The UW IMAP server is the reference server implementation of the IMAP protocol. Unlike other server implementations, it is designed to be aggressively compatible with existing legacy mail stores and systems, and to be "plug-and-play" installable without requiring any site-specific configuration.
UW IMAP uses the c-client mail engine that is also used by the Alpine and Pine e-mail clients. c-client supports multiple mail store formats including mbox, MIX, mbx, MMDF, tenex, mtx, mh, mx, and Usenet news spools. c-client also includes support for IMAP, POP3, NNTP, and SMTP Internet protocols.
Also bundled with UW IMAP are POP2 and POP3 servers, the mailutil utility program, and the dmail and tmail mail delivery agents.
The most recent version of UW IMAP on UW's FTP server is imap-2007f, which has some bug fixes from the previous version.
On 4 August 2008 the University of Washington Alpine team announced[1] that they would "shift our effort from direct development into more of a consultation and coordination role to help integrate contributions from the community." in the wake of layoffs at the University of Washington's technology division.[2]
Mark Crispin, the former developer of UW IMAP, announced[3] a fork called Panda IMAP and that "an open source distribution is under consideration."