This one time, at band camp, Sandip P Deshmukh said: > i am new to linux. > > i have been using mail 'windows' way. use some program like popcheck > to download headers from various pop3 accounts. delete headers i dont > want to download off the server. finally, use mozilla to download the > remaining messages. > > now, i am told, unix has better ways of handling mail. i tried setting > up exim for outgoing mails. and hopefully, will be done with it soon. > > in the meantime, i tried my hand at fetchmail. i already can do > fetchmail -c without error.
Long flamewars to come over favorite methods 8^). I t reall yall
depends on what you want to do with this box, how many users are on it,
and how easily you want to migrate between software.
If you're the only user on that box, and don't plan to move to another
mail client ever, the easiest is to pick one client and configure it.
If you want the repetitive tasks done for you, and like to tinker a bit,
there's plenty that can be done . . .
If you're like me, you have a multi-user box (only 4 or 5, but still),
and want mail to work for all users with all standard mail clients. So,
I set up exim to handle all the outgoing mail, fetchmail to pick up all
the incoming mail, and let users write their own .forward or .procmailrc
files themselves to handle filtering. .forward is used by exim to
filter mail, and .procmailrc by procmail - same end result, procmail is
more powerful, but if you have simple filter needs, .forward works just
as well, and has slightly easier syntax.
Fetchmail can run as a demon, or as a per user command (or from user
cronjobs, I suppose, although I would think running it as a demon
becomes more efficient at that point).
> 1. how do i run fetchmail? as a daemon or what?
If you like - sort out everything in your own .fetchmailrc and make sure
it works like it should, and then cp it to /etc/fetchmailrc, and follow
the directions as to ownership and whatnot in the docs.
> 2. can i ask fetchmail to download only headers and delete unwanted
> headers off the server only?
No - this would be a great addition, though - maybe file a wishlist bug?
Shouldn't be too hard to implement. There is also getmail (basically a
fetchmail replacement, don't see too much difference) and gotmail for
Hotmail accounts.
> 3. after fetchmail fetches mail, where will it put it?
/var/mail/sandip (assuming sandip is your username)
> 4. are there any easy to configure utilities that will segregate
> mail finally downloaded?
.forward and .procmailrc, see above. Both have copious documentation
installed with them, but I found .forward easier to explain to
newcomers.
> 4. which software do i use to read the mail fetched by fetchmail?
> can i use mozilla?
Any or all of the standard mail clients can read from the mailspool and
your other mboxes. Some have trouble with Maildir or MH style boxes,
but I think most can handle them fine.
> 5. any other stuff that might be useful/ interesting etc.
Tons. Tinker, tinker, tinker. My .forward and .muttrc are each over
three pages at this point!
HTH,
Steve
--
If a man has a strong faith he can indulge in the luxury of skepticism.
-- Friedrich Nietzsche
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