2023-01-30 16:43:50 +03:00
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Mox is a modern full-featured open source secure mail server for low-maintenance self-hosted email.
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2023-01-30 16:27:06 +03:00
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See Quickstart below to get started.
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2023-02-25 15:38:07 +03:00
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## Features
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2023-01-30 16:27:06 +03:00
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2023-02-10 21:43:02 +03:00
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- Quick and easy to start/maintain mail server, for your own domain(s).
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2023-02-16 12:09:33 +03:00
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- SMTP (with extensions) for receiving and submitting email.
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- IMAP4 (with extensions) for giving email clients access to email.
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2023-01-30 16:27:06 +03:00
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- Automatic TLS with ACME, for use with Let's Encrypt and other CA's.
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- SPF, verifying that a remote host is allowed to sent email for a domain.
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- DKIM, verifying that a message is signed by the claimed sender domain,
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and for signing emails sent by mox for others to verify.
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- DMARC, for enforcing SPF/DKIM policies set by domains. Incoming DMARC
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aggregate reports are analyzed.
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- Reputation tracking, learning (per user) host- and domain-based reputation from
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2023-02-10 21:43:02 +03:00
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(Non-)Junk email.
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2023-01-30 16:27:06 +03:00
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- Bayesian spam filtering that learns (per user) from (Non-)Junk email.
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2023-02-08 23:45:32 +03:00
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- Slowing down senders with no/low reputation or questionable email content
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(similar to greylisting). Rejected emails are stored in a mailbox called Rejects
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2023-02-10 21:43:02 +03:00
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for a short period, helping with misclassified legitimate synchronous
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2023-01-30 16:27:06 +03:00
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signup/login/transactional emails.
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- Internationalized email, with unicode names in domains and usernames
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("localparts").
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- TLSRPT, parsing reports about TLS usage and issues.
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- MTA-STS, for ensuring TLS is used whenever it is required. Both serving of
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policies, and tracking and applying policies of remote servers.
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- Web admin interface that helps you set up your domains and accounts
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(instructions to create DNS records, configure
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SPF/DKIM/DMARC/TLSRPT/MTA-STS), for status information, managing
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accounts/domains, and modifying the configuration file.
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- Autodiscovery (with SRV records, Microsoft-style and Thunderbird-style) for
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easy account setup (though not many clients support it).
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improve webserver, add domain redirects (aliases), add tests and admin page ui to manage the config
- make builtin http handlers serve on specific domains, such as for mta-sts, so
e.g. /.well-known/mta-sts.txt isn't served on all domains.
- add logging of a few more fields in access logging.
- small tweaks/bug fixes in webserver request handling.
- add config option for redirecting entire domains to another (common enough).
- split httpserver metric into two: one for duration until writing header (i.e.
performance of server), another for duration until full response is sent to
client (i.e. performance as perceived by users).
- add admin ui, a new page for managing the configs. after making changes
and hitting "save", the changes take effect immediately. the page itself
doesn't look very well-designed (many input fields, makes it look messy). i
have an idea to improve it (explained in admin.html as todo) by making the
layout look just like the config file. not urgent though.
i've already changed my websites/webapps over.
the idea of adding a webserver is to take away a (the) reason for folks to want
to complicate their mox setup by running an other webserver on the same machine.
i think the current webserver implementation can already serve most common use
cases. with a few more tweaks (feedback needed!) we should be able to get to 95%
of the use cases. the reverse proxy can take care of the remaining 5%.
nevertheless, a next step is still to change the quickstart to make it easier
for folks to run with an existing webserver, with existing tls certs/keys.
that's how this relates to issue #5.
2023-03-02 20:15:54 +03:00
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- Webserver with serving static files and forwarding requests (reverse
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proxy), so port 443 can also be used to serve websites.
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2023-01-30 16:27:06 +03:00
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- Prometheus metrics and structured logging for operational insight.
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2023-03-12 12:38:02 +03:00
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- "localserve" subcommand for running mox locally for email-related
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2023-03-12 17:16:01 +03:00
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testing/developing, including pedantic mode.
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2023-01-30 16:27:06 +03:00
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2023-02-25 15:38:07 +03:00
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Mox is available under the MIT-license and was created by Mechiel Lukkien,
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mechiel@ueber.net. Mox includes the Public Suffix List by Mozilla, under Mozilla
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Public License, v2.0.
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2023-02-11 15:35:07 +03:00
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2023-01-30 16:27:06 +03:00
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# Download
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2023-02-05 23:25:48 +03:00
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You can easily (cross) compile mox if you have a recent Go toolchain installed
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(see "go version", it must be >= 1.19; otherwise, see https://go.dev/dl/ or
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https://go.dev/doc/manage-install and $HOME/go/bin):
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2023-01-30 16:27:06 +03:00
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2023-02-27 16:05:10 +03:00
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GOBIN=$PWD CGO_ENABLED=0 go install github.com/mjl-/mox@latest
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2023-01-30 16:27:06 +03:00
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2023-02-05 23:25:48 +03:00
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Or you can download a binary built with the latest Go toolchain from
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https://beta.gobuilds.org/github.com/mjl-/mox, and symlink or rename it to
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"mox".
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Verify you have a working mox binary:
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./mox version
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improve webserver, add domain redirects (aliases), add tests and admin page ui to manage the config
- make builtin http handlers serve on specific domains, such as for mta-sts, so
e.g. /.well-known/mta-sts.txt isn't served on all domains.
- add logging of a few more fields in access logging.
- small tweaks/bug fixes in webserver request handling.
- add config option for redirecting entire domains to another (common enough).
- split httpserver metric into two: one for duration until writing header (i.e.
performance of server), another for duration until full response is sent to
client (i.e. performance as perceived by users).
- add admin ui, a new page for managing the configs. after making changes
and hitting "save", the changes take effect immediately. the page itself
doesn't look very well-designed (many input fields, makes it look messy). i
have an idea to improve it (explained in admin.html as todo) by making the
layout look just like the config file. not urgent though.
i've already changed my websites/webapps over.
the idea of adding a webserver is to take away a (the) reason for folks to want
to complicate their mox setup by running an other webserver on the same machine.
i think the current webserver implementation can already serve most common use
cases. with a few more tweaks (feedback needed!) we should be able to get to 95%
of the use cases. the reverse proxy can take care of the remaining 5%.
nevertheless, a next step is still to change the quickstart to make it easier
for folks to run with an existing webserver, with existing tls certs/keys.
that's how this relates to issue #5.
2023-03-02 20:15:54 +03:00
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Note: Mox only compiles for/works on unix systems, not on Plan 9 or Windows.
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2023-01-30 16:27:06 +03:00
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2023-03-20 11:28:17 +03:00
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You can also run mox with docker image `r.xmox.nl/mox`, with tags like `v0.0.1`
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and `v0.0.1-go1.20.1-alpine3.17.2`, see https://r.xmox.nl/repo/mox/. See
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docker-compose.yml in this repository for instructions on starting. You must run
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docker with host networking, because mox needs to find your actual public IP's
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and get the remote IPs for incoming connections, not a local/internal NAT IP.
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2023-02-24 16:16:51 +03:00
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2023-01-30 16:27:06 +03:00
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# Quickstart
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The easiest way to get started with serving email for your domain is to get a
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change mox to start as root, bind to network sockets, then drop to regular unprivileged mox user
makes it easier to run on bsd's, where you cannot (easily?) let non-root users
bind to ports <1024. starting as root also paves the way for future improvements
with privilege separation.
unfortunately, this requires changes to how you start mox. though mox will help
by automatically fix up dir/file permissions/ownership.
if you start mox from the systemd unit file, you should update it so it starts
as root and adds a few additional capabilities:
# first update the mox binary, then, as root:
./mox config printservice >mox.service
systemctl daemon-reload
systemctl restart mox
journalctl -f -u mox &
# you should see mox start up, with messages about fixing permissions on dirs/files.
if you used the recommended config/ and data/ directory, in a directory just for
mox, and with the mox user called "mox", this should be enough.
if you don't want mox to modify dir/file permissions, set "NoFixPermissions:
true" in mox.conf.
if you named the mox user something else than mox, e.g. "_mox", add "User: _mox"
to mox.conf.
if you created a shared service user as originally suggested, you may want to
get rid of that as it is no longer useful and may get in the way. e.g. if you
had /home/service/mox with a "service" user, that service user can no longer
access any files: only mox and root can.
this also adds scripts for building mox docker images for alpine-supported
platforms.
the "restart" subcommand has been removed. it wasn't all that useful and got in
the way.
and another change: when adding a domain while mtasts isn't enabled, don't add
the per-domain mtasts config, as it would cause failure to add the domain.
based on report from setting up mox on openbsd from mteege.
and based on issue #3. thanks for the feedback!
2023-02-27 14:19:55 +03:00
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vm/machine dedicated to serving email, name it [host].[domain] (e.g.
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2023-03-04 02:49:02 +03:00
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mail.example.com), login as root, and run:
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2023-01-30 16:27:06 +03:00
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2023-03-04 02:49:02 +03:00
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# Create mox user and homedir (or pick another name or homedir):
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useradd -m -d /home/mox mox
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cd /home/mox
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... compile or download mox to this directory, see above ...
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# Generate config files for your address/domain:
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2023-01-30 16:27:06 +03:00
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./mox quickstart you@example.com
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2023-03-04 02:49:02 +03:00
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The quickstart creates an account, generates a password and configuration
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files, prints the DNS records you need to manually create and prints commands
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to start mox and optionally install mox as a service.
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2023-01-30 16:27:06 +03:00
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2023-02-10 21:43:02 +03:00
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A dedicated machine is highly recommended because modern email requires HTTPS,
|
improve webserver, add domain redirects (aliases), add tests and admin page ui to manage the config
- make builtin http handlers serve on specific domains, such as for mta-sts, so
e.g. /.well-known/mta-sts.txt isn't served on all domains.
- add logging of a few more fields in access logging.
- small tweaks/bug fixes in webserver request handling.
- add config option for redirecting entire domains to another (common enough).
- split httpserver metric into two: one for duration until writing header (i.e.
performance of server), another for duration until full response is sent to
client (i.e. performance as perceived by users).
- add admin ui, a new page for managing the configs. after making changes
and hitting "save", the changes take effect immediately. the page itself
doesn't look very well-designed (many input fields, makes it look messy). i
have an idea to improve it (explained in admin.html as todo) by making the
layout look just like the config file. not urgent though.
i've already changed my websites/webapps over.
the idea of adding a webserver is to take away a (the) reason for folks to want
to complicate their mox setup by running an other webserver on the same machine.
i think the current webserver implementation can already serve most common use
cases. with a few more tweaks (feedback needed!) we should be able to get to 95%
of the use cases. the reverse proxy can take care of the remaining 5%.
nevertheless, a next step is still to change the quickstart to make it easier
for folks to run with an existing webserver, with existing tls certs/keys.
that's how this relates to issue #5.
2023-03-02 20:15:54 +03:00
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and mox currently needs it for automatic TLS. You could combine mox with an
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existing webserver, but it requires more configuration. If you want to serve
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2023-03-04 02:49:02 +03:00
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websites on the same machine, consider using the webserver built into mox. If
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you want to run an existing webserver on port 443/80, see "mox help quickstart",
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it'll tell you to run "./mox quickstart -existing-webserver you@example.com".
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2023-01-30 16:27:06 +03:00
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After starting, you can access the admin web interface on internal IPs.
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2023-02-25 15:38:07 +03:00
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# Future/development
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Mox has automated tests, including for interoperability with Postfix for SMTP.
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Mox is manually tested with email clients: Mozilla Thunderbird, mutt, iOS Mail,
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macOS Mail, Android Mail, Microsoft Outlook. Mox is also manually tested to
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interoperate with popular cloud providers: gmail.com, outlook.com, yahoo.com,
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proton.me.
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The code is heavily cross-referenced with the RFCs for readability/maintainability.
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## Roadmap
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- Privilege separation, isolating parts of the application to more restricted
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sandbox (e.g. new unauthenticated connections).
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- DANE and DNSSEC.
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- Sending DMARC and TLS reports (currently only receiving).
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- OAUTH2 support, for single sign on.
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- Add special IMAP mailbox ("Queue?") that contains queued but
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not-yet-delivered messages.
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2023-02-27 17:04:53 +03:00
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- Sieve for filtering (for now see Rulesets in the account config)
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2023-02-25 15:38:07 +03:00
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- Calendaring
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2023-03-04 02:49:02 +03:00
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- IMAP CONDSTORE and QRESYNC extensions
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- IMAP THREAD extension
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- Using mox as backup MX.
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- Old-style internationalization in messages.
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2023-02-27 17:04:53 +03:00
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- JMAP
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2023-02-25 15:38:07 +03:00
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- Webmail
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There are many smaller improvements to make as well, search for "todo" in the code.
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## Not supported
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But perhaps in the future...
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- HTTP-based API for sending messages and receiving delivery feedback
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- Functioning as SMTP relay
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- Forwarding (to an external address)
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- Autoresponders
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- POP3
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- Delivery to (unix) OS system users
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- Mailing list manager
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- Support for pluggable delivery mechanisms
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2023-01-30 16:27:06 +03:00
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# FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions
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2023-02-11 15:35:07 +03:00
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## Why a new mail server implementation?
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2023-01-30 16:27:06 +03:00
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Mox aims to make "running a mail server" easy and nearly effortless. Excellent
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quality mail server software exists, but getting a working setup typically
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requires you configure half a dozen services (SMTP, IMAP, SPF/DKIM/DMARC, spam
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filtering). That seems to lead to people no longer running their own mail
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2023-02-10 21:43:02 +03:00
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servers, instead switching to one of the few centralized email providers. Email
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with SMTP is a long-time decentralized messaging protocol. To keep it
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decentralized, people need to run their own mail server. Mox aims to make that
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easy.
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2023-01-30 16:27:06 +03:00
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2023-02-11 15:35:07 +03:00
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## Where is the documentation?
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2023-01-30 16:27:06 +03:00
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2023-01-30 16:43:50 +03:00
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See all commands and help text at https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/mjl-/mox/, and
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example config files at https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/mjl-/mox/config/.
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2023-01-30 16:27:06 +03:00
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2023-01-30 16:43:50 +03:00
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You can get the same information by running "mox" without arguments to list its
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2023-02-10 21:43:02 +03:00
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subcommands and usage, and "mox help [subcommand]" for more details.
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2023-01-30 16:27:06 +03:00
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2023-01-30 16:43:50 +03:00
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The example config files are printed by "mox config describe-static" and "mox
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config describe-dynamic".
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2023-01-30 16:27:06 +03:00
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Mox is still in early stages, and documentation is still limited. Please create
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an issue describing what is unclear or confusing, and we'll try to improve the
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documentation.
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2023-02-11 15:35:07 +03:00
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## How do I import/export email?
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2023-01-30 16:27:06 +03:00
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2023-02-16 11:57:27 +03:00
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Use the import functionality on the accounts web page to import a zip/tgz with
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maildirs/mbox files, or use the "mox import maildir" or "mox import mbox"
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subcommands. You could also use your IMAP email client, add your mox account,
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and copy or move messages from one account to the other.
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2023-01-30 16:27:06 +03:00
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2023-02-16 11:57:27 +03:00
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Similarly, see the export functionality on the accounts web page and the "mox
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export maildir" and "mox export mbox" subcommands to export email.
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2023-01-30 16:27:06 +03:00
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2023-02-11 15:35:07 +03:00
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## How can I help?
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2023-01-30 16:27:06 +03:00
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Mox needs users and testing in real-life setups! So just give it a try, send
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and receive emails through it with your favourite email clients, and file an
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issue if you encounter a problem or would like to see a feature/functionality
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implemented.
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improve webserver, add domain redirects (aliases), add tests and admin page ui to manage the config
- make builtin http handlers serve on specific domains, such as for mta-sts, so
e.g. /.well-known/mta-sts.txt isn't served on all domains.
- add logging of a few more fields in access logging.
- small tweaks/bug fixes in webserver request handling.
- add config option for redirecting entire domains to another (common enough).
- split httpserver metric into two: one for duration until writing header (i.e.
performance of server), another for duration until full response is sent to
client (i.e. performance as perceived by users).
- add admin ui, a new page for managing the configs. after making changes
and hitting "save", the changes take effect immediately. the page itself
doesn't look very well-designed (many input fields, makes it look messy). i
have an idea to improve it (explained in admin.html as todo) by making the
layout look just like the config file. not urgent though.
i've already changed my websites/webapps over.
the idea of adding a webserver is to take away a (the) reason for folks to want
to complicate their mox setup by running an other webserver on the same machine.
i think the current webserver implementation can already serve most common use
cases. with a few more tweaks (feedback needed!) we should be able to get to 95%
of the use cases. the reverse proxy can take care of the remaining 5%.
nevertheless, a next step is still to change the quickstart to make it easier
for folks to run with an existing webserver, with existing tls certs/keys.
that's how this relates to issue #5.
2023-03-02 20:15:54 +03:00
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Instead of switching email for your domain over to mox, you could simply
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2023-02-10 21:43:02 +03:00
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configure mox for a subdomain, e.g. [you]@moxtest.[yourdomain].
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2023-01-30 16:27:06 +03:00
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If you have experience with how the email protocols are used in the wild, e.g.
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compatibility issues, limitations, anti-spam measures, specification
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violations, that would be interesting to hear about.
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Pull requests for bug fixes and new code are welcome too. If the changes are
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large, it helps to start a discussion (create a ticket) before doing all the
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work.
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2023-03-02 22:22:26 +03:00
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By contributing (e.g. code), you agree your contributions are licensed under the
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MIT license (like mox), and have the rights to do so.
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2023-02-25 15:38:07 +03:00
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## Where can I discuss mox?
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Join #mox on irc.oftc.net, or #mox on the "Gopher slack".
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For bug reports, please file an issue at https://github.com/mjl-/mox/issues/new.
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2023-02-11 15:35:07 +03:00
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## How do I change my password?
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2023-01-30 16:27:06 +03:00
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Regular users (doing IMAP/SMTP with authentication) can change their password
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2023-03-20 14:49:40 +03:00
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at the account page, e.g. http://localhost/. Or you can set a password with "mox
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2023-02-16 11:57:27 +03:00
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setaccountpassword".
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2023-01-30 16:27:06 +03:00
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2023-03-20 14:49:40 +03:00
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The admin can change the password of any account through the admin page, at
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http://localhost/admin/ by default (leave username empty when logging in).
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The account and admin pages are served on localhost on your mail server.
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To access these from your browser, run
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`ssh -L 8080:localhost:80 you@yourmachine` locally and open
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http://localhost:8080/[...].
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2023-01-30 16:27:06 +03:00
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The admin password can be changed with "mox setadminpassword".
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2023-02-11 15:35:07 +03:00
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## How do I configure a second mox instance as a backup MX?
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2023-01-30 16:27:06 +03:00
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Unfortunately, mox does not yet provide an option for that. Mox does spam
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filtering based on reputation of received messages. It will take a good amount
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of work to share that information with a backup MX. Without that information,
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improve webserver, add domain redirects (aliases), add tests and admin page ui to manage the config
- make builtin http handlers serve on specific domains, such as for mta-sts, so
e.g. /.well-known/mta-sts.txt isn't served on all domains.
- add logging of a few more fields in access logging.
- small tweaks/bug fixes in webserver request handling.
- add config option for redirecting entire domains to another (common enough).
- split httpserver metric into two: one for duration until writing header (i.e.
performance of server), another for duration until full response is sent to
client (i.e. performance as perceived by users).
- add admin ui, a new page for managing the configs. after making changes
and hitting "save", the changes take effect immediately. the page itself
doesn't look very well-designed (many input fields, makes it look messy). i
have an idea to improve it (explained in admin.html as todo) by making the
layout look just like the config file. not urgent though.
i've already changed my websites/webapps over.
the idea of adding a webserver is to take away a (the) reason for folks to want
to complicate their mox setup by running an other webserver on the same machine.
i think the current webserver implementation can already serve most common use
cases. with a few more tweaks (feedback needed!) we should be able to get to 95%
of the use cases. the reverse proxy can take care of the remaining 5%.
nevertheless, a next step is still to change the quickstart to make it easier
for folks to run with an existing webserver, with existing tls certs/keys.
that's how this relates to issue #5.
2023-03-02 20:15:54 +03:00
|
|
|
spammers could use a backup MX to get their spam accepted. Until mox has a
|
2023-01-30 16:27:06 +03:00
|
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proper solution, you can simply run a single SMTP server.
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2023-02-27 17:04:53 +03:00
|
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|
## How do I stay up to date?
|
|
|
|
|
|
improve webserver, add domain redirects (aliases), add tests and admin page ui to manage the config
- make builtin http handlers serve on specific domains, such as for mta-sts, so
e.g. /.well-known/mta-sts.txt isn't served on all domains.
- add logging of a few more fields in access logging.
- small tweaks/bug fixes in webserver request handling.
- add config option for redirecting entire domains to another (common enough).
- split httpserver metric into two: one for duration until writing header (i.e.
performance of server), another for duration until full response is sent to
client (i.e. performance as perceived by users).
- add admin ui, a new page for managing the configs. after making changes
and hitting "save", the changes take effect immediately. the page itself
doesn't look very well-designed (many input fields, makes it look messy). i
have an idea to improve it (explained in admin.html as todo) by making the
layout look just like the config file. not urgent though.
i've already changed my websites/webapps over.
the idea of adding a webserver is to take away a (the) reason for folks to want
to complicate their mox setup by running an other webserver on the same machine.
i think the current webserver implementation can already serve most common use
cases. with a few more tweaks (feedback needed!) we should be able to get to 95%
of the use cases. the reverse proxy can take care of the remaining 5%.
nevertheless, a next step is still to change the quickstart to make it easier
for folks to run with an existing webserver, with existing tls certs/keys.
that's how this relates to issue #5.
2023-03-02 20:15:54 +03:00
|
|
|
Please set "CheckUpdates: true" in mox.conf. Mox will check for a new version
|
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|
|
through a DNS TXT request for `_updates.xmox.nl` once per 24h. Only if a new
|
|
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|
|
version is published will the changelog be fetched and delivered to the
|
2023-02-27 17:04:53 +03:00
|
|
|
postmaster mailbox.
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|
2023-03-09 18:50:24 +03:00
|
|
|
The changelog, including latest update instructions, is at
|
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|
https://updates.xmox.nl/changelog.
|
2023-02-27 17:04:53 +03:00
|
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|
2023-03-09 18:50:24 +03:00
|
|
|
You can also monitor newly added releases on this repository with the github
|
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|
|
"watch" feature, or use the github RSS feed for tags
|
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|
(https://github.com/mjl-/mox/tags.atom) or releases
|
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|
(https://github.com/mjl-/mox/releases.atom), or monitor the docker images.
|
2023-02-27 17:04:53 +03:00
|
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|
Keep in mind you have a responsibility to keep the internect-connected software
|
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|
you run up to date and secure.
|
|
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|
|
2023-02-11 15:35:07 +03:00
|
|
|
## How secure is mox?
|
2023-01-30 16:27:06 +03:00
|
|
|
|
2023-02-10 21:43:02 +03:00
|
|
|
Security is high on the priority list for mox. Mox is young, so don't expect no
|
2023-01-30 16:27:06 +03:00
|
|
|
bugs at all. Mox does have automated tests for some security aspects, e.g. for
|
|
|
|
|
login, and uses fuzzing. Mox is written in Go, so some classes of bugs such as
|
|
|
|
|
buffer mishandling do not typically result in privilege escalation. Of course
|
|
|
|
|
logic bugs will still exist. If you find any security issues, please email them
|
|
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|
|
to mechiel@ueber.net.
|
2023-02-27 17:04:53 +03:00
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
## I'm now running an email server, but how does email work?
|
|
|
|
|
|
improve webserver, add domain redirects (aliases), add tests and admin page ui to manage the config
- make builtin http handlers serve on specific domains, such as for mta-sts, so
e.g. /.well-known/mta-sts.txt isn't served on all domains.
- add logging of a few more fields in access logging.
- small tweaks/bug fixes in webserver request handling.
- add config option for redirecting entire domains to another (common enough).
- split httpserver metric into two: one for duration until writing header (i.e.
performance of server), another for duration until full response is sent to
client (i.e. performance as perceived by users).
- add admin ui, a new page for managing the configs. after making changes
and hitting "save", the changes take effect immediately. the page itself
doesn't look very well-designed (many input fields, makes it look messy). i
have an idea to improve it (explained in admin.html as todo) by making the
layout look just like the config file. not urgent though.
i've already changed my websites/webapps over.
the idea of adding a webserver is to take away a (the) reason for folks to want
to complicate their mox setup by running an other webserver on the same machine.
i think the current webserver implementation can already serve most common use
cases. with a few more tweaks (feedback needed!) we should be able to get to 95%
of the use cases. the reverse proxy can take care of the remaining 5%.
nevertheless, a next step is still to change the quickstart to make it easier
for folks to run with an existing webserver, with existing tls certs/keys.
that's how this relates to issue #5.
2023-03-02 20:15:54 +03:00
|
|
|
Congrats and welcome to the club! Running an email server on the internet comes
|
|
|
|
|
with some responsibilities so you should understand how it works. See
|
2023-02-27 17:04:53 +03:00
|
|
|
https://explained-from-first-principles.com/email/ for a thorough explanation.
|
2023-03-04 03:04:54 +03:00
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
## What are the minimum requirements to run mox?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mox does not need much. Nowadays most machines are larger than mox needs. You
|
|
|
|
|
can start with a machine with 512MB RAM, any CPU will do. For storage you
|
|
|
|
|
should account for the size of the email messages (no compression currently),
|
|
|
|
|
an additional 15% overhead for the meta data, and add some more headroom.
|
|
|
|
|
Expand as necessary.
|
2023-04-20 17:44:07 +03:00
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
## Can I see some screenshots?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Yes, see https://www.xmox.nl/screenshots/.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mox has an "account" web interface where users can view their account and
|
|
|
|
|
manage their address configuration, such as rules for automatically delivering
|
|
|
|
|
certain incoming messages to a specific mailbox.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mox also has an "admin" web interface where the mox instance administrator can
|
|
|
|
|
make changes, e.g. add/remove/modify domains/accounts/addresses.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mox does not have a webmail yet, so there are no screenshots of actual email.
|
add a "backup" subcommand to make consistent backups, and a "verifydata" subcommand to verify a backup before restoring, and add tests for future upgrades
the backup command will make consistent snapshots of all the database files. i
had been copying the db files before, and it usually works. but if the file is
modified during the backup, it is inconsistent and is likely to generate errors
when reading (can be at any moment in the future, when reading some db page).
"mox backup" opens the database file and writes out a copy in a transaction.
it also duplicates the message files.
before doing a restore, you could run "mox verifydata" on the to-be-restored
"data" directory. it check the database files, and compares the message files
with the database.
the new "gentestdata" subcommand generates a basic "data" directory, with a
queue and a few accounts. we will use it in the future along with "verifydata"
to test upgrades from old version to the latest version. both when going to the
next version, and when skipping several versions. the script test-upgrades.sh
executes these tests and doesn't do anything at the moment, because no releases
have this subcommand yet.
inspired by a failed upgrade attempt of a pre-release version.
2023-05-26 20:26:51 +03:00
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
## How do I upgrade my mox installation?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
We try to make upgrades effortless and you can typically just put a new binary
|
|
|
|
|
in place and restart. If manual actions are required, the release notes mention
|
|
|
|
|
them. Check the release notes of all version between your current installation
|
|
|
|
|
and the release you're upgrading to.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Before upgrading, make a backup of the data directory with `mox backup
|
|
|
|
|
<destdir>`. This writes consistent snapshots of the database files, and
|
|
|
|
|
duplicates message files from the queue and accounts. Using the new mox
|
|
|
|
|
binary, run `mox verifydata <backupdir>` (do NOT use the "live" data
|
|
|
|
|
directory!) for a dry run. If this fails, an upgrade will probably fail too.
|
|
|
|
|
Important: verifydata with the new mox binary can modify the database files
|
|
|
|
|
(due to automatic schema upgrades). So make a fresh backup again before the
|
|
|
|
|
actual upgrade. See the help output of the "backup" and "verifydata" commands
|
|
|
|
|
for more details.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
During backup, message files are hardlinked if possible. Using a destination
|
|
|
|
|
directory like `data/tmp/backup` increases the odds hardlinking succeeds: the
|
|
|
|
|
default systemd service file specifically mounts the data directory, causing
|
|
|
|
|
attempts to outside it to fail with an error about cross-device linking.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
If an upgrade fails and you have to restore (parts) of the data directory, you
|
|
|
|
|
should run `mox verifydata <datadir>` (with the original binary) on the
|
|
|
|
|
restored directory before starting mox again. If problematic files are found,
|
|
|
|
|
for example queue or account message files that are not in the database, run
|
|
|
|
|
`mox verifydata -fix <datadir>` to move away those files. After a restore, you may
|
|
|
|
|
also want to run `mox bumpuidvalidity <account>` for each account for which
|
|
|
|
|
messages in a mailbox changed, to force IMAP clients to synchronize mailbox
|
|
|
|
|
state.
|