Program for gathering and saving mail?

From: Baard Ove Kopperud (bokoppeNOSpamHere_at_frisurf.no)
Date: 08/08/03 

Date: Fri, 08 Aug 2003 23:51:57 +0200

I was wondering if there are any good programs for just gathering
mail from a (remote) POP3 or IMAP server and saving them to a
file?

Preferbly it should allow the server to sync itself every now
and then to actually delete the messages that have been
downloaded.

If it was possible to specify that only messages over a certain
size, it would be great.

+++

I know 'fetchmail' may work, but I have some bad experiences
with it... Last time I tried it, my mailbox overfilled, and
instead of leaving my mail on the POP-server (as the RFC
dictates POP *shall do* when something f.{3}s-up), it deleted
it from the server, and bounced it to the senders... and
since it was mostly mail-lists, I became rather unpopular
for a while. So before I try 'fetchmail' again, I would
like some tips...

1) Can I save to some file other than the mailbox?
2) Can I prevent bouncing?
3) Can I enforce the "leave if things go wrong" rule?
4) Can I specify the minimum size of the messages I
   want to download?
5) I know I can make 'fetchmail' disconect every n-th
   message or every m-th byte to allow the server to
   delete... but how (what options and arguments)?

+++

I'll use 'fetchmail' if I have to, but are there any
other good alternatives for a non-interactive
mail-client for POP and/or IMAP?

Also, are there any good (interactive) mail-clients
that will allow me to download headers, pick some
messages and have them downloaded locally -- and
deleted remotely?

I've tried 'pine'... it works well, but I'm cursed
with a very slow connection, and 'pine' just are too
taxing on this connection with whatever it does when
it gathers headers.

I've also used the mail-client in 'mozilla', but
the "offline" stuff (which I understand I must use)
confuses me...

I guess I'm after something like (yuck, bah) M$ Outlook
(Express), where you download headers, marks messages
for retreval later, start syncing/downloading and
then wait. (Goes to shows you even a blind hen may find
a grain)

-Koppe

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