Recommended email hosting options
This document provides recommendations for email hosting setups suitable for kernel maintainers, especially given the increasing limitations of consumer email providers like Gmail and Outlook.
Own domain with Fastmail
The preferred setup is to use your own domain with Fastmail. This is not a free option, but costs approximately 100 USD per year with a .net domain.
Advantages:
You own your domain and address; if Fastmail stops being suitable in the future, your identity is not tied to them and you can migrate to another hosting service
You can purchase your domain through Fastmail itself, and it will be preconfigured correctly for immediate use (you can still transfer it to a different registrar if you wish); .net domains are cheapest at approximately 30 USD per year
You can send plaintext email through their webmail service (see https://useplaintext.email/#fastmail)
Their mobile app supports sending plaintext email
Full SMTP and IMAP support for use with any mail client
Can be configured to send kernel.org mail through our servers, allowing direct use of your kernel.org alias
JMAP support is available; lei/korgalore support uploading messages to your inbox with JMAP, which is faster and more reliable than Gmail or IMAP
Disadvantages:
Fastmail is an Australian company with servers in the US
Their server stack is largely proprietary, though they open-source parts of their software
linux.dev hosting
The Linux Foundation offers linux.dev mailbox hosting for anyone listed in the MAINTAINERS file, providing a first.last@linux.dev address. The provider is Migadu, and LF pays an annual fee to offer this service at no cost to maintainers.
See linux.dev mailbox hosting for more information on applying for an account.
Advantages:
Available to any maintainer at no cost
Uses free software services (Postfix, Dovecot)
Can send plaintext email through webmail
Standard IMAP/SMTP that work well with mobile apps (e.g., FairEmail)
Servers are located in Switzerland
Disadvantages:
Naming convention is enforced (first.last@linux.dev) to avoid collisions
Owned by LF; your inbox can be accessed by the LF admin team
You may encounter throttling issues with large mail volumes
Outgoing nodes occasionally end up on blocklists, causing bounces
Self-hosted with kernel.org address
You can use your kernel.org alias with your own mail server. The server needs a DNS entry and must accept incoming connections on port 25 for forwarding. You can self-host a Nextcloud instance, for example, and use the bundled webmail and IMAP access for your mail. For outgoing mail, you can use kernel.org SMTP servers.
See Using your username@kernel.org alias for information on configuring your kernel.org mail settings.
Advantages:
You own everything and nobody else has access to your email
Completely free (excluding time spent on setup and maintenance)
No blocklist concerns when sending via smtp.kernel.org
Disadvantages:
You are responsible for running your own infrastructure
Gmail/Outlook with korgalore
The korgalore tool works well for mailing list subscriptions. If you use Gmail only as a mail storage backend while using a client like mutt/neomutt/Thunderbird to read and send email, you can continue to use Gmail along with your kernel.org alias.
See Korgalore for more information.
Advantages:
Use the Gmail/Outlook frontend for AI integrations or other features to read and organize mail
Disadvantages:
Cannot send plaintext email via mobile apps
Relies on continued IMAP and SMTP availability from these providers