How to access IMAP email through an email proxy server

Question

I'm not 100% certain how to phrase the question, so let me start with what I'm trying to do and the barriers:

Goal:

• Read/Answer mail from "another account" in GMail by adding a new email account into gmail

Won't work:

• Forwarding email from "another account" to a new gmail account and then changing the "reply-to" label. it looks ugly on the receiving end and does not sync up sent messages. I've tried this. It works 'ok', just not the idea solution

Barrier to success

• "another account" doesn't have open/external POP3 or IMAP interfaces.

Available to me

• IMAP service enabled on the other account, but only available through VPN. So while on VPN I can actually access the other account with Outlook via IMAP.

Theoretical plan

1. Run a pc 24/7 logged in to the VPN and has visibility to the IMAP
2. Run some kind of Mail Relay Proxy Server thing-a-ma-bop (?!)
3. Point GMail to above "mail server"

Is there something that works like #2 above? I have no idea how to search for it. Maybe it's a combo of things? Some kind of setup of WinProxy, javamail and ... ? No idea if this is even possible.

Thank you

Edit:

More searching, found "FreePOPs", but it's not quite there, sounds like what I might need. FreePOPs connects to webmails, and my account does have it, but... it's Lotus iNotes and FreePOPs doesn't seem to support it.

1) Do you know how to make FreePOPs support lotus inotes? 2) Or, is there another product like FreePOPs that's an "email relay" and a pop3 daemon?

Answer 1

Just adding some info after a couple of years dabbling with this questions. Things have changed so this is only a partial solution, by maybe it'll help someone.

The best "thing-a-ma-bop" :) from my original question turns out to be DavMail (http://davmail.sourceforge.net/index.html). The down side now is that GMail does not talk to IMAP and only POP3. Ok, that's fine, DavMail supports showing up as a POP server. The bad part is that Gmail now requires all servers to have valid certs (read: no more self-signed certs). And that can get pricey.

FYI, someone else actually wrote up a great GMail + DavMail walk through, but again the snag now is the certs if you have them or can get them. http://purereasoning.blogspot.com/2012/02/how-to-use-gmail-with-microsoft.html

Answer 2

possible solutions for 2. / thing-a-ma-bop:

• imapproxy
• dovecot1.x/2.0 proxy
• dovecot 2.1 'imapc' storage
• a simple port forwarding (redirect connection to host in vpn)

Remember that this only includes imap access, eg. reading mail. for sending mail you'd have to install a MTA like postfix and use your "other account"-host as smarthost. not sure if you can configure additional smtp relays in gmail though.

warning: your project sounds like you are trying to circumvent security measures of your company. someone decided that this "other mailbox" should not be available to an outside box. make sure to get permission first - stuff like this can get you fired.