So far, this is a brief description of what I (initially) wanted to achieve:
Alpine+LDAP <---> DavMail <---> CompanyEmail@OWA/Exchange
So here's what I'm currently doing. Getting Alpine + DavMail to play nicely together. I have posted earlier that I compiled my Alpine with LDAP support so I can check my company's email address book. Here's the current status of the project:
DavMail <---> CompanyEmail@OWA: Working fine
Thunderbird <---> DavMail: Working fine
As DavMail is working, I can just focus on configuring Alpine. The first time I start Alpine (by typing Alpine in xterm), the program will create ~/.pinerc configuration file. I don't need to blow my head to configure Alpine as it has a great built-in configuration tool.
Chapter 1: Receiving emails.
Inside Alpine's Main menu [M], I just key [S] (Setup), [L] (collectionLists). Then inside Alpine's Setup Collection List page, I hit [A] (Add collection). Here's my configurations:
Nickname: MyCompany
Server: localhost:1143/user=ASIA\karl
Path:
View:
After I save & exit the configuration [Ctrl+X], Alpine requested for my email's password. I keyed in my password and Alpine ask for confirmation to exit the page. No error messages, so it's all good. Now to test it.
I go to Main [M], then hit [L] (Folder List). I can see 2 folders:
Local folders in mail/
MyCompany
Folders on localhost:1143/user=ASIA\karl in home directory
I choose MyCompany and using the Right Arrow [>] key, Alpine opened up my company email. I can see all the folders I have there and I can read my emails. So far so good.
Chapter 2: Sending emails (Working now!).
Thanks to Christopher for commenting and posting a usefull link. Surely, I managed to tweak Alpine's setting and managed to get the SMTP portion working for sending emails. Do take note that I'm already running a new version of DavMail so it'll be better for you guys to update too.
Inside Alpine's Main menu, I choose [S] (Setup) and [C] (Config). The mandatory line to be update is this:
SMTP Server (for sending) = localhost:1025/user=ASIA\karl
So here, I don't need to use user=ASIA\\karl because the single \ is not escaped.
Inbox Path = {localhost:1143/user=ASIA\karl}inbox
Note that this setting depends on whether you need it or not. As I use Alpine only for 1 OWA account, I set this up. Now press [E] to exit and save the setting. Press [Q] to quit Alpine.
Now vim your .pinerc file, normally in your home folder (~/.pinerc) and change this line:
disable-these-authenticators=GSSAPI,PLAIN
Save the .pinerc file and open Alpine back. I composed [C] an email and wallah! Alpine asked for my OWA password and email is sent! Great!. Again, thanks Christopher!
Chapter 3: Using LDAP.
As I've compiled my Alpine with LDAP support, I can use it to search my company's email address book. Inside Alpine's Main menu, I choose [S] (Setup) and [D] (Directory). Inside Alpine's Setup Directory Servers page, I hit [A] (Add dir) and this is my settings:
ldap-server= localhost
search-base= ou=people
port= 1389
bind-dn= ASIA\karl
nickname= MyCompany
Then I hit [E] (Exit Setup) and [Y] to save changes. [E] to exit the Setup Directory Servers page.
To test out, inside Alpine's Main menu, I hit [A] (Address Book) and select MyCompany. I hit the Right Arrow [>] key and type a name to search. Alpine then requested for my password and after a while, list of matches appears. So this part is working too.
Chapter 4: Offline email reading.
Yes, there's no offline reading for Alpine using IMAP. So now I know. That's one of the most important feature I wanted to use. After searching for solutions, I found the most suitable option. This is the latest description of the (possible) solution:
Alpine+LDAP <---> UW-IMAPD <---> OfflineIMAP <---> DavMail <---> CompanyEmail@OWA
So, instead of getting Alpine to directly access DavMail, Now I need to set up UW-IMAPD and OfflineIMAP. UW-IMAPD is built as dependency for Alpine+LDAP. UW-IMAPD is a local IMAP server and OfflineIMAP is like what the name means, reading emails from IMAP server in offline mode. Now OfflineIMAP will retrieve emails from my company's exchange thru DavMail (OfflineIMAP can't directly retrieve exchange emails), then OfflineIMAP will sync the emails to my local IMAP server which is UW-IMAPD so I will have a local offline copy of my emails that I can use with Alpine. Here's the checklist of needed softwares:
- Alpine+ldap
- UW-IMAPD
- DavMail
- OfflineIMAP
Update 13/04/11: Thanks to Christopher's comment, I got my email sending working! Thank you very much! You guys should read his comment and go to the link posted. I've update this post to reflect the changes. Later then.
