From mboxrd@z Thu Jan  1 00:00:00 1970
Subject: Re: [9fans] pop3 before smtp
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From: Lyndon Nerenberg <lyndon@orthanc.ab.ca>
To: 9fans@cse.psu.edu
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Date: Thu, 10 Jul 2003 13:18:29 -0600
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On Wednesday, July 9, 2003, at 10:02  PM, Russ Cox wrote:

>> How do you send emails from notebook via Plan 9 server?
>> "POP3 before smtp" is a simple solution though not a best one.
>
> I use exactly that, via ratfs(4) and pop3(8).
> I'm surprised no one else mentioned this yet.
> Imap4 before smtp also works.

There is some invisible barrier out there that apparently stops e-mail
client authors from implementing SMTP AUTH (or STARTTLS), but I'll be
damned if I can figure out what it is. Given that most modern e-mail
clients already support SSL/TLS and SASL for POP and IMAP, what's so
difficult about making the SMTP/Submission bits authentication aware?
(Seriously. I've been trying to get a straight answer for this out of
client authors for years, without success.)

--lyndon