IMAPd

IMAP server (library) to serve emails to an email client, written in pure PHP.

The d in SMTPd stands for Daemon. This script can run in background like any other daemon process. It's not meant for running as a webapplication.

Why this project?

Believe it or not, email is still the killer feature of the Internet. There are tons of projects for accessing and fetching emails from an IMAP/POP3 server. But there are not so many providing a programmatically interface to serve emails to an email client.

With this interface you can do something like this for your app users:

+--------------+     +-------+     +------------------------+     +------+
| Your PHP App +---> | IMAPd +---> | MUA (like Thunderbird) +---> | User |
+--------------+     +-------+     +------------------------+     +------+

This is useful when you have a messaging application written in PHP but no graphical user interface for it. So your graphical user interface can be any email client. Thunderbird for instance.

Project Outlines

The project outlines as described in my blog post about Open Source Software Collaboration.

• The main purpose of this software is to provide a server-side IMAP API for PHP scripts.
• Although the RFC implementations are not completed yet, they must be strict.
• More features can be possible in the future. In perspective of the protocols the features must be a RFC implementation.
• This list is open. Feel free to request features.

Planned Features

• Full RFC 3501 Implementation.
• Replace Zend\Mail with a better solution.

Installation

The preferred method of installation is via Packagist and Composer. Run the following command to install the package and add it as a requirement to composer.json:

composer require thefox/imapd

Usage

See example.php file for more information.

RFC 3501 Implementation

Complete implementation

• 6.1.2 NOOP Command
• 6.1.3 LOGOUT Command
• 6.4.1 CHECK Command
• 6.4.7 COPY Command
• 7.1.1 OK Response
• 7.1.2 NO Response
• 7.1.3 BAD Response
• 7.1.5 BYE Response
• 7.4.1 EXPUNGE Response

Incomplete implemention

• 2.3.1.1 Unique Identifier (UID) Message Attribute
• 2.3.1.2 Message Sequence Number Message Attribute
• 2.3.2 Flags Message Attribute
• 6.1.1 CAPABILITY Command
• 6.2.2 AUTHENTICATE Command
• 6.2.3 LOGIN Command
• 6.3.1 SELECT Command
• 6.3.6 SUBSCRIBE Command
• 6.3.7 UNSUBSCRIBE Command
• 6.3.8 LIST Command
• 6.3.9 LSUB Command
• 6.3.11 APPEND Command
• 6.4.2 CLOSE Command
• 6.4.4 SEARCH Command
• 6.4.5 FETCH Command
• 6.4.6 STORE Command
• 6.4.8 UID Command
• 7.1.4 PREAUTH Response
• 7.2.1 CAPABILITY Response
• 7.2.2 LIST Response
• 7.2.3 LSUB Response
• 7.2.5 SEARCH Response
• 7.3.1 EXISTS Response
• 7.3.2 RECENT Response
• 7.4.2 FETCH Response

TODO

• Some tasks are commented with NOT_IMPLEMENTED. Implement these.
• @TODO are to be complete the PHP Code Sniffer tests before releasing a new version.

Alternatives for Zend\Mail

• exorus/php-mime-mail-parser (requires ext-mailparse PHP extension)

Related Links

• RFC 3501
• Email Will Last Forever
• Email Is Still the Best Thing on the Internet
• Believe it or not, email is still the killer app
• Developers: stop re-AOLizing the web!
• Set up your own email server in 5 steps

Related Projects

• SMTPd

Project Links

• Blog Post about IMAPd
• Packagist Package
• PHPWeekly - Issue August 7, 2014