Unix-based mail servers are built using a number of components because a Unix-style environment is, by default, a toolbox[1] operating system. A stock Unix-like server already has internal mail; more traditional ones also come with a full MTA already part of the standard installation. To allow the server to send external emails, an MTA such as Sendmail, Postfix, or Exim is required. Mail is read either through direct access (shell login) or mailbox protocols like POP and IMAP. Unix-based MTA software largely acts to enhance or replace the respective system's native MTA.
Microsoft Windows servers do not natively implement e-mail, thus Windows-based MTAs have to supply all the necessary aspects of e-mail-related functionality.
Works with any checkpassword utility. The original supports only LOGIN and PLAIN. Alternate checkpassword utilities support authentication against PAM, LDAP, and databases.
^"COPYING". GitHub: svarshavchik/courier-libs. August 19, 2013. Archived from the original on February 26, 2022. Retrieved February 26, 2022. This software is released under the GPL, version 3 (see COPYING.GPL).
^Considered and rejected by developers in 2013. Fawcett, John (July 3, 2013). "[Dovecot] dnsbl feature for dovecot". dovecot.org. Archived from the original on February 25, 2022. Retrieved February 25, 2022.