[TriLUG] Being a "Super User" sucks!

[Brian Weaver via TriLUG]

Well TriLUGers I need a bit of help and I have hope there's a Super User
among the masses that can help me solve a bit of a conundrum. I'm running a
really old version of DBmail on my home server and I want to migrate it to
the newest version. So like any old (and careful) sysadmin I plan and test
my migration before I put it into production. Of course this is a result of
being burned too many times in the past with the "trial by fire approach."

The sad part is what should be hard is actually easy and what should be
easy is actually painfully difficult to the point of tears! I've built my
Debian virtual machine to test the migration. I've built the software
packages from source. I've restored my database, done the preliminary
migration, and then configured my test system to accept IMAP mail clients.

The final test is to connect with a mail client and see if it all works.
That when my world turns upside down and stops working. When the hell did
Thunderbird become as painful to use as Outlook & Exchange!? When did the
open source crowd become so determined to win converts that it left those
of us that actually have a clue unable to make use of that which we love?

I've put my google foo to work and there seem no decent solution to making
Thunderbird (on a current Ubuntu virtual machine) accept my arcane
settings. Because it's "non standard" I might as well be yelling in some
archaic tongue from ancient Babylon.

What I remember as once being trivial appears to now be impossible, thus I
can't complete my migration. So I ask the masses.... can anyone tell me how
to bypass this horrific wizard of woe that Mozilla has wrought upon
Thunderbird? If not can anyone point me at a decent e-mail application that
I can use to verify my migration?

I'm saddened by what I see in the Open Source community. So eager the
community has become to win over converts that it is willing to crucify
those that can in order to gain those who can not. Is it so much to ask of
those who don't know how to learn a bit more? Then again perhaps I should
spend more effort fighting against the software (and the wine that courses
through my veins) to break the naughty Thunderbird and make it do my
bidding.

Rant aside, if there anyone with any suggestions on how I can actually test
my non-standard configuration before I potentially shoot myself in the foot
on my live system it would be appreciated.

Thanks

- Weave

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