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Newbie configuration - getting email (POP3)

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David Fishburn

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Oct 14, 2003, 2:21:31 PM10/14/03
to

Howdy all.

First, I am fairly new to Unix (so don't assume I know how to do
everything, and I will probably ask stupid questions).
I have installed Mutt on both my Cygwin (WinXP) and my RedHat 9 box.

Mutt 1.4.1i

After I get email working, I will want to get Mutt to work with NNTP as
well.

I have read through the manual (sections that seemed relevant).

Here is some sections of my .muttrc file:
*************************
# This is from:
# http://www.linuxnovice.org/main_software.php3?VIEW=VIEW&t_id=146
# http://www.linuxnovice.org/main_software.php3?VIEW=VIEW&t_id=164

# Mail Folder
# I failed to mention, however, that I had to create the "Inbox",
"Unsent", and
# "Sent" mailboxes with the command touch [mailboxname]
set folder = ~/Mail # Directory that contains all mail files
(mailboxes)
set spoolfile = +Inbox # Default spoolfile
set mbox = +Inbox # Where mail is appended to from spoolfile
set mbox_type = mbox # Type of mail files
set postponed = +Unsent # Where to save postponed mail
set copy = yes # Save copies of outgoing mail?
set record = +Sent # Where to save copies of outgoing mail

# Personal options
set hostname = "fishburn-t30.sybase.com"
set realname = "David Fishburn"
set signature = ~/sig.txt

# Prune the headers!
ignore * # Ignore all header info
unignore subject
unignore to
unignore from:
unignore date
unignore CC

hdr_order Date: From: To: CC: Subject:


# Mailboxes
# The "mailboxes" variable will tell Mutt what mailboxes can receive
mail and
# where Mutt should check for new messages. You can cycle through these
# mailboxes by pressing the space bar after changing folders. This
allows you
# to keep an eye on certain mailboxes for new mail. *Note: Mutt will not
put
# mail in these folders; you will need something like Procmail to do
that.
mailboxes =Inbox
mailboxes =Mailing-Lists/Kickstart-list
mailboxes =Mailing-Lists/LinuxWorld
mailboxes =Mailing-Lists/PPA-Devel
mailboxes =Mailing-Lists/PPA-Users
mailboxes =Mailing-Lists/RPM-list


# POP3
# If you want to use Mutt as a POP3 mail client...:
set pop_host =waterloomail1.sybase.com
set pop_user =fishburn
set pop_pass =######
set pop_delete =no # Save mail on server or not
*************************************


I am using Mutt to download to my Unix both a second copy of my mail, so
I want it to keep these mails on the server.

With the above configuration, I can download all my POP email and read
them.
My inbox is ~/Mail/Inbox

If I get my email again, I will download all the email over again (very
bad).

So the docs tell us not to use Mutt to get POP, but to use fetchmail.
So I setup fetchmail:
**************************
set logfile /var/log/fetchmail.log
set invisible
set no bouncemail

poll "waterloomail1.sybase.com"
protocol pop3
username "fishburn"
password "#######"
fetchall
keep
mda "/usr/bin/procmail -d %T"

**************************

This is where I run into problems.
This puts my email into /var/spool/mail/fishburn.
How do I get fetchmail to put my email into the same account as what
Mutt is expecting above ~/Mail/Inbox.

Further reading indicates I need to use procmail to do this.
I was hoping I could just tell fetchmail to put it over there directly,
since I don't need any filtering (at this point).
If I do have to use procmail, can anyone suggest a simple .procmailrc
file to set this up. I have had a horrible time finding examples for
procmail.

TIA,
Dave

Bruno Postle

unread,
Oct 14, 2003, 3:47:56 PM10/14/03
to
On Tue 14-Oct-2003 at 02:20:50PM -0400, David Fishburn wrote:

> So I setup fetchmail:

> This is where I run into problems.
> This puts my email into /var/spool/mail/fishburn.
> How do I get fetchmail to put my email into the same account as what
> Mutt is expecting above ~/Mail/Inbox.
>
> Further reading indicates I need to use procmail to do this.

You would normally use procmail to do this, but if you are happy for
now reading all your mail in a single spoolfile, you can just tell
mutt to use the existing system mailspool rather than create one in
your home directory.

The path to your system mailspool will be available via the $MAIL
environmental variable, so you can put this in your .muttrc:

set spoolfile = $MAIL
mailboxes $MAIL

This is equivalent to:

set spoolfile = /var/spool/mail/fishburn
mailboxes /var/spool/mail/fishburn

--
Bruno

David Fishburn

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Oct 14, 2003, 8:45:12 PM10/14/03
to

Yes, this might be simpliest, but I have a feeling I will probably need
to start SPAM filtering.

I am assuming this is pretty easy to do with procmail.
How can you redirect the emails from $MAIL to ~/Mail/Inbox?

Dave


David T-G

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Oct 14, 2003, 8:56:38 PM10/14/03
to

--3vPM4r6bCybeb41V
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David --

=2E..and then David Fishburn said...
%=20
=2E..
%=20
% Yes, this might be simpliest, but I have a feeling I will probably need=
=20
% to start SPAM filtering.

Indeed. I would recomend not ruling out procmail, maildrop, Mail::Audit,
or any other delivery agent.


%=20
% I am assuming this is pretty easy to do with procmail.
% How can you redirect the emails from $MAIL to ~/Mail/Inbox?

This is treading dangerously close to procmail-list topic :-) but
something like

DEFAULT=3D$HOME/Mail/Inbox

in your procmailrc would do it for you. Of course, you might actually
put in some other settings and rules, too :-) Read the procmailrc man
page for much more info.


%=20
% Dave
%=20


HTH & HAND

:-D
--=20
David T-G * There is too much animal courage in=20
(play) dav...@justpickone.org * society and not sufficient moral courage.
(work) david...@justpickone.org -- Mary Baker Eddy, "Science and Health"
http://justpickone.org/davidtg/ Shpx gur Pbzzhavpngvbaf Qrprapl Npg!


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Thomas Roessler

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Oct 15, 2003, 1:17:17 AM10/15/03
to
On 2003-10-14 20:54:11 -0400, David T-G wrote:

> % I am assuming this is pretty easy to do with procmail.
> % How can you redirect the emails from $MAIL to ~/Mail/Inbox?

>=20


> This is treading dangerously close to procmail-list topic :-) but
> something like

>=20
> DEFAULT=3D$HOME/Mail/Inbox
>=20


> in your procmailrc would do it for you. Of course, you might actually
> put in some other settings and rules, too :-)

If you need no other rules, procmail is overkill. Here's my
=2Eforward (on the machine *behind* spamassassin ;), with postfix:

/home/roessler/Mail/archive/now
/home/roessler/Mail/inbox/

The first folder is an archive mbox, the second is the maildir I'm
using as my inbox.

--=20
Thomas Roessler =B7 Personal soap box at <http://log.does-not-exist.org/>.

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