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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.1//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/DTD/xhtml11.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" />
<title>getmail Documentation</title>
<style type="text/css" media="all">@import "getmail.css";</style>
<meta name="author" content="Charles Cazabon" />
</head>
<body id="top">
<div class="body">
<h2 id="docs">getmail Documentation</h2>
<p>
This is the formal documentation for getmail. If your question is not
answered here or in the <a href="faq.html#faq">Frequently Asked Questions</a>,
please subscribe to the <a href="getmail.html#maillist">mailing list</a>.
</p>
<h3 id="docs-about"><a href="#docs">About this document</a></h3>
<p>
The official location of this document is
<a href="http://www.qcc.ca/~charlesc/software/getmail-3.0/docs.html">http://www.qcc.ca/~charlesc/software/getmail-3.0/docs.html</a>.
For easy navigation, all headings in the HTML version of this document are
links to their parent heading.
</p>
<h3 id="toc"><a href="#docs">Table of Contents</a></h3>
<ol>
<li>
<a href="#install">Installing getmail</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="#configure">Configuring getmail</a>
<ul>
<li>
<a href="#getmailrc">Configuration file</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="#account-types">POP3 account types</a>
<ul>
<li>
<a href="#account-types-regular">Regular POP3 mailboxes</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="#account-types-domain">POP3 domain mailboxes</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<a href="#delivery-targets">Message delivery targets</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<a href="#directives">getmailrc directives</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="#run">Running getmail</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="#commandline">Commandline options</a>
</li>
</ol>
<!--
***********************************************************************
-->
<h3 id="install"><a href="#toc">Installing getmail</a></h3>
<p>Follow these steps to install getmail:</p>
<ol>
<li>
<a href="download.html#download">Download</a> getmail.
</li>
<li>
Unpack the tarball.
<pre class="sample">tar xzf getmail-<em>version</em>.tar.gz</pre>
</li>
<li>
Copy the contents to a suitable location:
<pre class="sample">mkdir /usr/lib/getmail
cp -a getmail-<em>version</em>/* /usr/lib/getmail/
</pre>
You can install getmail in your home directory or elsewhere if you prefer. If
you use a directory other than <span class="sample">/usr/lib/getmail/</span>,
change the definition of <span class="sample">GETMAILPATH</span> in the <span
class="sample">getmail</span> wrapper script or ensure the directory you choose
is in your <span class="sample">PYTHONPATH</span> environment variable.
</li>
<li>
Copy the getmail helper script to a location in your <span class="sample">PATH</span>, and
ensure it is executable:
<pre class="sample">cp -a getmail-<em>version</em>/getmail /usr/bin/
chmod 755 /usr/bin/getmail</pre>
</li>
</ol>
<!--
***********************************************************************
-->
<h3 id="configure"><a href="#toc">Configuring getmail</a></h3>
<ol>
<li>
Create a getmail configuration/data directory in your
home directory:
<pre class="sample">mkdir ~/.getmail</pre>
You can use another path or directory name, but getmail
assumes this name by default. If you choose something
different, you will need to specify its name on the getmail
command line with the <a href="#cmdline-getmaildir">--getmaildir</a>
option.
</li>
<li>
Create a configuration file named <span class="sample">getmailrc</span> in the directory you
created in step 1 above (see the section <a href="#getmailrc">Configuration file</a> below
for details). You can use another file name or path, but
getmail assumes this name by default. If you choose something
different, you will need to specify its name on the getmail command
line with the <a href="#cmdline-rcfile">--rcfile</a> option.
</li>
</ol>
<h4 id="getmailrc"><a href="#configure">Configuration file</a></h4>
<p>
A getmail configuration file (typically named <span class="sample">getmailrc</span>,
and located in <span class="sample">$HOME/.getmail/</span>) looks similar to an MS-Windows <span class="sample">.INI</span>
file. For security reasons, your getmailrc file must not be group- or world-writable.
getmail will refuse to run if it finds your getmailrc file is writable by
others.
</p>
<p>
The file is broken into sections. Each section starts with an arbitrary label surrounded by square brackets:
</p>
<pre class="sample">[section name]</pre>
<p>
A section then contains one or more lines in <span class="sample">name = value</span> format. Values containing whitespace
must be surrounded with single- or double-quotes. The pound sign (<span class="sample">#</span>)
introduces a comment, which continues until the end of the line.
</p>
<pre class="sample">foo = 42
bar = "string value containing spaces"
baz = "" # This is a comment; baz is an empty value
</pre>
<p>
To include a pound sign in an option
value, quote it. Percent signs (<span class="sample">%</span>) must be doubled; for example, if you
want to specify a password of <span class="sample">foo%bar</span>, use the following:
</p>
<pre class="sample">password = foo%%bar
</pre>
<p>
The special section <span class="sample">[default]</span> must be the first section in the file; it supplies default values for
options in other sections.
For example, to set the option <span class="sample">verbose</span> to <span class="sample">1</span>
for all following sections, you could put it in the <span class="sample">[default]</span> section:
</p>
<pre class="sample">[default]
verbose = 1
[my home account]
username = foobar
password = "my password"
…
[my work account]
username = foobar
password = "my password"
…
</pre>
<p>
getmail ignores whitespace surrounding the <span class="sample">=</span> sign. The following
lines are equivalent:
</p>
<pre class="sample">account = joe.bloggs
account=joe.bloggs
account= joe.bloggs
</pre>
<p>
Option values containing single or double quote characters can be quoted with
the other character:
</p>
<pre class="sample">password = "this is a more 'secure' password"</pre>
<p>
To un-set an option taking a string value, set it to the empty string:
</p>
<pre class="sample">message_log = "" # Previously set to /var/log/getmail; turn it off for this account</pre>
<p>
Other sections in a getmail configuration file represent POP3 accounts
to retrieve mail from, one per account. The section name is unimportant,
but must be unique. An example account section might look like this:
</p>
<pre class="sample">[Home ISP account]
server = mailhost.isp.tld
username = brenda.bjorn
password = "my mail password"
postmaster = ~brendab/Maildir/ # Deliver all mail to the Maildir in my home directory</pre>
<p>
When getmail tries to determine the value of an option, it looks at the
following, in order, until it finds a match:
</p>
<ol>
<li>Options specified on the command line</li>
<li>Options specified in an account section of the getmail configuration file</li>
<li>Options specified in the [default] section of the getmail configuration file</li>
<li>getmail's built-in default value</li>
</ol>
<h4 id="account-types"><a href="#configure">POP3 Account types</a></h4>
<p>
There are two different types of POP3 email accounts:
</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="#account-types-regular">regular mailboxes</a></li>
<li><a href="#account-types-domain">domain mailboxes</a></li>
</ul>
<h5 id="account-types-regular"><a href="#account-types">Regular mailbox</a></h5>
<p>
This is a typical POP3 mailbox provided by an ISP for a single user. It
receives mail addressed to a single user (say,
<span class="sample">shannon.fotheringham@aqua.myisp.tld</span>).
For this type of account, the minimum configuration would be something like
this:
</p>
<pre class="sample">[My Aqua Account]
server = mailhost.aqua.myisp.tld
username = shannon.fotheringham
postmaster = ~shannonf/Maildir/</pre>
<p>
This <span class="sample">postmaster</span> directive tells getmail to deliver
all mail to Shannon's Maildir. Since a password was not configured, getmail
will prompt the user for it when run.
</p>
<h5 id="account-types-domain"><a href="#account-types">Domain mailbox</a></h5>
<p>
This type of POP3 account is typically provided by an ISP to a small company
or organization. It receives mail addressed to any user in a given domain.
For example, mail to <span class="sample">info@smallcompany.tld</span>,
<span class="sample">tgrieg@smallcompany.tld</span>, and
<span class="sample">sales@smallcompany.tld</span> all ends up in the same
POP3 domain mailbox.
</p>
<p>
getmail includes features to enable retrieval of mail from this type of
account, filter it according to who the mail was addressed to, and
deliver it to different destinations. A minimal configuration with this
type of setup would be something like
this:
</p>
<pre class="sample">[Company domain mailbox]
server = mailhost.largeisp.tld
username = small.company
password = RRt49slP32m
envelope_recipient = delivered-to:1
postmaster = ~tgrieg/Mail/postmaster-maildir/
local = tgrieg@smallcompany.tld,~tgrieg/Mail/personal-maildir/
local = info@smallcompany.tld,~bobf/Maildir/
local = sales@smallcompany.tld,~darlab/Maildir/
</pre>
<p>
The <span class="sample">local</span> directives tell getmail to deliver
mail for those users to their various mail spools on the system, and the
<span class="sample">postmaster</span> directive tells getmail to deliver any
mail which doesn't match any of the local directives somewhere else.
</p>
<p>
To make getmail sort mail (with <span class="sample">local</span> directives
like the above) based on the envelope recipient address, you
<strong>must</strong> either enable the <span class="sample">use_*env</span>
option (if your mailhost supports it) or use the <span
class="sample">envelope_recipient</span> directive.
</p>
<h4 id="delivery-targets"><a href="#configure">Message Delivery Targets</a></h4>
<p>
In a getmailrc file, <a href="#directive-postmaster">postmaster</a> and
<a href="#directive-local">local</a> directives contain message delivery
targets, which instruct getmail to delivery messages in a particular manner.
A message delivery target may be a qmail-style Maildir or an arbitrary command
(such as an external Message Delivery Agent or MDA).
</p>
<table class="summary">
<tr>
<th>Target Type</th><th>Syntax</th><th>Notes</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Maildir</td><td>/path/to/Maildir/</td><td>Maildir targets must have a trailing slash</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Command</td><td>|/path/to/command [arguments]</td><td>Command deliveries must start with a pipe (|). Remember to quote values containing whitespace.</td>
</tr>
</table>
<p>
Note the following restrictions:
</p>
<ul>
<li>getmail refuses to deliver to maildirs as root.</li>
</ul>
<p>
For command deliveries, getmail provides the following environment variables.
</p>
<ul>
<li>
<span class="sample">SENDER</span> contains the envelope sender address
as extracted from the Return-Path: header field or *ENV results.
</li>
<li>
<span class="sample">RECIPIENT</span> contains the envelope recipient address
as extracted from the user-configured <a href="#directive-envelope-recipient" class="sample">envelope_recipient</a> header field or <a href="#directive-use-*env" class="sample">*ENV results</a>.
</li>
<li>
<span class="sample">EXT</span> contains the extension portion of <span class="sample">RECIPIENT</span>
calculated with the user-supplied values of <a class="sample" href="#directive-extension-sep">extension_sep</a> and
<a class="sample" href="#directive-extension-depth">extension_depth</a> directives.
This is primarily useful for external MDAs such as <a href="http://tmda.net/">TMDA</a>.
</li>
</ul>
<p>
getmail will normally prepend messages with an mbox-style From_ line before delivering
them to an external command; to disable this behaviour, use the
<a href="#directive-fromline">command_add_fromline</a> directive.
</p>
<p>
Note the following restrictions:
</p>
<ul>
<li>getmail refuses to run external commands when running as root.</li>
<li>If an external command writes to stderr, getmail will consider
the delivery a failure. If you know your MDA can write to stderr
on a successful delivery,
either supply a <span class="sample">--quiet</span> option to the
MDA (if it supports such), or throw away or redirect stderr
in one of the following manners:
<pre class="sample">postmaster = "|/path/to/mda [options] 2>/dev/null"
postmaster = "|/path/to/mda [options] 2>&1"
</pre>
This will, of course, also work with delivery targets in
<span class="sample">local</span> directives.
</li>
<li>getmail will not create Maildirs if they do not exist.
You must create them prior to having getmail deliver mail to them.
Use maildirmake to create empty Maildirs.
</li>
<li>getmail requires write access to any Maildir you wish
to deliver mail to. This can be done by making the Maildirs group-writable
by the group you run getmail under, for example. There are other ways as well.
</li>
</ul>
<p>
Leading tilde characters (~) on paths will be expanded -- i.e. ~jason/Maildir/ likely
becomes /home/jason/Maildir/ on most systems.
</p>
<h4 id="directives"><a href="#run">getmailrc Directives</a></h4>
<p>
getmail understands the following getmailrc directives:
</p>
<table class="summary">
<tr>
<th>Directive</th><th>Optional?</th><th>Default</th><th>Summary</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="4" class="subheader"><a href="#directive-server-config">POP3 Server Configuration</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="listitem"><a href="#directive-server">server</a></td><td>No</td><td>None</td><td>POP3 server hostname</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="listitem"><a href="#directive-port">port</a></td><td>Yes</td><td>110</td><td>POP3 server TCP port number</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="listitem"><a href="#directive-timeout">timeout</a></td><td>Yes</td><td>180 seconds</td><td>POP3 server TCP timeout</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="4" class="subheader"><a href="#directive-account-config">Account Configuration</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="listitem"><a href="#directive-username">username</a></td><td>No</td><td>None</td><td>POP3 account username</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="listitem"><a href="#directive-password">password</a></td><td>Yes</td><td>Prompt for password</td><td>POP3 account password</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="listitem"><a href="#directive-apop">use_apop</a></td><td>Yes</td><td>0 (No)</td><td>Use POP3 APOP authentication</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="4" class="subheader"><a href="#directive-message-format">Message Formatting</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="listitem"><a href="#directive-no-delivered-to">no_delivered_to</a></td><td>Yes</td><td>0 (No)</td><td>Suppress addition of Delivered-To: header field</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="listitem"><a href="#directive-no-received">no_received</a></td><td>Yes</td><td>0 (No)</td><td>Suppress addition of Received: header field</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="4" class="subheader"><a href="#directive-delivery-targets">Message Delivery Targets</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="listitem"><a href="#directive-postmaster">postmaster</a></td><td>No</td><td>None</td><td>Default message delivery target</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="listitem"><a href="#directive-local">local</a></td><td>Yes</td><td>None</td><td>Header field pattern-matching delivery target for domain mailboxes</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="listitem"><a href="#directive-envelope-recipient">envelope_recipient</a></td><td>Yes</td><td>None</td><td>Specify a header field the POP3 server records the envelope recipient address in.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="listitem"><a href="#directive-use-*env">use_*env</a></td><td>Yes</td><td>0 (No)</td><td>Use Demon's SPDS *ENV POP3 extension to retrieve message envelopes. Overrides envelope_recipient above.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="listitem"><a href="#directive-extension-sep">extension_sep</a></td><td>Yes</td><td>-</td><td>User extension address separator character</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="listitem"><a href="#directive-extension-depth">extension_depth</a></td><td>Yes</td><td>1</td><td>User extension address base length</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="listitem"><a href="#directive-fromline">command_add_fromline</a></td><td>Yes</td><td>1 (Yes)</td><td>Prepend command deliveries with mbox-style From_ line</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="4" class="subheader"><a href="#directive-retrieval">Message Retrieval</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="listitem"><a href="#directive-readall">readall</a></td><td>Yes</td><td>1 (Yes)</td><td>Retrieve all messages, or only previously unseen messages</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="listitem"><a href="#directive-max-message-size">max_message_size</a></td><td>Yes</td><td>0 (No limit)</td><td>Do not retrieve messages larger than this setting</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="listitem"><a href="#directive-max-messages-per-session">max_messages_per_session</a></td><td>Yes</td><td>0 (No limit)</td><td>Do not retrieve more than X messages</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="listitem"><a href="#directive-delete">delete</a></td><td>Yes</td><td>0 (No)</td><td>Delete messages after retrieval</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="listitem"><a href="#directive-delete-after">delete_after</a></td><td>Yes</td><td>0 (No)</td><td>Delete messages X days after retrieval</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="4" class="subheader"><a href="#directive-behaviour">getmail Behaviour</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="listitem"><a href="#directive-verbose">verbose</a></td><td>Yes</td><td>1 (Yes)</td><td>Show status messages while running</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="listitem"><a href="#directive-message-log">message_log</a></td><td>Yes</td><td>None</td><td>Log message retrieval and delivery to file</td>
</tr>
</table>
<h5 id="directive-server-config"><a href="#directives">POP3 Server Configuration</a></h5>
<p>
The following directives are used to configure which POP3 servers
getmail will retrieve mail from.
</p>
<h6 id="directive-server"><a href="#directive-server-config">POP3 Server Hostname</a></h6>
<table class="directive">
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Function
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
Specify POP3 server to connect to.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Syntax
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
server = <span class="sample">hostname.domain.tld</span>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Optional
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
No
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Default
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
None
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Commandline equivalent
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
None
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Examples
</td>
<td class="sample">
server = pop3.isp.com
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<h6 id="directive-port"><a href="#directive-server-config">POP3 TCP Port</a></h6>
<table class="directive">
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Function
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
Specify TCP port on POP3 server to connect to.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Syntax
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
port = <span class="sample">portnumber</span>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Optional
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
Yes
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Default
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
110 (Default POP3 port)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Commandline equivalent
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
None
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Examples
</td>
<td class="sample">
port = 8110
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<h6 id="directive-timeout"><a href="#directive-server-config">POP3 TCP timeout</a></h6>
<table class="directive">
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Function
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
Specify the TCP timeout to use with an account.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Syntax
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
timeout = <span class="sample">value (seconds)</span>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Optional
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
Yes
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Default
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
180
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Commandline equivalent
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
--timeout = <span class="sample">value (seconds)</span>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Examples
</td>
<td class="sample">
timeout = 360
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Note
</td>
<td class="sample">
The TCP timeout capabilities are enabled by the <span class="sample">
timeoutsocket.py</span> module by Timothy O'Malley. A copy of
timeoutsocket.py is included with getmail; however, getmail
will continue to function (without this capability) if
the timeoutsocket module is not present.
<pre>timeoutsocket.py Copyright 2000,2001 by Timothy O'Malley <timo@alum.mit.edu>
All Rights Reserved
Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software
and its documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby
granted, provided that the above copyright notice appear in all
copies and that both that copyright notice and this permission
notice appear in supporting documentation, and that the name of
Timothy O'Malley not be used in advertising or publicity
pertaining to distribution of the software without specific, written
prior permission.
Timothy O'Malley DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THIS
SOFTWARE, INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY
AND FITNESS, IN NO EVENT SHALL Timothy O'Malley BE LIABLE FOR
ANY SPECIAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES
WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS,
WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS
ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR
PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.</pre>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<h5 id="directive-account-config"><a href="#directives">POP3 Account Configuration</a></h5>
<p>
The following directives are used to configure which POP3 accounts getmail will
retrieve mail from.
</p>
<h6 id="directive-username"><a href="#directive-account-config">POP3 account username</a></h6>
<table class="directive">
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Function
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
Specify the account name for the POP3 server.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Syntax
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
username = <span class="sample">user</span>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Optional
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
No
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Default
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
None
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Commandline equivalent
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
None
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Examples
</td>
<td class="sample">
username = joe.bloggs<br />
username = joe.bloggs:vhost.example.net
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<h6 id="directive-password"><a href="#directive-account-config">POP3 account password</a></h6>
<table class="directive">
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Function
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
Specify password to use with POP3 account
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Syntax
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
password = <span class="sample">password</span>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Optional
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
Yes
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Default
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
Prompt for password
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Commandline equivalent
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
None
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Examples
</td>
<td class="sample">
password = "long password containing whitespace"<br />
password = foo_bar
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<h6 id="directive-apop"><a href="#directive-account-config">POP3 APOP authentication</a></h6>
<table class="directive">
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Function
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
Use POP3 APOP authentication if available. getmail will exit
if APOP is configured but not supported by the server.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Syntax
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
use_apop = <span class="sample">bool</span>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Optional
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
Yes
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Default
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
0 (USER/PASS authentication)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Commandline equivalent
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
None
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Examples
</td>
<td class="sample">
use_apop = 1<br />
use_apop = 0
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<h5 id="directive-message-format"><a href="#directives">Message Formatting</a></h5>
<p>
The following directives are specified in any getmailrc section, and are
used to configure how getmail will format messages that it retrieves.
</p>
<h6 id="directive-no-delivered-to"><a href="#directive-message-format">Delivered-To: header field suppression</a></h6>
<table class="directive">
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Function
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
Suppress the addition of a Delivered-To: header field to messages
that getmail retrieves.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Syntax
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
no_delivered_to = <span class="sample">bool</span>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Optional
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
Yes
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Default
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
0 (No)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Commandline equivalent
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
None
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Examples
</td>
<td class="sample">
no_delivered_to = 1<br />
no_delivered_to = 0
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<h6 id="directive-no-received"><a href="#directive-message-format">Received: header field suppression</a></h6>
<table class="directive">
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Function
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
Suppress the addition of a Received: header field to messages
that getmail retrieves.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Syntax
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
no_received = <span class="sample">bool</span>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Optional
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
Yes
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Default
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
0 (No)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Commandline equivalent
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
None
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Examples
</td>
<td class="sample">
no_received = 1<br />
no_received = 0
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<h5 id="directive-delivery-targets"><a href="#directives">Message Delivery Targets</a></h5>
<p>
The following directives are specified in any getmailrc section, and are
used to configure where getmail will deliver retrieved messages. Also see
the <a href="#delivery-targets">section on message delivery targets</a>.
</p>
<h6 id="directive-postmaster"><a href="#directive-delivery-targets">Default delivery target</a></h6>
<table class="directive">
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Function
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
In non-domain mailbox operation, specifies the delivery target
for all retrieved mail.
<br />
<br />
In domain mailbox operation, this specifies the default delivery
target for all retrieved messages which are not handled by a
matching <a href="#directive-local">local</a> directive.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Syntax
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
postmaster = <span class="sample">target</span>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Optional
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
No
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Default
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
None
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Commandline equivalent
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
None
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Examples
</td>
<td class="sample">
postmaster = /home/joe/Maildir/<br />
postmaster = "|/usr/local/bin/my_mda -f foo -a all -b gone /home/postmaster/.mdarc"
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<h6 id="directive-local"><a href="#directive-delivery-targets">Header field pattern matching delivery target</a></h6>
<table class="directive">
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Function
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
Specify the destination for retrieved messages which have an envelope recipient
address which matches a given pattern. getmail will match the specified Perl-
compatible extended regular expression against the envelope recipient address
(retrieved using <a href="#directive-use-*env"><span
class="sample">*ENV</span></a> support or found in the header field specified
with the <a href="#directive-recipient- header">envelope_recipient</a> directive).
If a match is found, the message will be delivered to the specified <a
href="#delivery-targets">target</a>. If multiple local directives contain
matching patterns, each matching target will receive a copy of the message. If
there are no local directives, or no match is found, the message will be
delivered according to the <a href="#directive- postmaster">default delivery
target</a>.<br />
<br />
If you do not understand Perl-compatible regular expressions,
just use email addresses here. They will work in virtually all
cases.<br />
<br />
Use multiple local directives to filter mail retrieved from a
domain mailbox to multiple local user accounts.<br />
<br />
<strong class="warning">Note that <span class="sample">local</span>
directives can only be used in multidrop mode.</strong>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Syntax
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
local = <span class="sample">pattern,target</span>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Optional
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
Yes
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Default
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
None
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Commandline equivalent
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
None
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Examples
</td>
<td class="sample">
local = joe@isp.tld,~joe/Maildir/<br />
local = brenda@homeisp.tld,/home/brenda/Mail/personal/<br />
local = brenda@workisp.tld,/home/brenda/Mail/work/<br />
local = "^(joe|fred)@company\.(tld|dom.tld)$,|/path/to/mda -opts"
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<h6 id="directive-envelope-recipient"><a href="#directive-delivery-targets">Recipient header field specification</a></h6>
<table class="directive">
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Function
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
Extract envelope recipient address from listed header field.<br />
<br />
This directive enables domain mailbox operation and is useful
only if the POP3 server records envelope recipient addresses in
a specific header field
(i.e. Delivered-To: or X-Envelope-To:).
<br />
Use it if wish to process mail from a domain mailbox, sorting
and delivering it to multiple local user accounts using <a
href="#directive-local">local</a> directives.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Syntax
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
envelope_recipient = <span class="sample">fieldname:fieldnum</span><br />
fieldnum refers to the occurrence of that header field; the value
<span class="sample">2</span> is the second occurrence of fieldname.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Optional
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
Yes
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Default
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
None
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Commandline equivalent
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
None
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Examples
</td>
<td class="sample">
envelope_recipient = Delivered-To:2<br />
envelope_recipient = X-Envelope-To:1
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<h6 id="directive-use-*env"><a href="#directive-delivery-targets">SPDS *ENV POP3 Extension</a></h6>
<table class="directive">
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Function
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
Retrieve envelope sender and recipient addresses from the server using
Demon's SPDS *ENV POP3 extension (described at
<a href="http://www.demon.net/helpdesk/products/mail/sdps-tech.shtml">http://www.demon.net/helpdesk/products/mail/sdps-tech.shtml</a>).<br />
<br />
This directive enables domain mailbox operation and overrides the <span class="sample">envelope_recipient</span>
directive.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Syntax
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
use_*env = <span class="sample">bool</span>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Optional
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
Yes
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Default
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
0 (No)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Commandline equivalent
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
None
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Examples
</td>
<td class="sample">
use_*env = 1<br />
use_*env = 0
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<h6 id="directive-extension-sep"><a href="#directive-delivery-targets">User address extension separator character</a></h6>
<table class="directive">
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Function
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
Determine which part of a recipient address is the extension
to the base address.<br />
<br />
This directive is mostly useful if the POP3 server records
envelope recipient addresses in a specific header field
(i.e. Delivered-To: or X-Envelope-To:), and you wish to deliver
mail using <a href="http://tmda.sourceforge.net/">TMDA</a> or
another filtering MDA.<br />
<br />
getmail will export the detected envelope recipient address in the environment
variable <span class="sample">RECIPIENT</span>.
It will then split the local-part of the address at the first
occurrence of this character (default: <span class="sample">-</span>), and
export anything after it as the environment variable
<span class="sample">EXT</span>.<br />
<br />
Note that you will still need a wrapper script around your
filtering MDA; getmail will consider a delivery failed if the
MDA returns non-zero. This is left as an excercise for the
reader/user of TMDA.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Syntax
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
extension_sep = <span class="sample">character</span>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Optional
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
Yes
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Default
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
-
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Commandline equivalent
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
None
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Examples
</td>
<td class="sample">
extension_sep = +<br />
extension_sep = -
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<h6 id="directive-extension-depth"><a href="#directive-delivery-targets">User address extension base length/depth</a></h6>
<table class="directive">
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Function
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
Determine which part of a recipient address is the extension
to the base address.<br />
<br />
This directive is mostly useful if the POP3 server records
envelope recipient addresses in a specific header field
(i.e. Delivered-To: or X-Envelope-To:), and you wish to deliver
mail using <a href="http://tmda.sourceforge.net/">TMDA</a> or
another filtering MDA.<br />
<br />
If you are using a <a href="#directive-local">local
directive</a> to configure delivery of mail per-recipient,
getmail will export the detected envelope
recipient address in the environment variable <span class="sample">RECIPIENT</span>.
It will then remove the base part of the address at the
<span class="sample">extension_depth</span> occurrence of the
extension separator character.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Syntax
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
extension_depth = <span class="sample">count</span>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Optional
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
Yes
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Default
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
1
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Commandline equivalent
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
None
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Examples
</td>
<td class="sample">
extension_depth = 2
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<h6 id="directive-fromline"><a href="#directive-delivery-targets">Command delivery From_ line prepend</a></h6>
<table class="directive">
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Function
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
Specify whether to prepend command deliveries with an mbox-style From_ line.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Syntax
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
command_add_fromline = <span class="sample">bool</span>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Optional
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
Yes
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Default
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
1 (Yes)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Commandline equivalent
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
None
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Examples
</td>
<td class="sample">
command_add_fromline = 0
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<h5 id="directive-retrieval"><a href="#directives">Message Retrieval</a></h5>
<p>
The following directives are specified in any getmailrc section, and are
used to configure how getmail will retrieve messages.
</p>
<h6 id="directive-readall"><a href="#directive-retrieval">Retrieve new messages / retrieve all messages</a></h6>
<table class="directive">
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Function
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
Select whether to retrieve all messages, or only messages which
have previously not been seen by getmail.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Syntax
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
readall = <span class="sample">bool</span>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Optional
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
Yes
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Default
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
1 (Retrieve all messages)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Commandline equivalent
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
--all (readall = 1)<br />
--new (readall = 0)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Examples
</td>
<td class="sample">
readall = 1<br />
readall = 0
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<h6 id="directive-max-message-size"><a href="#directive-retrieval">Maximum message size to retrieve</a></h6>
<table class="directive">
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Function
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
Specify a maximum message size to retrieve. Messages larger
than this will be left on the server and not retrieved.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Syntax
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
max_message_size = <span class="sample">value (bytes)</span>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Optional
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
Yes
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Default
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
0 (No limit)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Commandline equivalent
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
None
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Examples
</td>
<td class="sample">
max_message_size = 2000000<br />
max_message_size = 150000
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<h6 id="directive-max-messages-per-session"><a href="#directive-retrieval">Maximum number of messages to retrieve per session</a></h6>
<table class="directive">
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Function
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
Specify a maximum number of messages to retrieve and process before getmail exits.
If more than this number of messages are eligible for retrieval, they will be
left on the server for the next time getmail is run.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Syntax
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
max_messages_per_session = <span class="sample">value (number)</span>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Optional
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
Yes
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Default
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
0 (No limit)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Commandline equivalent
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
None
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Examples
</td>
<td class="sample">
max_messages_per_session = 10<br />
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<h6 id="directive-delete"><a href="#directive-retrieval">Delete messages from server after retrieval</a></h6>
<table class="directive">
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Function
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
Delete messages from the POP3 server after retrieval.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Syntax
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
delete = <span class="sample">bool</span>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Optional
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
Yes
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Default
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
0 (Do not delete)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Commandline equivalent
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
--dont-delete (delete = 0)<br />
--delete (delete = 1)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Examples
</td>
<td class="sample">
delete = 1<br />
delete = 0
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<h6 id="directive-delete-after"><a href="#directive-retrieval">Delete messages X days after retrieval</a></h6>
<table class="directive">
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Function
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
Delete messages a specified number of days after they are first
retrieved.<br />
<br />
Note: delete overrides delete_after.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Syntax
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
delete_after = <span class="sample">value (days)</span>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Optional
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
Yes
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Default
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
0 (Do not use delete_after)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Commandline equivalent
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
None
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Examples
</td>
<td class="sample">
delete_after = 3<br />
delete_after = 180
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<h5 id="directive-behaviour"><a href="#directives">getmail Behaviour</a></h5>
<p>
The following directives are specified in any getmailrc section, and are
used to control other aspects of getmail's behaviour.
</p>
<h6 id="directive-verbose"><a href="#directive-behaviour">Verbosity</a></h6>
<table class="directive">
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Function
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
Specify whether getmail writes status and informational messages
to stdout while running.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Syntax
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
verbose = <span class="sample">bool</span>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Optional
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
Yes
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Default
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
1 (Verbose)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Commandline equivalent
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
--verbose (verbose = 1)<br />
--quiet (verbose = 0)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Examples
</td>
<td class="sample">
verbose = 1<br />
verbose = 0
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<h6 id="directive-message-log"><a href="#directive-behaviour">Message Logging</a></h6>
<table class="directive">
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Function
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
Specify whether getmail writes message retrieval and delivery
information to a log file. Set to the empty string to
disable logging. This value is expanded for leading "~"
or "~user".
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Syntax
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
message_log = <span class="sample">file</span>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Optional
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
Yes
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Default
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
None
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Commandline equivalent
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
None
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Examples
</td>
<td class="sample">
message_log = /var/log/getmail<br />
message_log = ""
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<!--
***********************************************************************
-->
<h3 id="run"><a href="#toc">Running getmail</a></h3>
<p>
Run the getmail helper script you installed earlier:
</p>
<pre class="sample">getmail</pre>
<p>
By default, getmail will read in the default getmailrc file
(<span class="sample">$HOME/.getmail/getmailrc</span>) and begin retrieving mail.
</p>
<p>
You can also supply <a href="#commandline">commandline options</a>.
For a brief summary of usage and commandline options, run:
</p>
<pre class="sample">getmail --help</pre>
<h4 id="commandline"><a href="#run">getmail Commandline Options</a></h4>
<p>getmail understands the following commandline options:</p>
<table class="summary">
<tr>
<th>Long Form</th><th>Short Form</th><th>Summary</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="#cmdline-help">--help</a></td><td><a href="#cmdline-help">-h</a></td><td>Display usage and default option values and exit</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="#cmdline-getmaildir">--getmaildir path</a></td><td><a href="#cmdline-getmaildir">-g path</a></td><td>Use path as getmail configuration/data directory</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="#cmdline-rcfile">--rcfile file</a></td><td><a href="#cmdline-rcfile">-r file</a></td><td>Use file as getmailrc configuration file</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="#cmdline-quiet">--quiet</a></td><td><a href="#cmdline-quiet">-q</a></td><td>No status output</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="#cmdline-verbose">--verbose</a></td><td><a href="#cmdline-verbose">-v</a></td><td>Verbose status output</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="#cmdline-message-log">--message-log file</a></td><td><a href="#cmdline-message-log">-m file</a></td><td>Log getmail operations to file</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="#cmdline-all">--all</a></td><td><a href="#cmdline-all">-a</a></td><td>Retrieve all messages</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="#cmdline-new">--new</a></td><td><a href="#cmdline-new">-n</a></td><td>Retrieve only new messages</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="#cmdline-delete">--delete</a></td><td><a href="#cmdline-delete">-d</a></td><td>Delete messages after retrieval</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="#cmdline-dont-delete">--dont-delete</a></td><td><a href="#cmdline-dont-delete">-l</a></td><td>Do not delete messages after retrieval</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="#cmdline-timeout">--timeout val</a></td><td><a href="#cmdline-timeout">-t val</a></td><td>Set socket timeout to val seconds</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="#cmdline-trace">--trace</a></td><td></td><td>Enable debugging output</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="#cmdline-dump">--dump</a></td><td></td><td>Dump configuration and exit</td>
</tr>
</table>
<h5 id="cmdline-help"><a href="#commandline">--help or -h</a></h5>
<table class="cmdlineopt">
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Long Option
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
--help
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Short Option
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
-h
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
getmailrc equivalent
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
None
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Function
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
Display usage information, then exit.
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<h5 id="cmdline-getmaildir"><a href="#commandline">--getmaildir or -g</a></h5>
<table class="cmdlineopt">
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Long Option
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
--getmaildir <span class="sample">path</span>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Short Option
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
-g <span class="sample">path</span>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
getmailrc equivalent
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
None
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Function
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
Use <span class="sample">path</span> as getmail configuration/data
directory. Defaults to <span class="sample">$HOME/.getmail/</span>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<h5 id="cmdline-rcfile"><a href="#commandline">--rcfile or -r</a></h5>
<table class="cmdlineopt">
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Long Option
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
--rcfile <span class="sample">filename</span>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Short Option
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
-r <span class="sample">filename</span>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
getmailrc equivalent
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
None
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Function
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
Use <span class="sample">filename</span> as getmailrc file.
Defaults to <span class="sample">getmailrc</span> in the
<a href="#cmdline-getmaildir">getmaildir</a> directory.
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<h5 id="cmdline-quiet"><a href="#commandline">--quiet or -q</a></h5>
<table class="cmdlineopt">
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Long Option
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
--quiet
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Short Option
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
-q
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
getmailrc equivalent
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
verbose = 0
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Function
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
Produce output only on error.
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<h5 id="cmdline-verbose"><a href="#commandline">--verbose or -v</a></h5>
<table class="cmdlineopt">
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Long Option
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
--verbose
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Short Option
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
-v
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
getmailrc equivalent
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
verbose = 1
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Function
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
Write status and progress messages to stdout.
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<h5 id="cmdline-message-log"><a href="#commandline">--message-log</a></h5>
<table class="cmdlineopt">
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Long Option
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
--message-log <span class="sample">file</span>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Short Option
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
None
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
getmailrc equivalent
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
message_log = <span class="sample">file</span>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Function
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
Log message retrieval and delivery information to <span class="sample">file</span>.
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<h5 id="cmdline-all"><a href="#commandline">--all or -a</a></h5>
<table class="cmdlineopt">
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Long Option
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
--all
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Short Option
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
-a
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
getmailrc equivalent
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
readall = 1
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Function
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
Retrieve all messages.
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<h5 id="cmdline-new"><a href="#commandline">--new or -n</a></h5>
<table class="cmdlineopt">
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Long Option
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
--new
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Short Option
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
-n
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
getmailrc equivalent
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
readall = 0
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Function
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
Retrieve only previously unseen messages.
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<h5 id="cmdline-delete"><a href="#commandline">--delete or -d</a></h5>
<table class="cmdlineopt">
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Long Option
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
--delete
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Short Option
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
-d
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
getmailrc equivalent
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
delete = 1
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Function
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
Delete messages from server after retrieval.
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<h5 id="cmdline-dont-delete"><a href="#commandline">--dont-delete or -l</a></h5>
<table class="cmdlineopt">
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Long Option
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
--dont-delete
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Short Option
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
-l
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
getmailrc equivalent
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
delete = 0
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Function
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
Leave messages on server after retrieval.
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<h5 id="cmdline-timeout"><a href="#commandline">--timeout or -t</a></h5>
<table class="cmdlineopt">
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Long Option
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
--timeout <span class="sample">value (seconds)</span>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Short Option
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
-t <span class="sample">value (seconds)</span>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
getmailrc equivalent
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
timeout = <span class="sample">value (seconds)</span>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Function
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
Set TCP timeout to <span class="sample">value</span> seconds.
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<h5 id="cmdline-trace"><a href="#commandline">--trace</a></h5>
<table class="cmdlineopt">
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Long Option
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
--trace
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Short Option
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
None
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
getmailrc equivalent
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
None
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Function
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
Write verbose debugging information to stdout.
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<h5 id="cmdline-dump"><a href="#commandline">--dump</a></h5>
<table class="cmdlineopt">
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Long Option
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
--dump
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Short Option
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
None
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
getmailrc equivalent
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
None
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rowlabel">
Function
</td>
<td class="rowdata">
Do not retrieve mail; read getmailrc file and commandline options,
then print configuration on stdout. This information should
be included in all bug reports or support requests.
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
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