Kolab

Kolab Groupware-Server

Developer(s)	The Kolab-Project and Kolab Systems
Initial release	July 17, 2003 (2003-07-17)
Stable release	2.3.4 / October 5, 2011 (2011-10-05)
Preview release	2.3.0 alpha 1 / December 27, 2010 (2010-12-27)
Written in	Perl, C++, PHP, Python etc.
Operating system	Unix-like
Platform	OpenPKG
Available in	English, German and many others (multilingual)
Type	Groupware, Collaborative software
License	Various Free Software / Open Source Software Licenses
Website	Kolab.org

Kolab is a free and open source groupware suite. It consists of the Kolab server and a wide variety of Kolab clients, including KDE PIM-Suite Kontact, Horde Webfrontend, Mozilla Thunderbird and Mozilla Lightning with SyncKolab extension and Microsoft Outlook with proprietary Kolab-Connector PlugIns.

Basic Concepts

The special idea behind Kolab is the usage of IMAP as an underlying protocol not only for email, but also for contact and calendar entries. These entries are simply saved in special IMAP-folders utilising the Kolab XML-format and the IMAP-server takes care of the storage and access rights. The configuration and maintenance of Kolab is controlled by the extensive use of LDAP.

Kolab Clients and the Kolab server use well established protocols and formats for their work (i.e. IMAP as already mentioned, vCard, iCal, XML and LDAP). This allows the Kolab Format specification framework, or even portions of it, to be utilized as an open set of specifications for groupware clients and servers to communicate with each other. Third party implementations began almost immediately; for example, the Citadel groupware server began supporting version 1 of the Kolab Format specification in March 2004 [1].

The concepts on which Kolab relies are fixated in the Kolab Format Specification and Architecture Paper [2] for Kolab 2, and for Kolab 1 in the Kroupware Contract, Architecture Paper and Technical Description [3].

Main features

• Full seamless support of mixed clients environments (Outlook, KDE, Web etc.)
• Support for the K Desktop Environment with Kontact
• Support for Microsoft Outlook with proprietary connector PlugIns
• A web administration interface
• Configuration data is kept in a LDAP directory
• A global LDAP addressbook for contacts
• IMAP4rev1 as well as POP3 access to mail
• Full support for client-side PGP and S/MIME email encryption (officially Sphinx-interoperable)
• Full support for shared calendars with IMAP ACLs
• Full support for shared contacts with IMAP ACLs
• Fully offline capable using KDE Kontact or Microsoft Outlook
• Support for server side resource management (e.g. rooms, cars)
• Full support for freebusy handling

Kolab clients

• KDE Kontact [4] and Kontact-Touch (K Desktop Environment, Free Software)
• Horde [5] (integrated in Kolab since v2.2.1), a web-frontend for utilising web-browsers as Kolab-clients (Free Software)
• SyncKolab [6] [7], a Mozilla Thunderbird / SeaMonkey and Lightning extension (Free Software)
• evolution-kolab extends GNOME's Evolution and EDS (Evolution-Data-Server) to become a full-featured Kolab-client (Free Software)
• Kolab's integrated Horde also provides a SyncML interface, over which SyncML-capable mobile phones can synchronise PIM-data on a Kolab-server (Free Software)
• Z-Push (integrated in Kolab since v2.3.0) enables ActiveSync-capable clients to access their server mailboxes and to use Kolab-provided PIM-functionality (Free Software)
• Kolab-WS extends Kolab to provide Kolab-functionality as a web-service; Kolab-WS was originally part of Syncphony, which utilises Kolab-WS since their split (Free Software)
• Syncphony (initially "kolab-sync") connects Kolab-WS with a Funambol sync-server, thus enabling devices supported by Funambol to synchronise their PIM-Data with a Kolab server (Free Software)
• kolab-android [8] synchronises Android's addressbook and calendar to IMAP-folders in the Kolab2 format (Free Software)
• Toltec Connector [9] (Microsoft Outlook Connector, Proprietary Software)
• KONSEC Konnektor [10] (Microsoft Outlook MAPI Storage Provider, Proprietary Software)
• Bynari Insight Connector (Microsoft Outlook MAPI Provider, Proprietary Software)
• Aethera [11], a client solely for the Kolab 1 format, available for Windows, GNU/Linux and MacOSX [12] (Free Software)

History

2002:

• Kolab 1 / Kroupware was designed [13] utilising iCal and vCard formats to store calendar entries, contacts, notes, tasks etc. in Kolab's IMAP directories.

2003:

• KMail and the KDE-PIM software were enhanced, creating the Kroupware-Client [14].
• Kolab 1.0 was released [15].
• The first Outlook connector was developed.

2004:

• Aethera became a Kolab 1 groupware client.
• Citadel/UX learned how to mimic a Kolab 1 groupware server [16].
• Kolab 2 was designed as a general overhaul and implemented utilising the versatile and extensible Kolab Open Format [17] to store groupware data.
• The Kroupware-Client matured to KDE Kontact.

2005:

• The "KolabSyncML" ([18]: "Sync4j Kolab Connector / SyncSource"), a Kolab Java interface and Funambol connector [19], had its first alpha release.
• Kolab 2.0 was released.
• A second Outlook connector appeared on the market.
• The SyncKolab project started developing a Mozilla Thunderbird / SeaMonkey and Lightning connector.

2006:

• Kolab 2.1 was designed with many significant enhancements over 2.0.

2007:

• Kolab 2.1 was released.
• A third Outlook connector was released.

2008:

• SyncKolab 1.0 for Thunderbird 1.5 and 2.0 as well as Seamonkey 1.0 and 1.1 (optionally with Lightning 0.9 for calendaring and tasks) was released.
• Kolab 2.2 was released, with full support of multiple mail domains, integrated Horde webfrontend, updated base packages (OpenPKG, OpenLDAP, Cyrus IMAP, Postfix, Perl, Apache, PHP, etc.), easier integration in operating system distributions, and many other new features.

2009:

• Kolab 2.2.1 was released, as an enhancement and maintenance release, integrating an updated web-client (Horde) and preliminary SyncML support.
• Kolab 2.2.2 was released, as a maintenance release of the Kolab 2.2 branch.
• Kolab 2.2.3 was released, further enhancing functionality, stability and scalability of the Kolab 2.2 branch.

2010:

• KolabiPhone [20], a Kolab sync-connector for the iPhone, had its first pre-alpha release.
• Two new Free Software Kolab sync-connectors for Android and Outlook were announced [21] and their first alpha-releases published ([22], [23]).
• Syncphony was released, which extends Kolab with a Funambol connector and offers Kolab-functionality as a web-service.
• SyncKolab 1.5 for Thunderbird 3 / Seamonkey 2 (optionally with Lightning 1.0-beta for calendaring and tasks) was released.
• Kolab 2.2.4 was released as a maintenance release of the Kolab 2.2 branch.
• Kontact-Touch was released [24], offering full Kolab-functionality on mobile devices, such as Smartphones and Tablets.

2011:

• Kolab 2.3.0 was released, containing many updated core components and other improvements, the new Z-push synchronization for clients using ActiveSync (in addition to the already existing SyncML support) and an overhauled web-based administration front-end.
• Kolab 2.3.1 was released shortly thereafter, as a bugfix-release.
• Kolab 2.3.2 was released as a regular maintenance release of the Kolab 2.3 branch, with updated Postfix and Z-push components.
• Kontact 2 was released [25] as part of the KDE-SC 4.6.4, with many improvements related to Kolab.
• evolution-kolab was released, which extends GNOME's Evolution and EDS (Evolution-Data-Server) to become a full-featured Kolab-client.
• Kolab 2.3.3 was released, providing a lot of bugfixes for the Horde components and many updated base components (Apache, Cyrus IMAP, OpenLDAP, OpenSSL and PHP).
• Kolab 2.3.4 was released as a bugfix release.
• Kolab-WS was split out of Syncphony as a standalone web-service, providing Kolab functionality. Hence Syncphony soleily becomes a Funambol connector.

External links

• Kolab Project home page
• Kolab Systems AG home page (successor of the Kolab Konsortium)