From c2175744d707e512a8d313847319b395014a133d Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: "Eric S. Raymond" Date: Tue, 22 Jul 2003 02:05:51 +0000 Subject: Added warning about comcast.net. svn path=/trunk/; revision=3827 --- fetchmail-FAQ.html | 236 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++-------------------------- 1 file changed, 121 insertions(+), 115 deletions(-) diff --git a/fetchmail-FAQ.html b/fetchmail-FAQ.html index ac8b7572..1261dc41 100644 --- a/fetchmail-FAQ.html +++ b/fetchmail-FAQ.html @@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ content="Frequently asked questions about fetchmail."/> Page To Site Map -$Date: 2003/07/17 18:48:50 $ +$Date: 2003/07/22 02:05:51 $ @@ -98,18 +98,22 @@ host?.
S1. How can I use fetchmail with qpopper?
S2. How can I use fetchmail with Microsoft Exchange?
-S3. How can I use fetchmail with Compuserve RPA?
-S4. How can I use fetchmail with Demon Internet's SDPS?
-S5. How can I use fetchmail with usa.net's servers?
-S6. How can I use fetchmail with HP OpenMail?
-S7. How can I use fetchmail with geocities POP3 servers?
-S8. How can I use fetchmail with Hotmail?
-S9. How can I use fetchmail with MSN?
-S10. How can I use fetchmail with SpryNet?
-S11. How can I use fetchmail with FTGate?
-S12. How can I use fetchmail with MailMax?
-S13. How can I use fetchmail with Novell GroupWise?
-S14. How can I use fetchmail with InterChange?
+S3. How can I use fetchmail with HP OpenMail?
+S4. How can I use fetchmail with Novell GroupWise?
+S5. How can I use fetchmail with InterChange?
+S6. How can I use fetchmail with MailMax?
+S7. How can I use fetchmail with FTGate?
+ +

How to fetchmail work with specific ISPs:

+ +I1. How can I use fetchmail with Compuserve RPA?
+I2. How can I use fetchmail with Demon Internet's SDPS?
+I3. How can I use fetchmail with usa.net's servers?
+I4. How can I use fetchmail with geocities POP3 servers?
+I5. How can I use fetchmail with Hotmail?
+I6. How can I use fetchmail with MSN?
+I7. How can I use fetchmail with SpryNet?
+I8. How can I use fetchmail with comcast.net?

How to set up well-known security and authentication methods:

@@ -483,7 +487,7 @@ fetchmail?

Fetchmail will work with any POP, IMAP, ETRN, or ODMR server that conforms to the relevant RFCs (and even some outright broken ones like Microsoft Exchange and Novell GroupWise). This doesn't mean it works +href="#S6">Novell GroupWise). This doesn't mean it works equally well with all, however. POP2 servers, and POP3 servers without LAST, limit fetchmail's capabilities in various ways described on the manual page.

@@ -553,19 +557,19 @@ en clair? ranges from trivial to impossible. It may even be next to useless.

-

Most people use fetchmail over phone wires, which are hard to -tap. Anybody with the skill and resources to do this could get into -your server mailbox with much less effort by subverting the server -host. So if your provider setup is modem wires going straight into -a service box, you probably don't need to worry.

+

Most people use fetchmail over phone wires (whether plain old +copper or DSL), which are hard to tap. Anybody with the skill and +resources to do this could get into your server mailbox with much less +effort by subverting the server host. So if your provider setup is +phone-company wire going straight into a service box, you probably +don't need to worry.

-

In general there is little point in trying to secure your -fetchmail transaction unless you trust the security of the server -host you are retrieving mail from. Your vulnerability is more -likely to be an insecure local network on the server end (e.g. to -somebody with a TCP/IP packet sniffer intercepting Ethernet traffic -between the modem concentrator you dial in to and the mailserver -host).

+

In general there is little point in trying to secure your fetchmail +transaction unless you trust the security of the server host you are +retrieving mail from. Your vulnerability is more likely to be an +insecure local network on the server end (e.g. to somebody with a +TCP/IP packet sniffer intercepting Ethernet traffic between the modem +concentrator or DSL POP you dial in to and the mailserver host).

Having realized this, you need to ask whether password encryption alone will really address your security exposure. If you @@ -625,7 +629,7 @@ response.

If you are fetching mail from a CompuServe POP3 account, you can use their RPA authentication (which works much like APOP). See S3 for details. If you are fetching mail from +href="#I1">I1 for details. If you are fetching mail from Microsoft Exchange using IMAP, you will be able to use NTLM.

Your POP3 server may have the RFC1938 OTP capability to use @@ -1017,7 +1021,7 @@ any token following "username" or "password" is a string.

F3. The .fetchmailrc parser won't accept my host or username beginning with `no'.

-

See F2 You're caught in an unfortunate crack +

See F2. You're caught in an unfortunate crack between the newer-style syntax for negated options (`no keep', `no rewrite' etc.) and the older style run-on syntax (`nokeep', `norewrite' etc.).

@@ -1549,6 +1553,7 @@ Notes? convert \n to \r\n, but its rules are not the intuitive and correct-for-RFC822 ones. Use `forcecr'.

+

T7. How can I use fetchmail with Courier IMAP?

@@ -1557,7 +1562,7 @@ IMAP? smtphost or smtpaddress.

-

T8. How can I use fetchmail with vbmailshield?

+

T8. How can I use fetchmail with vbmailshield?

vbmailshield's SMTP interpreter is broken. It doesn't understand RSET.

@@ -1730,13 +1735,77 @@ explicitly to your mailbox name.

But, the best option involves a tactical nuclear weapon (an old ASROC will do), pissing off a lot people who live downwind from Redmond, and your choice of any Linux, NetBSD, FreeBSD, or Solaris -CD.

+CD-ROM.

+ +
+

S3. How can I use fetchmail with HP +OpenMail?

+ +

No special configuration is required, but OpenMail versions +prior to 6.0 have an annoying bug similar to the big one in Microsoft Exchange. The message sizes it gives in +the LIST are rounded to the nearest 1024 bytes. It also has a nasty +habit of discarding headers it doesn't recognize, such as X- and +Resent- headers.

+ +

As with M$ Exchange, the only real fix for these problems is to +get a POP (or preferably IMAP) server that isn't brain-dead. +OpenMail's project manager claims these bugs have been fixed in +6.0.

+ +

We've had a more recent report (December 2001) that the TOP +command fails, returning only one line regrardless of its argument, +on something identifying itself as "OpenMail POP3 interface".

+ +
+

S4. How can I use fetchmail with Novell GroupWise?

-

I'll provide the CD.

+

The Novell GroupWise IMAP server would be better named +GroupFoolish; it is (according to the designer of IMAP) unusably +broken. Among other things, it doesn't include a required content +length in its BODY[TEXT] response.

+ +

Fetchmail works around this problem, but we strongly recommend +voting with your dollars for a server that isn't brain-dead. If you +stick with code as shoddy as GroupWise seems to be, you will +probably pay for it with other problems.

-

S3. How can I use fetchmail with -CompuServe RPA?

+

S5. How can I use fetchmail with +InterChange?

+ +

You can't. At least not if you want to be able to see +attachments. InterChange has a bug similar to the MailMax server; +it reports the message length with attachments but doesn't download +them on TOP or RETR.

+ +

On Jan 9 2001, the people at InfiniteMail sent me mail informing +me that their new 3.61.08 release of InterChange fixes this +problem. I don't have any reports one way or the other yet.

+ +
+

S6. How can I use fetchmail with MailMax?

+ +

You can't. At least not if you want to be able to see +attachments. MailMax has a bug; it reports the message length with +attachments but doesn't download them on TOP or RETR.

+ +

Also, we're told that TOP sometimes fails to retrieve the entire +message even when enough lines have been specified. The MailMax +developers have acknowledged this bug as of 4 May 2000, but there +is no fix yet. If you must use this server, force RETR with the +fetchall option.

+ +
+

S7. How can I use fetchmail with FTGate?

+ +

The FTGate V2 server (and possibly older versions as well) has a +weird bug. It answers OK twice to a TOP request! Use the +fetchall option to force use of RETR and work around +this bug.

+ +
+

I1. How can I use fetchmail with CompuServe RPA?

First, make sure your fetchmail has the RPA support compiled in. Stock fetchmail binaries (such as you might get from an RPM) don't. @@ -1775,7 +1844,7 @@ poll non-rpa.csi.com via "pop.site1.csi.com" with proto POP3 and options no dns

-

S4. How can I use fetchmail with Demon +

I2. How can I use fetchmail with Demon Internet's SDPS?

Single-drop mode

@@ -1848,7 +1917,7 @@ greeting line; if you're accessing Demon Internet through a proxy it may fail. To force SDPS mode, pick "sdps" as your protocol.

-

S5. How can I use fetchmail with usa.net's +

I3. How can I use fetchmail with usa.net's servers?

Enable `fetchall'. A user reports that the 2.2 @@ -1873,27 +1942,7 @@ servers. They seem to be chronically flaky. We recommend finding another provider.)

-

S6. How can I use fetchmail with HP -OpenMail?

- -

No special configuration is required, but OpenMail versions -prior to 6.0 have an annoying bug similar to the big one in Microsoft Exchange. The message sizes it gives in -the LIST are rounded to the nearest 1024 bytes. It also has a nasty -habit of discarding headers it doesn't recognize, such as X- and -Resent- headers.

- -

As with M$ Exchange, the only real fix for these problems is to -get a POP (or preferably IMAP) server that isn't brain-dead. -OpenMail's project manager claims these bugs have been fixed in -6.0.

- -

We've had a more recent report (December 2001) that the TOP -command fails, returning only one line regrardless of its argument, -on something identifying itself as "OpenMail POP3 interface".

- -
-

S7. How can I use fetchmail with geocities +

I4. How can I use fetchmail with geocities POP3 servers?

Nathan Cutler reports that the the mail.geocities.com POP3 @@ -1918,7 +1967,7 @@ already been read.

Geocities are lame, you should boycott them anyway.

-

S8. How can I use fetchmail with Hotmail?

+

I5. How can I use fetchmail with Hotmail?

You can't, yet. But gotmail or @@ -1926,7 +1975,7 @@ href="http://linux.cudeso.be/linuxdoc/gotmail.php">gotmail or be what you need.

-

S9. How can I use fetchmail with MSN?

+

I6. How can I use fetchmail with MSN?

You can't. MSN uses something that looks like POP3, except the authentication part is nonstandard. And of course they don't @@ -1941,8 +1990,7 @@ MSN; if so, somebody should report it so this FAQ can be corrected.

-

S10. How can I use fetchmail with -SpryNet?

+

I7. How can I use fetchmail with SpryNet?

The SpryNet POP3 servers mark a message queried with TOP as seen. This means that if your connection drops in mid-message, it @@ -1951,57 +1999,15 @@ may end up invisibly stuck on your mail spool. Use the next cycle.

-

S11. How can I use fetchmail with -FTGate?

- -

The FTGate V2 server (and possibly older versions as well) has a -weird bug. It answers OK twice to a TOP request! Use the -fetchall option to force use of RETR and work around -this bug.

- -
-

S12. How can I use fetchmail with -MailMax?

- -

You can't. At least not if you want to be able to see -attachments. MailMax has a bug; it reports the message length with -attachments but doesn't download them on TOP or RETR.

- -

Also, we're told that TOP sometimes fails to retrieve the entire -message even when enough lines have been specified. The MailMax -developers have acknowledged this bug as of 4 May 2000, but there -is no fix yet. If you must use this server, force RETR with the -fetchall option.

- -
-

S13. How can I use fetchmail with Novell GroupWise?

+

I8. How can I use fetchmail with comcast.net?

-

The Novell GroupWise IMAP server would be better named -GroupFoolish; it is (according to the designer of IMAP) unusably -broken. Among other things, it doesn't include a required content -length in its BODY[TEXT] response.

- -

Fetchmail works around this problem, but we strongly recommend -voting with your dollars for a server that isn't brain-dead. If you -stick with code as shoddy as GroupWise seems to be, you will -probably pay for it with other problems.

+

Stock fetchmail will work with a comcast.net server...but +they seem to have an 80K limit on the length of downloaded messages. +Anything larger is silently truncated. Don't mistake this for a +fetchmail bug.

-

S14. How can I use fetchmail with -InterChange?

- -

You can't. At least not if you want to be able to see -attachments. InterChange has a bug similar to the MailMax server; -it reports the message length with attachments but doesn't download -them on TOP or RETR.

- -

On Jan 9 2001, the people at InfiniteMail sent me mail informing -me that their new 3.61.08 release of InterChange fixes this -problem. I don't have any reports one way or the other yet.

- -
-

K1. How can I use fetchmail with -SOCKS?

+

K1. How can I use fetchmail with SOCKS?

Giuseppe Guerini added a --with-socks option that supports linking with socks library. If you specify the value of this option @@ -3454,6 +3460,12 @@ dns errors.

All these issues are not related to fetchmail directly.

+
+

O13. I want timestamp information in my fetchmail logs.

+ +

Write a preconnect command in your configuration file that +does something like "date >> $HOME/Procmail/fetchmail.log".

+
@@ -3461,16 +3473,10 @@ dns errors.

Page - +
To Site Map$Date: 2003/07/17 18:48:50 $$Date: 2003/07/22 02:05:51 $
-
-

O13. I want timestamp information in my fetchmail logs.

- -

Write a preconnect command in your configuration file that -does something like "date >> $HOME/Procmail/fetchmail.log".

-
Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>
-- cgit v1.2.3