GNU mailutils NEWS -- history of user-visible changes. 2011-12-23
Copyright (C) 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
Free Software Foundation, Inc.
See the end of file for copying conditions.
Please send mailutils bug reports to <bug-mailutils@gnu.org>.
Version 2.99.95 (Git)
This version is a major rewrite of GNU Mailutils. Quite a few parts
of the basic framework were rewritten from scratch, while some others
undergone a considerable revamping. The user documentation, at the
moment, is insufficient, and in some aspects even scarce. It is being
worked upon. However, most of the utilities self-document themselves.
To obtain a summary of available configuration statements for a given
program, run `program --config-help'. For additional documentation,
please refer to <http://mailutils.org/wiki>. If the piece of
documentation you are looking for is not available there, don't
hesitate to post your questions to <bug-mailutils@gnu.org>.
Due to the global nature of these changes, the rewrite of some parts
of the package is not yet finished, while some others are considered
experimental. Not currently implemented are:
- nntp client
Experimental features are:
- C++ bindings
The discussion below lists the changes in this release. It is divided
in three major sections, each addressing a particular audience. The
section entitles "Important changes" is of particular interest to
users. This is perhaps the most visible part of this release. The
section "Configuration changes" addresses package installers. It
discusses the changes in configure script and related things.
Finally, the section "Changes to the library" is of interest to
programmers which use or wish to use Mailutils in their projects.
* Important changes
** IPv6 support.
The core library as well as client and server utilities support
AF_INET6 family of addresses.
** Support for POP3S and IMAP4S in the respective servers.
A single instance of pop3d is able to handle several subservers,
supporting both plain POP3 and encrypted POP3S simultaneously. The
same holds true for imap4d.
** DBM support reimplemented from scratch.
The most important result of this change is that Mailutils is now able
to handle databases of different formats (e.g. GDBM, Berkeley DB,
NDBM) simultaneously, without need to reconfigure it. The database
flavor to use is selected at runtime, using `database URL'. For
example, "gdbm:///etc/mail/aliases.db" refers to a GDBM database.
See <http://mailutils.org/wiki/libmu_dbm>.
** New utility `mu'
`Mu' is a multi-purpose tool which can be of use to users, programmers
and system administrators. It allows you to retrieve information
about Mailutils configuration, check ACLs and authentication tickets,
list, create or modify DBM files, construct filters of arbitrary
complexity and many more.
See <http://mailutils.org/wiki/mu>.
** Configurable file safety checking
Some files, such as SSL key files, need particular protection, while
others (e.g. users' forward files) don't require it. Mailutils
configuration allows for configuring what safety checks are required
for each group of files. Files not meeting the configured criteria
are not used to avoid compromising security.
** Improved debugging and diagnostics
See <http://mailutils.org/wiki/debug_level>.
** Imap4d undergone a lot of changes to comply to existing RFCs
** Pop3d and imap4d allow for mailbox-independent compulsory locking
This feature is useful for those system administrators who don't wish
to permit simultaneous access to mailboxes, even when the nature of the
mailbox allows that (e.g. maildir).
** Sieve: new extensions
New extension action `pipe' invokes arbitrary external program and
pipes the message (or any part thereof) to it.
See <http://mailutils.org/wiki/Pipe>.
A similar test uses the program exit code to decide what to do with
the message
See <http://mailutils.org/wiki/Pipe_test>.
New extension test `list' compares values of mail headers from a
supplied list with a list of values.
See <http://mailutils.org/wiki/List_(Sieve_test)>.
New extension test `timestamp' compares the value of a structured date
header field with the given date.
See <http://mailutils.org/wiki/Timestamp_(Sieve_test)>.
** MH: improved compatibility with other implementations
** mailutils-config is deprecated.
Use `mu cflags' and `mu ldflags' instead. The mailutils-config is
rewritten as a wrapper over these commands.
See <http://mailutils.org/wiki/mu> for more information.
** movemail functionality considerably improved
See <http://mailutils.org/wiki/Fetching_Mail_with_Movemail>.
** Support for Kyoto Cabinet DBM.
Kyoto Cabinet is a library of routines for managing a database. It is
the successor of Tokyo Cabinet. Kyoto Cabinet is a free software
licensed under the GNU General Public License.
* Configuration changes
These are of particular interest to installers.
** New configuration options to disable particular groups of utilities.
The `--enable-build-servers' options controls whether servers (such as
imap4d, pop3d, comsat) will be built. Its counterpart,
`--enable-build-clients' controls whether client utilities will be
built.
** DBM options
It is normally not needed to specify --with-gdbm, --with-berkeley-db
or --with-ndbm explicitly. Configuration will automatically pick up
all available DBM libraries it can use.
** Nntp client is not yet implemented
** Link with GSASL by default
GSASL is used by several Mailutils components (notably pop3d
and imap4d as well as their client counterparts) for authentification.
Since this version, it is enabled by default if configure detects the
presense of GNU SASL version 0.2.3 or later.
This can be disabled using the --without-gsasl option.
** Experimental features
The C++ bindings are considered experimental and unstable.
* Changes to the library
** Stream support is rewritten from scratch
Stream support is a cornerstone on which the rest of Mailut
|