[Gambas-devel] [RFC] Gambas implementation of the pop3 protocol

[Fabien Bodard]

2012/8/25 Sebastian Kulesz <sebikul at ...176...>:
> On Fri, Aug 24, 2012 at 7:44 PM, Benoît Minisini
> <gambas at ...1...> wrote:
>> Le 24/08/2012 05:39, Sebastian Kulesz a écrit :
>>> Hi! I made a component to implement the pop3 protocol purely in Gambas
>>> and wanted some feedback on how the API should be implemented.
>>>
>>> Right now there is an exported class called Pop3Client that wraps the
>>> call depending if the connection should be encrypted or not using 2
>>> sub classes (TCPClient & SSLClient) which share the same API. If it is
>>> encrypted, an openssl process is used to execute the commands and read
>>> the response, if it's not, a plain socket is used.
>>>
>>> At first i wanted to include asynchronous support, but it was REALLY
>>> buggy and difficult to implement, so i left it synchronous. A list of
>>> the implemented commands can be found at the top of the
>>> Pop3Client.class file. Although the user can use the Pop3Client.Send()
>>> call directly to send any command, their implementation should return
>>> the data on a semi parsed form
>>>
>>> I'm not sure how the API should be implemented and if the structure
>>> i'm using is the best approach. How would you implement the protocol?
>>> How would you abstract encrypted and non encrypted connections so that
>>> the difference cannot be seen by the developer?
>>> When executing a command that requires a large amount of data to be
>>> downloaded (e.g retrieve a message with attachments), subsequent calls
>>> can be overlapped, is there a way to avoid this?
>>>
>>> * Protocol specifications: http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1939
>>>
>>> Thanks a lot!!
>>>
>>
>> I will look at it.
>>
>> Check if the new gb.task component could allow you to implement an
>> asynchronous version of the Pop3Client (like FtpClient and HttpClient).
>>
>> SmtpClient handle encrypted connections the same way as you. Maybe you
>> can look at its code?
>>
>> Now we will need a MIME library to parse MIME messages...
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> --
>> Benoît Minisini
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> Live Security Virtual Conference
>> Exclusive live event will cover all the ways today's security and
>> threat landscape has changed and how IT managers can respond. Discussions
>> will include endpoint security, mobile security and the latest in malware
>> threats. http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/sfrnl04242012/114/50122263/
>> _______________________________________________
>> Gambas-devel mailing list
>> Gambas-devel at lists.sourceforge.net
>> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/gambas-devel
>
> Hey, I was about to propose an implementation of a threading
> component! Well done!
>
> The code used to talk to openssl was actually taken from the
> SmtpClient class, there is a notice about that in the source code. ;)
>
> I believe that asynchronous implementation should wait until A. the
> api is well defined and B. the gb.task component matures a little bit.
> However, i will start playing around with it so i can give some
> feedback.
>
> The MIME parsing should definitely be done using an external library,
> like gmime [0]. There are a LOT of specifications that need to be read
> and implemented, and i think that reinventing the wheel using another
> material would be pointless in this case.
>
> [0] http://spruce.sourceforge.net/gmime/
> * Supported specifications also listed here

True, the MIME Spec are really complex. If gmime can be used without
getting gnome, why not ?

>
> Thanks!
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Live Security Virtual Conference
> Exclusive live event will cover all the ways today's security and
> threat landscape has changed and how IT managers can respond. Discussions
> will include endpoint security, mobile security and the latest in malware
> threats. http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/sfrnl04242012/114/50122263/
> _______________________________________________
> Gambas-devel mailing list
> Gambas-devel at lists.sourceforge.net
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/gambas-devel



-- 
Fabien Bodard