Pegasus Mail
| Pegasus Mail | |
|---|---|
| Basic data
|
|
| developer | David Harris |
| Publishing year | December 1989 |
| Current version |
4.73 ( June 7, 2018 ) |
| operating system |
Windows existing versions: |
| programming language | C ++ / C |
| category | E-mail program |
| License | Freeware |
| German speaking | Yes |
| www.pmail.com | |
Pegasus Mail is a free email program that has been developed by New Zealander David Harris since 1989 .
Functions
User interface
The program offers a graphical user interface in either English or German . For the current version 4.x there are language packs for French and Italian. Language packs for Dutch, Czech and Catalan are available for version 3.12.
As of version 4, Pegasus Mail offers the three-window view with mail preview known from Outlook Express and Netscape Communicator as an alternative to the classic Multiple Document Interface (MDI) .
E-mails can be sorted into folders using drag and drop ; otherwise the program can also be operated with the mouse. For almost all functions there are additional key combinations for operating the program via the keyboard. Pegasus Mail also has many command line functions .
As with other mail programs, the messages in a folder can be sorted by date, subject, subject, size or sender. In addition, the messages can be grouped by days, weeks, months or threads . However, Pegasus Mail does not display a tree structure (threading) like Mutt does.
Logs
Sending e-mails via Novell's MHS or SMTP is supported . Authentication is possible via SMTP-After-POP and SMTP-Auth .
Several POP3 and IMAP accounts can be managed. The selective mail download also allows a preview of the mailbox with POP3 and offers the option of choosing which mails you want to download. Automatic filtering is possible without completely downloading the emails. There is the possibility of not deleting e-mails picked up via POP3 after picking up, but rather leaving them on the server. Pegasus Mail can cache messages from an IMAP folder locally . You have faster access to the news and you can work offline .
The TLS variants of the protocols mentioned are supported, as well as the LDAP and PH protocols . There are plug-ins for MAPI and RSS .
Filter functions
As early as 1991, the filter option for e-mails was introduced in Pegasus Mail. Filtering can be carried out automatically when a folder is opened or closed or by a user command. Filtering directly on the server, i.e. without downloading the entire e-mail , is possible. If a filter condition applies, actions such as moving, coloring, starting an external program, redirecting or forwarding the e-mails can be carried out. The individual filter criteria can be linked logically. Pegasus Mail supports regular expressions in the rule set for filters , the syntax of which, however, differs considerably from the basic and extended regular expressions defined in the POSIX standard . Filter rule sets can contain minimalist program logic via jump labels.
In addition, Pegasus Mail has a rating-based filter option, the "content control". To combat spam , a predefined set of rules for content control is provided. A self-learning or trainable Bayesian spam filter is available from version 4.41.
MIME
Pegasus Mail supports the Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME). Thanks to the GNU libiconv library , the program can handle numerous international character sets and encodings, including all ISO-8859 character sets , KOI8-R , KOI8-U , UTF-8 and UTF-7 .
Messages can be encrypted and digitally signed . Free plug-ins are available to support Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) and GNU Privacy Guard (GPG) .
HTML e-mails can be created as well as displayed. The presentation is done either by using the rendering engine of Internet Explorer , or alternatively, regardless of Internet Explorer by using its own rendering engine called Bear Html . No active content is running. In order to protect the privacy of the user from tracking pixels , images, stylesheets or script files are only downloaded from the Internet at the user's command. However, the addresses of trustworthy organizations can be entered in a whitelist so that images are automatically reloaded in the newsletters of these organizations.
For security reasons, Pegasus Mail prevents the direct execution of attachments (attachments) that are executable and potentially dangerous under Windows. Attached images in JPEG , GIF , BMP , WMF and EMF formats can be viewed directly in Pegasus Mail. External viewers for files can be set independently of the settings of the operating system.
Mail folder
In the basic settings, Pegasus Mail contains the following folders: New mails end up in the New Mail Folder after they have been picked up, regardless of which POP account the mail originates from. The Junk and Suspicious Mail folder sorts out mails that are detected by the content control. A corresponding folder is created when the recycle bin is used. It also makes sense to create a standard folder for read emails. Pegasus Mail allows you to create multiple mail folders and drawers containing sub-folders. Pegasus Mail also supports virtual folders.
Pegasus Mail has its own backend for saving e-mails: New e-mails are saved as files with the extension CNM in the mail directory and appear in the inbox folder (New Mail Folder). All other folders consist of two files: A file with the extension PMM contains all mails in a folder in ASCII format. Individual emails are separated by the control character Ctrl-Z. A file of the same name with the ending PMI is the index file for the corresponding folder.
There is rudimentary support for the mbox folder format. Since this folder format is used by many e-mail programs - such as Thunderbird , Opera M2 - it is suitable for importing and exporting e-mails.
Others
- The roaming mode makes it easier to run the mail program on a USB stick . Started with the command line option -ROAM, Pegasus Mail runs regardless of the drive letter assigned to the data carrier on which the program is installed.
- Pegasus Mail offers multi-user support independent of the operating system. Each user can in turn create several different identities. Identities can differ in their name, the specified email address and many other settings.
- templates
- Management of up to ten different signatures , optionally in plain text or HTML format. When composing an e-mail, you can switch between these signatures with the editor open.
- Phishing protection
- Distribution lists
history
The freely available program was developed in 1989 for the exchange of messages within the Novell Netware network of the New Zealand University of Dunedin . In 1990 David Harris made it available worldwide for the first time via an FTP server . In combination with the mail server program Mercury , Pegasus Mail was very common in university and company networks for a long time. However, the program can also be operated in single user mode.
From 1993 to 1995 a slimmed down version of Pegasus Mail was sold under the name FirstMail in a bundle with Novell Netware .
Pegasus Mail was originally only available in English. In 1993 the first version for the Microsoft Windows operating system was published. With the appearance of the Windows version, Pegasus Mail was then translated into other languages by users, including German.
The development of the version for the Apple Macintosh was stopped in 1997. The program version for Microsoft Windows 3.x (16-bit) is no longer being developed any more.
In contrast, the DOS version, which can also be used on very low-performance computers because of its low resource requirements, has so far been maintained at longer intervals, even if this maintenance has essentially been limited to the removal of errors found. Pegasus Mail for MS-DOS is currently in version 3.50 and is compatible with every version of MS-DOS or PC DOS from version 5.0.
In Release 4.31 for the 32-bit operating systems Windows 95 and higher, released on December 14, 2005 , a new HTML rendering engine (" BearHTML ") as well as support for UTF-8 character sets , protection mechanisms against phishing attacks, etc. v. m. implemented. (The full list of changes to the code from the previous version has more than 1500 entries.)
In June 2006 Pegasus Mail 4.41 appeared in four languages. The most important innovations were the Bayesian filter with the name Spamhalter and a global whitelist for all filters contained in Pegasus Mail. Windows 95 is no longer supported by this version.
Version 4.51 has been available since June 2009. Instead of the Borland compiler, the program code has now been translated with Visual C ++ . As additional features there were e.g. B. an automatic filter function for folders or optional justification for composing messages.
In version 4.61, released in February 2011, the appearance of the symbols has been fundamentally revised. You can now choose between an HTML display based on Internet Explorer and the previous BearHTML. You can also set the size from which individual attachments are refused.
Version 4.62, which was released in July 2011, primarily offers an improved HTML display; in version 4.63, which was released in January 2012, numerous bugs were eliminated.
OpenSSL has been used for encryption since version 4.70 was released in March 2014 , and Hunspell is also used to check spelling in various languages.
Version 4.73 was released in June 2018, the most important innovation of which is the completely redesigned help system. It is the first major module of the upcoming Pegasus Mail Version 5 that has been integrated into the existing program.
A complete overhaul of the address book and a new mail folder format are planned for version 5.
financing
David Harris quit his secure job at the University of Otago at Dunedin in 1993 and has made a living developing its programs ever since. The development was financed primarily through the sale of manuals and support contracts as well as fan merchandise and donations.
Since 2007 he has changed his business model on donations at Pegasus Mail and commercial licenses (only for commercial use, for non-commercial use, the author asks for donations) for Mercury .
Web links
- www.pmail.com - Official website for Pegasus Mail and Mercury (English)
- YAGPMFAQ - Yet Another German Pegasus Mail FAQ
- Han's Pegasus Mail Information Site - Collected Information Page