Citadel.org faq:generalquestions

Can I install Citadel on a shared web hosting account?

Sun, 31 Dec 2006 13:25:18 -0400

Generally, this is not possible. You must be the administrator of the host computer in order to install Citadel. (If you don't know what that means, then you most certainly are not.)

Can I Create a Bulletin Board Like PHPBB or Slashcode With Citadel?

Wed, 09 May 2007 11:59:45 -0400

Can I Create a Bulletin Board Like PHPBB or Slashcode With Citadel? Yes and no. The answer will depend on which features you need. Here's a short comparison of the features that Citadel does and does not offer: Citadel Does Provide * The ability to view and compose messages via the web interface * Formatting of messages with rich text via web interface * The ability to access messages via imap, and to search them via these facilities... * Posting via email to a forum * Narrow user…

How do you base your claims that Citadel is "powerful and scalable?"

Sun, 31 Dec 2006 13:25:18 -0400

Legacy messaging systems on Unix have typically relied on a loosely coupled collection of programs -- such as Sendmail, UW or Cyrus IMAP, etc. to deliver and read messages. Each of these programs 'forks' (creates another process) when another user signs on. They also rely on legacy mailbox formats which are not very efficient. Citadel uses a single multithreaded server that can handle a large number of simultaneous connections using a proven 'worker thread' model. It handles all protocols in the…

What is the default Install Administrator Password / User?

Tue, 29 May 2007 11:54:08 -0400

What is the default Install Administrator Password / User? * User: You've specified the User to become Administrator during the setup. Use the name you provided. * Password: Create the User, choose a Password of your choice. Citadel takes a bit of a different approach here than you might know. We don't provide a user/password common to all default installs, to avoid the install getting “Hacked” (remember that MS SQL Server issue some years ago?). Instead, you choose during setup which …

I want to automate certain stuff with the citadel server. How would i do that?

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 12:19:48 -0400

Citadel speaks its own Protocol registered to IANA TCP Port 504. This protocol can be found on the Citadel Protocol Definition Page. You can either speak to your citadel server via TCP Port 504, or the citadel.sock UnixDomainSocket. Sendcommand can issue one privileged command at a time to citserver; Netcat is a proper tool, if you just want to pipe the output of a shellscript over to your Citadel server.

What is "instant expunge" and when should I use it?

Thu, 03 Jan 2008 12:31:23 -0400

Instant Expunge is a site-configurable setting that makes Citadel's IMAP service behave in a sensible way when deleting messages, as opposed to the behavior defined by RFC 3501. The IMAP protocol does not have a direct way of deleting messages. Instead, the client must set a “Deleted” flag on any messages which are to be deleted, and then perform an “Expunge” operation afterwards to actually delete the messages from the mailbox. It was designed this way because the reference implement…

Is Citadel web-based or text-based?

Sun, 31 Dec 2006 13:25:18 -0400

Citadel is unique among BBS and forum software in that it provides web-based and text-based user interfaces. Users peacefully coexist on your system, blissfully unaware of what presentation others are seeing. If you'd like to see this work, just link to any of the sites posted on the Citadel home page.

What is the maximum size of a Citadel message store?

Fri, 08 Jun 2007 16:41:13 -0400

The maximum size of a Citadel message store is equivalent to the maximum size of a Berkeley DB table. According to the publishers of Berkeley DB, the maximum is 256 terabytes.

How do I support mobile devices and push e-mail with the Citadel system?

Thu, 15 May 2008 22:42:29 -0400

This is accomplished using the Funambol sync server with a Citadel module written by Mathew McBride. You can learn more about this solution here:

Why Don't You Build A Store Driver For MySQL, Postgres, Oracle, etc.?

Sun, 01 Apr 2007 17:05:48 -0400

You're probably asking this, because... * You want to access your emails * You want to backup your data * You're interested how Citadel stores its data Accessing your email Although there are solutions in the market that use SQL database backends, Citadel doesn't. You wouldn't want to access the database on an SQL basis on dbmail either, since it would harm the application's abstraction model. However, Citadel does offer several ways to access your email without hurting that principle. …

General Questions

Sun, 31 Dec 2006 15:40:32 -0400

I don't understand the rooms/floors thing. What's with all the weird terminology?

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 00:16:09 -0400

First of all, keep in mind that Citadel originated in 1981, so it probably pre-dates whatever software you consider “normal.” We are often asked why a Citadel system is made up of containers called “rooms” rather than something more common -- folders, databases, forums, or any of a thousand other things.

Can I use WebCit with a non-Citadel IMAP service?

Wed, 17 Jan 2007 14:39:07 -0400

No. WebCit speaks to the Citadel server using Citadel's own application layer protocol, not with IMAP/SMTP. Therefore it is not possible to use WebCit with a non-Citadel mail backend. There are no plans to change this. The Citadel system is designed as a tightly integrated stack.

What are the memory requirements?

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 23:37:24 -0400

The server loads all message objects into memory during load (read) and save (post) operations. This means that you need enough memory to handle the size of the biggest message you plan to be able to handle. For a simple BBS, 256 MB of memory might be just fine. On the other hand, if you're running a big groupware system for an organization, you'll want to add enough memory to support the number of concurrent users you expect to have logged in. For example, if you have hundreds of users, you sh…

What is the difference between Citadel and Citadel/UX?

Sun, 31 Dec 2006 13:25:18 -0400

Citadel variants comprise a rich history of various implementations of messaging software based on Jeff Prothero's original 1981 design. They differed from each other in many areas but were all based upon the “rooms” concept. In this context, our implementation has traditionally been referred to as Citadel/UX, a variant name chosen because it runs on Unix platforms. On this web site we refer to it simply as Citadel.

What operating systems are supported?

Thu, 05 Apr 2007 14:06:54 -0400

Citadel is intended to run on any Unix-like operating system. The primary development platform is Linux, running on 32-bit Intel. It is also known to work on Solaris (version 8 or newer), FreeBSD (version 6.0 or newer), OpenBSD (version 4.0 or newer), and Mac OS X (version 10.1 or newer).

What source code license do you use?

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 16:05:56 -0400

Citadel is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL), version 3. In fact, Citadel is the only groupware package that is comprised of 100% GPL code. Beware of groupware vendors who offer free and non-free versions of their software. The free versions are often feature-crippled.

Where is 'home base' for Citadel?

Wed, 03 Jan 2007 20:16:23 -0400

Home base is UNCENSORED! BBS, at uncensored.citadel.org. You can reach the system using the Web, telnet, or Citadel client software. Citadel files may be found in the /pub/citadel directory. That's about all I can think of at the moment. If you have other questions, info, comments, suggestions, bomb threats, etc., please visit the BBS or send e-mail.