On 2003-11-03 21:43:26 -0700, Monique Y. Herman wrote: > The very first paragraph in `man fetchmail` says > > fetchmail is a mail-retrieval and forwarding utility; it > fetches mail from remote mailservers and forwards it to > your local (client) machine's delivery system. You can > then handle the retrieved mail using normal mail user agents such > as mutt(1), elm(1) or Mail(1). The fetchmail utility can be run > in a daemon mode to repeatedly poll one or more systems at a > specified interval. > > Whatever you think about what a mail fetcher should be doing, shouldn't > you read at least the first paragraph of the man page before using a > tool?
This isn't sufficient: it gives no warning that mail may be lost by doing this. I was rather naive and thought that if this failed, then fetchmail wouldn't delete the mail. > In fact, the author (that's esr, if I recall correctly) considered > delivery to your local delivery system a *feature*, because it allows > you to use all of the powerful features available through the MTA of > your choice. > > I'm sorry that you lost mail. It absolutely sucks. But I think it > might be an object lesson -- it's a good idea to read up on a tool > before using it, especially when you're going to use it on something > as sensitive as mail. Reading the man page won't solve the problems inherent to a dangerous method. Even if you have a working system, the configuration of your local delivery system may change in the future. It is still possible to make a mistake when implementing an antispam rule and reject to much mail (I know sysadmins who did that wrong). -- Vincent Lefèvre <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> - Web: <http://www.vinc17.org/> - 100% validated (X)HTML - Acorn Risc PC, Yellow Pig 17, Championnat International des Jeux Mathématiques et Logiques, TETRHEX, etc. Work: CR INRIA - computer arithmetic / SPACES project at LORIA -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
