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| -rw-r--r-- | fetchmail.man | 79 |
1 files changed, 40 insertions, 39 deletions
diff --git a/fetchmail.man b/fetchmail.man index c90600f3..339e0bf6 100644 --- a/fetchmail.man +++ b/fetchmail.man @@ -3,41 +3,37 @@ .\" For license terms, see the file COPYING in this directory. .TH fetchmail LOCAL .SH NAME -fetchmail \- retrieve mail from a mailserver using POP or IMAP +fetchmail \- retrieve mail from a mailserver using POP2, POP3, APOP, or IMAP .SH SYNOPSIS .B fetchmail [\fI options \fR] \fI [server-host...]\fR .SH DESCRIPTION .I fetchmail -is a mail retrieval client which supports -POP2 (as specified in RFC 937), POP3 (RFC 1725), IMAP2bis (as -implemented by the 4.4BSD imapd program), and IMAP4 (RFC1730). -It can use (but does not require) the RPOP and LAST facilities -removed from later POP3 versions. +is a batch mail retrieval utility intended to be used over on-demand +TCP/IP links (such as SLIP or PPP connections). It fetches mail from +remote mail servers and forwards it to your local (client) machine's +delivery system, where it can then be be read by normal mail user +agents such as \fIelm\fR(1) or \fIMail\fR(1). .PP -The, -.I fetchmail -program may be used to download mail in batch from the remote -mailserver specified by -.I host -to a mail folder on the local disk. The retrieved mail can then be -manipulated using a local mail reader, such as -.I mail -or -.I elm. -.PP -To facilitate the use of +The .I fetchmail -in scripts, pipelines, etc, it returns an appropriate exit code upon -termination -- see EXIT CODES below. +program can gather mail from servers supporting POP2 (as specified in RFC +937), POP3 (RFC 1725), IMAP2bis (as implemented by the 4.4BSD imapd +program), and IMAP4 (RFC1730). It can use (but does not require) the +RPOP and LAST facilities removed from later POP3 versions. .PP The behavior of .I fetchmail -is controlled by comand-line options and a control file, +is controlled by comand-line options and a run control file, .I ~/.fetchrc the syntax of which we describe below. Command-line options override .I ~/.fetchrc declarations. +.PP +To facilitate the use of +.I fetchmail +in scripts, pipelines, etc, it returns an appropriate exit code upon +termination -- see EXIT CODES below. .SH OPTIONS Each server name that you specify (following the options on the command line) will be queried. If you don't specify any servers @@ -68,10 +64,8 @@ be delivered to the client by a normal Internet TCP/IP connection). With this option you can specify another host to deliver to. .TP .B \-m mda, --mda mda -Specify a mail delivery agent to use. This can be used to pass -fetched mail to programs like procmail. If the MDA string contains -%s, that escape will be expanded into your username on the client -machine. +Specify a mail delivery agent to use. See OUTPUT OPTIONS below for a +complete description. .TP .B \-o folder, --local folder Causes retrieved messages to be appended to file named by the folder @@ -87,14 +81,14 @@ and options on the same command line. .TP .B \-F, --flush -POP3 only. Delete old (previously retrieved) messages from the mailserver +POP3/IMAP only. Delete old (previously retrieved) messages from the mailserver before retrieving new messages. .TP .B \-f pathname, --fetchrc pathname -Specify an alternate name for the .fetchrc file. +Specify an alternate name for the .fetchrc run control file. .TP .B \-i pathname, --idfile pathname -Specify an alternate name for the .popids file. +Specify an alternate name for the .fetchids file. .TP .B \-k, --keep Keep retrieved messages in folder on remote mailserver. Normally, messages @@ -134,7 +128,7 @@ may be one of the following: .RS .IP IMAP IMAP2bis, a compatible subset of IMAP4. -.IP POP2 +.IP POP2 Post Office Protocol 2 .IP POP3 Post Office Protocol 3 @@ -264,17 +258,19 @@ server to believe it's allowed to bind to a privileged remote port.) .SH OUTPUT OPTIONS The default behavior of .I fetchmail -is to ship mail to the the SMTP port on the machine it is running on -(localhost), as though it were being passed over a normal TCP/IP link. +is to ship mail via SMTP to port 25 on the machine it is running on +(localhost), just as though it were being passed in over a normal TCP/IP link. This normally results in the mail being delivered locally via your system's default MDA (Mail Delivery Agent, usually .I /usr/lib/sendmail but your system may use a different MDA). .PP -You can force mail to be passed to an MDA directly with the -mda or -m option. -Some possible MDAs are "/usr/lib/sendmail -oem %s", "/usr/formail", -and "/usr/bin/deliver %s". This shouldn't be necessary unless -for some reason you want to bypass your system's default MDA. +You can force mail to be passed to an MDA directly with the -mda or -m +option. Some possible MDAs are "/usr/lib/sendmail -oem %s", +"/usr/formail", and "/usr/bin/deliver %s" (if the MDA string contains +%s, that escape will be expanded into your username on the client +machine). This shouldn't be necessary unless for some reason you +want to bypass your system's default MDA. .PP Using the .B \-o @@ -552,16 +548,21 @@ queries more than one host, the returned status is that of the last host queried. .SH AUTHOR .I fetchmail -was originated by Carl Harris at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State -University (a.k.a. Virginia Tech). Version 3.0 was extensively improved -by Eric S. Raymond <esr@snark.thyrsus.com> and is now maintained by esr. +was originated (under the name `popclient') by Carl Harris at Virginia +Polytechnic Institute and State University (a.k.a. Virginia Tech). +Version 3.0 of popclient was extensively rewritten and improved by +Eric S. Raymond <esr@snark.thyrsus.com>. The program's name was +then changed to +.I fetchmail +to reflect both the presence of IMAP support and the symmetry with sendmail +created by the new SMTP forwarding default. .PP .SH FILES .TP 5 ~/.fetchrc default configuration file .TP 5 -~/.popids +~/.fetchids default location of file associating hosts with last message IDs seen (used only with newer RFC1725-compliant servers supporting the UIDL command). .TP 5 |