Re: POP3 mail fetcher that supports unreliable connections?

From: Monique Y. Herman (spam_at_bounceswoosh.org)
Date: 11/04/03

  • Next message: Kent West: "Re: GUI login screen." 
    To: debian-user@lists.debian.org
Date: Mon, 3 Nov 2003 21:43:26 -0700

    On Tue, 04 Nov 2003 at 01:22 GMT, Vincent Lefevre penned:
    > On 2003-11-03 18:28:57 -0600, Ron Johnson wrote:
    >>
    >> Really? Do you know how?
    >
    > Yes: fetchmail sent the mail to the local SMTP server, and there was a
    > configuration problem. IMHO, a mail fetcher should never use this
    > method by default.

    Not to be persnickety -- okay, maybe to be persnickety --

    The very first paragraph in `man fetchmail` says

               fetchmail is a mail-retrieval and forwarding utility; it
               fetches mail from remote mailservers and forwards it to
               your local (client) machine's delivery system. You can
               then handle the retrieved mail using normal mail user agents such
               as mutt(1), elm(1) or Mail(1). The fetchmail utility can be run
               in a daemon mode to repeatedly poll one or more systems at a
               specified interval.

    Whatever you think about what a mail fetcher should be doing, shouldn't
    you read at least the first paragraph of the man page before using a
    tool?

    In fact, the author (that's esr, if I recall correctly) considered
    delivery to your local delivery system a *feature*, because it allows
    you to use all of the powerful features available through the MTA of
    your choice.

    I'm sorry that you lost mail. It absolutely sucks. But I think it
    might be an object lesson -- it's a good idea to read up on a tool
    before using it, especially when you're going to use it on something as
    sensitive as mail. 

    -- 
monique
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  • Next message: Kent West: "Re: GUI login screen."

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