Sylpheed is an open-source e-mail client and news client licensed under GNU GPL-2.0-or-later with the library part LibSylph under GNU LGPL-2.1-or-later. It provides easy configuration and an abundance of features. It stores mail in the MH Message Handling System. Sylpheed runs on Unix-like systems such as Linux or BSD, and it is also usable on Windows. It uses GTK+.[3]

Sylpheed
Developer(s)Yamamoto Hiroyuki
Initial release0.1.0alpha (January 1, 2000; 24 years ago (2000-01-01))
Stable release
3.7[1] Edit this on Wikidata / 31 January 2018
Preview release
3.8beta1[2] Edit this on Wikidata / 14 September 2022
Repository
Written inC, GTK+
Operating systemBSD, Linux, macOS, Unix, Windows, AmigaOS
Available inEnglish; Japanese
TypeE-mail client, news client
LicenseSylpheed GPL-2.0-or-later
LibSylph LGPL-2.1-or-later
Websitesylpheed.sraoss.jp/en/

In 2005, Sylpheed was forked to create Sylpheed-Claws, now known as Claws Mail.[4] As of 2020, both projects continue to be developed independently.

Sylpheed is the default mail client in Lubuntu, Damn Small Linux and some flavours of Puppy Linux.[5]

Features

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Spam filtering

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Sylpheed provides support for spam filtering using either bogofilter or bsfilter, at the user's choice. Bsfilter is shipped with the Windows version of Sylpheed.[6]

Plug-ins

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Sylpheed supports the development of plug-ins. As of February 2015, Sylpheed's website notes an attachment-tool plug-in, an automatic mail forwarding plug-in, and a plug-in for determining whether or not attachments are password-protected.[7]

Limitations

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Sylpheed is unable to send HTML mail. This is intentional, since the developers consider HTML mail to be harmful.[6] It is still possible to receive HTML mail using Sylpheed.

Password

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The password is stored in plaintext in the Sylpheed configuration file, which by default is only readable by "owner" and not by "group" nor "other".[8] A feature called "master password" prevents Sylpheed from holding plaintext passwords, but does not protect stored messages from other local users with administrator privilege.[9]

Encryption

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Sylpheed includes natively PGP Sign and PGP Encrypt options in the compose window (which requires however an encryption tool based on PGP already installed on the computer).[10] This function is simple to handle yet not intuitive to set up.[11]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "31 Jan 2018 Sylpheed 3.7 (stable) released". 31 January 2018.
  2. ^ "14 Sep 2022 Sylpheed 3.8beta1 (development) released". 14 September 2022.
  3. ^ "The Sylpheed Email Client [LWN.net]".
  4. ^ "Sylpheed-Claws 1.0.0 unleashed!!", 18 January 2005.
  5. ^ "http://puppylinux.org/wikka/sylpheed" Archived 2015-10-09 at the Wayback Machine, Retrieved 19 April 2015
  6. ^ a b "Chapter 1. Sylpheed FAQ - General Information"
  7. ^ "Sylpheed Plug-ins"
  8. ^ "Sylpheed User's Manual: Sylpheed configuration".
  9. ^ "Feature #8: Master password - Sylpheed". Archived from the original on 2017-11-16. Retrieved 2017-11-15.
  10. ^ "4 lightweight email alternatives to Thunderbird".
  11. ^ "Choosing an email reader for encryption » Linux Magazine".
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