1 = E-Mail Integration = 2 3 To act as a part of an e-mail system, imip-agent provides a number of programs 4 that may be invoked by mail transfer agents (MTAs) upon sending or receiving 5 messages. In order to uphold portability and to minimise configuration issues, 6 these programs need only be registered as simple mail handlers or transports, 7 thus potentially supporting a wide range of MTAs. 8 9 Once imip-agent has processed a message, it may then deliver it to its 10 intended recipient. The mail storage systems that may receive messages from 11 imip-agent need only support the delivery mechanisms used by imip-agent. 12 Otherwise, few constraints should be imposed by each kind of system on the 13 other. 14 15 == MTAs == 16 17 Currently, imip-agent supports [[http://exim.org/|Exim]] and 18 [[http://www.postfix.org/|Postfix]], although this support should be readily 19 broadened, and offers configuration resources for these supported systems so 20 as to allow imip-agent to be deployed within existing mail-sending and 21 delivery infrastructures. 22 23 {{{#!table 24 || '''Identifying Recipients''' || '''Integrating imip-agent''' || '''Notes''' 25 == 26 '''Exim''' 27 || Routers identify recipients of mail that shall be handled by imip-agent 28 || Transports invoke imip-agent programs 29 || Exim is widely deployed as the default MTA for Debian. Consequently, it is 30 .. desirable to support this software in imip-agent. 31 == 32 '''Postfix''' 33 || Virtual aliases identify recipients of mail that shall be handled by 34 .. imip-agent 35 || Transports invoke imip-agent programs 36 || Postfix is also widely deployed and is sometimes preferred by administrators. 37 }}} 38 39 == Identification of Recipients == 40 41 In principle, any mechanism supported by the MTA can be used to identify 42 recipients; imip-agent does not employ identification mechanisms of its own. 43 Thus, the task of identifying recipients is one of MTA configuration, with the 44 following mechanisms tested: 45 46 {{{#!table 47 '''Identification Mechanisms''' || '''Tested with...''' 48 == 49 [[/LDAP|LDAP]] || Exim, Postfix 50 == 51 [[/Simple|Simple (list-based identification)]] || Exim, Postfix 52 }}} 53 54 == Invoking the Agent Programs == 55 56 Regardless of identification or delivery mechanisms, the imip-agent software 57 must be integrated into the mail processing pipeline so that messages can be 58 interpreted and processed. This is done by configuring the MTA's 59 [[/Transports|transport mechanisms]]. 60 61 == Delivery == 62 63 To deliver messages to their ultimate recipients after having processed them, 64 imip-agent currently employs either local SMTP connections or 65 [[https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2033|LMTP]]. There is nothing in principle 66 preventing imip-agent from also supporting other common delivery mechanisms, 67 however. 68 69 {{{#!table 70 '''Delivery Mechanisms''' || '''Tested with...''' 71 == 72 [[/LocalSMTP|Local SMTP]] || Exim, Postfix 73 == 74 [[/LMTP|LMTP]] || Exim, Postfix 75 }}}