QUOTIENT 0.8.8

***** DISCLAIMER ***** 

This release is aimed at developers and early adopters.  Feel free to
give it a try, but don't use it as your primary email system - yet!

Please report bugs at:
    http://www.divmod.org/users/roundup.twistd/quotient/index

Our mailing list:
    http://divmod.org/users/mailman.twistd/listinfo/divmod-dev


What is it?
===========

Quotient is an open source product that combines a multi-protocol messaging
server with tools for information management and retrieval.


Release Notes
=============

Highlights:
    - Instrumentation and monitoring
    - System throttling tools
    - Atop streamlining
    - Improved extraction framework
    - UI improvements
    - "unseen" column and highlighting of unseen messages
    - Command Line Interface
    - Anvil project planning tool
    - Docs
    - Tests
    - Fixes

In this release there has been a lot of polish and bugfixing applied to
existing code. In particular, the database has been simplified and
streamlined, and the extraction framework has been made more robust.

To aid with system management we have implemented tools for monitoring system
throughput and ways of throttling it. The UI has seen improvements above and
below the hood. It is easier to configure the primary navigation elements and
the visibility of items to the user. The table widget continues to evolve and
can now display lists as well as Pools. Other visible improvements include an
upgraded addressbook and an "unseen" msg count. We have also added a command
line interface to enable quick and easy data entry and navigation for
keyboard-centric users.

To prove Quotient's general utility (rather than just a tool for email) we've
built a second Quotient application, Anvil, a project planning tool. We intend
to use Anvil as our project planning tool and to develop it as a tutorial
for how to use our rapid development environment to build great apps. There are
a few new documents and a raft of bug fixes.

The next release will continue to focus on stability and performance
improvements.  In particular, we are working hard towards creating a process
for upgrading from one version of Quotient to another, and supporting upwards
compatibility in the future.


Requirements
============

Python: http://www.python.org/

    The programming language that Quotient is written in.
    2.3.0 or later.

Twisted: http://www.twistedmatrix.com/

    The server framework we use.
    1.1.1 or later.

Lupy: http://www.divmod.org/

    Our text search engine.
    0.1.5.5 or later.

SpamBayes: http://spambayes.sourceforge.net/

    The best Bayesian spam classifier in the biz!
    1.0a7 or later.

Python Imaging Library (PIL): http://www.pythonware.com/products/pil/

    Used to generate thumbnails

Quotient currently runs best under unix. The windows version
works OK, but problems with NTFS make it slow. We will be addressing the
issues on Windows in an upcoming release.

Quotient's web UI currently works best in Mozilla and Firebird.
In due course, we will also support IE (Win & Mac) and Safari.


Quick Start
===========

(More detailed information can be found in doc/running.txt)

First make sure the above dependencies are installed and working.  Then,
install Quotient the standard distutils way, with 'python setup.py install'.
Once you have done so, the Twisted plugin is available.  Make a new directory
to run the server in, and cd there.  Then,

    % mktap quotient --domain yourdomain.com
    % twistd -nf quotient.tap

(Note: yourdomain.com doesn't necessarily have to be a real domain, it's just a
name.  However, it helps for it to be real when Quotient attempts to send
mail.)

From there, you can find a web form at http://localhost:8485/Signup where you
can create an account and check your mail over POP.  Note that the default POP
port for Quotient to serve mail is 10110.

There are several more options that can be specified if you want to tweak how
Quotient is set up: for more information, try:

    % mktap quotient --help
