Oakmailer Version 1.2

Oakmailer:

• is a script that allows you to check pop3 mailboxes through a web interface
• is a small program, the entire distribution is under 32kb
• supports sending and reading attachments and properly displaying received HTML messages.
• is easy to modify, the 'look' of the script is controlled through a cascading style sheet
• is free and uses a Creative Commons license
  This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
• although written on Linux, has successfully been used on Windows platforms
• is written in Perl
• is easy to use. OakMailer, and it's predecessor ThinMailer, have been in use and improved since the original program was written in March of 2000.

This program makes use of Perl Modules downloadable from the CPAN archive. CPAN is one of the beautiful things that make Perl such a joy to use. You, or your system administrator, need to have the ability to install modules from the archive.

I welcome your suggestions

Installation instructions are written in the included README file.

Download Oakmailer now (oakmailer.tar.gz).

Screenshots

This is the log in screen.
This is the main screen.  It lists messages in reverse chronological order
This is the message reader.  Attachments are split out into separate files and a link is created at the bottom of the message to that attachment.
This is the compose a message window.  You have the option of attaching up to one file to your outgoing message.

• I bit the bullet and went to a multi-file distribution.
• The display is driven by a cascading style sheet stored in a separate file. This means that you can change the colors and adjust how things are displayed on the page easily.
• I moved the script to a Creative Commons license
  This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
• A fresh README file gives a lot more information about the directory structure and what kinds of access restrictions need to be placed on some directories. There is an example .htaccess file included. The README gives an example on how to install modules needed by the script!

Changes for version 1.1 release August 29, 2003.

• The housekeeping was only activated when a user timed out (usually set at one hour). If no one ever timed out, then the messages directory just grew and grew and grew. . . you get the idea. I was worried in the original implementation about the overhead associated with a housekeeper swing on every call, but then I realized that the script was only looping through data that had ALREADY been loaded, so the overhead was nothing. Anyway, much cleaner data directory on this version.
• Had some style complaints, it seems that not everyone is really interested in modifying the HTML, but they also don't want to be stuck with an interface so utilitarian as to be unattractive. So, now the log in screen is a little snazzier and follows the design of the rest of the program.
• Number one request, "How do I make Oakmailer only available to users of my domain?" Answer: There is now a flag in the configuration section, easy!
• HTML mail from Outlook clients and spammers (sometimes this is synonymous with the worms going around) was being escaped and was next to impossible to read on the screen. I couldn't really devote enough time to encapsulating the HTML so that it a) looked okay and b) didn't break MY html. Luckily, someone else did the work for me. Kudos to Nick Cleaton for this robust and useful module.

Oakmailer v1 April 2002
Oakmailer is a total rewrite of my previous ThinMailer program. The only thing similar between the two is the interface, under the hood, almost everything was taken apart and re-thought. Here is an incomplete list of changes between these two programs

• Make the script use strict;
• Move from cookies tracking session data to a file on the server and session id's.
• Make the code base more compact and rely on CPAN modules more for the heavy lifting.
• Add the ability to include attachments with messages.
• other changes which escape my memory...

© Oakbox Productions