README

   1 Last revised:  December 26, 1999
   2
   3 Contents
   4 --------
   5 General Information ................................................. 1.0
   6   About SquirrelMail ................................................ 1.1
   7   History ........................................................... 1.2
   8   Contact Information ............................................... 1.3
   9
  10 Installation ........................................................ 2.0
  11
  12 Liscensing .......................................................... 3.0
  13
  14 FAQ ................................................................. 4.0
  15   Can SquirrelMail run with PHP3? ................................... 4.1
  16   Why PHP4 when it's only in BETA? .................................. 4.2
  17   Where did you get the name "SquirrelMail?" ........................ 4.3
  18   Is SquirrelMail stable enough to actually use? .................... 4.4
  19
  20
  21
  22
  23
  24 -- Section 1.0 --
  25    General Information
  26    ----------------------------------------------------------------------
  27    1.1 - About SquirrelMail
  28
  29    So what exactly is SquirrelMail?  It's a web interface to email that's
  30    written in PHP4.  It was designed to allow email access through your
  31    server from anywhere in the world via the Web.
  32
  33
  34
  35    1.2 - History
  36
  37    The need arose in our organization for the access of email and address
  38    books from anywhere in the world. Obviously a web interface is ideal
  39    for this, given that the user has access to the Internet.  After
  40    reviewing several open source projects we realized that we were going
  41    to need to do some fairly major customizations to get things to be a
  42    nice fit for our needs. So the decision was made to create our own for
  43    some of these reasons, and for fun (we really like PHP4). We decided
  44    to open source the project to contribute to the community that has
  45    contributed so much to us.
  46
  47
  48
  49    1.3 - Contact Information
  50
  51    If you need to contact the developers of SquirrelMail for some reason,
  52    please email the mailing list.  Bug reports and ideas should be sent
  53    to the mailing list also.
  54
  55    Mailing List:  squirrelmail-list@sourceforge.net
  56
  57    If for some reason, you need to contact us directly, you can also
  58    email us at:
  59
  60    Luke Ehresman:    luke@usa.om.org
  61    Nathan Ehresman:  nathan@usa.om.org
  62
  63    Web Page:  squirrelmail.sourceforge.net
  64
  65
  66 -- Section 2.0 --
  67    Installation
  68    ----------------------------------------------------------------------
  69
  70    Please view the INSTALL document that was included in this package.
  71
  72
  73
  74
  75
  76 -- Section 3.0 --
  77    Liscensing
  78    ----------------------------------------------------------------------
  79
  80    This product is distributed under the GPL liscense.  Please read
  81    COPYING for more information.
  82
  83
  84
  85
  86
  87 -- Section 4.0 --
  88    Frequently Asked Questions
  89    ----------------------------------------------------------------------
  90    Q: Can SquirrelMail be run with PHP3?
  91
  92       Yes, and No. It is fully developed under PHP4 BETA3, however PHP is
  93       pretty good about backwards compatability. Theoretically, it
  94       shouldn't be too hard to port it to PHP3, but you definately would
  95       have to do some code tweaking. Let us know of any success or horror
  96       stories if you attempt it.
  97
  98    Q: Why PHP4 when it's only in BETA?
  99
 100       PHP4 is significantly faster than PHP3. When we were viewing
 101       mailboxes with 500-1000 messages in them, it would take about 15-30
 102       seconds to sort them. With PHP4, that time has been cut down to 5-10
 103       seconds for large boxes.
 104
 105    Q: Where did you get the name, "SquirrelMail"?
 106
 107       It's derived from the over-abundant squirrel population in Georgia
 108       this year. We were playing volleyball one day, and saw a squirrel
 109       try to jump between trees. He failed miserably and fell 40 feet to
 110       the ground. So, we had squirrels on our mind the next day when we
 111       were coming up with a name.
 112
 113    Q: Is SquirrelMail stable enough to actually use?
 114       SquirrelMail is stable, however, many of the features that are
 115       usually desired from an email client have not yet been implemented.
 116