source: basicnet/mailnews/fetchmail.xml@ bfe245f

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<!DOCTYPE sect1 PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.3//EN"
   "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.3/docbookx.dtd" [
  <!ENTITY % general-entities SYSTEM "../../general.ent">
  %general-entities;

  <!ENTITY fetchmail-download-http "http://www.catb.org/~esr/fetchmail/fetchmail-&fetchmail-version;.tar.gz">
  <!ENTITY fetchmail-download-ftp  "ftp://gnome.dti.ad.jp/.1/unix/net/mail/fetchmail/fetchmail-&fetchmail-version;.tar.gz">
  <!ENTITY fetchmail-size          "1.2 MB">
  <!ENTITY fetchmail-buildsize     "5.8 MB">
  <!ENTITY fetchmail-time          "0.14 SBU">
]>

<sect1 id="fetchmail" xreflabel="Fetchmail">
<?dbhtml filename="fetchmail.html"?>
<title>Fetchmail-&fetchmail-version;</title>

<sect2>
<title>Introduction to <application>Fetchmail</application></title>

<para>The <application>Fetchmail</application> package contains a mail
retrieval program. &quot;It retrieves mail from remote mail servers and
forwards it to your local (client) machine's delivery system, so it can then be
read by normal mail user agents.&quot; </para>

<sect3><title>Package information</title>
<itemizedlist spacing='compact'>
<listitem><para>Download (HTTP): <ulink
url="&fetchmail-download-http;"/></para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Download (FTP): <ulink
url="&fetchmail-download-ftp;"/></para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Download size: &fetchmail-size;</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Estimated Disk space required:
&fetchmail-buildsize;</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Estimated build time:
&fetchmail-time;</para></listitem></itemizedlist>
</sect3>

<sect3><title><application>Fetchmail</application> dependencies</title>

<sect4><title>Required</title>

<para><xref linkend="openssl"/> and a local MDA (<xref linkend="procmail"/>)
</para>
</sect4>

<sect4><title>Optional</title>
<para><xref linkend="Python"/> and <xref linkend="tk"/>.</para>
</sect4>
</sect3>

</sect2>

<sect2>
<title>Installation of <application>Fetchmail</application></title>

<para>Install <application>Fetchmail</application> by running the following commands:</para>

<screen><userinput><command>./configure --prefix=/usr --with-ssl --enable-fallback=procmail &amp;&amp;
make &amp;&amp;
make install</command></userinput></screen>

</sect2>

<sect2>
<title>Command explanations</title>

<para><option>--with-ssl</option>: This enables
<acronym>SSL</acronym> if found, so that you can handle connections to
secure <acronym>POP</acronym>3 and <acronym>IMAP</acronym> servers.</para>

<para><parameter>--enable-fallback=procmail</parameter>: This tells
<application>Fetchmail</application> to hand incoming mail to
<application>Procmail</application> for delivery if your port 25 mail server is
not present or not responding.</para>

</sect2>

<sect2>
<title>Configuring <application>Fetchmail</application></title>

<sect3><title>Config files</title>
<para><filename>~/.fetchmailrc</filename></para>
</sect3>

<sect3><title>Configuration Information</title>

<screen><userinput><command>cat &gt; ~/.fetchmailrc &lt;&lt; "EOF"</command> 
set logfile /var/log/fetchmail.log
set no bouncemail
set postmaster root

poll SERVERNAME :
    user <replaceable>[username]</replaceable> pass <replaceable>[password]</replaceable>;
    mda "/usr/bin/procmail -f %F -d %T";
<command>EOF</command>

<command>chmod 0600 ~/.fetchmailrc</command></userinput></screen>

<para>This is an example configuration that should suffice for most people.  You 
can add as many users and servers as you need using the same syntax.</para>

<para><command>man fetchmail</command>: Look for the section near
the bottom named <emphasis role="strong">CONFIGURATION EXAMPLES</emphasis>. It 
gives some quick examples. There are countless other config options once 
you get used to it.</para>

</sect3>

</sect2>

<sect2>
<title>Contents</title>

<para>The <application>Fetchmail</application> package contains 
<command>fetchmail</command> and <command>fetchmailconf</command>.</para>

</sect2>

<sect2><title>Description</title>

<sect3><title>fetchmail</title>
<para>When executed as a user, this will source that users
<filename>~/.fetchmailrc</filename> and download the appropriate mail.
</para></sect3>

<sect3>
<title>fetchmailconf</title>

<para>This program provides a <application>Tk</application>
<acronym>GUI</acronym> interface to your <filename>~/.fetchmailrc</filename>
file making it much easier to configure.  However, you will require
<application>Python</application>, and it must have the Tkinker module
available.</para>

</sect3>

</sect2>

</sect1>