Freedom and Privacy, Technology, Tutorial, yunohost

INSTALLING ROUNDCUBE 1.4 VERSION ON YUNOHOST

Thanks to the work of Brian we can now install the newest version of Roundcube on Yunohost.

Why is this so exciting?

  • Newer, fresher UI
  • PGP encryption Functionality with the enigma plugin
  • Mobile friendly skin

In short, it makes your self-hosted email awesome on a mobile too, regardless of whether you have an email app that works or not with PGP

Normally, if this app was an approved app in the Yunohost app list you would be able to simply search it and install it from the app list. Until then we have to install it by the command line but it’s not that scary at all so let’s begin.

Installing it

  1. ssh into your Yunohost box
  2. run this command to install it:
    sudo yunohost app install https://github.com/bhdouglass/roundcube_ynh/tree/testing

Configuring the Install

A bunch of questions will start. Here is how I answered mine but you can adjust as you like. Note, if you press the enter key it will choose the default option for quick installation. Critical step is choosing ‘yes’ when you are presented with the Enigma opion.

This first question is just a warning. You’re brave. Take that risk!

WARNING! Installing 3rd party applications may compromise the integrity and security of your system. You should > probably NOT install it unless you know what you are doing. Are you willing to take that risk? [Y/N] : y

This next step shows all the domains you have configured in your Yunohost box and will ask you which one you want this Roundcube to be associated with:

Available domains:
-domainone.com
-domaintwo.com

Choose a domain for Roundcube (default: domainone.com:

This next question lets you choose which URL folder you want for the mail. I changed mine from the default since I have other things running but you can leave default if you don’t have something already using ‘/webmail’:

Choose a path for Roundcube (default: /webmail): /pgpmail

I’m using Nextcloud calendar stuff so i don’t need CardDav stuff now but feel free to install it if you need it and want to use it:

Install CardDAV synchronization plugin? [yes | no] (default: no):

This is an important one if you plan to encrypt your emails!

Install Enigma messages encryption plugin? [yes | no] (default: no): yes

Testing it out

Once complete, you should now be able to go to ‘domainone.com/pgpmail’ (or whatever your options are) and hit the new Roundcube installation and log in with your Yunhohost email server settings. I recommend doing the following tests each time you get setup with something like this since desktop browser and mobile browser use different skins (sometimes) in Roundcube.

Before beginning, make sure that the public key of each email address has been sent/imported into each side of the email transaction. You can use the ‘import key’ feature in Roundcube’s desktop mode quite easily. At point of this tutorial I haven’t tried importing keys with Mobile browser, so I can’t confirm if that works or works well.

  • Send totally plain text test message from desktop browser to test email address
  • Send totally plain text test message from Mobile browser to test email address

All good? Now with public keys attached:

  • Send new email with just public key attached using Roundcube’s ‘attach public key’ feature – from Desktop browser
  • Send new email with just public key attached using Roundcube’s ‘attach public key’ feature – from Mobile browser

Still good? Now encrypt it!

  • Send new email fully encrypted using Roundcube’s ‘encrypt this email’ feature – from Desktop browser
  • Send new email with just public key attached using Roundcube’s ‘encrypt this email’ feature – from Mobile browser

Everything still good? You should be ‘in business’

Hope you enjoyed and found this useful.

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