public-inbox implements the sharing of an email inbox via git to
complement or replace traditional mailing lists. Readers may
-read via NNTP, Atom feeds or HTML archives.
+read via NNTP, IMAP, Atom feeds or HTML archives.
public-inbox spawned around three main ideas:
use of non-Free services or software.
* Graphical user interfaces should not be required for text-based
- communication.
+ communication. Users may have broken graphics drivers, limited
+ eyesight, or be unable to afford modern hardware.
public-inbox aims to be easy-to-deploy and manage; encouraging projects
to run their own instances with minimal overhead.
Implementation
--------------
-public-inbox uses ssoma[1], Some Sort Of Mail Archiver which implements
-no policy of its own. By storing (and optionally) exposing an inbox
-via git, it is fast and efficient to host and mirror public-inboxes.
+public-inbox stores mail in git repositories as documented
+in https://public-inbox.org/public-inbox-v2-format.txt and
+https://public-inbox.org/public-inbox-v1-format.txt
-Traditional mailing lists use the "push" model. For readers, this
-requires commitment to subscribe and effort to unsubscribe. New readers
-may also have difficulty following existing discussions if archives do
-not expose Message-ID headers for responses. List server admins may be
-burdened with delivery failures.
+By storing (and optionally) exposing an inbox via git, it is
+fast and efficient to host and mirror public-inboxes.
-public-inbox uses the "pull" model. Casual readers may also follow
-the list via NNTP, Atom feed or HTML archives.
+Traditional mailing lists use the "push" model. For readers,
+that requires commitment to subscribe and effort to unsubscribe.
+New readers may also have difficulty following existing
+discussions if archives do not expose Message-ID and References
+headers. List server admins are also burdened with delivery
+failures.
-Users of the ssoma[1] command-line tool may import mail into an mbox,
-Maildir, or IMAP folder from git repositories periodically.
+public-inbox uses the "pull" model. Casual readers may
+follow the list via NNTP, IMAP, Atom feed or HTML archives.
-If a reader loses interest, they simply stop syncing.
+If a reader loses interest, they simply stop following.
Since we use git, mirrors are easy-to-setup, and lists are
-easy-to-relocate to different mail addresses without losing/splitting
-archives.
+easy-to-relocate to different mail addresses without losing
+or splitting archives.
_Anybody_ may also setup a delivery-only mailing list server to
replay a public-inbox git archive to subscribers via SMTP.
-[1] https://ssoma.public-inbox.org/
-
Features
--------
* stores email in git, readers may have a complete archive of the inbox
-* Atom feed and NNTP allows casual readers to follow via feed reader
+* Atom feed, IMAP, NNTP allows casual readers to follow via local tools
* uses only well-documented and easy-to-implement data formats
Requirements for reading:
-* any software capable of NNTP or following Atom feeds
+* any software capable of IMAP, NNTP or following Atom feeds
Any basic web browser will do for the HTML archives.
We primarily develop on w3m to maximize accessibility.
their mailers to reduce the impact of a public-inbox as a
single point of failure.
+* The HTTP web interface exposes mboxrd files, and NNTP clients often
+ feature reply-by-email functionality
+
* participants do not need to install public-inbox, only server admins
Requirements (server)
Hacking
-------
-Source code is available via git:
+AGPL source code is available via git:
- git clone git://80x24.org/public-inbox
+ git clone https://public-inbox.org/public-inbox.git
+ git clone https://repo.or.cz/public-inbox.git
+ torsocks git clone http://7fh6tueqddpjyxjmgtdiueylzoqt6pt7hec3pukyptlmohoowvhde4yd.onion/public-inbox.git
+ torsocks git clone http://4uok3hntl7oi7b4uf4rtfwefqeexfzil2w6kgk2jn5z2f764irre7byd.onion/public-inbox
See below for contact info.
tangentially related projects we depend on (e.g. git developers
on git@vger.kernel.org).
-The archives are readable via NNTP or HTTP:
+The archives are readable via IMAP, NNTP or HTTP:
- nntp://news.public-inbox.org/inbox.comp.mail.public-inbox.meta
+ nntps://news.public-inbox.org/inbox.comp.mail.public-inbox.meta
+ imaps://;AUTH=ANONYMOUS@public-inbox.org/inbox.comp.mail.public-inbox.meta.0
https://public-inbox.org/meta/
-You may also clone all messages via git:
+AUTH=ANONYMOUS is recommended for IMAP, but any username + password works
- git clone --mirror https://public-inbox.org/meta/
+And as Tor hidden services:
-Or pass the same git repository URL for ssoma using the instructions at:
+ http://4uok3hntl7oi7b4uf4rtfwefqeexfzil2w6kgk2jn5z2f764irre7byd.onion/meta/
+ nntp://4uok3hntl7oi7b4uf4rtfwefqeexfzil2w6kgk2jn5z2f764irre7byd.onion/inbox.comp.mail.public-inbox.meta
+ imap://;AUTH=ANONYMOUS@4uok3hntl7oi7b4uf4rtfwefqeexfzil2w6kgk2jn5z2f764irre7byd.onion/inbox.comp.mail.public-inbox.meta.0
- https://ssoma.public-inbox.org/README.html
+You may also clone all messages via git:
+
+ git clone --mirror https://public-inbox.org/meta/
+ torsocks git clone --mirror http://4uok3hntl7oi7b4uf4rtfwefqeexfzil2w6kgk2jn5z2f764irre7byd.onion/meta/
Anti-Spam
---------
Content Filtering
-----------------
-To discourage phishing, web bugs (tracking), viruses and other nuisances,
-only plain-text content is allowed and non-text content is stripped.
-This saves I/O bandwidth and storage, which is important as
-entire mail archives are shared between clients.
+To discourage phishing, trackers, exploits and other nuisances,
+only plain-text emails are allowed and HTML is rejected by default.
+This improves accessibility, and saves bandwidth and storage
+as mail is archived forever.
As of the 2010s, successful online social networks and forums are the
ones which heavily restrict users formatting options; so public-inbox
Copyright
---------
-Copyright 2013-2016 all contributors <meta@public-inbox.org>
+Copyright 2013-2021 all contributors <meta@public-inbox.org>
License: AGPL-3.0+ <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl-3.0.txt>
This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify