How to use SquirrelMail and Require SSL for IMAP Service?

Hello,

Mac OS X Server v.10.4.9 – Open Directory Master
Providing POP, IMAP, SMTP, web services including webmail via SquirrelMail.
PHP v.4.4.4 Nov. 1, 2006
OpenSSL v.0.9.7l Sept. 2006

I need to require SSL for IMAP access, however, I also need to provide webmail access. SquirrelMail does support TSL it seems and that can be configured from /etc/squirrelmail/config/conf.pl and is discussed briefly here: http://www.squirrelmail.org/wiki/SquirrelMailIMAPS .

When I turn on TSL on SquirrelMail and change the IMAP port number to 993 attempting to log into SquirrelMail provides the following error:

Bad request: IMAP server does not appear to support the authentication method selected. Please contact your system administrator.

According to the above noted page from the SquirrelMail site one needs PHP 4.3 and SSLv3 in order for TSL to work, one must also connect to the IMAP server over port 993. Requirements I appear to meet.

So – how can one require the use of SSL for IMAP and still provide webmail access via SquirrelMail?

I have reviewed these three threads:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=912841&tstart=75
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=1457773&#1457773
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=3921004&#3921004

However they do not answer the fundamental question of how to use SquirrelMail with SSL required by IMAP. Essentially the conversation revolves around working around the SSL requirement or forgoing it.

Thank you for any assistance.

PowerBook G4 12" 1.5GHz, Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Posted on Apr 25, 2007 1:53 PM

Apr 29, 2007 8:54 AM in response to pterobyte

I'm currently preparing to migrate from older to newer hardware so many a thing is in flux.

For the time being I've configured the new server to use SSL and block the insecure ports on the firewall so as not to have to change the PHP installation. Recompiling PHP seems perfectly reasonable to resolve the issue and certainly the more comprehensive way to do it, that said, my personal preference is to avoid heavily modifying areas of the OS that Apple is likely to update in the future.

So that was a long version of: for now I am going with the firewall solution and both directions were incredibly helpful.

Thank you gentlemen and ladies.