Hello,
apart from SRV DNS records for _imap._tcp and _submit._tcp
(https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6186#section-3), Thunderbird assumes,
that email local part != username, so there is the autoconfig stuff:
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Thunderbird/Autoconfiguration
With it the client can extract from the email address not only the
servers and ports, but also the user name.
See also the linked pages. This is used also by other clients, but I
cannot tell you which.
For Outlook there is different approach. Automx
[https://github.com/sys4/automx/] tries to offer something, which both
Thunderbird and Outlook can use.
Have fun
Dilian
----- Message from Dan White <dwh...@olp.net> ---------
Date: Sun, 10 Jun 2018 19:06:53 -0500
From: Dan White <dwh...@olp.net>
Subject: Re: Somewhat tangential... clients automatically detecting
correct config settings
To: Philip Prindeville <philipp_s...@redfish-solutions.com>
Cc: Cyrus Devel <cyrus-devel@lists.andrew.cmu.edu>
On 06/10/18 17:00 -0600, Philip Prindeville wrote:
Hi.
I was wondering how do popular clients (like Mail.app) detect what
the settings should be for an email client when you initially enter
the email address.
Does anyone know how it tries to detect this stuff?
I’m trying to set up my email server so that users don’t need to go
through the painful manual configuration.
Thanks,
-Philip
This is Thunderbird's approach:
/**
* Try to guess the config, by:
* - guessing hostnames (pop3.<domain>, pop.<domain>, imap.<domain>,
* mail.<domain> etc.)
* - probing known ports (for IMAP, POP3 etc., with SSL, STARTTLS etc.)
* - opening a connection via the right protocol and checking the
* protocol-specific CAPABILITIES like that the server returns.
*
* Final verification is not done here, but in verifyConfig().
...
See: mailnews/base/prefs/content/accountcreation/guessConfig.js in the
source.
----- End message from Dan White <dwh...@olp.net> -----
