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  • Re: [gentoo-user] Anyone here use Proton email service?

    From mad.scientist.at.large@tutanota.com@21:1/5 to All on Wed Oct 2 07:20:01 2024
    I'm using it, for over 5 years now.  Generally very happy, great up time and fast bug squashing.

    The only real issue I have is it's become slower at log on (fine after that other than logging out) since they started offering calendars and other gadgets.  Slightly annoyed that their proxy service requires system-d unless you want to run everything
    through the router/firewall.  i.e. if you don't want all of your' traffic sent over a proxy. 

    I made the mistake of trying to buy something on new egg using Tor, about 8 years ago.  Even with a different credit card they are still a bit hinky.  Glad they blocked it, but it would be nice not to have to go to ups to pick up my geek gear.




    Oct 1, 2024, 22:59 by rdalek1967@gmail.com:

    Howdy,

    As some know from my posts, I been wanting to switch email providers.  I found Proton Mail and notice there is a app available for it in the
    Gentoo tree.  It appears to have Gentoo support unlike most.  Does
    anyone here use Proton email service?  It may be more secure than I need
    but it sounds like I can use it like as a replacement for Gmail.  It
    sounds like it is encrypted between me and Proton then if needed,
    decrypted from there.  Of course, it seems I can send encrypted email, encrypted by Seamonkey and it's encryption, as well.  That would remain encrypted until it reaches the person I'm sending to just like it does
    with Gmail. 

    I'm just curious if anyone here uses it.  Given it is in the tree, I
    figure someone does.  Trying to see if this is what I need or not. 

    Thanks.

    Dale

    :-)  :-) 


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  • From Arthur R.@21:1/5 to Dale on Wed Oct 2 11:30:01 2024
    This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
    On 10/2/24 11:59, Dale wrote:
    Howdy,

    As some know from my posts, I been wanting to switch email providers.  I found Proton Mail and notice there is a app available for it in the
    Gentoo tree.  It appears to have Gentoo support unlike most.  Does
    anyone here use Proton email service?  It may be more secure than I need
    but it sounds like I can use it like as a replacement for Gmail.  It
    sounds like it is encrypted between me and Proton then if needed,
    decrypted from there.  Of course, it seems I can send encrypted email, encrypted by Seamonkey and it's encryption, as well.  That would remain encrypted until it reaches the person I'm sending to just like it does
    with Gmail.

    I'm just curious if anyone here uses it.  Given it is in the tree, I
    figure someone does.  Trying to see if this is what I need or not.

    Thanks.

    Dale

    :-)  :-)
    There's not pretty much difference with something like Gmail. If you
    want to do something illegal - your /encrypted/ correspondence will
    suddenly be decrypted for those who are interested. If you want true
    security and privacy - just selfhost your own email inbox. It's worth no
    more than 1 euro and one or two hours, maybe more, if you not very
    tech-savyy.

    --
    Arthur

    <!DOCTYPE html>
    <html>
    <head>
    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
    </head>
    <body>
    <p><br>
    </p>
    <div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 10/2/24 11:59, Dale wrote:<br>
    </div>
    <blockquote type="cite"
    cite="mid:6a1bf73e-d7ab-e9ea-20ea-e174190b300c@gmail.com">
    <pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">Howdy,

    As some know from my posts, I been wanting to switch email providers.  I
    found Proton Mail and notice there is a app available for it in the
    Gentoo tree.  It appears to have Gentoo support unlike most.  Does
    anyone here use Proton email service?  It may be more secure than I need
    but it sounds like I can use it like as a replacement for Gmail.  It
    sounds like it is encrypted between me and Proton then if needed,
    decrypted from there.  Of course, it seems I can send encrypted email, encrypted by Seamonkey and it's encryption, as well.  That would remain encrypted until it reaches the person I'm sending to just like it does
    with Gmail. 

    I'm just curious if anyone here uses it.  Given it is in the tree, I
    figure someone does.  Trying to see if this is what I need or not. 

    Thanks.

    Dale

    :-)  :-) 
    </pre>
    </blockquote>
    <span style="white-space: pre-wrap">There's not pretty much difference with something like Gmail. If you want to do something illegal - your <i>encrypted</i> correspondence will suddenly be decrypted for those who are interested. If you want true
    security and privacy - just selfhost your own email inbox. It's worth no more than 1 euro and one or two hours, maybe more, if you not very tech-savyy.
    </span>
    <pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
    Arthur</pre>
    </body>
    </html>

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  • From mad.scientist.at.large@tutanota.com@21:1/5 to All on Wed Oct 2 15:10:01 2024
    Proton does keep other people from reading your' email.  I've been stalked by google based on my interest/emails after they bought the provider I was using. 

    But yes, if your' scenario involves any thing the spooks might be interested in, you can bet the spy agencies can crack it, at least the large ones.  It does provide some security for janky communication, but yeah, for major felonies it won't help. 
    But you've probably created a lot of evidence in that case anyway. 

    If you're worried about NSA, you really, really don't want to do whatever you thought you wanted to do.  NSA had the first transatlantic phone cable tapped, under water within 24 hours.  When the telcos started using satellites they set up an operation
    in Australia to intercept it.  If you've ever made an international call it's best to assume some one recorded or monitored it.

    --"Fascism begins the moment a ruling class, fearing the people may use their political democracy to gain economic democracy, begins to destroy political democracy in order to retain its power of exploitation and special privilege." Tommy Douglas




    Oct 2, 2024, 03:27 by lain@laincorp.tech:




    On 10/2/24 11:59, Dale wrote:

    Howdy,As some know from my posts, I been wanting to switch email providers.┬á Ifound Proton Mail and notice there is a app available for it in theGentoo tree.┬á It appears to have Gentoo support unlike most.┬á Doesanyone here use Proton email service?┬
    á It may be more secure than I needbut it sounds like I can use it like as a replacement for Gmail.┬á Itsounds like it is encrypted between me and Proton then if needed,decrypted from there.┬á Of course, it seems I can send encrypted email,encrypted by
    Seamonkey and it's encryption, as well.  That would remainencrypted until it reaches the person I'm sending to just like it doeswith Gmail. I'm just curious if anyone here uses it.  Given it is in the tree, Ifigure someone does.  Trying to see if
    this is what I need or not. Thanks.Dale:-)  :-) 

    There's not pretty much difference with something like Gmail. If you want to do something illegal - your > encrypted> correspondence will suddenly be decrypted for those who are interested. If you want true security and privacy - just selfhost your
    own email inbox. It's worth no more than 1 euro and one or two hours, maybe more, if you not very tech-savyy.
    -- Arthur


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  • From Michael@21:1/5 to All on Wed Oct 2 15:18:43 2024
    On Wednesday 2 October 2024 14:10:39 BST Dale wrote:

    I just want to switch from Gmail. I don't really need encryption
    stuff. I wouldn't mind doing my own but I have no clue where to even
    start on that.

    Dale

    :-) :-)

    Some links for your consideration:

    https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Simple_mail_server_with_webmail

    https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Complete_Virtual_Mail_Server

    https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Category:Mail_Servers

    https://forwardemail.net/en/blog/open-source/gentoo-linux-email-server

    There's also mailinabox and similar on premises binary solutions:

    https://github.com/mail-in-a-box/mailinabox

    HOWEVER, setting up the mail server itself is the easy part. Getting it working along with reverse DNS, Let's Encrypt TLS certificates, SPF/DKIM/ DMARC/DNSSEC-DANE without your domain being blacklisted at the drop of a hat, while you're fighting permanently against spam and intruders can soon become a full time occupation. All this assumes your domestic ISP allows their
    domestic customers to run mail servers - many don't/won't.

    I don't mean to discourage you, it is an interesting project to get into and you'll have the benefit of controlling your own server, your own data, without paying some Internet provider with either your data privacy, or your money. With low power NUC devices or a Raspberry Pi, you could run your own server at less cost than most hosting companies will charge you, even if you allow for some hardware redundancy, backups and hot/cold standby.

    Alternatively, if you can find a locally owned and run ISP with motivated staff, it may be a good half-way compromise between Big-Tech and on-premises mail hosting. Note though, a lot of smaller shops are just a front-end marketing effort, with outsourced back end operations run by the Big Tech.

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  • From Wol@21:1/5 to Dale on Wed Oct 2 21:20:02 2024
    On 02/10/2024 19:47, Dale wrote:
    Well, I'm not really wanting to do my own email server.  In a way, I'd
    like to have it so that everything is fetched, stored on my system and
    then I can use any email software I want, Seamonkey, Thunderbird, Mutt,
    Kmail or whatever, without losing a single email.  Thing is, even that sounds like more than I care to chew on.  If someone would share
    configs, editing private info of course, and I could just drop those in
    and edit with my private info, I might consider it.  Thing is, I'm
    nervous about doing even that.  Be my luck, I'd screw up something and delete every email I've ever got.  :/   It would be nice tho to have a program fetch my emails and then I can switch email software anytime
    without losing anything at all.

    This is my setup.

    I think I've talked about this before, but just emerge and set up dovecot.

    Make sure you set everything up in the local config file - look at the
    global file that comes with dovecot, and at the end you'll see a pointer
    to a non-existent local file. Set that up, and then make sure your email
    client can see it. Move a couple of emails across and make sure they're
    safe in dovecot.

    Then you just set up a rule on your internet provider's inbox, that
    moves emails across to dovecot, and everything is local on your system. Obviously, they'll stay on the internet provider's setup until they
    expire, but they're on your system, they can be backed up, and they'll
    not be on the internet to be mined or broken into or whatever for long.

    Cheers,
    Wol

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  • From Michael@21:1/5 to All on Thu Oct 3 09:45:15 2024
    On Thursday 3 October 2024 05:30:58 BST Dale wrote:
    Wol wrote:
    On 02/10/2024 19:47, Dale wrote:
    Well, I'm not really wanting to do my own email server. In a way,
    I'd like to have it so that everything is fetched, stored on my
    system and then I can use any email software I want, Seamonkey,
    Thunderbird, Mutt, Kmail or whatever, without losing a single email.
    Thing is, even that sounds like more than I care to chew on. If
    someone would share configs, editing private info of course, and I
    could just drop those in and edit with my private info, I might
    consider it. Thing is, I'm nervous about doing even that. Be my
    luck, I'd screw up something and delete every email I've ever got.

    :/ It would be nice tho to have a program fetch my emails and then

    I can switch email software anytime without losing anything at all.

    This is my setup.

    I think I've talked about this before, but just emerge and set up
    dovecot.

    Make sure you set everything up in the local config file - look at the global file that comes with dovecot, and at the end you'll see a
    pointer to a non-existent local file. Set that up, and then make sure
    your email client can see it. Move a couple of emails across and make
    sure they're safe in dovecot.

    Then you just set up a rule on your internet provider's inbox, that
    moves emails across to dovecot, and everything is local on your
    system. Obviously, they'll stay on the internet provider's setup until
    they expire, but they're on your system, they can be backed up, and
    they'll not be on the internet to be mined or broken into or whatever
    for long.

    Cheers,
    Wol

    I think we tried this and I couldn't get it to work and gave up on it.
    It's been a while back tho. From my understanding, it is supposed to be simple but simple doesn't always mean I can do it. LOL Email providers always changing things doesn't help either.

    Would this also work if I moved to Proton or something similar?

    Dale

    :-) :-)

    Do you need to have a local email storage *in addition* to the desktop email client downloading and storing your messages, if you are going to pay for a service provider to do the same thing for you? If yes, then dovecot is a good option - there's a page on the wiki with configuration details.
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  • From Michael@21:1/5 to All on Thu Oct 3 12:33:46 2024
    On Thursday 3 October 2024 10:37:44 BST Dale wrote:
    Michael wrote:
    On Thursday 3 October 2024 05:30:58 BST Dale wrote:
    Wol wrote:
    On 02/10/2024 19:47, Dale wrote:
    Well, I'm not really wanting to do my own email server. In a way,
    I'd like to have it so that everything is fetched, stored on my
    system and then I can use any email software I want, Seamonkey,
    Thunderbird, Mutt, Kmail or whatever, without losing a single email. >>>> Thing is, even that sounds like more than I care to chew on. If
    someone would share configs, editing private info of course, and I
    could just drop those in and edit with my private info, I might
    consider it. Thing is, I'm nervous about doing even that. Be my
    luck, I'd screw up something and delete every email I've ever got.

    :/ It would be nice tho to have a program fetch my emails and then >>>>
    I can switch email software anytime without losing anything at all.

    This is my setup.

    I think I've talked about this before, but just emerge and set up
    dovecot.

    Make sure you set everything up in the local config file - look at the >>> global file that comes with dovecot, and at the end you'll see a
    pointer to a non-existent local file. Set that up, and then make sure
    your email client can see it. Move a couple of emails across and make
    sure they're safe in dovecot.

    Then you just set up a rule on your internet provider's inbox, that
    moves emails across to dovecot, and everything is local on your
    system. Obviously, they'll stay on the internet provider's setup until >>> they expire, but they're on your system, they can be backed up, and
    they'll not be on the internet to be mined or broken into or whatever
    for long.

    Cheers,
    Wol

    I think we tried this and I couldn't get it to work and gave up on it.
    It's been a while back tho. From my understanding, it is supposed to be >> simple but simple doesn't always mean I can do it. LOL Email providers >> always changing things doesn't help either.

    Would this also work if I moved to Proton or something similar?

    Dale

    :-) :-)

    Do you need to have a local email storage *in addition* to the desktop email client downloading and storing your messages, if you are going to
    pay for a service provider to do the same thing for you? If yes, then dovecot is a good option - there's a page on the wiki with configuration details.

    Someone mentioned that I could use IMAP(???) or something so that it is
    only stored on my local email server.

    IMAP4 is a more modern protocol for accessing your messages on a mail server than the older POP3 protocol. Dovecot can be configured to be accessible over either protocol.

    You can think of Dovecot as duplicating the function of the Gmail server, with the main difference being Dovecot will be storing your messages on your local PC, so you can access these with your email client(s) of choice.

    However, you can access the Gmail server over IMAP4 with your email client(s) of choice singularly and in parallel, so there is no difference in this respect.


    Also, I figure I could set it to
    delete after a few days or a week from the email provider.

    Usually this is a POP3 setting. Instead of deleting a message from the server once it is downloaded by your client, you can configure it to delete the downloaded message with some delay. With IMAP4 you have to delete the
    messages from the server yourself and such deletion will be mirrored on your local storage too. Deleted message will be gone, unless you have copied/ archived such messages to a local folder first.

    Think of IMAP4 and its associated MAILDIR folders storage structure as being similar to using a file manager (e.g. Dolphin).


    Then I only
    have the local copy with Dovecot or whatever. This would seem to be the easiest way to use any mail program I want. I really need to switch
    from Seamonkey.

    Ah! This a new requirement. We started from I don't like Google snooping through my messages, to arrive at I am looking for a different email desktop client.


    Seamonkey is getting to where it isn't good for much
    else. The email is about the only thing that works right. If I set
    this up to be local, Proton or some other email provider, then it won't matter what email program I use and hopefully what provider I use either.

    You can install/configure/test any other email desktop client to use IMAP4 to read your messages on Gmail as a start, until you settle on the desktop client of choice for you. Then consider what email service provider suits your needs as a separate step, depending on features and price.


    If I'm going to change, I may as well change in a way that gives me some options, especially with switching from Seamonkey. So far, I don't like other email software. They all lack something or other.

    I'll look into the wiki page. I can't recall what wouldn't work
    before. I just know I started it but never finished it.

    Dale

    :-) :-)

    You can migrate all your messages from one mail server (e.g. Gmail) to another using IMAP4 with your desktop client of choice. Configure both old and new server accounts to be accessed over IMAP4 on your desktop client and then drag and drop from the old account's Inbox/Sent/etc. folder to the corresponding
    new email service account folder, without the need to use a 3rd local mail server (e.g. Dovecot) as an intermediary. Just copy a few messages at a time to avoid either server throttling your access.

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  • From Peter Humphrey@21:1/5 to All on Thu Oct 3 17:00:01 2024
    On Thursday 3 October 2024 12:33:46 BST Michael wrote:
    On Thursday 3 October 2024 10:37:44 BST Dale wrote:

    Also, I figure I could set it to
    delete after a few days or a week from the email provider.

    Usually this is a POP3 setting. Instead of deleting a message from the server once it is downloaded by your client, you can configure it to delete the downloaded message with some delay. With IMAP4 you have to delete the messages from the server yourself and such deletion will be mirrored on
    your local storage too. Deleted message will be gone, unless you have copied/ archived such messages to a local folder first.

    The best ISP in the UK (according to Which?) does not offer IMAP; only POP. And POP mail disappears from their servers as soon as you fetch it.

    8

    If I'm going to change, I may as well change in a way that gives me some options, especially with switching from Seamonkey. So far, I don't like other email software. They all lack something or other.

    I'll look into the wiki page. I can't recall what wouldn't work
    before. I just know I started it but never finished it.

    What do you dislike about KMail? I grumble about some of the key bindings, but otherwise it seems pretty good to me. Mostly, I can use it without touching
    the mouse, and I value that highly.

    --
    Regards,
    Peter.

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  • From Peter Humphrey@21:1/5 to All on Thu Oct 3 16:50:02 2024
    On Wednesday 2 October 2024 20:10:15 BST Wol wrote:

    Make sure you set everything up in the local config file - look at the
    global file that comes with dovecot, and at the end you'll see a pointer
    to a non-existent local file. Set that up, and then make sure your email client can see it. Move a couple of emails across and make sure they're
    safe in dovecot.

    Then you just set up a rule on your internet provider's inbox, that
    moves emails across to dovecot, and everything is local on your system. Obviously, they'll stay on the internet provider's setup until they
    expire, but they're on your system, they can be backed up, and they'll
    not be on the internet to be mined or broken into or whatever for long.

    Not wishing to hijack the thread, but I've been trying for years, intermittently, to get LAN mail working. It did work once, years ago, but I'm damned if I can get it going again now. My problem is not with dovecot but
    with postfix. Mail originating on the posfix machine goes where it should, but not any from others on the LAN.

    --
    Regards,
    Peter.

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  • From Wols Lists@21:1/5 to Michael on Fri Oct 4 08:20:01 2024
    On 03/10/2024 12:33, Michael wrote:
    Usually this is a POP3 setting. Instead of deleting a message from the server
    once it is downloaded by your client, you can configure it to delete the downloaded message with some delay. With IMAP4 you have to delete the messages from the server yourself and such deletion will be mirrored on your local storage too. Deleted message will be gone, unless you have copied/ archived such messages to a local folder first.

    Don't confuse the poor lad. POP3 (typically) downloads the message and
    uses local mail client for storage. IMAP4 leaves everything on a mail
    server.

    Think of IMAP4 and its associated MAILDIR folders storage structure as being similar to using a file manager (e.g. Dolphin).


    Then I only
    have the local copy with Dovecot or whatever. This would seem to be the
    easiest way to use any mail program I want. I really need to switch
    from Seamonkey.

    Yup. That's what you want as far as I can tell.

    Ah! This a new requirement. We started from I don't like Google snooping through my messages, to arrive at I am looking for a different email desktop client.

    Dale's been talking about this for ages. Possibly just didn't mention it
    this thread, but it's been obvious to me he wanted a client-agnostic
    solution.

    Cheers,
    Wol

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  • From Wols Lists@21:1/5 to Dale on Fri Oct 4 12:20:02 2024
    This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
    On 04/10/2024 09:01, Dale wrote:
    Once I get started, maybe this will go smoothly this time.  Just maybe.

    You'll need to read the docu, but this is my dovecot config file. Note
    that I have NOT changed any files that were installed with dovecot.

    This file won't exist on a clean install, but it's pointed at by default install file on a "use it if it exists" basis.

    I've got (iirc) a user vmail which dovecot runs as, and as you can see
    it uses /home/vmail as its data store for virtual users.

    Cheers,
    Wol
    IyBhdXRoZW50aWNhdGlvbiBjb25maWd1cmF0aW9uCmF1dGhfdmVyYm9zZSA9IHllcwphdXRo X21lY2hhbmlzbXMgPSBwbGFpbgpwYXNzZGIgewogIGRyaXZlciA9IHBhc3N3ZC1maWxlCiAg YXJncyA9IC9ldGMvZG92ZWNvdC9wYXNzd2QKfQp1c2VyZGIgewogIGRyaXZlciA9IHN0YXRp YwogIGFyZ3MgPSB1aWQ9dm1haWwgZ2lkPXZtYWlsIGhvbWU9L2hvbWUvdm1haWwvJXUKfQoK

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  • From Michael@21:1/5 to All on Fri Oct 4 14:52:09 2024
    On Friday 4 October 2024 09:01:00 BST Dale wrote:
    Wols Lists wrote:
    On 03/10/2024 12:33, Michael wrote:
    Usually this is a POP3 setting. Instead of deleting a message from
    the server
    once it is downloaded by your client, you can configure it to delete the >> downloaded message with some delay. With IMAP4 you have to delete the
    messages from the server yourself and such deletion will be mirrored
    on your
    local storage too. Deleted message will be gone, unless you have
    copied/
    archived such messages to a local folder first.

    Don't confuse the poor lad. POP3 (typically) downloads the message and
    uses local mail client for storage. IMAP4 leaves everything on a mail server.

    Heh! I didn't mean to cause confusion. :-)

    Modern POP3/IMAP4 implementations offer various options, which enhance their basic functionality. Another way to think about the two protocols:

    POP3 suits using one device to download, store, read your messages.
    Downloaded messages are deleted from the server's INBOX automatically, either immediately or if configured they are deleted after some delay. If a second client accesses the POP3 server it will find any downloaded messages which
    have not yet been deleted marked as 'Read'. The POP3 protocol was designed at the time of intermittent dial up internet connectivity.

    IMAP4 keeps the messages on the server and these can be accessed and
    downloaded by any number of different client devices. In addition, an IMAP4 server allows the creation of a multi-folder hierarchy akin to a user's filesystem, where messages can be stored manually or by means of server-side filters. Clients can be configured to perform a number of functions, including:

    - Synchronize the content of server side folders to local folders bidirectionally. Messages can be moved to folders at either end.

    - Enable only selected folders to be synchronized between server and
    client(s).

    - Choose to access messages online only, or configure your client to download messages for offline reading and local storage automatically, or selectively. Local changes will be synchronized with the server the next time the client is online.

    - Archive copies of messages locally, copy/move them to client-side only folders, copy/move them to some other IMAP4 server's folder configured on the client and perform all this manually or automatically via filters.

    For the above reasons it is obvious IMAP4 is a more flexible protocol, while POP3 reflects the needs of email usage in the 1980s.


    Think of IMAP4 and its associated MAILDIR folders storage structure
    as being similar to using a file manager (e.g. Dolphin).

    Then I only
    have the local copy with Dovecot or whatever. This would seem to be
    the
    easiest way to use any mail program I want. I really need to switch
    from Seamonkey.

    Yup. That's what you want as far as I can tell.

    I think 'the easiest way' would be to try out any number of email desktop clients with your existing Gmail account. Emerge any number of email clients and give them a spin for a few weeks. At some point you'll decide on a client you are prepared to live with, one with the least amount of pain and transactional friction.

    Then you can invest some time exploring alternative email service providers to assess their offerings.

    Finally, migrate your messages to the new provider - if you want to keep your messages stored online.

    None of the above requires installing and configuring local email servers, fetchmail, smtp, etc. *unless* you have an interest in using such a local setup.


    Ah! This a new requirement. We started from I don't like Google
    snooping
    through my messages, to arrive at I am looking for a different email
    desktop client.

    Dale's been talking about this for ages. Possibly just didn't mention
    it this thread, but it's been obvious to me he wanted a
    client-agnostic solution.

    Cheers,
    Wol

    Apologies, if it was mentioned I missed it.


    Exactly. At some point, I expect Seamonkey to stop working and I'll be forced to use other software. Right now, I have no idea what that will
    be. I used Kmail ages ago. It developed issues and I switched to
    Seamonkey, back then Seamonkey was like Firefox or Chrome today. I also
    a while back test drove Thunderbird. One would think it is the closest
    to Seamonkey but it's different. I think at some point waaaaaaay back
    it was the same but has since been developed enough that it is a
    different thing entirely.

    T'bird has gone through 2 or 3 reincarnations, none as catastrophic as Kmail. T'bird users have complained things going awry at each major 'profile'
    upgrade, but most issues should be resolved if you start afresh with a new empty profile. I think today it is mostly OK, for most desktop users anyway.

    Kmail went through a terrible period after the move to KDE4 - it was released on an unsuspecting community without loud enough health warnings. Many users who did not keep extensive email backups lost messages.

    I tried to move away from Kmail, but ended up spending more time trying to configure and tweak different clients to work as I wanted, than using them to access my email. Eventually I gave up and returned to Kmail. Today its performance is tolerable, for my needs at least. There's a couple of quirks when setting up new accounts with some types of IMAP4 server implementations and its asynchronous message re-indexing can be quite sluggish when too many actions are queued up, but otherwise it just works as expected - YMMV.


    I think if I can get something local, Dovecot maybe, then I can switch
    from Gmail more easily and then just test drive email software until I
    find one I like. Email is so complicated that at times it is hard to
    know where to start. I think, might be wrong, setting up Dovecot first
    and then I can switch providers later, just add account to Dovecot, and
    then switch email software until I find one I like once that is done. I could start with the IMAP thing and then switch to pop if I needed too.
    One thing I like about current setup, I have folders and filters.
    Everything gentoo-user goes into a gentoo-user folder. Things I order
    from Ebay goes into a Ebay folder. I have sub folders for things I
    don't get emails from to often. I'd like to do the same with IMAP but
    I'm not real sure how IMAP works. I need to go find a video on Youtube
    or something.

    What you are describing above is the basis of the IMAP4 folder structure.
    What protocol are you using to access Gmail?

    I suggest you get your head around POP3 Vs IMAP4 first:

    https://support.google.com/a/answer/12103?hl=en

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