Fully libre stalwart builds

[fnetX]

Hi there, we are currently considering to use Stalwart for sending emails over at Codeberg, more precisely giving it a test run for sending emails for Forgejo test servers.

However, we are strong believers in free/libre software, and the open core model of stalwart is definitely a downside. One that can be accepted, giving it saves us a lot of effort otherwise.

However, now to the actual issue, Stalwart seems to ship proprietary bits either included in the release or by connecting to a third party service and downloading things like the web UI from there. Running proprietary bits of software, even if only for the admins, is something we definitely want to avoid.

Is there an easy or recommended way to produce builds of stalwart, which

• only contain free/libre software
• do not connect to third parties or make users (e.g. in a web interface) connect to third-party services in order to run properly
• do not contain annoying ads that this software could be cooler if there was no proprietary part of it

?

Any hints on how to produce such a build in an easy way, or things to keep in mind when patching manually, are much appreciated.
Clarifying the license of the compiled binaries in the release section would also be good IMHO.

[mdecimus]

Hi,

Yes, you can compile Stalwart without the enterprise flag. This will remove all SEL licensed code. No external resources are downloaded with the exception of:

• Webadmin bundle, but Stalwart can be configured to retrieve the bundle from the local filesystem.
• Spam filter rules, which are AGPLv3 but retrieving these rules can be disabled also or fetched locally.
• Spam filter lists provided by third parties (such as OpenPhish) but this can also be disabled.

[fnetX]

How do I create such a build? We found no way to disable all but one feature flags (also see https://stackoverflow.com/questions/39734321/is-it-possible-to-disable-a-single-default-feature-in-cargo).

[fnetX]

Further, it seems that there are no feature flags to create an AGPL-only frontend build.

[mdecimus]

How do I create such a build?

For example for RocksDB only:

$ cargo build -p mail-server --no-default-features --features "rocks" --release

Further, it seems that there are no feature flags to create an AGPL-only frontend build.

Adding this flag to the webadmin is still pending.