MIAB Successfully Ported to Ubuntu 24.04

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Hi Everyone,

I just wanted to share that I have forked the current v76 codebase and ported it successfully to install and run on Ubuntu Server 24.04, my hosting provider is Hostinger.com KVM1 plan with 4GB RAM and 1 CPU core.

I will post more details soon and a GitHub link.

A brief explanation. Knowing that Ubuntu 22.04 official support ends in about 7 months and no current way to successfully install MIAB or P-MIAB on Ubuntu 24.04 or 26.04, and not wanting to have to build a new server or a few years at least, I have taken it upon myself to create a fork that installs and runs on Ubuntu 24.04.

*** SPOLER ALERT *** I used Claude Code with Opus 5, (get over it, deal with it), a bit of back and forth planning in chat mode, then I took the document I produced to Claude Code, one single prompt, 4 hours later, it told me the build passed all the tests it could do internally.

What we found is that there was a lot of dependency issues with PHP and Python in the MIAB codebase, no problems per se, but they made it hard to port, the problems seem to be SpamAssassin and Postgrey spam system and a few other areas.

The result is that it advised that replacing the whole spam system with Rspamd and keeping OpenDKIM & OpenDMARC as is, and Dovecot 2.3x made it easy also. The new fork runs on the default Ubuntu 24.04 PHP 8.3 and Python 3.12 environments. No changes to the UI. The spam system is now different but integrated.Nextcloud is also updated to version 33 that works with PHP 8.3. There might be Duplicity backup issues also. I have a live server running right now and will do further testing over the next few days and post more details soon.

I also added an install switch on the command line and a “miab-mode” command line tool to switch the server from sandbox mode if required to live mode, but you can’t go back to sandbox once live though. I used sandbox mode for initial testing in a Virtualbox VM in NAT mode and the whole system installed, with a .test internal domain also and it installed and worked. Then I installed on my live server with unlocked port 25 on Hostinger.com and it is now live for my testing.

If anyone from the dev team wants to reach out to me, I will provide contact details soon, but feel free to DM me here in the meantime. I do not have an online social media presence, I don’t use it anymore. I will post more details shortly for those that are interested, but now we know it can be done on Ubuntu 24.04.

Ubuntu 26.04 uses Dovecot 2.4x and some other changes so will take more work, but that will be my next project.

Please don’t SPAM me for using AI…accept it! Get over it! Deal with it! They give us all the tools so how can i not use them? I needed a mail server that fits my needs so I made one. I thank the developers of this project, I have used the project on 2 live servers over a 10 year period and they worked flawlessly, but I wanted a more modern OS base. I will post a public GitHub repo shortly so anyone can clone it and try it.

Thanks G

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Interesting. Note that other people are also working on 26.04 support. See Ubuntu 26.04 Migration by writeDavid · Pull Request #2603 · mail-in-a-box/mailinabox · GitHub

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Thanks. I looked at 24.04 and 26.04 options with Claude Opus 5, it went through the whole v76 codebase. It determined that moving to 26.04 with Dovecot 2.4x and Nextcloud would cause issues, and might be a challenge, with some PHP and Python dependency issues, so that is why I went with 24.04 for now.

It suggested replacing SpamAssassin & Postgrey with Rspamd which would be a drop in replacement for the spam system and keep OpenDKIM & OpenDMARC and resolve some PHP dependency issues, so that is what it produced.

I am working on a website currently to detail what I did and found, I will post the raw Markdown that Claude produced. Next I will enhance the dashboard, with some influence from Power MIAB. I’m also looking at Dockerization etc. I’ll post more details shortly via my website.

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Hello Everyone,

I am back with more details on my MIAB v76 fork. The name of my fork is called MeetrMail. It is designed to install on Ubuntu 24.04 only, I have not tested on any other platform so cannot guarantee it will install on any other system or version, Ubuntu 26.04 is not tested but not expected to work due to PHP & Python & Dovecot issues, this will come from me later.

Here is the public github repo link GitHub - gman1979/MeetrMail: A fork of Mail-In-A-Box v76 that installs and runs on Ubuntu 24.04 only · GitHub
Fork it or clone it, then run “sudo setup/start.sh”.

I have my live server running at https://meetrmail.net, for mail and hosting the website there with more details about how I did this.

I can’t offer any support for the software, I am providing “as is” and you are free to do what you want with it. I Plan to enhance it with a new or upgraded admin dashboard soon plus other fixes and enhancements. I have only tested it on an x86-64 based machine, not sure about other platforms.

I recommend that you setup the DNS records for the mail domain first including NS & PTR & A & AAAA & MX etc records with your domain registrar before installing the software so that the install won’t complain about host names etc. I use CrazyDomains and point the NS at my server “ns1.mail.meetrmail.net” in my case for first name server.

Basically if you are familiar with installing & running a DNS and a Mail server and Linux then you should be ok with this software. The install process is the same as MIAB, just issue one command “sudo setup/start.sh”.

I found that once installed the setup is very stable and works well, and uses just less than 1GB RAM when idle. One thing to note with the admin interface, it only works currently in Firefox based browsers, it doesn’t work on Brave (chrome based) Browser for instance.

I’m also building my website https://ggadesigns which will be active soon for the other more abitious projects I am working on, inlcuding NullaOS “https://nullaos.dev” (coming soon) which is a complete operating system written in pure ASM & C and so far I have a custom bootloader and kernel prototype that boots all the way to a custom Win95 style desktop in QEMU and on one of my test NUC boxes. I have grand plans for that project🚀. More details soon when that site goes live.

I am a sole developer in Sydney, I do not have time to provide support for MeetrMail so simply use it as you please. It’s my gift to this community and I thank the developer and contributors for this great project Mail-In-A-Box that I have used for over 10 years on 2 live servers that I have self managed without getting hacked.

Thanks G

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I’m running Ubuntu 26.04, Postfix, Rspamd 3.8.1, ClamAV 1.5.4, Dovecot 2.4.2, OpenDKIM, Redis, Unbound and used MiaB as my “guide” by NOT using the things that bothered me about MiaB …

• Single point of failure name servers
• Reporting false configuration errors

Anyway it’s possible.

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What do you mean by DNS being SPOF?

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Having one authoritative name server. If your box goes down, you disappear … I guess you could work out secondary DNS, but why put yourself in that position in the first place? Simple just to use the NS1 and NS2 that almost all registrars provide with no hesitation. Then, you could point them somewhere else - also - no limitation.

I’ve finally written up my solution here: Wombat-Email

I guess I should mention that I didn’t create this as a fork to MiaB like others did - I started from scratch with just mail in mind.

I used to run a Matt Simerson Mail Toaster back in the day - I used both as inspiration for my solution. Check it out …

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Cloudflare has little to do with privacy, so I am surprised that you implemented an application so closely tied to it. Do you have any plans for an alternative solution—perhaps something like generating a text file that contains the required zone?

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Fair question. A few things, though:

Privacy: your mail never goes anywhere near Cloudflare. It travels straight between your server and everyone else’s. Cloudflare only hosts the DNS records, and DNS records are public by design - anyone can look them up, whoever hosts them.

A zone file: my panel already makes one (DNS › Zone file, per domain or all of them), and you can load it into any DNS host. The catch is that it goes stale. A mail server’s DNS isn’t set once: certificates renew every couple of months by publishing a record, each new domain needs its records, DKIM keys and policies change, DNSSEC has to be signed and kept signed. Do that by hand and sooner or later one record is wrong, and wrong DNS is the number one reason self-hosted mail lands in spam.

The alternative? Every registrar and DNS host has its own API, or none at all, and many don’t do DNSSEC. Supporting them all means writing and testing dozens of integrations, and doing each one halfway. I’d rather do one properly.

Why Cloudflare: it’s free, DNSSEC is free, it’s fast everywhere, and the token can be limited to DNS on your own domains, from your own server’s IP address only. Your domain stays wherever it’s registered; only the name servers point to Cloudflare.

The whole point of Wombat-Email: you run one command on your VPS, give it the token, and from then on it does the DNS work for you. It works out every record each domain needs, publishes them, checks them, and keeps them right as things change. No zone files to download and import, no records to copy into a DNS panel, nothing to remember when a certificate renews or you add a domain. You can still download your zone files any time if you want them; you just never have to.

So no plans for a zone-file-only mode for now. But I’m glad you asked: it’s going in the FAQ.

And thanks for asking here and on the Wombat-Email forum too (wombat-email-user over there, I noticed). :slight_smile:

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I see your points re using Cloudflare. But to me part of then appeal of MIAB is that it’s self-contained and I can be largely independent of external services.

A free Cloudflare account is all very well, but we all know free services exist to nudge you in to a paid tier :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

But having said that, my DNS is currently being tickled by a botnet. I can mitigate but there is definite appeal to seeing someone else deal with it :slight_smile:

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Fair point, and that’s the real trade-off. MiaB runs your DNS on the box itself, which is tidy right up until a botnet decides to tickle it … then your mail server is also the DNS server under attack.

On the paid-tier nudge: Wombat-Email only uses what’s in Cloudflare’s free plan: DNS, DNSSEC, and an API token limited to DNS on your own domains. Nothing in it needs a paid feature. If that ever changed, your domain is still at your own registrar and the panel exports your zone files any time, so leaving is an afternoon, not a migration.

And again, your mail never touches Cloudflare. It goes straight between your server and everyone else’s. Cloudflare just answers “where is this domain’s mail server?” … and soaks up the botnets so you don’t have to :slightly_smiling_face: