The php-imap package contains a dynamic shared object (DSO) for the Apache Web server. When compiled into Apache, the php-imap module will add IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) support to PHP. IMAP is a protocol for retrieving and uploading e-mail messages on mail servers. PHP is an HTML-embedded scripting language. If you need IMAP support for PHP applications, you will need to install this package and the php package.