Re: [vchkpw] php extension or daemon
From: Iavor Raytchev [EMAIL PROTECTED] I posted here a couple of days ago a note about the php vpopmail extension and I got in touch with Rick Widmer who has done some progress on it. As I wrote then - we want to write high level php/Smarty GUI for vpopmail management module. The main stumbling block seems the need to run Apache as vpopmail user. I have not investigated deep enough, but this seems to be one of the main reasons why the extension is somehow dead. In our company we had a discussion on the issue and the prevailing opinion is that we should not waste time with the extension, but write a daemon. This weekend we will experiment with that. Today, searching more in depth on the issue - I found some postings on this list by people who are in favour of daemon. Hi, On the server side I'd suggest either daemon or (simplier one) triggering. By triggering I mean, that applying changes from UI would cause a creation of special trigger file with some instructions for a cron job started every minute. In other project we widely use triggering for publishing data from staging CMS to live one. Besides we crate new virtual hosts etc using same way. Triggering could only do things tha require running dedicated to vpopmail programs that need to have an RW access to ~vpopmail/ The rest could be done at the level of PHP extension as it only requires MySQL access. Ok, I know there are other auth modules that MySQL but AFAIK the latter is most widespreaded. On the other hand, a daemon would give an opprotunity to have a centralized management since many vpopmailinstallations could be managed from one client. That I'd like also since I got many vpopmails installed on my customers servers. Anyway we choose I can give my 0,03EUR to PHP coding :-) Solt
Re: [vchkpw] php extension or daemon
Iavor Raytchev wrote: snip interesting request about vpopmail admin server Ok... here is what i do...i take a Python based soap server with https. I use python's facilities to execute all the vpopmail/bin commands from a shell. How insecure is it? Well, if someone broks your webserver, and you are carefull, they will certaintly gain root to the mail server. Advantages of this php extension: Lets build a soap server from php executable from php-cgi. We will need to implement http in php Disadvantages of this php extension Lets build a soap server from php executable from php-cgi. We will need to implement http in php So, maybe if we can find a reputable http server built on php for this kind of thing we can slap soapy (or an xml-rpc lib) on it and we would have a pretty scary box, driveable from any webservice client.
Re: [vchkpw] php extension or daemon
On Fri, 2 Apr 2004, Iavor Raytchev wrote: In our company we had a discussion on the issue and the prevailing opinion is that we should not waste time with the extension, but write a daemon. This weekend we will experiment with that. Today, searching more in depth on the issue - I found some postings on this list by people who are in favour of daemon. Not too long ago someone posted either here or on the qmailadmin list about this. They'd announced that they had a daemon ready for testing. I replied privately and publically and never heard back, but maybe you'll have better luck. Currently I've got some php stuff working, and I run a seperate webserver as vpopmail. It works well, and so far this is just an interface for staff, so it's firewalled and password-protected. Thanks, Charles If anybody is interested in the issue - I would be glad to discuss it. We started a small 'unofficial' wiki to try to coordinate the effort - www.verysmall.org/vpopmail - there we have published details about the php/Smarty vpopmail manager we plan to write. Looking forwards for some feedback. Best, Iavor
Re: [vchkpw] php extension or daemon
Hi, On Fri, 2004-04-02 at 03:46, Iavor Raytchev wrote: The main stumbling block seems the need to run Apache as vpopmail user. I have not investigated deep enough, but this seems to be one of the main reasons why the extension is somehow dead. Just from the top of my head, wouldn't Apache 2 solve this? Doesn't it allow for different UID/GID for different virtual hosts? Disclaimer: I could very well be completely wrong about this, but check it out! Hmm, and as of this writing, i decided to look at it myself: Special note: Use of this directive in VirtualHost is no longer supported. To configure your server for suexec use SuexecUserGroup., see: http://httpd.apache.org/docs-2.0/mod/mpm_common.html#user Hmm... /Anders
Re: [vchkpw] php extension or daemon
Just from the top of my head, wouldn't Apache 2 solve this? Doesn't it allow for different UID/GID for different virtual hosts? Indeed, this was the holy grail of Apache 2.0 for shared web hosts. Alas 2.0 came, and as of yet has not delivered. Here's the relevant info: http://httpd.apache.org/docs-2.0/mod/perchild.html The Summary: This module is not functional. Development of this module is not complete and is not currently active. Do not use perchild unless you are a programmer willing to help fix it. If they ever get this going, it will be a very happy day for many folks. And I think you're right, this would help a TON with the whole php-vpopmail extension issues. Paul -- Paul Oehler NEXCESS.NET Internet Solutions http://nexcess.net 304 1/2 S. State St. Ann Arbor, MI 48104 1.866.NEXCESS
RE: [vchkpw] php extension or daemon
Iavor Raytchev a ecrit In our company we had a discussion on the issue and the prevailing opinion is that we should not waste time with the extension, but write a daemon. Sounds good :) How do you plan to developp the daemon ? Which language ? Which protocol ? -- Patrick
