Discuss
would it be possible to install a chatmail relay server for Delta Chat on a yunohost system ?
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To use DeltaChat you do not need a full Chatmail server, that is only useful if you want to invite users that can only use the server for DeltaChat encrypted messages and deny all plain text messages.
To use DeltaChat in a small user group, a regular IMAP/SMTP service is completely fine (which you can install with Yunohost as Postfix and Dovecot)
I know - but a Chatmail relay servers have nice features by default i want to use:
Chatmail relay servers are interoperable Mail Transport Agents (MTAs) designed for:
- Convenience: Low friction instant onboarding
- Privacy: No name, phone numbers, email required or collected
- End-to-End Encryption enforced: only OpenPGP messages with metadata minimization allowed
- Instant: Privacy-preserving Push Notifications for Apple, Google, and Huawei
- Speed: Message delivery in half a second, with optional P2P realtime connections
- Transport Security: Strict TLS and DKIM enforced
- Reliability: No spam or IP reputation checks; rate-limits are suitable for realtime chats
- Efficiency: Messages are only stored for transit and removed automatically
it makes delta chat to a hybrid server / P2P system… where servers ares just used once to download the messages
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While this list is impressive, it overstates the features a bit since they are all available on a regular hosted email system with the exception of the automatic onboarding
Most importantly Chatmail is not a P2P system, it uses regular SMTP and IMAP and it uses IMAP IDLE to have instant notifications.
I have no idea how big a project it would be to include Chatmail as a separate server in Yunohost, but I am suggesting that it is not worth it
Since the messages get deleted from the servers by default at the end all connections and messages are just stored on the user devises… it is also possible to move your identity form one devise to an other and also change servers…
this makes chatmail relay server for me as to some kind of hybrid server / P2P system.
they are all available on a regular hosted email system with the exception of the automatic onboarding
they may be available but they are not by default enforced
When using Delta Chat on a regular yunohost email server you cannot quickly send many messages to the same address. (I think there is a delay of 5s.)
Although it is possible to remove this anti-spam measure it might not be what a server owner wants. Because it involves all email traffic, not just traffic for Delta Chat.
That could be a valid justification for a separate Chatmail relay server imho.
Just adding to the discussion.
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Hey everyone,
I agree with @trend — that’s actually a solid argument for having a dedicated Chatmail relay on YunoHost. The anti-spam throttling and queue limits in Postfix are great for regular mail but not ideal for near-instant messaging patterns like Delta Chat’s.
Running a Chatmail relay separately would let you tune those parameters without compromising your main mail server’s reputation or spam controls.
From a YunoHost perspective, it should be possible to package it — the Chatmail relay repo already includes deployment scripts and Docker configs, so wrapping that into a YunoHost app wouldn’t be too complex. The main challenge would be managing push notifications (since they rely on Chatmail’s infrastructure).
It could be a nice project for someone who wants Delta Chat–optimized mail on their self-hosted setup 
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so you think a Chatmail relay could be installed separately besides the other YunoHost mail services or has this installation be done instead ?
would also love to see it.