Benefits of plug-ins

Mailtraq provides a plug-in interface for two reasons:

To allow third-party programs to easily provide powerful custom extensions to Mailtraq's message handling

There are many occasions when you might want to handle messages in a way which Mailtraq doesn't do natively. For example, you might want to pour your messages into your custom database, or (if they represent orders) process them in your order-processing software.

By providing your application with a simple file-based interface, you can quickly code your application to interface with Mailtraq without having to use the relatively complex mail protocols like POP3 and SMTP.

To allow third-party programs to interface reliably with Mailtraq

Many programs act act filters on files, for example anti-virus software, however if they are let loose on a server they will likely crash the system, and at best, not work effectively. This is because Mailtraq stores its messages in its own format, and a filtering program which changes these files will prevent Mailtraq from accessing not only the intended message, but all other messages in the user's mailbox. Clearly undesirable.

If you are an anti-virus vendor, please read KB03021801 for more information, particularly if you want your product listed here.

As most people want to have their messages scanned for viruses, we provide, via the plug-in interface, a reliable method for message inspection by anti-virus software. Each message is handed, in turn, to the anti-virus software, and if it is clean, it is returned to Mailtraq for onward delivery.

Mailtraq's plug-in system allows for multiple plug-ins to be acting at the same time, so you no-longer have to rely on a single anti-virus or anti-spam solution, but can combine them for even better protection!