Mailing List Archive

Hello Brian,

One way you could handle this is use the usermap patch I posted
a couple weeks ago. It would require you add a usermap entry for
each of the user%realm users pointing to the user_idnr of a real
users entry, but I'd guess the number of your users with broken
pop3/imap clients affected by this is probably small, so that may
be a workable solution. Your idea is probably worth consideration,
but it always "just seems wrong" to me to have to patch one software
package to work around the brokenness of another (not that it doesn't
happen all the time, but still...).

Jesse



---- Original Message ----
From: Brian Blood <dbmail-dev@dbmail.org>
To: <dbmail-dev@dbmail.org>
Subject: [Dbmail-dev] realm separator solution
Sent: Wed, 26 Nov 2003 12:25:50 -0600

> an idea on how to handle the realm separator issue (if it still exists):
>
> add some directives to the dbmail.conf like:
>
> # this is the separator used in usernames in the database
> DB_REALM_DELIM=@
>
> # This is a list of characters allowed as realm separators
> # as presented by POP3 or IMAP clients.
> CLIENT_REALM_DELIM=%
>
>
> a search/replace is done on the username to replace any instances of the
> characters in CLIENT_REALM_DELIM with DB_REALM_DELIM
>
> This code would go in right after the username is presented by the
client so
> that it would propagate through the system.
>
>
> Comments?
>
>
> Regards,
> Brian
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Dbmail-dev mailing list
> Dbmail-dev@dbmail.org
> http://twister.fastxs.net/mailman/listinfo/dbmail-dev
>
-- End Original Message --


--
Jesse Norell
jesse (at) kci.net

On 11/26/03 12:40 PM, "Jesse Norell" <jesse@kci.net> wrote:

>
> Hello Brian,
>
> One way you could handle this is use the usermap patch I posted
> a couple weeks ago. It would require you add a usermap entry for
> each of the user%realm users pointing to the user_idnr of a real
> users entry, but I'd guess the number of your users with broken
> pop3/imap clients affected by this is probably small, so that may
> be a workable solution. Your idea is probably worth consideration,
> but it always "just seems wrong" to me to have to patch one software
> package to work around the brokenness of another (not that it doesn't
> happen all the time, but still...).
>
> Jesse
>
>
>
> ---- Original Message ----
> From: Brian Blood <dbmail-dev@dbmail.org>
>> an idea on how to handle the realm separator issue (if it still exists):
>>
>> add some directives to the dbmail.conf like:
>>
>> # this is the separator used in usernames in the database
>> DB_REALM_DELIM=@
>>
>> # This is a list of characters allowed as realm separators
>> # as presented by POP3 or IMAP clients.
>> CLIENT_REALM_DELIM=%
>>
>>
>> a search/replace is done on the username to replace any instances of the
>> characters in CLIENT_REALM_DELIM with DB_REALM_DELIM
>>
>> This code would go in right after the username is presented by the
> client so
>> that it would propagate through the system.
>>




Here's the rub:

Everybody else does it.

I know that CGatePro can take both and from what I've gathered most other
MDA's can take both. (We currently use EIMS www.eudora.co.nz, and it
supports either % or @)

And it's probably 50/50 % vs @ in what our client base has programmed in
(about 500 domains/800 clients)

Our online docs suggest using % so as to avoid any possible problems with
the older clients. (Is there a definitive list of clients that won't take
@?)

If it were my code base, this type of substitution would be hard coded in.
I only suggested the conf directives as an intro to the idea.
I guess I could make a patch that we use for our own compiles.

While I like your usermap patches as a solution to the multiple domains on a
single acct scenario, I think utilizing it to account for a single character
substitution is overkill.


Remember the mail server precept, liberal in what you accept, conservative
in what you present.


Brian

List of clients: Eudora.

I don't know of any others, but I'm sure they're out there. But Eudora still
has a large installed base of desktop users, especially in industry and
academia where they are site licensed and nobody is eager to upgrade.

The issue isn't so ugly that it can't be hacked around in four lines of code,
and isn't so idiosyncratic that it needs to be strewn all over the place to
make things work right. I believe that it is limited to the LOGIN command.

How about ALT_DOMAIN_CHAR = %, although I think that your suggested pair of
config options might be more generally better. I recall once reading that some
European keyboards don't have an atsign, so they use $ for their separator.
(Although somehow I can't imagine that this hasn't changed since email became
the killer application of the Internet...).

Aaron


Brian Blood <brian@macserve.net> said:
>
> Here's the rub:
>
> Everybody else does it.
>
> I know that CGatePro can take both and from what I've gathered most other
> MDA's can take both. (We currently use EIMS www.eudora.co.nz, and it
> supports either % or @)
>
> And it's probably 50/50 % vs @ in what our client base has programmed in
> (about 500 domains/800 clients)
>
> Our online docs suggest using % so as to avoid any possible problems with
> the older clients. (Is there a definitive list of clients that won't take
> @?)
>
> If it were my code base, this type of substitution would be hard coded in.
> I only suggested the conf directives as an intro to the idea.
> I guess I could make a patch that we use for our own compiles.
>
> While I like your usermap patches as a solution to the multiple domains on a
> single acct scenario, I think utilizing it to account for a single character
> substitution is overkill.
>
>
> Remember the mail server precept, liberal in what you accept, conservative
> in what you present.
>
>
> Brian
>
> On 11/26/03 12:40 PM, "Jesse Norell" <jesse@kci.net> wrote:
>
> >
> > Hello Brian,
> >
> > One way you could handle this is use the usermap patch I posted
> > a couple weeks ago. It would require you add a usermap entry for
> > each of the user%realm users pointing to the user_idnr of a real
> > users entry, but I'd guess the number of your users with broken
> > pop3/imap clients affected by this is probably small, so that may
> > be a workable solution. Your idea is probably worth consideration,
> > but it always "just seems wrong" to me to have to patch one software
> > package to work around the brokenness of another (not that it doesn't
> > happen all the time, but still...).
> >
> > Jesse
> >
> >
> >
> > ---- Original Message ----
> > From: Brian Blood <dbmail-dev@dbmail.org>
> >> an idea on how to handle the realm separator issue (if it still exists):
> >>
> >> add some directives to the dbmail.conf like:
> >>
> >> # this is the separator used in usernames in the database
> >> DB_REALM_DELIM=@
> >>
> >> # This is a list of characters allowed as realm separators
> >> # as presented by POP3 or IMAP clients.
> >> CLIENT_REALM_DELIM=%
> >>
> >>
> >> a search/replace is done on the username to replace any instances of the
> >> characters in CLIENT_REALM_DELIM with DB_REALM_DELIM
> >>
> >> This code would go in right after the username is presented by the
> > client so
> >> that it would propagate through the system.
> >>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Dbmail-dev mailing list
> Dbmail-dev@dbmail.org
> http://twister.fastxs.net/mailman/listinfo/dbmail-dev
>



--

On 11/26/03 6:56 PM, "Aaron Stone" <aaron@serendipity.palo-alto.ca.us>
wrote:

> List of clients: Eudora.
>
> I don't know of any others, but I'm sure they're out there. But Eudora still
> has a large installed base of desktop users, especially in industry and
> academia where they are site licensed and nobody is eager to upgrade.
>
> The issue isn't so ugly that it can't be hacked around in four lines of code,
> and isn't so idiosyncratic that it needs to be strewn all over the place to
> make things work right. I believe that it is limited to the LOGIN command.
>
> How about ALT_DOMAIN_CHAR = %, although I think that your suggested pair of
> config options might be more generally better. I recall once reading that some
> European keyboards don't have an atsign, so they use $ for their separator.
> (Although somehow I can't imagine that this hasn't changed since email became
> the killer application of the Internet...).



Since I'm new around here, how does this kind of thing make it into the
pipeline for implementation?


Brian

Hi

On Nov 26, 2003, at 7:25 PM, Brian Blood wrote:

> an idea on how to handle the realm separator issue (if it still
> exists):
>
> add some directives to the dbmail.conf like:
>
> # this is the separator used in usernames in the database
> DB_REALM_DELIM=@
>
> # This is a list of characters allowed as realm separators
> # as presented by POP3 or IMAP clients.
> CLIENT_REALM_DELIM=%
>
>
> a search/replace is done on the username to replace any instances of
> the
> characters in CLIENT_REALM_DELIM with DB_REALM_DELIM
>
> This code would go in right after the username is presented by the
> client so
> that it would propagate through the system.
>
>
> Comments?

I'm not completely sure what the realm separator issue is.. (did some
googling, but could not find anything specific)

is it that some clients try logging in with
user%domain instead of user@domain?

If so, this could be easily dealt with like you've done above.

cheers,
Ilja

--
IC&S
Stadhouderslaan 57
3583 JD Utrecht
telnr. 030-6355730
faxnr. 030-6355731

PGP-key:
http://www.ic-s.nl/keys/ilja.txt

On 11/27/03 3:46 AM, "Ilja Booij" <ilja@ic-s.nl> wrote:

> (did some
> googling, but could not find anything specific)



speaking of googling, could the webmaster put up pre-configured google
search forms for both lists onto the web site?

thanks
Brian


Happy Thanksgiving to all who are ingesting tryptophan today!