Folks, I have a RedHat-9 (large) image with sendmail and apache configured "ok". Now I need to install some CGI system that would allow certain (specified) users to gain access to their mailboxes online, read and send mail, etc. I am sure there must be a lot of those systems, but I don't know any. Preferably something with little headache, support for charset types (Russian, sigh), and "nice" in general.

Any suggestions?

I suggest either SquirrelMail or Horde IMP. I have SquirrelMail on my Linode but I am a satified user (as opposed to administrator) of IMP. SquirrelMail is easy to install and administer - I can't say for IMP.

You will also need to install a POP3 and/or IMAP server to actually access the mailboxes. SquirrelMail requires IMAP, IMP will do either. I use Courier-IMAP but that will only do maildirs, not traditional mailbox files.

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/ Peter

Thanks a lot for the suggestion!

Looks like everybody prefers either SquirrelMail or Open WebMail. Do you know by any chance what the difference between the two is so I can choose wisely?

I haven't used Open WebMail but I'll list the differences as I understand them.

SquirrelMail is written in PHP, Open WebMail in Perl. People say that Open WebMail can be a bit slow - it needs to launch a perl interpreter for each operation. You can speed it up by using SpeedyCGI to make interpreter instances persist in memory between scripts.

Open WebMail wins on flexibilty of foreign language encoding - it's independent of the settings in your browser or local machine.

Open WebMail directly supports anti-virus (clamav) and anti-spam (SpamAssassin). SquirrelMail can do this with plug-ins, but they rather seem to have the attitude that this is best handled by sendmail/your_MTA_of_choice and procmail, etc., before the mail reaches the mailboxes.

Open WebMail uses POP3 to access mail, but it cannot (for example) move mail from folder to folder. SquirrelMail uses IMAP for user authentication and to read/manipulate mail on your server. It can POP mail from elsewhere and store it in the IMAP folders but the IMAP server is a must.

Open WebMail wins if you have large mail folders and/or are converting from Outlook to webmail. SquirrelMail is easier to set up with the exception of requiring an IMAP server - but I needed that anyway.

Summary:

Open Webmail is more like a replacement for the Mail User Agent on your local machine, gathering mail from various places for you to read - except you're not tied to a local machine - it's on the web.

SquirrelMail is more like a Mail User Agent on your server (ahhh, Pine!), able to move your mail from folder to folder but only reluctantly fetching it from elsewhere - except you don't have to ssh into your server - any browser will do.

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/ Peter

Thanks a million! This information is really helpful.

I think my own needs are a bit "perverse" - i.e. even though I need a MUA, flexible settings for charsets is also extremely important. Looks like I'll have to make a prioritization list. But your post explained everything I wanted to know, so thanks again!