How to Customize Roundcube Webmail

Overview

You can update and customize the Roundcube webmail application.

Path and filenames for the database

The SQLite database uses the following path and filename, where username represents a cPanel account username and domain represents a domain name:

/home/username/etc/domain/username.rcube.db

Additionally, the database applies the following naming conventions, where username represents a cPanel account username:

Roundcube updates

The method that cPanel & WHM uses to update Roundcube affects your customizations. cPanel & WHM uses the following process to update Roundcube:

1. The system runs the /scripts/upcp script to update cPanel & WHM.

2. The /scripts/upcp script runs the /usr/local/cpanel/install/webmail script.

   Note:

   During this step, the script will check for custom Roundcube tarballs. For more information, read the Where to save a custom Roundcube tarball installation section.

3. The /usr/local/cpanel/install/webmail script executes the /usr/local/cpanel/bin/update-roundcube script.

4. The /usr/local/cpanel/bin/update-roundcube script runs the following command to remove the current Roundcube installation:

     rm -rf /usr/local/cpanel/base/3rdparty/roundcube
   

5. The /usr/local/cpanel/bin/update-roundcube script extracts the appropriate source tarball to the /usr/local/cpanel/base/3rdparty/ directory.

   Note:

   During this step, the /usr/local/cpanel/bin/update-roundcube script checks for the existence of the /var/cpanel/roundcube/install file and performs one of the following actions:

   • If the /var/cpanel/roundcube/install is not an executable file, the file’s contents print to the STDOUT file and Roundcube continues with the installation procedure of the normal cPanel & WHM configuration.

   • If the /var/cpanel/roundcube/install is an executable file, the /usr/local/cpanel/bin/update-roundcube script executes this file and then terminates the script.

     • This bypasses cPanel & WHM’s manipulation of the Roundcube configuration files.
     • If the file successfully executes, steps 5 through 9 of the installation procedure do not occur.

6. The /usr/local/cpanel/bin/update-roundcube script changes the ownership of the Roundcube installation to the root user and the wheel group.

7. The /usr/local/cpanel/bin/update-roundcube script checks for the existence of the /var/cpanel/roundcube/install file.

8. The /usr/local/cpanel/bin/update-roundcube script extracts MySQL® configuration values from the system settings.

9. The /usr/local/cpanel/bin/update-roundcube script backs up Roundcube’s MySQL database to the /var/cpanel/roundcube/roundcube.backup.sql.currenttimestamp file, where currenttimestamp represents the time at which the script ran.

   Note:

   The /var/cpanel/roundcube/ directory only retains the four most recent copies of the Roundcube database backup.

10. The /usr/local/cpanel/bin/update-roundcube script drops the Roundcube database from MySQL.

11. The /usr/local/cpanel/bin/update-roundcube script updates Roundcube’s configuration files and MySQL files with the server’s settings.

12. The /usr/local/cpanel/bin/update-roundcube script recreates Roundcube’s database from the MySQL files.

13. The /usr/local/cpanel/bin/update-roundcube script reloads the previous Roundcube database backup and finishes the update.

Install a customized instance of Roundcube

There are many ways that you can customize Roundcube. For example, you can make simple configuration changes or completely replace the Roundcube tarball.

For instructions on how to customize Roundcube, read the Roundcube wiki.

Where to save a custom Roundcube tarball

During step 2 of the Roundcube update installation procedure, the /usr/local/cpanel/bin/update-roundcube script checks for custom Roundcube tarballs. If any of these tarball files exist, cPanel & WHM uses them instead of the cPanel-provided tarball.

If the script locates multiple tarballs, it uses them in the following order, where RCUBE_VERSION represents the Roundcube version number:

• /var/cpanel/roundcube/roundcube-RCUBE_VERSION-local.tar.gz — Use this location for a compressed tarball that you want to apply to a specific Roundcube version.
• /var/cpanel/roundcube/roundcube-RCUBE_VERSION-local.tar — Use this location for an uncompressed tarball that you want to apply to a specific Roundcube version.
• /var/cpanel/roundcube/roundcube-local.tar.gz — Use this location for a compressed tarball that you want to apply to Roundcube, regardless of version.
• /var/cpanel/roundcube/roundcube-local.tar — Use this location for an uncompressed tarball that you want to apply to Roundcube, regardless of version.

Example

For example, cPanel & WHM uses the /var/cpanel/roundcube/roundcube-0.4-local.tar.gz file if the following statements are true:

• The /var/cpanel/roundcube/roundcube-local.tar and /var/cpanel/roundcube/roundcube-0.4-local.tar.gz files exist.
• The /var/cpanel/roundcube/roundcube-0.4-local.tar.gz file matches the version number that the /usr/local/cpanel/bin/update-roundcube script specifies.

Where to store a custom overlay file

The overlay tarball allows you to customize specific attributes of Roundcube, such as the use of an overlay to change graphics, themes, or plugins. It can also contain one image file.

The overlay does not require a complete Roundcube distribution. It only requires the components that you wish to modify, because cPanel & WHM will overlay it onto the Roundcube installation. However, the overlay requires a directory structure that matches the /usr/local/cpanel/base/3rdparty/roundcube directory structure and begins with the roundcube name.

After you determine which tarball to use for the source installation and extract it, the /usr/local/cpanel/bin/update-roundcube script checks for the following directories. If the script locates multiple tarballs, it uses them in the following order, where RCUBE_VERSION represents a Roundcube version number:

• /var/cpanel/roundcube/overlay.RCUBE_VERSION.tar.gz — Use this location for a compressed overlay that you want to apply to a specific Roundcube version.

• /var/cpanel/roundcube/overlay.tar.gz — Use this location for a compressed overlay that you want to apply to Roundcube, regardless of version.

• /var/cpanel/roundcube/overlay.RCUBE_VERSION.tar — Use this location for an uncompressed overlay that you want to apply to a specific Roundcube version.

• /var/cpanel/roundcube/overlay.tar — Use this location for an uncompressed overlay that you want to apply to Roundcube, regardless of version.