setup SquirrelMail (HTTP email client)

Hi everyone!!

Today I want to describe how to install SquirrelMail on your personal server. This software is an HTTP MTA (Mail Transfert Agent) like Thunderbird, Evolution and others, but it must be used by an HTTP web page instead a gui interface.
For this, is like a webmail MTA like the web GUI of mail.com, yahoo or anyone other email manager, but it is personalized and it can be used where you don’t have a web GUI of your email, or if you want a simple interface, without annoying advertisements or useful parts.

I used that to manage a personal email on my always-on RasperryPI at home, because at work all the MTA application are blocked by proxy and I don’t like the web interface of @mail.com, then now I use this.  😀

The installation in really simple, by the command:

$ sudo apt-get install squirrelmail

and after, you need to configure the MTA


$ sudo /usr/sbin/squirrelmail-configure

that opens a configuration menu

SquirrelMail Configuration : Read: config.php (1.4.0)
---------------------------------------------------------
Main Menu --
1.  Organization Preferences
2.  Server Settings
3.  Folder Defaults
4.  General Options
5.  Themes
6.  Address Books
7.  Message of the Day (MOTD)
8.  Plugins
9.  Database
10. Languages

D.  Set pre-defined settings for specific IMAP servers

C   Turn color on
S   Save data
Q   Quit

Command >> 

with many options to configure your software.

So, under “Server Settings” (“2” and Enter) you can insert the server parameters (i used Yahoo for the example)

SquirrelMail Configuration : Read: config.php (1.4.0)
---------------------------------------------------------
Server Settings

General
-------
1.  Domain                 : yahoo.it
2.  Invert Time            : false
3.  Sendmail or SMTP       : SMTP

A.  Update IMAP Settings   : imap.mail.yahoo.com:993 (other)
B.  Update SMTP Settings   : smtp.mail.yahoo.it:465

R   Return to Main Menu
C   Turn color on
S   Save data
Q   Quit

Command >>

and using the command “A” and “B” you can configure the specific IMAP and SMTP parameters

(command A)

SquirrelMail Configuration : Read: config.php (1.4.0)
---------------------------------------------------------
Server Settings

General
-------
1.  Domain                 : yahoo.it
2.  Invert Time            : false
3.  Sendmail or SMTP       : SMTP

IMAP Settings
--------------
4.  IMAP Server            : imap.mail.yahoo.com
5.  IMAP Port              : 993
6.  Authentication type    : plain
7.  Secure IMAP (TLS)      : true
8.  Server software        : other
9.  Delimiter              : detect

B.  Update SMTP Settings   : smtp.mail.yahoo.it:465
H.  Hide IMAP Server Settings

R   Return to Main Menu
C   Turn color on
S   Save data
Q   Quit

Command >>

(command B)

SquirrelMail Configuration : Read: config.php (1.4.0)
---------------------------------------------------------
Server Settings

General
-------
1.  Domain                 : yahoo.it
2.  Invert Time            : false
3.  Sendmail or SMTP       : SMTP

SMTP Settings
-------------
4.   SMTP Server           : smtp.mail.yahoo.it
5.   SMTP Port             : 465
6.   POP before SMTP       : false
7.   SMTP Authentication   : plain (with custom username and password)
8.   Secure SMTP (TLS)     : true
9.   Header encryption key : 

A.  Update IMAP Settings   : imap.mail.yahoo.com:993 (other)
H.  Hide SMTP Settings

R   Return to Main Menu
C   Turn color on
S   Save data
Q   Quit

Command >> 

After that configuation, setup SquirrelMail into your Apache Web Server

$ sudo echo "Include /etc/squirrelmail/apache.conf" >> /etc/apache2/apache2.conf
$ sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart


Now, your SquirrelMail MTA should be online!! Try it at: http://my-server-ip/squirrelmail where you only need to usw your username and password related to the smtp and imap servers configurated.

This is an example on how is the login page

and how the mail looks like

Enjoy! 😉