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<title>Fetchmail Feature List</title> |
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<meta name="description" content="The fetchmail brag sheet." /> |
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<table width="100%" cellpadding="0" summary="Canned page header"> |
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<tr> |
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<td width="30%">Back to <a href="index.html">Fetchmail Home Page</a></td> |
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<td width="30%" align="right">$Date$</td> |
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</tr> |
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</table> |
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<hr /> |
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<h1 class="c1">Fetchmail Feature List</h1> |
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<h2>Since 5.0:</h2> |
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|
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<ul> |
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<li>STARTTLS is supported in both POP and IMAP.</li> |
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<li>ESMTP AUTH (RFC 2554) is supported.</li> |
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<li>Has the capability of adding trace information to the Received |
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header to faciliate mail filtering by mailserver and remote |
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account.</li> |
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<li>Fetchmail now has options to handle SSL certificate |
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validation.</li> |
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<li>Fetchmail can be told to fall back to delivering via local |
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sendmail if it can't open port 25.</li> |
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<li>Support for AUTH=CRAM-MD5 under POP3, a la RFC2195.</li> |
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<li>Support for ODMR (On-Demand Mail Relay), RFC 2645.</li> |
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<li>It's now easy to deliver mail to a local LMTP socket.</li> |
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<li>The interface option now checks both local and remote interface |
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IPs.</li> |
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|
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<li>The plugin facility has been enhanced; %h and %p options are |
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now available to pass in the hostname and service port number.</li> |
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|
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<li>Added a dropdelivered option to discard Delivered-To headers. |
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This addresses a problem with using fetchmail and postfix as a |
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relay inside a domain; when postfix sees incoming messages with |
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delivered-to headers looking exactly the same as the ones it adds |
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himself, it bounces the message.</li> |
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|
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<li>Added --smtpname to set username and domain portion of SMTP |
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"RCPT TO" command. <fetchmail@mail.julianhaight.com>.</li> |
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|
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<li>Added "from" server's IP address to inserted Received line |
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<fetchmail@mail.julianhaight.com>.</li> |
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|
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<li>Fetchmail now runs on BeOS, thanks to David Reid |
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<david@jetnet.co.uk>.</li> |
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<li>In IMAP, unseen-message counting and indexing is now done by |
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SEARCH UNSEEN at the beginning of each poll or re-poll (rather than |
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with the UNSEEN and RECENT responses and FLAGS queries on |
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individual messages). This significantly cuts down on traffic to |
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and from the server, and gives more reliable results.</li> |
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|
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<li>The aka option now matches hostname suffixes, so (for example) |
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saying `aka netaxs.com' will match not just netaxs.com but also |
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(say) pop3.netaxs.com and mail.netaxs.com.</li> |
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|
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<li>Fetchmail can optionally use the RFC 2177 IDLE extension on an |
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IMAP server that supports it. On IMAP servers that don't, it can |
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simulate it using periodic NOOP commands.</li> |
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|
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<li>Fetchmail now recognizes the RFC 2449 extended responses |
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[IN-USE] and [LOGIN-DELAY].</li> |
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<li>Fetchmail running in daemon mode now restarts itself quietly |
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when the rc file is touched.</li> |
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|
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<li>Following recent court decisions and changes in U.S. federal |
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regulatory policy, hooks for Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) are now |
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part of the main fetchmail distribution. The distribution still |
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contains no actual cryptographic code.</li> |
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<li>NTLM support under IMAP, so fetchmail can query Microsoft |
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Exchange servers.</li> |
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<li>Expunge option can now be used to break POP3 retrieval into |
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subsessions.</li> |
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|
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<li>Support for AUTH=CRAM-MD5 under IMAP, a la RFC2195.</li> |
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</ul> |
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|
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<h2>Since 4.0:</h2> |
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<ul> |
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<li>The interface and monitor options now work with freeBSD.</li> |
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<li>Fetchmail now sends RFC1894-conformant bouncemail on SMTP and |
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LMTP errors.</li> |
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<li>Full support for LMTP according to RFC2033.</li> |
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<li>True multi-language support using GNU gettext.</li> |
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<li>Support for use of HESIOD with Kerberos.</li> |
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<li>The --bsmtp option supports recording fetched mail as a BSMTP |
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batch.</li> |
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<li>The --limit option can now be used in daemon mode, with |
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oversized-message notifications being mailed to the calling |
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user.</li> |
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|
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<li>Configurable support for the <a |
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href="http://www.demon.net/helpdesk/producthelp/mail/sdps-tech.html/"> |
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SDPS extensions</a> in <a |
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href="http://www.demon.net/">www.demon.net</a>'s POP3 service.</li> |
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|
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<li>There is now an interactive GUI fetchmail configurator, |
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fetchmailconf.</li> |
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|
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<li>Code is 64-bit clean and Y2K-safe.</li> |
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|
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<li>Automatically decodes armored 7-bit MIME into 8 bits (this can |
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be suppressed).</li> |
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<li>You can specify which SMTP error is recognized as a spam |
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block.</li> |
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<li>Support for Kerberos V authentication.</li> |
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<li>Support for IMAP-OTP authentication using Craig Metz's patches |
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for UW IMAP.</li> |
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<li>Support for IPv6</li> |
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<li>Support for IMAP with RFC1731-conformant GSSAPI |
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authentication.</li> |
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<li>Fixed and verified support for Cyrus IMAP server, M$ Exchange, |
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and Post Office/NT.</li> |
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|
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<li>Support for responding with a one-time password when a POP3 |
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server issues an RFC1938-conforming OTP challenge.</li> |
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<li>Support for Compuserve's RPA authentication protocol for POP3 |
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(not compiled in by default, but configurable).</li> |
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</ul> |
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|
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<h2>Since 3.0:</h2> |
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|
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<ul> |
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<li>Support for IMAP RFC 1731 authentication with Kerberos v4.</li> |
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<li>Support for multiple-folder retrieval in a single session under |
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IMAP.</li> |
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<li>Following SMTP 571 response to a From line, fetchmail no longer |
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downloads the bodies of spam messages.</li> |
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<li>Support for a `hunt list' of SMTP hosts.</li> |
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<li>Support for ESMTP 8BITMIME and SIZE options.</li> |
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<li>Support for ESMTP ETRN command.</li> |
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<li>The stripcr & forcecr options to explicitly control |
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carriage-return stripping and LF->CRLF mapping before mail |
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forwarding.</li> |
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</ul> |
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|
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<h2>Since 2.0:</h2> |
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|
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<ul> |
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<li>Support for secure use with ssh.</li> |
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<li>Mailserver passwords can be parsed out of your .netrc |
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file.</li> |
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|
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<li>When forwarding mail via SMTP, fetchmail respects the 571 "spam |
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filter" response and discards any mail that triggers it.</li> |
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|
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<li>Transaction and error logging may optionally be done via |
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syslog.</li> |
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|
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<li>(Linux only) Security option to permit fetchmail to poll a host |
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only when a point-to-point link to a particular IP address is |
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up.</li> |
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|
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<li>RPOP support (restored; had been removed in 1.8).</li> |
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</ul> |
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<h2>2.0 and earlier versions:</h2> |
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|
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<ul> |
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<li>Support POP2, APOP, RPOP, IMAP2, IMAP2bis, IMAP3, IMAP4, |
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IMAP4rev1. .</li> |
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<li>Support for Kerberos V4 user authentication (either MIT or |
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Cygnus).</li> |
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<li>Host is auto-probed for a working server if no protocol is |
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specified for the connection. Thus you don't need to know what |
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servers are running on your mail host in advance; the verbose |
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option will tell you which one succeeds.</li> |
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|
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<li>Delivery via SMTP to the client machine's port 25. This means |
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the retrieved mail automatically goes to the system default MDA as |
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if it were normal sender-initiated SMTP mail.</li> |
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<li>Configurable timeout to detect if server connection is |
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dropped.</li> |
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<li>Support for retrieving and forwarding from multi-drop mailboxes |
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that is guaranteed not to cause mail loops.</li> |
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<li>Large user community -- fetchmail has a large user base (the |
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author's beta list includes well over two hundred people). This |
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means feedback is rapid, bugs get found and fixed rapidly.</li> |
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|
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<li>Carefully written, comprehensive and up-to-date man page |
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describing not only modes of operation but also how to diagnose the |
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most common kinds of problems and what to do about deficient |
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servers.</li> |
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|
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<li>Rugged, simple, and well-tested code -- the author relies on it |
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every day and it has never lost mail, not even in experimental |
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versions. (In the project's entire history there has only been one |
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recorded instance of lost mail, and that was due to a quirk in some |
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Microsoft code.)</li> |
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|
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<li>Strict conformance to relevant RFCs and good debugging options. |
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You could use fetchmail to test and debug server |
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implementatations.</li> |
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<li>For anybody who cares, fetchmail is Y2K safe.</li> |
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</ul> |
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|
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<h2>Features in common with other remote-mail retrieval |
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programs:</h2> |
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|
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The other programs I have checked include fetchpop1.9, |
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PopTart-0.9.3, get-mail, gwpop, pimp-1.0, pop-perl5-1.2, popc, |
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popmail-1.6 and upop. |
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|
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<ul> |
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<li>Support for POP3.</li> |
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|
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<li>Easy control via command line or free-format run control |
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file.</li> |
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|
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<li>Daemon mode -- fetchmail can be run in background to poll one |
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or more hosts at a specified interval.</li> |
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<li>From:, To:, Cc:, and Reply-To: headers are rewritten so that |
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usernames relative to the fetchmail host become fully-qualified |
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Internet addresses. This enables replies to work correctly. (Would |
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be unique to fetchmail if I hadn't added it to fetchpop.)</li> |
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|
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<li>Message and header processing are 8-bit clean.</li> |
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</ul> |
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|
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<hr /> |
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<table width="100%" cellpadding="0" summary="Canned page footer"> |
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<tr> |
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<td width="30%">Back to <a href="index.html">Fetchmail Home Page</a></td> |
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<td width="30%" align="right">$Date$</td> |
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</tr> |
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</table> |
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|
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<br clear="left" /> |
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<address>Eric S. Raymond <a href="mailto:esr@thyrsus.com"><esr@snark.thyrsus.com></a></address> |
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