The Goal: To create a lightweight and function email program for linux; with decent IMAP support; and basic groupware functionality. And to create one that doesn't use the legacy mbox format, and suffer the disadvantages associated with that format.

In addition, I'm trying to create a program that doesn't treat the user like a 5 or 85 year old. There aren't 500 pretty coloured buttons scattered across the application. However, this isn't to say the program isn't user friendly. Rightclick an address in an email message, and you'll get an option of adding that to your address book. Do the same to a URL, and the option to launch it will appear. In short, I'm creating an email program that you control, not one that tries to do what it thinks is best.

7/8/02 - A ton of new features, kind of. The application now remembers which message and folder you looked at last, and will attempt to reload those.

In addition, the program will now communicate with itself if more than one instance is launched, sort of. Which sounds absolutely useless, but any of the new commandline switches that are passed to a subsequent instance will be sent to the first. The commands are listed below, remove the quotes of course...

• "-check" - does just what you'd think it would. Checks your email accounts, and will send any queued mail.
• "mailto:address@goes.here" - Opens the program, and opens a composition window to the address specified.

So you can now use the application as your email client from other programs.

6/13/02 - Index of folders is complete, and it works pretty damn well. There is also navigation to move to next/previous unread messages.

4/4/02 - Mostly a maintainence release. No new features, but some bugs and enhancements:

• When editing a filter, you can actually edit the filter you select.
• When doubleclicking a mail item to open it in a window, the message isn't reset in the viewer window. (This makes things faster).
• Forward TO: disabled in filters (for now).
• Delete from the maillist popup menu works.

1/6/02 - Hey. I revamped the pages for this release. They still suck, but hopefuly a little less. Anyhow, the new stuff is as follows...

• Sending now happens in the background. You'll see a little notification panel on the status bar (on the far right) during sending. You can opt to have it send after receive (if anything is in the queue).
• Filters work on receiving again. Moving receiving to a thread broke them. They work now. Seriously.
• Receiving is interval based. You can set the interval in the settings dialog.

Next? I'm going to implement find/replace dialogs where they make sense. I hate the settings dialog, so it will be redone. And IMAP support is going to be implemented, thanks to Mark Nellemann for help with an IMAP server.

12/30/01 - Last release of the year, and some pretty big changes included. They're listed below. The first one is the big one. And I updated some of the screenshots :)

So what's next? Sending on a thread, but since receiving was the hardest part, I think sending will happen rather quickly. The timer will be enabled for background receiving, and honestly I'm kicking myself now for not having done it sooner, since it would have been nice to have included it in this release. After all of that is done, there will be some UI enhancements, and some of the second tier features (filters, address books) will be improved. I'd also like to have it automatically parse meeting requests and pass them thru to the PIM of your choice (Korganizer). And a cleanup of the source since it was requested.

And the far future? Part of the reason for the delay in this release is due to the fact I was working on a java version of the program. It probably won't happen until I'm happy with the linux version.

And finally, a plea. I've stopped development on IMAP. I'd like to work on IMAP again, but I don't have an IMAP server to test on. If you can help, let me know. Oh, and go here and click on the banner. I really want those rings. :)

Changes for this release include...

• Receiving works in the background. It also shows a nifty little window with a progress bar that shows downloading progress. It only works for checkall however, individual account checking still happens on the main thread. Everything should be pretty safe, I think it's nearly impossible to trash a mailbox. :)
• Icons. Lots of icons. Yeha, they look pretty damn crappy, but they're the best I can do. If anyone else has any artistic talend and would like to help, please let me know.
• The newmail icon looks better.
• Some other UI enhancements

11/18/01 - Few new changes... listed below. FYI - there is a new version of libqtintf.so requrired, it also includes a copy of libmidas (also required). Grab and enjoy, and don't forget to ldconfig. See directions below.

• Bugfixes. Send NOW works. When you look at outbox or sent items, those emails actually are shown if you click on them.
• Sorting/Column sorted on is now remembered and restored between sessions (Hopefully)'
• New mail is indicated with newmail icon (Forwarding/Replied to will be added shortly)
• Signature is appended to email when "Send NOW" is selected from the send window.
• New ehnancements to the address book. You can double click a address on the mail window (panel) to add that name to the address book (it pops up the address edit window). It tries (and mostly succeeds) in parsing first/last name information out of the email.

10/23/01 - Few additions and tweaks to this version. I added a "properities" box for each email, accessable from the popup context menu on the maillist. That's the biggest change. I think everything should be cleaned up, and filelocking is next.

10/10/01 - I've put up a slightly new version. It fixed a few minor bugs, and one major bug. I should have interval checking set up in a few days, I made a minor change to prepare for it. Once more feedback comes in, and this version is stable, I'll move on to threaded sending/receiving.

10/09/01 - I've uploaded the first test version. It's jamail.zip, but there's an archived copy also known as jamail-10-09-01.zip Catchy name that. Here's the deal. To run the program, you'll need the libqtintf.so library available from download. If you don't want to download it from me, you can download it from borland, somewhere. Put it in /usr/lib, run ldconfig, and then one you download jamail, it'll work.

As for source, it's available... but I'm not sure where to put it yet. IF someone really wants it, just email me (link on the side). I'll put it up.

Check below for the status of features. FYI, just because it's not on there, doesn't mean it's not done yet. There are always tweaks going on.

This is alpha/beta software! I can't stress this enough. It probably won't eat your email. It hasn't eaten mine. I need bug reports, and I need documentation help, so feel free to volunteer. It'll help move things along.

To get the program working...

1. Download libqtintf.so to /usr/lib and run ldconfig
2. Download jamail.zip, and put it somewhere. /usr/local/bin is usually a good place
3. Run jamail. Open settings. Set up a network account. It only uses SMTP to send, sorry, no sendmail.
4. The SMTP server setting is misleading. I do need to move it off the network page. Right now, there is only one SMTP server that can be used.

9/19/01 - I'm back. Work got a little busy, and I was waiting to die for a while, but unfortunately, the demon that rules the cubicles didn't take me away. So I'm still here, and I started work again. As far as what's new, I added a few minor features (sent mail can now be stored in a 'sent' folder), and more importantly, started the beginnings of file locking on the mailboxes. This is important because it allows the mailboxes to protect themselves against corruption as the program moves to a multithreaded codebase. It's a good thing. However, I think I'm going to spend the next few days tidying the program up in some respects, and release a beta and get it up on freshmeat so people can download it and test it out. This will probably be the .08 release, the first public release version.

7/3/01 - Sending works. =) Most of sending works. When you "send" a message, it's queued... you can send the queue from the main menu. Of course, an option to "immediately send" a message is coming, like, very soon. Most things sending... such as reply (inserting text into the message, doing the subject, etc) work. Forwarding is also coming soon.

6/26/01 - Has it been this long? Filters are complete, and they work. For more about filters, see below. I've also made *tons* of speed improvements, and sending messages should be done sometime shortly. Some more UI improvements have been done (it now tells you how many messages are in a folder, and unread, on the statusbar)... it "remembers" some window settings.

5/29/01 - I had slacked with coding for a while; but KMail decided to eat my inbox over the weekend, so I started up again, and am cranking. =)

5/31/00 - May is over, natched a few more things in the acomplished category. I think address book may be done *before* the sending window, it only makes sense I think... =) Just added a trashcan, and gave new messages a "new" indicator. Haven't been able to do too much, cable modem is down. Comcast... those bastards.

What's Accomplished

• Full POP3/4 functionality
• Partial IMAP functionality
• Searching
• Filtering
• Multiple account support
• Settings notebook
• HTMLized viewing of email
• Basic Drag-n-Drop capabilities
• Added trashcan
• Add addressbook/vcard functionality
• More UI improvements
• Build send window

Some Screenshots  -  Mail me