respond to requests and simple to setup.  It is available from the [[Ports]] system.
+Dovecot is a relative newcomer to the mail services arena, only appearing in July 2002.  Despite this short life it is very mature and fully featured.  It was designed to be light on system resources while being quick to respond to requests and simple to setup.  It is available from the [[Ports]] system.
 == Features ==