mailinabox/README.md

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Mail-in-a-Box
=============
By [@JoshData](https://github.com/JoshData) and [contributors](https://github.com/mail-in-a-box/mailinabox/graphs/contributors).
Mail-in-a-Box helps individuals take back control of their email by defining a one-click, easy-to-deploy SMTP+everything else server: a mail server in a box.
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**Please see [https://mailinabox.email](https://mailinabox.email) for the project's website and setup guide!**
* * *
I am trying to:
* Make deploying a good mail server easy.
* Promote [decentralization](http://redecentralize.org/), innovation, and privacy on the web.
* Have automated, auditable, and [idempotent](http://sharknet.us/2014/02/01/automated-configuration-management-challenges-with-idempotency/) configuration.
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* **Not** make a totally unhackable, NSA-proof server.
* **Not** make something customizable by power users.
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This setup is what has been powering my own personal email since September 2013.
The Box
-------
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Mail-in-a-Box turns a fresh Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 64-bit machine into a working mail server by installing and configuring various components.
It is a one-click email appliance (see the [setup guide](https://mailinabox.email/guide.html)). There are no user-configurable setup options. It "just works".
The components installed are:
* SMTP ([postfix](http://www.postfix.org/)), IMAP ([dovecot](http://dovecot.org/)), CardDAV/CalDAV ([ownCloud](http://owncloud.org/)), Exchange ActiveSync ([z-push](https://github.com/fmbiete/Z-Push-contrib))
* Webmail ([Roundcube](http://roundcube.net/)), static website hosting ([nginx](http://nginx.org/))
* Spam filtering ([spamassassin](https://spamassassin.apache.org/)), greylisting ([postgrey](http://postgrey.schweikert.ch/))
* DNS ([nsd4](http://www.nlnetlabs.nl/projects/nsd/)) with [SPF](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sender_Policy_Framework), DKIM ([OpenDKIM](http://www.opendkim.org/)), [DMARC](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DMARC), [DNSSEC](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNSSEC), [DANE TLSA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNS-based_Authentication_of_Named_Entities), and [SSHFP](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4255) records automatically set
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* Firewall ([ufw](https://launchpad.net/ufw)), intrusion protection ([fail2ban](http://www.fail2ban.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page)), system monitoring ([munin](http://munin-monitoring.org/))
It also includes:
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* A control panel and API for adding/removing mail users, aliases, custom DNS records, etc. and detailed system monitoring.
* Our own builds of postgrey and dovecot-lucene distributed via the [Mail-in-a-Box PPA](https://launchpad.net/~mail-in-a-box/+archive/ubuntu/ppa) on Launchpad.
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For more information on how Mail-in-a-Box handles your privacy, see the [security details page](security.md).
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The Security
------------
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See the [security guide](security.md) for more information about the box's security configuration (TLS, password storage, etc).
I sign the release tags on git. To verify that a tag is signed by me, you can perform the following steps:
# Download my PGP key.
$ curl -s https://keybase.io/joshdata/key.asc | gpg --import
gpg: key C10BDD81: public key "Joshua Tauberer <jt@occams.info>" imported
# Clone this repository.
$ git clone https://github.com/mail-in-a-box/mailinabox
$ cd mailinabox
# Verify the tag.
v0.11 --------------------- Advisories: * Users can no longer spoof arbitrary email addresses in outbound mail. When sending mail, the email address configured in your mail client must match the SMTP login username being used, or the email address must be an alias with the SMTP login username listed as one of the alias's targets. * This update replaces your DKIM signing key with a stronger key. Because of DNS caching/propagation, mail sent within a few hours after this update could be marked as spam by recipients. If you use External DNS, you will need to update your DNS records. * The box will now install software from a new Mail-in-a-Box PPA on Launchpad.net, where we are distributing two of our own packages: a patched postgrey and dovecot-lucene. Mail: * Greylisting will now let some reputable senders pass through immediately. * Searching mail (via IMAP) will now be much faster using the dovecot lucene full text search plugin. * Users can no longer spoof arbitrary email addresses in outbound mail (see above). * Fix for deleting admin@ and postmaster@ addresses. * Roundcube is updated to version 1.1.2, plugins updated. * Exchange/ActiveSync autoconfiguration was not working on all devices (e.g. iPhone) because of a case-sensitive URL. * The DKIM signing key has been increased to 2048 bits, from 1024, replacing the existing key. Web: * 'www' subdomains now automatically redirect to their parent domain (but you'll need to install an SSL certificate). * OCSP no longer uses Google Public DNS. * The installed PHP version is no longer exposed through HTTP response headers, for better security. DNS: * Default IPv6 AAAA records were missing since version 0.09. Control panel: * Resetting a user's password now forces them to log in again everywhere. * Status checks were not working if an ssh server was not installed. * SSL certificate validation now uses the Python cryptography module in some places where openssl was used. * There is a new tab to show the installed version of Mail-in-a-Box and to fetch the latest released version. System: * The munin system monitoring tool is now installed and accessible at /admin/munin. * ownCloud updated to version 8.0.4. The ownCloud installation step now is reslient to download problems. The ownCloud configuration file is now stored in STORAGE_ROOT to fix loss of data when moving STORAGE_ROOT to a new machine. * The setup scripts now run `apt-get update` prior to installing anything to ensure the apt database is in sync with the packages actually available.
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$ git verify-tag v0.11
gpg: Signature made ..... using RSA key ID C10BDD81
gpg: Good signature from "Joshua Tauberer <jt@occams.info>"
gpg: WARNING: This key is not certified with a trusted signature!
gpg: There is no indication that the signature belongs to the owner.
Primary key fingerprint: 5F4C 0E73 13CC D744 693B 2AEA B920 41F4 C10B DD81
The key ID and fingerprint above should match my [Keybase.io key](https://keybase.io/joshdata) and the fingerprint I publish on [my homepage](https://razor.occams.info/).
The Acknowledgements
--------------------
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This project was inspired in part by the ["NSA-proof your email in 2 hours"](http://sealedabstract.com/code/nsa-proof-your-e-mail-in-2-hours/) blog post by Drew Crawford, [Sovereign](https://github.com/al3x/sovereign) by Alex Payne, and conversations with <a href="http://twitter.com/shevski" target="_blank">@shevski</a>, <a href="https://github.com/konklone" target="_blank">@konklone</a>, and <a href="https://github.com/gregelin" target="_blank">@GregElin</a>.
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Mail-in-a-Box is similar to [iRedMail](http://www.iredmail.org/) and [Modoboa](https://github.com/tonioo/modoboa).
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The History
-----------
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* In 2007 I wrote a relatively popular Mozilla Thunderbird extension that added client-side SPF and DKIM checks to mail to warn users about possible phishing: [add-on page](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/thunderbird/addon/sender-verification-anti-phish/), [source](https://github.com/JoshData/thunderbird-spf).
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* In August 2013 I began Mail-in-a-Box by combining my own mail server configuration with the setup in ["NSA-proof your email in 2 hours"](http://sealedabstract.com/code/nsa-proof-your-e-mail-in-2-hours/) and making the setup steps reproducible with bash scripts.
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* Mail-in-a-Box was a semifinalist in the 2014 [Knight News Challenge](https://www.newschallenge.org/challenge/2014/submissions/mail-in-a-box), but it was not selected as a winner.
* Mail-in-a-Box hit the front page of Hacker News in [April](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7634514) 2014, [September](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8276171) 2014, and [May](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9624267) 2015.
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* FastCompany mentioned Mail-in-a-Box a [roundup of privacy projects](http://www.fastcompany.com/3047645/your-own-private-cloud) on June 26, 2015.