
Q: I got "Internal server error" when running openwebmail?
   I got "can not do setuid" error?
   I got "Software error: Can't locate etc/openwebmail.conf in @INC" error?
A: There are many possible answers...

   1. Please check you have install a complete set of perl 5.005 above.
      And You should uncompress the openwebmail-1.xx.tgz with proper parameter.
      It is "tar -zxvBpf openwebmail-1.xx.tgz"

   2. Your openwebmail scripts have wrong owner and mode.
      The owner and mode of openwebmail.pl, openwebmail-prefs.pl, 
      checkmail.pl and spellcheck.pl should be
      mode=4555
      owner=root
      group=mail

   3. Your perl may be compiled with suid ability disabled.
      a. check if you have a executable of suidperl 
         'chmod 4555 suidperl'
         and change #!/usr/bin/perl to the path of this suidperl
      b. Or recompile your perl with suid enabled

   4. The MIME::Base64 or CGI module on your system may be too old
      a. install MIME-Base64-2.12.tar.gz
      b. install CGI.pm-2.74.tar.gz

Q: I got "Couldn't open XXX-session-0.370606494136155!" error after login?
A: You openwebmail-1.xx.tgz was uncompressed with inproper parameter.
   It should be "tar -zxvBpf openwebmail-1.xx.tgz"

Q: I got "Software error: Can't locate MIME/Base64.pm in @INC"?
A: please download MIME-Base64-2.12.tar.gz and install

   cd /tmp
   tar -zxvf MIME-Base64-2.12.tar.gz
   cd MIME-Base64-2.12
   perl Makefile.PL
   make
   make install

Q: I got "can't open /var/log/openwebmail.log" error?
A: please check the openwebmail.log permission, it should be
   owner=root, group=mail, mode=660

Q: The 'From' field of my message contains only 'username@'?
A: you may has wrong setting of domainname in openwebmail.conf
   Please be sure to use '' for a text string of hostname or
   use `` for the program /bin/hostname

Q: I can not add attachments?
A: Your proxy may limit the size of a POST request.
   Try to add attachments with no proxy setting in your browser.
   If you are the administrator of the proxy server and if you are using squid,
   please set the request_body_max_size option to a larger value.

Q: Attachments disappeared when I forward a message?
A: check the permission of the following directories
   cgi-bin/openwebmail/etc          - owner=root, group=mail, mode=750
   cgi-bin/openwebmail/etc/sessions - owner=root, group=mail, mode=770
   cgi-bin/openwebmail/etc/users    - owner=root, group=mail, mode=770

Q: The permission of cgi-bin/openwebmail/etc is correct but attachments 
   still disappeared in message forwarding?
A: mmm, please upgrade the latest version. 
   Some old version(1.03,1.04) has little problem in attachment handling.

Q: When I check 'edit folder menu', I found some folders are empty but take 
   diskspace?
A: The diskspace occupied by a folder shown in 'edit folder menu' includes
   the size of folder and folder index. Though folder is empty, the folder 
   index still has some data structure to maintain.

Q: I have problems in reading some mail....
A: please check http://turtle.ee.ncku.edu.tw/openwebmail/download/update.txt
   to see if any update fixes your problem and download the openwebmail-current.tgz

Q: The OpenWebMail is very slow on my system.
A: It depends on how you define the "slow". 

   The response time of OpenWebmail in normal operation would be:
   6 second on a p133 machine.
   3 second on a p200mmx machine.
   1 second on a celeron300 machine.

ps: Some operations would take more time than normal operation, for example:
    indexing on a large folder, adding large attachment to a message.

   It is recommended that you install Open WebMail on a medium-sized machine.
   (ex: Celeron 300 with 128MB ram). Actually it runs well on a pentium 200mmx 
   machine only if you have enough ram installed.

   There is an analysis of memory usage of Open WebMail available at
   http://turtle.ee.ncku.edu.tw/openwebmail/download/memory.usage

Q: How can I report problem?
A: If your Open WebMail doesn't work, please describe your problem
   with the following information

   OS
   Perl Version
   the ls -l of the perl executable used in your openwebmail.pl
   the ls -l of your cgi-bin/openwebmail and cgi-bin/openwebmail/etc
   the error message in your browser

   If your Open WebMail works but it shows strange output for some messages,
   please forward the message as an attachment to me 
   ps: clicking the 'forward as attachment' icon in message reading menu

Q: Can I use Open WebMail in a commercial web site? 
   Can I change the page layout of openwebmail?
A: Open WebMail is GPL software (please see copyright.txt for detail of GPL).
   You can use or distribute it freely and you can also change the layout 
   of Open WebMail only if
   a. Any improvement of Open WebMail or any product based on Open WebMail 
      must be released to the public, and
   b. The link 'Open WebMail' must be kept on the web page to enable the user
      link back to the home of Open WebMail.

ps: I would be happy if you mail me a message that your commercial web site
    is using Open WebMail. I may put it into the web page as some kind of 
    advertisements :)
   

05/05/2001 

tung@turtle.ee.ncku.edu.tw
