[Pkg-Cyrus-imapd-Debian-devel] Cyrus IMAPd and Cyrus SASL: a source of nightmares

[Fabian Fagerholm]

Hi everyone!

This summer I've been working extensively on integrating Cyrus IMAPd
into an ISP environment. This particular case uses an LDAP directory as
its central configuration source for dns, email, web and other services.
I suspect that many of the subscribers to this list are familiar with
similar setups -- perhaps using an SQL database as the configuration
respository, but similar nonetheless.

I've found that the main stumbling block concerning Cyrus IMAPd is the
Cyrus SASL library. In Debian, cyrus-sasl2 is sporadically maintained,
there is a large number of unapplied -- and I suspect unreviewed --
patches in the BTS, and the version in Debian (2.1.19) seems to me quite
old. As a result of this, some features that are routinely used by
people who build and install from source, are missing from the Debian
package. One of them is the sasldb auxprop. I've seen requests for it
*many* times.

I know that cyrus22-imapd is pending just some things before entering
experimental/unstable, and I think now would be a good time to think
about improving the most direct dependencies of this software. Since
nobody that uses Cyrus IMAPd can avoid touching Cyrus SASL completely, I
thought that asking for comments and ideas on this list is appropriate.

What I'd like to see is a group-maintained cyrus-sasl2. Before going
further and creating an alioth project, though, I'd like to hear your
thoughts on the matter. Also, I think it would be good to at least allow
the current maintainer a chance to give his input (I'll mail him
separately at a future date).

So, thoughts on Cyrus SASL from a Cyrus IMAPd perspective?

Cheers,
-- 
Fabian Fagerholm <fabbe at paniq.net>
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