7 ms·

Mailpile Beta Release

73 points by DoubleMalt 12y ago

HerraBRE 12y ago
Hello everyone! I'm part of the core team, I'll take a look here now and then to answer any questions folks may have.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
  - HerraBRE 12y ago
    Thanks for giving it a spin! Our native platform packaging and integration is very new, so I'm afraid this isn't a huge surprise. If you can find any details about what is going on there, posting to our Github issue tracker would be helpful: https://github.com/pagekite/Mailpile/issues https://github.com/pagekite/Mailpile/issues
    - escapologybb 12y ago
      I realised as soon as I posted it that I should have headed over to Github! Would be great if you could head over and give me a hand. ;-)
- tombrossman 12y ago
  Your FAQs promise Linux support, but your beta announcement page doesn't mention Linux at all. Is the expectation that Linux users should know to download the source and compile it themselves, or is the beta release not available for Linux yet?
  - HerraBRE 12y ago
    We have not built packages for Linux yet, but we will definitely do so for the 1.0. Getting the Windows and Mac packages shipped by Beta was a priority so we could get feedback on how they behave and have time to track down issues before the 1.0. The app is already very stable on Linux, there we just need to coordinate with the community to get packages built (and efforts in that direction are already well underway).
    - tombrossman 12y ago
      Cool, that's understandable and I look forward to the 1.0 release.
- augustl 12y ago
  What is Mailpile's story for DIME (formerly Dark Mail)?
  - HerraBRE 12y ago
    For all questions security-related, check our Security Roadmap: https://github.com/pagekite/Mailpile/wiki/Security-roadmap https://github.com/pagekite/Mailpile/wiki/Security-roadmap The DIME story is largely "wait and see", but we've reached out to Ladar and the stuff he talked about at DEFCON sounded very promising. We'd love to be one of the first apps to support it.
    - MWil 12y ago
      So have 100% of the beta goals been met?
      - HerraBRE 12y ago
        Yes, everything under Beta on the roadmap "should work" in the release. Of course, there may well be bugs, but that's a pretty accurate description of where we think we are right now.
- murbard2 12y ago
  What do you think is Mailpile's biggest issue? Not something you'd mention in a FAQ but the type of issue that's almost inherent to the project and that bothers you the most?
  - brennannovak 12y ago
    As the designer / UX guy of Mailpile- to me is how difficult it is to intelligently sort & render the vast array of differing types of email (conversations, lists, receipts, newsletters, notifications, etc...)!
  - HerraBRE 12y ago
    Interesting question. :-) I think the biggest issue may be the fundamental fact that Mailpile is software that has to run on a computer somewhere - people are getting so accustomed to just getting service for free on the web, that many will balk at having to install an app locally. Folks who value their privacy enough will, but not everyone does. This will be a problem even assuming we solve the two hard problems and major benefits provided by cloudy solutions: backups and "always on, always available" remote access.
- spindritf 12y ago
  Can/will single Mailpile instance handle multiple users like classical webmail? Can I give Mailpile access to maildirs of several real (unix) users, on a server with a functioning MTA, and let it handle authentication and other stuff?
  - brennannovak 12y ago
    Yes, this is going to be developed further. There is some existing code. We will be publishing a roadmap + how this factors into it, soon!
- danorton 12y ago
  How do I add a recipient and key? I've added a recipient, but the keysearch fails. What server is it looking at?
  - publiusstl 12y ago
    Love Mailpile, but for what it's worth, I have the exact same problem. Running mailpile on Windows 8. Entered Bjarni Runar Einarsson's email (since I don't have any friends who encrypt), and it searched for his key indefinitely. So I can't figure out a way to add recipient keys either via contacts.
brennannovak 12y ago
Core team designer here. Ask me design / UX questions & ideas :)
- aw3c2 12y ago
  Will there be a mode where no icons are lacking a textual description? Can I see single messages instead of having the whole thread loaded? Is there a design that uses less whitespace? Is there a classic "tree on the left, list on the top, message at the bottom" layout?
  - brennannovak 12y ago
    Good feedback. Some are already ideas we like. Some are more easily doable than others. > Will there be a mode where no icons are lacking a textual description? Not currently planned. If enough people demand this it could happen! > Can I see single messages instead of having the whole thread loaded? This is neat. I'd love to implement it. > Is there a design that uses less whitespace? There is a "Display" dropdown for the Search view that does have different versions with less whitespace. We might expand this elsewhere > Is there a classic "tree on the left, list on the top, message at the bottom" layout? Not exactly sure I understand. Wanna file a Github issue with a screenshot? :) If I do understand, yes, we'd like to offer this sort of view as well!
fiatjaf 12y ago
Well, nice this is getting ready and usable. Now I think we need some easy way for everyone to deploy their own MTAs.
- brennannovak 12y ago
  We posted a few projects on our downloads page https://www.mailpile.is/download/ https://www.mailpile.is/download/ they're coming along!
- DoubleMalt 12y ago
  We (https://cloudfleet.io/ https://cloudfleet.io/) are working on it :)
hsivonen 12y ago
Very cool to see progress to this stage. Thank you! I get the desktop layout on Firefox OS, though. Is there already a phone-friendly layout and it just sniffs Firefox OS wrong or is a mobile layout still to be done altogether? (The announcement says small screens need work, but it's not clear what the current expected state is.)
- brennannovak 12y ago
  We haven't put much effort into mobile yet. I will be doing that before 1.0 though :)
ZeWaren 12y ago
Learning that someone is finally working on a nice webmail app that can be self-hosted pleases me.
- brennannovak 12y ago
  Glad ya like it :)
dang 12y ago
> P.S. Check out this Hacker News post to discuss and/or upvote! Please don't do this. It's against the rules (https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html) and will get your story penalized, along with (in many cases) your account and/or the accounts who voted for it.
- dickfickling 12y ago
  Are you specifically referring to the "and/or upvote" part of that quote? I understand why asking for upvotes is not allowed, but linking to the HN post is still okay, correct?
  - dang 12y ago
    That part is ok.
- HerraBRE 12y ago
  Oops, my bad. I'll update the blog post.
- HerraBRE 12y ago
  Oh, another thing - if punishment needs to be carried out, please don't penalize DoubleMalt. The post didn't have the offending bits in it when he posted the link, I added those later. Penalize me, it's my project and I'm the one who made the mistake. :-)
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
venjuju 12y ago
Loving many aspects of this. Couple of bugs filed, but really promising work :D Glad I helped kickstart this.
nico239 12y ago
I discover Mailpile. Excellent idea to create a new mail client Because none are good. Now I'm using the most perfect (in my opinion) Foxmail 7.0.93 with gmail imap and seven 64 So if you want to create a really good mail client I think it is necessary to (some are possible with addons in Thunderbird but why not integrate in the client?) FIRSTTTTTTTTTT - preview jpg, png, pdf, word, excel and powerpoint attachments INSIDE the mail window in ONE ONE ONE CLICK (like Foxmail 7.0.93 or Outlook) and NOT in Acrobat or Word ... or a double click and NOT in another tab etc VERY USEFULL in business Almost ALL EMAILS now have one of these attachments SECONDDDDD A good templates creator (like in The Bat not excellent in Foxmail - and better than Axel Grude Template in Th.) which is able to create easily a template for EACH account and for EACH kind of reply, send, transfer And with macro functions (like in Foxmail 7.0.93) : one of the best is %cursor% because of sending automatic mails and replies Then - search and display all email from a sender from all folders and trash folder in ONE CLICK (2 clicks in Foxmail 7.0.93) - delay for sending mail (like The Bat) - different ringtone for EACH account - rearrange imap account order - rearrange imap folders order - open or close folders pane with a button (good for small screen laptops) - good looking characters dimensions (not like in Thunderbird where it is really the jungle) - possibility to download a selection of attachments (like in Foxmail 7.0.93) and NOT all or one - adress completion not only on the email but also with the domain name - automatic display of To - CC - BBC (like in Foxmail 7.0.93) that we can use ONLY with tab and not using mouse... (energy for nothing) - a quick folders toobar (same as quick folders addon from excellent Axel Grude) with drag and drop and renaming (not like Postbox favorites bar : no rename and no drag and drop :D ) - the CHOICE (like in Foxmail 7.0.93) to display one or two lines for mail pane For the moment I stay on Foxmail 7.0.93 I bought or tried . Mailbird, Foxmail 7.2.5, The Bat Pro, Outlook, Thunderbird 30, EM, Postbox, Fossamail... and many more Best regards
nico239 12y ago
I discover Mailpile. Excellent idea to create a new mail client Because none are good. Now I'm using the most perfect (in my opinion) Foxmail 7.0.93 with gmail imap and seven 64 So if you want to create a really good mail client I think it is necessary to (some are possible with addons in Thunderbird but why not integrate in the client?) FIRSTTTTTTTTTT - preview jpg, png, pdf, word, excel and powerpoint attachments INSIDE the mail window in ONE ONE ONE CLICK (like Foxmail 7.0.93 or Outlook) and NOT in Acrobat or Word ... or a double click and NOT in another tab etc VERY USEFULL in business Almost ALL EMAILS now have one of these attachments SECONDDDDD A good templates creator (like in The Bat not excellent in Foxmail - and better than Axel Grude Template in Th.) which is able to create easily a template for EACH account and for EACH kind of reply, send, transfer And with macro functions (like in Foxmail 7.0.93) : one of the best is %cursor% because of sending automatic mails and replies Then - search and display all email from a sender from all folders and trash folder in ONE CLICK (2 clicks in Foxmail 7.0.93) - delay for sending mail (like The Bat) - different ringtone for EACH account - rearrange imap account order - rearrange imap folders order - open or close folders pane with a button (good for small screen laptops) - good looking characters dimensions (not like in Thunderbird where it is really the jungle) - possibility to download a selection of attachments (like in Foxmail 7.0.93) and NOT all or one - adress completion not only on the email but also with the domain name - automatic display of To - CC - BBC (like in Foxmail 7.0.93) that we can use ONLY with tab and not using mouse... (energy for nothing) - a quick folders toobar (same as quick folders addon from excellent Axel Grude) with drag and drop and renaming (not like Postbox favorites bar : no rename and no drag and drop :D ) - the CHOICE (like in Foxmail 7.0.93) to display one or two lines for mail pane For the moment I stay on Foxmail 7.0.93 I bought or tried . Mailbird, Foxmail 7.2.5, The Bat Pro, Outlook, Thunderbird 30, EM, Postbox, Fossamail... and many more Best regards
blindmikey 12y ago
Can this replace my server's installation of squirrel mail? Where my users could log into their accounts and reap the benefits of mailpile instead?

73 points by DoubleMalt 12y ago

HerraBRE 12y ago

Hello everyone! I'm part of the core team, I'll take a look here now and then to answer any questions folks may have.

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
- HerraBRE 12y ago
  Thanks for giving it a spin! Our native platform packaging and integration is very new, so I'm afraid this isn't a huge surprise. If you can find any details about what is going on there, posting to our Github issue tracker would be helpful: https://github.com/pagekite/Mailpile/issues https://github.com/pagekite/Mailpile/issues
  - escapologybb 12y ago
    I realised as soon as I posted it that I should have headed over to Github! Would be great if you could head over and give me a hand. ;-)
tombrossman 12y ago
Your FAQs promise Linux support, but your beta announcement page doesn't mention Linux at all. Is the expectation that Linux users should know to download the source and compile it themselves, or is the beta release not available for Linux yet?
- HerraBRE 12y ago
  We have not built packages for Linux yet, but we will definitely do so for the 1.0. Getting the Windows and Mac packages shipped by Beta was a priority so we could get feedback on how they behave and have time to track down issues before the 1.0. The app is already very stable on Linux, there we just need to coordinate with the community to get packages built (and efforts in that direction are already well underway).
  - tombrossman 12y ago
    Cool, that's understandable and I look forward to the 1.0 release.
augustl 12y ago
What is Mailpile's story for DIME (formerly Dark Mail)?
- HerraBRE 12y ago
  For all questions security-related, check our Security Roadmap: https://github.com/pagekite/Mailpile/wiki/Security-roadmap https://github.com/pagekite/Mailpile/wiki/Security-roadmap The DIME story is largely "wait and see", but we've reached out to Ladar and the stuff he talked about at DEFCON sounded very promising. We'd love to be one of the first apps to support it.
  - MWil 12y ago
    So have 100% of the beta goals been met?
    - HerraBRE 12y ago
      Yes, everything under Beta on the roadmap "should work" in the release. Of course, there may well be bugs, but that's a pretty accurate description of where we think we are right now.
murbard2 12y ago
What do you think is Mailpile's biggest issue? Not something you'd mention in a FAQ but the type of issue that's almost inherent to the project and that bothers you the most?
- brennannovak 12y ago
  As the designer / UX guy of Mailpile- to me is how difficult it is to intelligently sort & render the vast array of differing types of email (conversations, lists, receipts, newsletters, notifications, etc...)!
- HerraBRE 12y ago
  Interesting question. :-) I think the biggest issue may be the fundamental fact that Mailpile is software that has to run on a computer somewhere - people are getting so accustomed to just getting service for free on the web, that many will balk at having to install an app locally. Folks who value their privacy enough will, but not everyone does. This will be a problem even assuming we solve the two hard problems and major benefits provided by cloudy solutions: backups and "always on, always available" remote access.
spindritf 12y ago
Can/will single Mailpile instance handle multiple users like classical webmail? Can I give Mailpile access to maildirs of several real (unix) users, on a server with a functioning MTA, and let it handle authentication and other stuff?
- brennannovak 12y ago
  Yes, this is going to be developed further. There is some existing code. We will be publishing a roadmap + how this factors into it, soon!
danorton 12y ago
How do I add a recipient and key? I've added a recipient, but the keysearch fails. What server is it looking at?
- publiusstl 12y ago
  Love Mailpile, but for what it's worth, I have the exact same problem. Running mailpile on Windows 8. Entered Bjarni Runar Einarsson's email (since I don't have any friends who encrypt), and it searched for his key indefinitely. So I can't figure out a way to add recipient keys either via contacts.

brennannovak 12y ago

Core team designer here. Ask me design / UX questions & ideas :)

aw3c2 12y ago
Will there be a mode where no icons are lacking a textual description? Can I see single messages instead of having the whole thread loaded? Is there a design that uses less whitespace? Is there a classic "tree on the left, list on the top, message at the bottom" layout?
- brennannovak 12y ago
  Good feedback. Some are already ideas we like. Some are more easily doable than others. > Will there be a mode where no icons are lacking a textual description? Not currently planned. If enough people demand this it could happen! > Can I see single messages instead of having the whole thread loaded? This is neat. I'd love to implement it. > Is there a design that uses less whitespace? There is a "Display" dropdown for the Search view that does have different versions with less whitespace. We might expand this elsewhere > Is there a classic "tree on the left, list on the top, message at the bottom" layout? Not exactly sure I understand. Wanna file a Github issue with a screenshot? :) If I do understand, yes, we'd like to offer this sort of view as well!

fiatjaf 12y ago

Well, nice this is getting ready and usable. Now I think we need some easy way for everyone to deploy their own MTAs.

brennannovak 12y ago
We posted a few projects on our downloads page https://www.mailpile.is/download/ https://www.mailpile.is/download/ they're coming along!
DoubleMalt 12y ago
We (https://cloudfleet.io/ https://cloudfleet.io/) are working on it :)

hsivonen 12y ago

Very cool to see progress to this stage. Thank you! I get the desktop layout on Firefox OS, though. Is there already a phone-friendly layout and it just sniffs Firefox OS wrong or is a mobile layout still to be done altogether? (The announcement says small screens need work, but it's not clear what the current expected state is.)

brennannovak 12y ago
We haven't put much effort into mobile yet. I will be doing that before 1.0 though :)

ZeWaren 12y ago

Learning that someone is finally working on a nice webmail app that can be self-hosted pleases me.

brennannovak 12y ago
Glad ya like it :)

dang 12y ago

> P.S. Check out this Hacker News post to discuss and/or upvote! Please don't do this. It's against the rules (https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html) and will get your story penalized, along with (in many cases) your account and/or the accounts who voted for it.

dickfickling 12y ago
Are you specifically referring to the "and/or upvote" part of that quote? I understand why asking for upvotes is not allowed, but linking to the HN post is still okay, correct?
- dang 12y ago
  That part is ok.
HerraBRE 12y ago
Oops, my bad. I'll update the blog post.
HerraBRE 12y ago
Oh, another thing - if punishment needs to be carried out, please don't penalize DoubleMalt. The post didn't have the offending bits in it when he posted the link, I added those later. Penalize me, it's my project and I'm the one who made the mistake. :-)

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

venjuju 12y ago

Loving many aspects of this. Couple of bugs filed, but really promising work :D Glad I helped kickstart this.

nico239 12y ago

I discover Mailpile. Excellent idea to create a new mail client Because none are good. Now I'm using the most perfect (in my opinion) Foxmail 7.0.93 with gmail imap and seven 64 So if you want to create a really good mail client I think it is necessary to (some are possible with addons in Thunderbird but why not integrate in the client?) FIRSTTTTTTTTTT - preview jpg, png, pdf, word, excel and powerpoint attachments INSIDE the mail window in ONE ONE ONE CLICK (like Foxmail 7.0.93 or Outlook) and NOT in Acrobat or Word ... or a double click and NOT in another tab etc VERY USEFULL in business Almost ALL EMAILS now have one of these attachments SECONDDDDD A good templates creator (like in The Bat not excellent in Foxmail - and better than Axel Grude Template in Th.) which is able to create easily a template for EACH account and for EACH kind of reply, send, transfer And with macro functions (like in Foxmail 7.0.93) : one of the best is %cursor% because of sending automatic mails and replies Then - search and display all email from a sender from all folders and trash folder in ONE CLICK (2 clicks in Foxmail 7.0.93) - delay for sending mail (like The Bat) - different ringtone for EACH account - rearrange imap account order - rearrange imap folders order - open or close folders pane with a button (good for small screen laptops) - good looking characters dimensions (not like in Thunderbird where it is really the jungle) - possibility to download a selection of attachments (like in Foxmail 7.0.93) and NOT all or one - adress completion not only on the email but also with the domain name - automatic display of To - CC - BBC (like in Foxmail 7.0.93) that we can use ONLY with tab and not using mouse... (energy for nothing) - a quick folders toobar (same as quick folders addon from excellent Axel Grude) with drag and drop and renaming (not like Postbox favorites bar : no rename and no drag and drop :D ) - the CHOICE (like in Foxmail 7.0.93) to display one or two lines for mail pane For the moment I stay on Foxmail 7.0.93 I bought or tried . Mailbird, Foxmail 7.2.5, The Bat Pro, Outlook, Thunderbird 30, EM, Postbox, Fossamail... and many more Best regards

nico239 12y ago

blindmikey 12y ago

Can this replace my server's installation of squirrel mail? Where my users could log into their accounts and reap the benefits of mailpile instead?