Re: Do I need fetchmail?
Georgina Joyce <gena@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> "Another way to access your POP3 mail is the fetch-mail function (default:
> G). It allows to connect to pop_host, fetch all your new mail and place it
> in the local spoolfile. After this point, Mutt runs exactly as if the mail
> had always been local."
>
> Well that sounds like what I want to do but how? Do I need to create a
> folder called pop or popserver?
No.
> What does this mean?
You have a spoolfile or folder where new mail is assumed to arrive; if you
haven't defined it in your ~/.muttrc, it'll be the default from /etc/Muttrc.
When you activate mutt's built in fetch-mail function, it'll connect to the
POP server you've configured, retrieve your mail, and deliver it to that
configured spoolfile or folder.
You can then read it.
> Why is fetchmail and exim or some other mta encouraged?
Because a good Unix tool is designed to "do one thing, and do it well". You
use mutt to read and compose messages; you use an MTA (of your choice) to
deliver outgoing mail, and you use a mail retriever (like getmail, etc) to
retrieve mail from remote servers.
mutt's built-in POP support is controversial; it's there because it'll satisfy
the minimum requirements of some users, but many people think it doesn't
belong in mutt at all. I'm one of those, but I'm also the author of getmail.
Charles
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Charles Cazabon <mutt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
GPL'ed software available at: http://pyropus.ca/software/
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