Managing IMAP

Web IMAP Clients

We evaluated six of the best-known web-based IMAP clients for Unix (Table 5-1 ).

A Note on PHP

Several of the clients covered in this chapter are PHP applications. When PHP was created, every major web server had its own, proprietary inline scripting language to facilitate easily written, yet non-portable dynamic content. PHP addresses this issue by providing a very powerful, inline scripting language that is usable on many servers and platforms. There are close ties between PHP and various databases, so “databasified” web applications frequently exploit PHP. PHP applications, of course, require a web server that is PHP enabled. For full details on PHP, see http://www.php.net.

A Note on Server Platform

There are popular web IMAP clients for NT, including a very successful one from Infinite Technologies (WebMail). A web IMAP client doesn’t run in a vacuum, though. It’s at the mercy of all the idiosyncrasies of the OS on which it runs, as well as the other systems, such as DNS, LDAP, and the physical host itself, upon which it is dependent. There may be one particular web gateway that has every feature you need. If, however, it’s only available for Windows NT and your site doesn’t have the desire or expertise to manage a Win NT server farm, then you may find yourself balancing features versus platform.

Table 5-1. Comparison of Web-Based IMAP Clients

Features	IMP 2.0.11	Mailspinner 3.2.5.4	SilkyMail 1.0	EMU 3.0e	WING 0.9
Free	✓	✗	✓	✗[a]	✓
Open source	✓ ...