SMTP receive as well as send

[Greg Jorgensen]

"benny" <benny at nairobi.demon.nl> wrote in message
news:39e8bfe4.2248931 at news.demon.nl...
> I'm in need of an SMTP setup that will allow me to receive as well as
> send messages. The Python SMTPlib looked like a good bet but it seems
> to be send-only (kind of like the POP3 lib stuff seems to be read
> only).
>
> Can a kind soul help out a Python newbie and give me a few hints about
> how/where/etc. I could get an SMTP setup that works both ways please?
> (The PC is a Linux box.)

SMTP: Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. It is a protocol for moving mail
between servers. Python's SMTPlib is an interface for sending mail; it
packages a message up and gives it to an SMTP server. It doesn't do the
actual work of delivering the message, nor does it accept incoming
deliveries for forwarding or final delivery.

To do what you are asking about, you will need to run a full MTA (Mail
Transfer Agent) on your server. An MTA accepts mail from your Python/SMTPlib
applications, and if you are connected to the internet and a bunch of other
things are configured right it will receive incoming mail addressed to your
server and/or domain(s). The "standard" Linux/Unix MTA is sendmail; most
Linux distros install it by default. For beginners Postfix (www.postfix.org)
is smaller, faster, and much easier to understand and configure. Another
popular MTA is qmail (www.qmail.org).

Setting up an MTA (SMTP service) on your server is a fairly big and
complicated subject. All MTAs require properly-configured networking and
DNS, and those can be big tasks as well. If your server is run by your ISP,
or sitting at the end of a dial-up, DSL, or cable connection, or if you
don't own and manage your own domain, you will probably have administrative
problems as well, since SMTP is not something that end-user workstations
usually run.

There are several Linux HOWTOs and other docs describing the SMTP/POP3
protocols, MTAs, DNS, etc. O'Reilly publishes some good books, too,
including the definitive sendmail book and a good book on DNS
administration.

--
Greg Jorgensen
Deschooling Society
Portland, Oregon, USA
gregj at pobox.com