Automate account creation with Thunderbird v3

In the Thunderbird 3 lineup, a useful opportunity has appeared to “pick up” the settings for access to the mail server. But for this you need a little "comb".
There are several options for how to do this:
0) Lazy. Add for the domain records pop3.mymaildomain.com, imap.mymaildomain.com, smtp.mymaildomain.com and use the standard ports for access.
1) Add an emailaddressdomain.xml file to the installdir / isp / on a specific computer with a description of the access settings (see the format in the links)
2) The best option. Add entry autoconfig.mymaildomain.com
Create a mail folder in the root of the web server's DocumentRoot.
So for the file to be available: autoconfig.mymaildomain.com/mail/config-v1.1.xml


The file should be approximately of this type (if only pop or imap is used - it is better to remove the unnecessary):

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <clientConfig version="1.1"> <emailProvider id="OfficeEmail"> <domain>%EMAILDOMAIN%</domain> <displayName>%EMAILADDRESS%</displayName> <displayShortName>%EMAILADDRESS%</displayShortName> <incomingServer type="pop3"> <hostname>pop3.%EMAILDOMAIN%</hostname> <port>110</port> <socketType>plain</socketType> <username>%EMAILADDRESS%</username> <authentication>password-encrypted</authentication> <pop3> <leaveMessagesOnServer>false</leaveMessagesOnServer> <downloadOnBiff>true</downloadOnBiff> <daysToLeaveMessagesOnServer>14</daysToLeaveMessagesOnServer> <checkInterval minutes="15"/> </pop3> </incomingServer> <incomingServer type="imap"> <hostname>imap.%EMAILDOMAIN%</hostname> <port>143</port> <socketType>plain</socketType> <username>%EMAILADDRESS%</username> <authentication>password-encrypted</authentication> </incomingServer> <outgoingServer type="smtp"> <hostname>smtp.%EMAILDOMAIN%</hostname> <port>25</port> <socketType>plain</socketType> <username>%EMAILADDRESS%</username> <authentication>password-encrypted</authentication> <addThisServer>true</addThisServer> <useGlobalPreferredServer>false</useGlobalPreferredServer> </outgoingServer> </emailProvider> </clientConfig> 

A few explanations:
useGlobalPreferredServer = false - special to create your own entry in the list of SMTP servers for the mail client.
displayName, displayShortName - I did not fully understand where Mozilla uses these fields, but they are definitely displayed in the list of SMTP servers.

Ps. tested on Mozilla Thunderbird v3.1.5
PS2. In addition to automating account settings, you can automate the installation of plug-ins, as I wrote here .
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References:
wiki.mozilla.org/Thunderbird : Autoconfiguration
wiki.mozilla.org/Thunderbird : Autoconfiguration: ConfigFileFormat

Upd. Unified xml-file - to. it will not be necessary to edit it at all.