A Hacker's Replacement for Gmail • Hacker News Board

Re: A Hacker's Replacement for Gmail

#21

Post by pfraze » Sun, Jun 30, 2013, 3:23 AM UTC

tbrock wrote: post #16

It's definintely time for an open source alternative to GMail... but I think everyone knows this isn't it. These tools like exim, horde, dovecot, etc. have been around and worked for decades but wouldn't it be great to have fresh solutions that weren't so ancient and archaic?

I made a very extensive search for an open-source webmail solution that exported a REST api. Unfortunately, none of them do (that I could find). Most of them are from the XMLRPC days.

I'd definitely contribute to a kickstarter for a good FOSS REST Email server.

Re: A Hacker's Replacement for Gmail

#22

Post by oijaf888 » Sun, Jun 30, 2013, 3:28 AM UTC

exratione wrote: post #8

Setting up a server in any hosting environment at this point comes with the assumption that its contents can be read at any time by the operators and whoever they let in without you ever knowing about it. That's still a lot better than Gmail. Setting up your own mail server is not a terrible woe-inducing undertaking if you have a working recipe to follow and are comfortable with the Unix command line (e.g. http://www…

Assuming you don't have any sort of console access configured and its a physical server how could they do that without letting you know via at least a reboot?

Re: A Hacker's Replacement for Gmail

#23

Post by bigiain » Sun, Jun 30, 2013, 3:28 AM UTC

mbell wrote: post #12

exratione wrote: post #8

Setting up a server in any hosting environment at this point comes with the assumption that its contents can be read at any time by the operators and whoever they let in without you ever knowing about it. That's still a lot better than Gmail. Setting up your own mail server is not a terrible woe-inducing undertaking if you have a working recipe to follow and are comfortable with the Unix command line (e.g. http://www…

> Setting up a server in any hosting environment at this point comes with the assumption that its contents can be read at any time by the operators and whoever they let in without you ever knowing about it. How exactly is that any different than it was 6 months ago?

The difference today is that not only should I assume that Google sysadmins could read my mail, but there's now pretty convincing arguments that Google are sending all my (as a non-US person) email to the NSA - who're storing it forever "just in case it turns out useful".

I'm somewhat less concerned about rogue individual sysadmins curiously snooping on my mail, than I am about the NSA's comprehensive perpetual archive.

Re: A Hacker's Replacement for Gmail

#24

Post by cdjk » Sun, Jun 30, 2013, 3:29 AM UTC

I've thought about doing this, but email is important enough I don't trust myself to provide as much uptime as a commercial email provider.

You probably should add SPF records too, if you don't want your outgoing mail marked as spam.

Re: A Hacker's Replacement for Gmail

#25

Post by ics » Sun, Jun 30, 2013, 3:32 AM UTC

LeafStorm wrote: post #13

While I don't necessarily trust an external company with all my emails, I also don't trust myself to maintain the myriad daemons involved in this setup without doing something subtly wrong that results in my server not sending/receiving all the mail it should -- or, worse, being used for spam. What would be useful is a pre-assembled virtual machine image or other form of appliance that allows you to deploy and test a…

> What would be useful is a pre-assembled virtual machine image or other form of appliance that allows you to deploy and test a mail server within about an hour or so, without having to duct-tape any of this together yourself.

There at least a couple Linode stack scripts that will do this, but I haven't given any of them a try since last time I checked they were mostly/all Ubuntu based. Dovecot + postfix isn't all that difficult to set up, and there are literally tons of guides all over the place (Arch wiki, Linode, Dovecot's site, etc.) for dovecot, postfix, courier, and anything else you might want. Perhaps the most dumbfounding thing for a beginner is the certificate step...

Re: A Hacker's Replacement for Gmail

#26

Post by pyre » Sun, Jun 30, 2013, 3:34 AM UTC

ishbits wrote: post #15

Many of us did similar in the 90s. I might go this route again but would use Postfix and Dovecot. I'd do this for my wife and kids as well - but if I get hit by a bus, email eventually not working is not something I should burden my wife with.

Just prepare for that eventuality. Make an upgrade path in the event of such a thing, and include it in your will.

Re: A Hacker's Replacement for Gmail

#27

Post by cliveholloway » Sun, Jun 30, 2013, 3:35 AM UTC

I would have thought a client side encryption plugin that will seamlessly encrypt/decrypt all your Gmail sent between yourself and any other user running said plugin would be a simpler option. Adding common mail suppliers as it goes forward.

Re: A Hacker's Replacement for Gmail

#28

Post by pyre » Sun, Jun 30, 2013, 3:37 AM UTC

pfraze wrote: post #21

tbrock wrote: post #16

It's definintely time for an open source alternative to GMail... but I think everyone knows this isn't it. These tools like exim, horde, dovecot, etc. have been around and worked for decades but wouldn't it be great to have fresh solutions that weren't so ancient and archaic?

I made a very extensive search for an open-source webmail solution that exported a REST api. Unfortunately, none of them do (that I could find). Most of them are from the XMLRPC days. I'd definitely contribute to a kickstarter for a good FOSS REST Email server.

  | good FOSS REST Email server

You should specify what you're talking about here. An all-in-one solution? An SMTP server? An IMAP server? A webmail client (e.g. SquirrelMail / RoundCube)?

Re: A Hacker's Replacement for Gmail

#29

Post by moxie » Sun, Jun 30, 2013, 3:42 AM UTC

LeafStorm wrote: post #13

While I don't necessarily trust an external company with all my emails, I also don't trust myself to maintain the myriad daemons involved in this setup without doing something subtly wrong that results in my server not sending/receiving all the mail it should -- or, worse, being used for spam. What would be useful is a pre-assembled virtual machine image or other form of appliance that allows you to deploy and test a…

I've been hosting my own mail since 1996. It's actually one of the easier services to self-host:

1) SMTP was developed for unreliable environments. If you have problems with uptime, your incoming email will bounce around for 5 days before it gets dropped. So assuming you can get your SMTP server running one day out of five, you shouldn't be in danger of losing anything.

2) Contemporary daemons like postfix and dovecot have sane defaults, so even a naive default install should be mostly secure. They're also extremely low velocity, so once you set it up there's not a lot of ongoing maintenance.

Re: A Hacker's Replacement for Gmail

#30

Post by rst » Sun, Jun 30, 2013, 3:43 AM UTC

Was hoping to see more discussion of backups. There are a bunch of possible approaches (depending on level of desired security, what the VPS provider offers, and how much you trust them), but for a mail server, there ought to be something...