This page was written by Christopher Spry. When 'POP' and 'IMAP' are installed on a computer that receives email, then that email is made available to other networked computers using any of the standard email programs, under any standard operating system. I use it to access email on my Indy running IRIX 6.5, from PCs elsewhere on the local network or on Internet.
Obtaining and installing the POP and IMAP program for IRIX 6.5
Checking the configuration files
Starting the daemons
Testing the POP and IMAP daemons
Obtaining and installing the POP and IMAP program for IRIX 6.5
I recommend and use the University of Washington's secure POP and IMAP servers for IRIX 6.5 which are available as a 'freeware' 'tardist' file called 'imap-4.4' at http://freeware.sgi.com/index-by-alpha.html. Click on 'imap-4.4', to download and install the software automatically under IRIX 6.5*.
Alternatively, you can also use the Qualcomm QPOPPER software, which you have to compile and install.
Checking the configuration files
'/etc/services' should contain the following lines, which tell the computer which port to use for each service:
pop-2 109/tcp
pop-3 110/tcp
imap2 143/tcp
'/etc/inetd.conf' should contain the following lines to tell the computer how to start the services:
pop-2 stream tcp nowait root /usr/freeware/bin/ipop2d ipop2d
pop-3 stream tcp nowait root /usr/freeware/bin/ipop3d ipop3d
imap2 stream tcp nowait root /usr/freeware/bin/imapd imapd(Note that the daemons may be installed elsewhere on your computer, but this does not matter).
Starting the daemons
To start the POP and IMAP services, type:
/etc/init.d/mail stop
/etc/init.d/mail start
Testing the POP and IMAP daemons
Use 'telnet' to interrogate the POP and IMAP servers on your computer, to ensure that they are running. Open a 'shell' and type the following three commands. After you have read the answer, type 'ctrl-]' then 'quit', to enable you to enter the next command.
telnet localhost 109
POP2 'host' v4.46 server ready
telnet localhost 110
POP3 'host' v6.50 server ready
telnet localhost 143
IMAP4rev1 'host' v11.241 server ready
At this point you know that the servers are up and running.
It is important to prevent unauthorized users (third parties) from using your mail server as a route for their email, particularly email 'spam'. You can do this as follows, as 'root':
Make a backup of '/etc/sendmail.cf' and '/etc/sendmail.cR', if it is present.
Then edit '/etc/sendmail.cf'. Scroll to the section headed 'Anti-spam support' and after reading what it says, carefully uncomment all of the lines dealing with 'check_rcpt' and 'Parse0' which have '#' in front of them, but leave unchanged the lines that have '##' in front of them. You may notice an extra 'double quote' (") at the end of the last of these lines (R$* $=O $* < @ $=w > $#error $@ 5.1.1 $: "Invalid user name""). Remove the last 'double quote', as it is a typing error. Save '/etc/sendmail.cf'.
Then edit a new or existing file called
'/etc/sendmail.cR'. Add to 'etc/sendmail.cR' a list of the domain names that you 'trust'
not to send you 'spam' email. These are the domains of hosts that have their own anti-spam
enabled. In my case the lines are simply:
sghms.ac.uk
hgmp.mrc.ac.uk
Save '/etc/sendmail.cR'.
Then type in a shell:
/etc/init.d/mail stop; /etc/init.d/mail start
to stop then restart the mail services.
Double click the 'sysmon' icon on the desktop to check the system log for any errors that might have occurred when you started the mail daemon. If there are any, check that you uncommented all of the lines that you were supposed to in '/etc/sendmail.cf' and try again.
You can check whether this prevents mail relay through your mail server by telnet to mail-abuse.org. Further information on this issue is available from CIAC.
If you have any corrections or additions to make to this little guide, please mail them to me, Christopher Spry at cspry@cspry.co.uk.
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© Christopher Spry mailto:cspry@cspry.co.uk. This page was last updated on 26 November 2003 10:13:45.