So that any user in a single click could on his cell phone on iOS or Android or on a personal PC to run a simple program acting as a MAIL SERVER which will NOT have any settings - but will be a unique set of parameters that can be entered easily in delta chat (and he (delta chat) will understand them) and get your personal working email server.
For what?
Because it is difficult for ordinary people to set up their own mail server. It is even more difficult for ordinary people to set up their own mail server on an iphone or on andoid. I’ll quote the description that’s on the link briar / Briar Mailbox · GitLab here:
We want the mailbox to be as easy to deploy as possible. The target for this project will come as Android application since it will be easy to setup and besides a spare phone, no special hardware is required. Once this is done support for any hardware supporting Java (e.g. unix server, raspberry pi) could be added.
and you just leave it on the shelf at home, this simple phone permanently connected to WIFI and charging or it’s just a PC (any, even 20 years old) and you have your own personal MAIL SERVER.
1-We get a server-which is not limited by restrictions like this Ограничения почтовых серверов (limitations inherent in mail servers on the number of messages)
2-Since the delta chat development team itself will be writing this server, it is possible to implement many additional functions that are not available on public servers…for example “edit messages”, for example “report on delivery/read messages”, for example “organize audio calls”, for example you can implement “permanent” encryption of everything/anytime. It is possible to implement the connection through TOR network.
with its own server - which will run easily. Work all the time even on the cheapest old smartphone, which is lying on the shelf at home. And it will be available to everyone on this planet.
The main point is that it would be easy to run the server for any person.
And Mailbox worked on any hardware.
Mail servers at home have notoriously bad reachability. For receiving, because you need a proper domain name and you need to redirect ports so it’s already a highly technical task, but also for sending, because residential IPs are quickly blocked by big mail domains (right or wrong, this is what happens today). You’ll be swimming against the current to provide a proper service. This is all related to the fact that it is emails; briar uses tor for reachability and doesn’t have those problems. Moreover, Briar works without mailboxes; mailboxes are only an addition for when the two devices aren’t connected at the same time. In email, the server is a mandatory piece for making it work; if it doesn’t work, people can’t communicate at all.
it is possible to implement many additional functions that are not available on public servers
I think this is contrary to what Deltachat wants to achieve, ie chatting over emails. If you start having different features based on the server, it’s not email anymore, it’s … something else. And I don’t think DC wants to start a huge standardization process.
It also breaks the assumption that the server is blind: if all the knowledge happens in the client, the client can’t depend on the server for specific features.
All in all, I think developing more selfhosting of emails is a good task to pursue, independently of Deltachat, but the problems it has are not just a question of developing the right software.
I believe the concept of having your own server to support, complete with security risks, will also scare off users of a certain level of experience.
If you’re going the direction of having a server, why not go all the way and put the server on the client so it’s installation is transparent with the installation of Delta?
you phone would need to be always online for this to really work.
There is a yggmail companion prototype app (GitHub - deltachat/AndroidYggmail), which is basically a local server that sends the emails over the Yggdrasil network, but for something like this to work even when the user is offline the attempts to send an email need to be increased to increase the likelihood of the email making it from one server to the other server.
i, in my primary message (here 2-Since the delta chat development team itself will be writing this server) offer exactly what you write.
It is just (may be) not visible to the user - whether it is one file or whether the server and the client - is different programs lying in the same “folder” - no matter. It is important that it would be possible to keep the server on a separate device and keep the number of settings to a minimum - so that everyone, including your grandmother - can 2-3 clicks to install the server on the old phone. For example, I want the same thing - this is exactly how they do it briar / Briar Mailbox · GitLab
and maybe (if the developers do choose this direction) to give people the opportunity to create accounts on their server for other deltachat users - so, for example, you could keep a server for one family or even all the relatives who communicate with each other - on one old phone.
we all understand that. and i describe this in my first message - we all have old android phone. And we can just put “delta chat server” and leave “this” phone home lying not far from our wifi routers (Permanently plugged into the charger socket)
and I think those who want to have “their own server agree to it”.
interesting project but for me is confusing that here GitHub - deltachat/AndroidYggmail changes were made “2 years ago” - It doesn’t seem to be developing and has been abandoned.
true we did not develop it further, also because Yggdrasil itself still has some problems.
For your own email server you need a domain and if you want to communicate with the rest of the email network and don’t land in the spam folder you need an ip addres with good rating, DKIM and other more complex setup. If you don’t need to interact with the normal network, then deltachat over TOR might be an interesting idea, because an onion service already has a domain without paying anything. Also you don’t need port-forwarding to be reachable from outside of your home network using the tor network.
Downside is of course that the users need to install tor, but maybe someone could also make a deltachat release that has tor already built in, possibly using the upcoming rust implementation of tor: arti-client — Rust network library // Lib.rs
It’s sad because it looks interesting from the description!
I don’t know about other people, but in my list of my “contacts” in, for example, Skype there only people who “I know” + family members + relatives. I have never written and do not plan to write from a deltachat to “strangers” I do not know. It is (at the very least) not polite, in my opinion.
So I don’t need “normal network” - deltachat it is literally text chat (for me) between me and my friends and relatives.
That is, if I would have my “own server” of deltachat and I want to switch to “only my server” instead of some messenger(just for example - Skype) i’m sure 90% of my “contact list” will go to “my server”. And I am sure that neither I nor they need “the whole network” - we all need at best - 20 people - no more.
And it seems to me that those who are trying to use deltachat for conversations in the “organizations” for work between employees - the same - they would also like “their own personal server”
on top of that the deltachat supports “multiple accounts” Multi accounts/profiles support - that is to keep another account (for “personal server” ) - not a problem - but “another account” is on a “personal server”
p.s.
Especially if it would take 1 minute to register there (try to register on “some” open server in xmpp network - There you have to just specified a username and password and no settings or anything else at all! - just “two words”, that’s all - “i want” the same thing-)
That’s exactly “about it” was my first post.
Deltachat “personal server” supposed to be simple.
Have a ton of “cryptography” under the hood- which will not be visible to the “ordinary user” exactly like they have briar / Briar Mailbox · GitLab .
Work on “any” equipment.
And accessible - to everyone.
If they briar / Briar Mailbox · GitLab can it’s quite possible - “it is” also possible also in deltachat
question is who would motivate the developers (financially)
Having an idea is cheap, turning it into a reality costs time and/or money.
I believe this will eventually happen, but I don’t see why the already busy core developers should make it a priority right now (we are not so many people as you might think).
Anyone could work on it and we would also answer questions and probably even help with technical problems, if you or anyone else want’s to try it.
) - not a problem - but “another account” is on a “personal server”