TWIG - Web-Based E-Mail and More

TWIG (The Web Information Gateway) is a powerful web-based intranet/groupware tool and application framework. It is implemented using PHP, an HTML-embedded scripting language, and the MySQL database application.

You can use TWIG to provide e-mail accounts that are easily accessible from anywhere on the Web. Other features include a contact manager, scheduler, Usenet Newsgroup support, to-do lists, and bookmarks. Many more features are planned.

Installation

To install TWIG, you will first need to Install MySQL on your Virtual Private Server. Be sure to set up a root password when you install.

Next, install PHP4 on your Virtual Private Server. TWIG requires the following PHP4 extensions:

MySQL
MCrypt
FTP
IMAP

NOTE: In order for TWIG to work properly with versions of PHP later than 4.2.2, you will need to uncomment or add the following line in the php.ini file located in the ~/usr/local/lib directory of your Virtual Private Server.

register_globals = On

Finally, install the TWIG software by issuing the following command.

% vinstall twig

Reading E-Mail

You will now be able to read your Virtual Private Server e-mail with any web browser (e.g. Netscape or MSIE). You simply need to access a URL like this:

http://YOUR-DOMAIN.NAME/twig/

TWIG will prompt you for your e-mail username and password. After successful authentication, the contents of your mailbox will be displayed.

NOTE: Since TWIG uses IMAP it also can be used to create additional mail folders to sort and store incoming mail. Any additional mail folders that a user creates will be created in the user's home directory as listed in your local password file (~/etc/passwd). If the user's home directory happens to be defined as a directory in the ~/www/htdocs/ or ~/www/vhosts directory structure (typically created in this fashion such that the user can upload and download content to and from a Virtual Subhost via FTP) then any mail folders these users create using TWIG will be accessible to anyone via a web client.

Therefore, it is highly recommended that these users create any additional mail folders under a Mail subdirectory and create a .htaccess file and store it in such a Mail directory to protect the confidentiality of the mail stored therein. The contents of a suitable .htaccess file are shown below:

<Limit GET POST PUT DELETE>
deny from all
</Limit>

More Information

For more information see:

TWIG FAQ