diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'fetchmail.man')
| -rw-r--r-- | fetchmail.man | 69 |
1 files changed, 31 insertions, 38 deletions
diff --git a/fetchmail.man b/fetchmail.man index 004857f8..56f75f9c 100644 --- a/fetchmail.man +++ b/fetchmail.man @@ -280,7 +280,7 @@ fetchmail -d 900 .PP will, therefore, poll all the hosts described in your .I ~/.fetchmailrc -file (except those explicitly excluded with the `skip' option) once +file (except those explicitly excluded with the `skip' verb) once every fifteen minutes. .PP Only one daemon process is permitted per user; in daemon mode, @@ -372,6 +372,11 @@ permissions; .I fetchmail will complain and exit otherwise. .PP +You may read the \fI.fetchmailrc\fR file as a list of commands to +be executed when +.I fetchmail +is called with no arguments. +.PP Comments begin with a '#' and extend through the end of the line. Otherwise the file consists of a series of free-format server entries. Any amount of whitespace separates keywords, tokens, or strings in @@ -383,17 +388,21 @@ characters or string delimiters in strings. When there is a conflict between the command-line arguments and the arguments in this file, the command-line arguments take precedence. .PP -Each server entry consists of the keyword `server', followed by a -server name, followed by server options, followed by any number of -user descriptions. +Each server entry consists of one of the keywords `poll' or `skip', +followed by a server name, followed by server options, followed by any +number of user descriptions. +.PP +The `poll' verb tells fetchmail to query this host when it is run with +no arguments. The `skip' verb tells +.I fetchmail +not to poll this host unless it is explicitly named on the command +line. (The `skip' verb allows you to experiment with test entries +safely, or easily disable entries for hosts that are temporarily down.) .PP Legal server options are: - server protocol (or proto) port - skip - noskip authenticate (or auth) timeout @@ -416,7 +425,7 @@ Legal user options are norewrite .PP All options correspond to the obvious command-line arguments except -five: `is', `to', `password', and `skip'. +three: `is', `to', and `password' .PP The `is' or `to' keywords associate the following local (client) name(s) (or server-name to client-name mappings separated by =) with @@ -442,15 +451,6 @@ The \fBaliases\fR option declares names that are recognized as OK for local delivery. Your local name is automatically one of these; the aliases directive can be used to declare others. .PP -The `skip' option tells -.I fetchmail -not to query this host unless it is explicitly named on the command -line. A host entry with this flag will be skipped when -.I fetchmail -called with no arguments steps through all hosts in the run control file. -(This option allows you to experiment with test entries safely, or easily -disable entries for hosts that are temporarily down.) -.PP Legal protocol identifiers are auto (or AUTO) @@ -483,40 +483,39 @@ mail for the remote user `eric' is to be delivered to `esr', but you can make this clearer by saying `user eric there is esr here', or reverse it by saying `user esr here is eric there' .PP -Finally, instead of saying `server fubar.com skip ...' you can say -\&`skip server fubar.com ...' +For backward compatibility, the word `server' is a syninym for `poll'. .PP Basic format is: .nf - server SERVERNAME protocol PROTOCOL username NAME password PASSWORD + poll SERVERNAME protocol PROTOCOL username NAME password PASSWORD .fi .PP Example: .nf - server pop.provider.net protocol pop3 username jsmith password secret1 + poll pop.provider.net protocol pop3 username jsmith password secret1 .fi .PP Or, using some abbreviations: .nf - server pop.provider.net proto pop3 user jsmith password secret1 + poll pop.provider.net proto pop3 user jsmith password secret1 .fi .PP Multiple servers may be listed: .nf - server pop.provider.net proto pop3 user jsmith pass secret1 - server other.provider.net proto pop2 user John.Smith pass My^Hat + poll pop.provider.net proto pop3 user jsmith pass secret1 + poll other.provider.net proto pop2 user John.Smith pass My^Hat .fi Here's a version of those two with more whitespace and some noise words: .nf - server pop.provider.net proto pop3 + poll pop.provider.net proto pop3 user jsmith, with password secret1, is jsmith here; - server other.provider.net proto pop2: + poll other.provider.net proto pop2: user John.Smith with password My^Hat, is John.Smith here; .fi @@ -528,22 +527,22 @@ If you need to include whitespace in a parameter string, enclose the string in double quotes. Thus: .nf - server mail.provider.net with proto pop3: + poll mail.provider.net with proto pop3: user jsmith there has password "u can't krak this" is jws here and wants mda "/bin/mail" .fi You may have an initial server description headed by the keyword -`defaults' instead of `server' followed by a name. Such a record +`defaults' instead of `poll' followed by a name. Such a record is interpreted as defaults for all queries to use. It may be overwritten by individual server descriptions. So, you could write: .nf defaults proto pop3 user jsmith - server pop.provider.net + poll pop.provider.net pass secret1 - server mail.provider.net + poll mail.provider.net user jjsmith there has password secret2 .fi @@ -555,7 +554,7 @@ first description lacks the `user' keyword, the name of the invoking user is used.) Here's a contrived example: .nf - server pop.provider.net proto pop3 port 3111 + poll pop.provider.net proto pop3 port 3111 pass gumshoe user jsmith with pass secret1 is smith here user jones with pass secret2 is jjones here @@ -578,7 +577,7 @@ Here's what a simple retrieval configuration for a multi-drop mailbox looks like: .nf - server pop.provider.net: + poll pop.provider.net: user maildrop with pass secret1 to golux hurkle=happy snark here .fi @@ -701,12 +700,6 @@ server, forwarding will not get done correctly. The multi-drop mailbox code was hard to test thoroughly and may have obscure failure modes, especially in the presence of DNS flakiness. .PP -The configuration file grammar is ugly and tricky. This is an -unfortunate result of trying to stay compatible with the old popclient -syntax. The way it is most likely to bite is if you try to declare -a `defaults' entry with no user options. This should work, but does -not. To work around this problem, add a redundant `user' declaration. -.PP Under Linux, if fetchmail is run in daemon mode with the network inaccessible, each poll leaves a socket allocated but in CLOSE state (this is visible in netstat(1)'s output). For some reason, these |