X-Git-Url: http://pileus.org/git/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=README;h=6faa58a782103e5a7719c47f943c715c441496f4;hb=91644ff0b2e6eb3b26c5544a4a769ca4aaf08a14;hp=fb9505e9c355c9d26bba44564b7e99f65ab2d6f6;hpb=09a10331be1b5565d827b9c8eb0024c548b8265a;p=~andy%2Ffetchmail diff --git a/README b/README index fb9505e9..6faa58a7 100644 --- a/README +++ b/README @@ -1,83 +1,68 @@ - fetchmail README +fetchmail README +================ -fetchmail is a full-featured, robust, well-documented POP2, POP3, -APOP, and IMAP batch mail retrieval/forwarding utility intended to be -used over on-demand TCP/IP links (such as SLIP or PPP connections). -It retrieves mail from remote mail servers and forwards it to your -local (client) machine's delivery system, so it can then be be read by -normal mail user agents such as elm(1) or Mail(1). +Introduction +------------ -The fetchmail code was developed under Linux, but should be readily -portable to other Unix variants (it uses GNU autoconf). It has also -been ported to QNX; to build under QNX, see the header comments in the -Makefile. +Fetchmail is a free, full-featured, robust, well-documented remote mail +retrieval and forwarding utility intended to be used over on-demand TCP/IP +links (such as SLIP or PPP connections). It retrieves mail from remote mail +servers and forwards it to your local (client) machine's delivery system, so it +can then be be read by normal mail user agents such as mutt(1), elm(1) or +Mail(1). -Here are fetchmail's main features. Those unique to fetchmail -(relative to fetchpop1.9, PopTart-0.9.3, get-mail, gwpop, pimp-1.0, -pop-perl5-1.2, popc, popmail-1.6 and upop) are marked with **. +Fetchmail supports all standard mail-retrieval protocols in use on the +Internet: POP3 (including some variants such as RPOP, APOP, KPOP), IMAP4rev1 +(also IMAP4, IMAP2bis), POP2, IMAP4, ETRN, and ODMR. On the output side, +fetchmail supports ESMTP/SMTP, LMTP, and invocation of a local delivery agent. - * **POP2, POP3, **APOP, **IMAP2bis, **IMAP4 support. +Fetchmail also fully supports authentication via GSSAPI, Kerberos 4 and 5, +RFC1938 one-time passwords, Compuserve's POP3 with RPA, Microsoft's NTLM, Demon +Internet's SDPS, or CRAM-MD5 authentication a la RFC2195. - ** Support for Kerberos user authentication (either MIT or Cygnus). +Fetchmail supports end-to-end encryption with OpenSSL, do read README.SSL for +details on fetchmail's configuration and README.SSL-SERVER for server-side +requirements. NOTE! To be compatible with earlier releases, fetchmail 6.3's +default behaviour is more relaxed than dictated by the standard - add options +such as --sslcertck to tighten certificate checking. - ** Host is auto-probed for a working server if no protocol is - specified for the connection. Thus you don't need to know - what servers are running on your mail host in advance; the - verbose option will tell you which one succeeds. +Portability +----------- - ** Delivery via via SMTP to the client machine's port 25. This - means the retrieved mail automatically goes to the system - default MDA as if it were normal sender-initiated SMTP mail. +The fetchmail code was developed under Linux, but has also been extensively +tested under the BSD variants, AIX, HP-UX versions 9 and 10, SunOS, Solaris, +NEXTSTEP, OSF 3.2, IRIX, and Rhapsody. - ** Timeout if server connection is dropped. +It should be readily portable to other Unix variants and Unix-like operating +systems (it uses GNU autoconf). It has been ported to Cygwin, LynxOS and BeOS +and will build there without special action. It has also been ported to QNX; +to build under QNX, see the header comments in the Makefile. It is reported to +build and run under AmigaOS. - ** Support for retrieving and forwarding from multi-drop mailboxes - that is guaranteed not to cause mail loops. +Further reading +--------------- - * Easy control via command line or free-format run control file. +The INSTALL file describes how to configure and install fetchmail. - * Daemon mode -- fetchmail can be run in background to poll - one or more hosts at a specified interval. +See the distribution files FEATURES for a full list of features, NEWS for +detailed information on recent changes, NOTES for design notes, and TODO for +a list of things that still need doing. If you want to hack on this code, +a list of known bugs and to-do items can be found in the file todo.html. - * From:, To:, Cc:, and Reply-To: headers are rewritten so that - usernames relative to the fetchmail host become fully-qualified - Internet addresses. This enables replies to work correctly. - (Would be unique to fetchmail if I hadn't added it to fetchpop.) +Status, source code +------------------- - * Strict conformance to relevant RFCs and good debugging options. - You could use fetchmail to test and debug server implementatations. +The fetchmail code appears to be stable and free of bugs affecting normal +operation (that is, retrieving from POP3 or IMAP in single-drop mode and +forwarding via SMTP to sendmail). - * Carefully written, comprehensive and up-to-date man page describing - not only modes of operation but also (**) how to diagnose the most - common kinds of problems and what to do about deficient servers +You can get the code from the fetchmail home page: - * Rugged, simple, and well-tested code -- the author relies on it - every day and it has never lost mail, not even in experimental - versions. + http://www.fetchmail.info/ - * Large user community -- fetchmail has a large user base (the - author's beta list includes over a hundred people). This means - feedback is rapid, bugs get found and fixed rapidly. + http://fetchmail.berlios.de/ -The fetchmail code appears to be stable and free of bugs affecting -normal operation (that is, retrieving from POP3 or IMAP and forwarding -via SMTP to sendmail). It will probably undergo substantial change -only if and when support for a new retrieval protocol or authentication -is added. See the distribution files NEWS for detailed information on -recent changes and NOTES for design notes. +Enjoy! -You can easily fetch the latest version of fetchmail via FTP from: - - ftp://ftp.ccil.org/pub/esr/fetchmail-2.2.tar.gz - -Or you can get it from Eric's home page: - - http://www.ccil.org/~esr - -Just chase the link to Eric's Freeware Collection. Besides fetchmail, it -includes a tasty selection of Web authoring tools, programmer's aids, -graphics libraries, compilers for bizarre languages, games, and -miscellaneous interesting hacks. Enjoy! - - -- esr + -- esr, ma