Frequently Asked Questions

Unfortunately, GMail policies are opaque so we cannot tell why this happens.

Verify that you have a rDNS record set for the IP used by sender server. Also some IPs may just happen to have bad reputation - check it with various DNSBLs. In this case you do not have much of a choice but to replace it.

Additionally, you may try marking multiple messages sent from your domain as "not spam" in GMail UI.

Message sending fails with dial tcp X.X.X.X:25: connect: connection timed out in log

Your provider is blocking outbound SMTP traffic on port 25.

You either have to ask them to unblock it or forward all outbound messages via a "smart-host".

What is resource usage of maddy?

For a small personal server, you do not need much more than a single 1 GiB of RAM and disk space.

How to setup a catchall address?

https://github.com/foxcpp/maddy/issues/243#issuecomment-655694512

maddy command prints a "permission denied" error

Run maddy command under the same user as maddy itself. E.g.

sudo -u maddy maddy creds ...

How maddy compares to MailCow or Mail-In-The-Box?

MailCow and MIAB are bundles of well-known email-related software configured to work together. maddy is a single piece of software implementing subset of what MailCow and MIAB offer.

maddy offers more uniform configuration system, more lightweight implementation and has no dependency on Docker or similar technologies for deployment.

maddy may have more bugs than 20 years old battle-tested software.

It is easier to get help with MailCow/MITB since underlying implementations are well-understood and have active community.

maddy has no Web interface for administration, that is currently done via CLI utility.

How maddy IMAP server compares to WildDuck?

Both are "more secure by definition": root access is not required, implementation is in memory-safe language, etc.

Both support message compression.

Both have first-class Unicode/internationalization support.

WildDuck may offer easier scalability options. maddy does not require you to setup MongoDB and Redis servers, though. In fact, maddy in its default configuration has no dependencies besides libc.

maddy has less builtin authentication providers. This means no app-specific passwords and all that WildDuck lists under point 4 on their features page.

maddy currently has no admin Web interface, all necessary DB changes are performed via CLI utility.

How maddy SMTP server compares to ZoneMTA?

maddy SMTP server has a lot of similarities to ZoneMTA. Both have powerful mechanisms for message routing (although designed differently).

maddy does not require MongoDB server for deployment.

maddy has no web interface for queue inspection. However, it can easily inspected by looking at files in /var/lib/maddy.

ZoneMTA has a number of features that may make it easier to integrate with HTTP-based services. maddy speaks standard email protocols (SMTP, Submission).

Is there a webmail?

No, at least currently.

I suggest you to check out alps if you are fine with alpha-quality but extremely easy to deploy webmail.

Is there a content filter (spam filter)?

No. maddy moves email messages around, it does not classify them as bad or good with the notable exception of sender policies.

It is possible to integrate rspamd using 'rspamd' module. Just add rspamd line to checks in local_routing, it should just work in most cases.

Is it production-ready?

maddy is considered "beta" quality. Several people use it for personal email.

Single process makes it unreliable. This is dumb!

This is a compromise between ease of management and reliability. Several measures are implemented in code base in attempt to reduce possible effect of bugs in one component.

Besides, you are not required to use a single process, it is easy to launch maddy with a non-default configuration path and connect multiple instances together using off-the-shelf protocols.