DavMail, an open-source, Java-based cross-platform Exchange and Office 365 gateway that enables users to integrate their preferred email and calendar clients—such as Thunderbird—with Microsoft Exchange servers, has reached version 6.5.
The standout addition in this update is a brand-new interactive Office 365 authentication system built on SWT and WebView2, supporting FIDO2 and Windows Hello. This upgrade offers native, secure login on Windows systems, while Linux uses an embedded WebKit browser for the same interactive flow.
On Linux, DavMail 6.5 delivers several long-awaited refinements:
- Merged AppStream patch to match Flatpak packaging rules.
- Updated RPM spec file to align with Fedora 43 packaging policies.
- Adoption of sysusers.d for cleaner user creation and system integration.
- Removal of legacy EL6 code and outdated dependencies.
- Improved Java detection and build process for compatibility with current JDK versions.
For containerized deployments, DavMail’s Docker configuration has been overhauled and refactored. The project now features automatic Docker image builds via GitHub Actions and provides Docker Compose samples for easy setup.
Improvements include streamlined entry points, environment variables for configuration (DAVMAIL_PROPERTIES), and logging refinements when running in containers.
Moreover, the build process has also been modernized with cleaner GitHub workflows, updated dependencies, and embedded Java runtime packages. Notably, 32-bit Windows builds have been dropped, while the Windows installer now includes a recent JDK and OpenJFX libraries.
Other highlights include:
- Refined Debian and RPM build targets.
- Updated Maven dependencies and AppVeyor build scripts.
- Embedded Zuu JRE inside the Windows NSI installer.
- Improved uninstaller handling.
For more information, see the announcement.
