What is it?

Apache James Server

  • Is 100% pure java capable of running on Java 1.4 onwards
  • Integrates protocols
    • Email
      • SMTP
      • POP3
        • Outgoing server
        • Incoming from POP3 accounts (FetchMail)
      • IMAP (James 3)
        • Server
        • Sieve filtering into IMAP mailboxes for incoming mail
    • NNTP (better known as news)
  • Is based on open standards
  • Is a mailet container. Processing is delegated to independent, extensible, pluggable agents specified by the Mailet API. Any function which is not already available (from James or from a third party) can be developed.
  • Is a modular, component based IoC mail platform
    • Based on mature, production proved Apache Excalibur components
    • James 2 (production) uses the Avalon framework. Avalon development has now stopped but the framework is mature, stable and of proved production quality.
    • James 3 (development) supports Spring and is moving towards OSGI

Releases

Stable - James 2

James 2 is a mature, production ready code stream with minimal development. Use of the latest stable release is recommended.

Latest and Stable - James 2.3.1

  • Is the latest official stable release
  • Is a bugfix release. See the Change Log for details.

Candidate - James 2.3.2

  • Is a bug fix point release currently in preparation. See release notes for details.
  • Release candidates are available. Note that these are not official releases and are intended for evaluation by expert users only.
  • Feedback welcomed either through the mailing lists or JIRA.

Proposal - James 2.4.0

  • Is a Proposed minor revision upgrading to Java 1.5 and adding support for Java 1.6.
  • Some libraries developed for James 3 may be added, allowing access to their features.
  • Feedback welcomed either through the mailing lists or JIRA.

Development - James 3.0

The James 3 code base has many new features and major revisions to the architecture are ongoing. It is recommended only for advanced users who are willing to accept that development is ongoing and that they may need to participate actively. Users are strongly recommended to subscribe to the server-dev mailing list.

Proposal - James 3.0 Milestone 1

  • Is a proposed milestone release allowing a preview of the James 3.0 features
  • Feedback welcomed either through the mailing lists or JIRA.

Feature Matrix

Item Status Since First released
SMTP server Stable 1.0 0.95
Mailet Engine Stable 2.3 0.95
FileSystem mailboxes/spool Stable 1.2 1.0
RDBMS mailboxes/spool Stable 1.2 1.2
POP3 server Stable 1.1 1.0
RDBMS - Users Stable 1.2.1 1.2.1
LDAP Support - Users Experimental 1.2 1.2
TLS Support - POP3 Experimental 1.2 1.2
Remote Manager Stable 1.0 1.0
TLS Support - Remote Manager Stable 1.2 1.2
NNTP server Experimental 1.2 1.2
FetchMail Stable 2.2 2.2
IMAP Okay 3.0 3.0

TODO

See here