Offtopic: a free open source Email server (SMTP, POP3, IMAP) written in Go would be awesome.
I always hate how complicated and time consuming the configuration is of the good old postfix and the various other packages.
I always hate how complicated and time consuming the configuration is of the good old postfix and the various other packages.
I'd probably host my own mail if it were a matter of installing one server, hooking it up to a database (much prefer the idea of storing email in a database than mbox files) and giving it a few details. Even better if it came with a simple web interface for viewing email and for configuring.
I've set up mail servers in the past but I've always been left a bit uneasy, as if there's a possibility I've not quite set it up right.
https://fossil.alienscience.org.uk/repos/alien-mail/home
https://github.com/alienscience/imapsrv
Edit: The two hard things about writing email servers are that its incredibly boring and there is a lot to write.
The issue with most Unixy mail kits, is it's a collection of software that isn't always well coupled, and bundled together in really haphazard ways...
Many people want a simple interface that gives them administrative control (separate from physical accounts on the machine) that upgrades as a complete set...
With Unixy mail systems, you update dovecot, crap, something else breaks.. you have an older mysql backing it, crap, everything breaks when you upgrade... there's too many disconnected pieces for someone that isn't a full time mail admin to effectively keep up with.
I believe the original request is for something similar to say SmarterMail but open-source and free... something easy to setup, cross platform and packaged in a modern approachable language.... If I didn't have to work, I've often thought about doing something similar with Node.js
Yes, definitely. Try to set up the whole email pipeline in Linux/*BSD. You need dozens of programs including sendmail/postfix and each has its own config format. Many of these programs had their first release in the late 1970s or 1980s and probably no one understand every flag anymore. It's very time consuming (at least 4 hours) to config all packages.
How would a new implementation in Go help? It would be a clean break. Less features but a stable high performance implementation would be a win. Go is the ideal language for that task.
You could Apple-ise the process by making a single suite of software that installs as a unit and gives you a system that can receive inbound mail, store in a DB (ie, ditch mbox and maildir), make it available over IMAP, POP and some JSON API. Then all you'd have to do is give it a list of domains and users for those mail domains. That's the 80% solution. But I guarantee people will start campaigning for features which require configuration complexity.
I did work at an email service provider years ago though, so I concede I might be more familiar about email than most people.
I meant a single Go executable that provides most functionality of a common email server (SMTP, POP3, IMAP, inbox, web admin interface, webmail). (anti-virus, anti-spam, ... would still be external third party processes)
A Go executable would be easy to update and can be compiled for many platforms. Updating a unix style mail server with like a dozens of programs that call each other in a pipeline style way is non trivial - except you do it as your main work. The same goes for the configuration of each component so that everything works together.