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    <title>getmail configuration</title>
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<body id="top">
    <div class="content">
<h1 id="title">getmail documentation</h1>
<p class="introduction">
    This is the documentation for getmail version 6,
    a port of getmail version 5 to python 3.
</p>
<p class="about">
    getmail6 is Copyright &copy; 1998-2025 by Charles Cazabon and others:<br>
    &lt;charlesc-getmail @ pyropus.ca&gt;<br>
    &lt;roland.puntaier @ gmail.com&gt;
</p>
<p class="about">
    getmail and getmail6 are licensed under the
    <a href="COPYING">GNU General Public License version 2</a> (only).
</p>

<h1 id="toc">Table of Contents</h1>
<ul>
    <li><a href="documentation.html">getmail documentation (version 6)</a></li>
    <li>
        <ul>
        <li><a href="documentation.html#title">getmail documentation</a></li>
        <li>
            <ul>
            <li><a href="documentation.html#features">Features</a></li>
            <li><a href="documentation.html#requirements">Requirements</a></li>
            <li><a href="documentation.html#obtaining">Obtaining getmail</a></li>
            <li><a href="documentation.html#installing">Installing getmail</a></li>
            </ul>
        </li>
        </ul>
    </li>
    <li><a href="configuration.html">getmail configuration (version 6)</a></li>
    <li>
        <ul>
        <li><a href="configuration.html#configuring">Configuring getmail</a></li>
        <li>
            <ul>
            <li><a href="configuration.html#rcfile">Creating a getmail rc file</a></li>
            <li>
                <ul>
                <li><a href="configuration.html#parametertypes">Parameter types and formats</a></li>
                <li>
                    <ul>
                    <li><a href="configuration.html#parameter-string">string</a></li>
                    <li><a href="configuration.html#parameter-integer">integer</a></li>
                    <li><a href="configuration.html#parameter-boolean">boolean</a></li>
                    <li><a href="configuration.html#parameter-tuplestrings">tuple of quoted strings</a></li>
                    <li><a href="configuration.html#parameter-tupleintegers">tuple of integers</a></li>
                    <li><a href="configuration.html#parameter-tuple2tuples">tuple of 2-tuples</a></li>
                    </ul>
                </li>
                <li><a href="configuration.html#conf-retriever">Creating the <span class="file">[retriever]</span> section</a></li>
                <li>
                    <ul>
                    <li><a href="configuration.html#conf-retriever-multidrop">What is a &quot;multidrop&quot; mailbox?  How do I know if I have one?</a></li>
                    <li><a href="configuration.html#retriever-parameters">Common retriever parameters</a></li>
                    <li><a href="configuration.html#retriever-ssl-client">SSL Client Parameters</a></li>
                    <li><a href="configuration.html#retriever-ssl-extra">SSL Certificate Validation and Server Parameters</a></li>
                    <li><a href="configuration.html#retriever-simplepop3">SimplePOP3Retriever</a></li>
                    <li><a href="configuration.html#retriever-brokenpop3">BrokenUIDLPOP3Retriever</a></li>
                    <li><a href="configuration.html#retriever-simpleimap">SimpleIMAPRetriever</a></li>
                    <li><a href="configuration.html#retriever-simplepop3ssl">SimplePOP3SSLRetriever</a></li>
                    <li><a href="configuration.html#retriever-brokenpop3ssl">BrokenUIDLPOP3SSLRetriever</a></li>
                    <li><a href="configuration.html#retriever-simpleimapssl">SimpleIMAPSSLRetriever</a></li>
                    <li><a href="configuration.html#retriever-multidroppop3">MultidropPOP3Retriever</a></li>
                    <li><a href="configuration.html#retriever-multidroppop3ssl">MultidropPOP3SSLRetriever</a></li>
                    <li><a href="configuration.html#retriever-multidropsdps">MultidropSDPSRetriever</a></li>
                    <li><a href="configuration.html#retriever-multidropimap">MultidropIMAPRetriever</a></li>
                    <li><a href="configuration.html#retriever-multidropimapssl">MultidropIMAPSSLRetriever</a></li>
                    </ul>
                </li>
                <li><a href="configuration.html#retriever-examples">Retriever examples</a></li>
                <li><a href="configuration.html#conf-destination">Creating the <span class="file">[destination]</span> section</a></li>
                <li>
                    <ul>
                    <li><a href="configuration.html#destination-maildir">Maildir</a></li>
                    <li><a href="configuration.html#destination-mboxrd">Mboxrd</a></li>
                    <li><a href="configuration.html#destination-mdaexternal">MDA_external</a></li>
                    <li><a href="configuration.html#destination-mdalmtp">MDA_lmtp</a></li>
                    <li><a href="configuration.html#destination-multidestination">MultiDestination</a></li>
                    <li><a href="configuration.html#destination-multisorter">MultiSorter</a></li>
                    <li><a href="configuration.html#destination-multiguesser">MultiGuesser</a></li>
                    <li><a href="configuration.html#destination-mdaqmaillocal">MDA_qmaillocal</a></li>
                    </ul>
                </li>
                <li><a href="configuration.html#conf-options">Creating the <span class="file">[options]</span> section</a></li>
                <li>
                    <ul>
                    <li><a href="configuration.html#options-example"><span class="file">[options]</span> example</a></li>
                    </ul>
                </li>
                <li><a href="configuration.html#conf-filters">Creating the <span class="file">[filter-<span class="meta">something</span>]</span> sections</a></li>
                <li>
                    <ul>
                    <li><a href="configuration.html#conf-filters-classifier">Filter_classifier</a></li>
                    <li><a href="configuration.html#conf-filters-external">Filter_external</a></li>
                    <li><a href="configuration.html#conf-filters-tmda">Filter_TMDA</a></li>
                    <li><a href="configuration.html#filter-examples"><span class="file">[filter-<span class="meta">something</span>]</span> examples</a></li>
                    </ul>
                </li>
                <li><a href="configuration.html#examplerc">getmail rc file examples</a></li>
                </ul>
            </li>
            </ul>
        </li>
        <li><a href="configuration.html#running">Running getmail</a></li>
        <li>
            <ul>
            <li><a href="configuration.html#running-commandline-options">Commandline options</a></li>
            <li><a href="configuration.html#running-mda">Using getmail as an MDA</a></li>
            <li>
                <ul>
                <li><a href="configuration.html#running-mda-maildir">Using the <span class="file">getmail_maildir</span> MDA</a></li>
                <li>
                    <ul>
                    <li><a href="configuration.html#running-mda-maildir-example">Example</a></li>
                    </ul>
                </li>
                <li><a href="configuration.html#running-mda-mbox">Using the <span class="file">getmail_mbox</span> MDA</a></li>
                <li>
                    <ul>
                    <li><a href="configuration.html#running-mda-mbox-example">Example</a></li>
                    </ul>
                </li>
                </ul>
            </li>
            <li><a href="configuration.html#running-fetch">Using getmail_fetch to retrieve mail from scripts</a></li>
            </ul>
        </li>
        </ul>
    </li>
    <li><a href="troubleshooting.html">getmail troubleshooting (version 6)</a></li>
    <li>
        <ul>
        <li><a href="troubleshooting.html#troubleshooting">Troubleshooting problems</a></li>
        <li>
            <ul>
            <li><a href="troubleshooting.html#error-messages">Error messages</a></li>
            <li><a href="troubleshooting.html#warning-messages">Warning messages</a></li>
            <li><a href="troubleshooting.html#unexpected-behaviour">Unexpected Behaviour</a></li>
            </ul>
        </li>
        </ul>
    </li>
    <li><a href="faq.html">getmail frequently-asked questions (FAQs) (version 6)</a></li>
    <li>
        <ul>
        <li><a href="faq.html#faq">Frequently-Asked Questions (FAQs)</a></li>
        <li>
            <ul>
            <li><a href="faq.html#faq-about">About getmail</a></li>
            <li><a href="faq.html#faq-about6">What is getmail6 and how does it relate to getmail?</a></li>
            <li><a href="faq.html#faq-configuring">Configuring getmail</a></li>
            <li><a href="faq.html#faq-how">How do I &hellip;</a></li>
            <li><a href="faq.html#faq-integrating">Using getmail with other software</a></li>
            <li><a href="faq.html#faq-notabug">I think I found this bug in getmail &hellip;</a></li>
            </ul>
        </li>
        </ul>
    </li>
</ul>


<!-- ********************************************************************** -->
<h1 id="configuring">Configuring getmail</h1>
<p>
    Once getmail is
    <a href="documentation.html#installing">installed</a>,
    you need to configure it before you can retrieve mail with it. Follow these
    steps:
</p>
<ol>
    <li>
        Create a data/configuration directory.  getmail complies
        with <a href="https://specifications.freedesktop.org/basedir-spec/latest/index.html">the
        XDG basedir specification</a>: <span class="file">$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/getmail/</span>
        defaulting to <span class="file">~/.config/getmail/</span>.
        For backward compatibility reasons, getmail also
        checks <span class="file">$HOME/.getmail/</span>.  If you want
        a different location, you will need to specify it on the
        <a href="#running">getmail command line</a>.
        In general, other users should not be able to read the contents of this
        directory, so you should set the permissions on it appropriately.
        <pre class="example">
mkdir -m 0700 $HOME/.getmail
        </pre>
    </li>
    <li>
        Create a configuration file in the configuration/data directory.  The
        default name is
        <span class="file">getmailrc</span>.
        If you choose a different filename, you will need to specify it on the
        getmail command line.  If you want to retrieve mail from more than one
        mail account, you will need to create a separate rc file for each
        account getmail should retrieve mail from.
    </li>
</ol>

<!-- ********************************************************************** -->
<h2 id="rcfile">Creating a getmail rc file</h2>
<p>
    The configuration file format is designed to be easy to understand (both for
    getmail, and for the user).  It is broken down into small sections of
    related parameters by section headers which appear on lines by themselves,
    enclosed in square brackets, like this:
</p>
<pre class="example">
[section name]
</pre>
<p>
    Each section contains a series of parameters, declared as follows:
</p>
<pre class="example">
parameter_name = parameter_value
</pre>
<p>
    A parameter value, if necessary, can span multiple lines.  To indicate that
    the second and subsequent lines form a continuation of the previous line,
    they need to begin with leading whitespace, like this:
</p>
<pre class="example">
first_parameter = value
    first parameter value continues here
second_parameter = value
</pre>
<p>
    You can annotate your configuration files with comments by putting them on
    lines which begin with a pound sign, like this:
</p>
<pre class="example">
first_parameter = value
# I chose this value because of etc.
second_parameter = value
</pre>
<p>
    Each rc file requires at least two specific sections.  The first is
    <span class="file">retriever</span>,
    which tells getmail about the mail account to retrieve messages from.  The
    second is
    <span class="file">destination</span>,
    which tells getmail what to do with the retrieved messages.  There is also
    an
    <a href="#conf-options">optional section named
        <span class="file">options</span>
    </a>,
    which gives getmail general configuration information (such as whether to
    log its actions to a file), and other sections can be used to tell getmail
    to filter retrieved messages through other programs, or to deliver messages
    for particular users in a particular way.
</p>

<h3 id="parametertypes">Parameter types and formats</h3>
<p>
    Several different types of parameters are used in getmail rc files:
</p>
<ul>
    <li><a href="#parameter-string">string</a></li>
    <li><a href="#parameter-integer">integer</a></li>
    <li><a href="#parameter-boolean">boolean</a></li>
    <li><a href="#parameter-tuplestrings">tuple of quoted strings</a></li>
    <li><a href="#parameter-tupleintegers">tuple of integers</a></li>
    <li><a href="#parameter-tuple2tuples">tuple of 2-tuples</a></li>
</ul>
<p>
    Each parameter type has a specific format that must be used to represent it
    in the getmail rc file.  They are explained below.  Each parameter
    documented later specifies its type explicitly.
</p>

<h4 id="parameter-string">string</h4>
<p>
    Specify a string parameter value with no special syntax:
</p>
<pre class="example">
parameter = my value
</pre>

<h4 id="parameter-integer">integer</h4>
<p>
    Specify an integer parameter value with no special syntax:
</p>
<pre class="example">
parameter = 4150
</pre>

<h4 id="parameter-boolean">boolean</h4>
<p>
    A boolean parameter is true or false; you can specify its value with the
    (case-insensitive) words &quot;true&quot; and &quot;false&quot;.  The
    values &quot;yes&quot;, &quot;on&quot; and 1 are accepted as equivalent to
    &quot;true&quot;, while values &quot;no&quot;, &quot;off&quot; and 0 are
    accepted as equivalent to &quot;false&quot;.  Some examples:
</p>
<pre class="example">
parameter = True
parameter = false
parameter = NO
parameter = 1
</pre>

<h4 id="parameter-tuplestrings">tuple of quoted strings</h4>
<p>
    A tuple of quoted strings is essentially a list of strings, with each string
    surrounded by matching double- or single-quote characters to indicate where
    it begins and ends.  The list must be surrounded by open- and
    close-parenthesis characters.  A tuple may have to be a specific number of
    strings; for instance, a &quot;2-tuple&quot; must consist of two quoted
    strings, while a &quot;4-tuple&quot; must have exactly four.  In most cases,
    the number of strings is not required to be a specific number, and it will
    not be specified in this fashion.
</p>
<p>
    In general, a tuple of quoted strings parameter values should look like
    this:
</p>
<pre class="example">
parameter = ('first string', 'second string',
    &quot;third string that contains a ' character&quot;)
</pre>
<p>
    However, tuples of 0 or 1 strings require special treatment.  The empty
    tuple is specified with just the open- and close-parenthesis characters:
</p>
<pre class="example">
parameter = ()
</pre>
<p>
    A tuple containing a single quoted string requires a comma to indicate it is
    a tuple:
</p>
<pre class="example">
parameter = (&quot;single string&quot;, )
</pre>

<h4 id="parameter-tupleintegers">tuple of integers</h4>
<p>
    This is very similar to a tuple of quoted strings, above, minus the quotes.
    Some examples:
</p>
<pre class="example">
parameter = (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
parameter = (37, )
parameter = ()
</pre>

<h4 id="parameter-tuple2tuples">tuple of 2-tuples</h4>
<p>
    This is a tuple of items, each of which is a 2-tuple of quoted strings.  You
    can think of this as a list of pairs of quoted strings.
</p>
<pre class="example">
# Three pairs
parameter = (
    (&quot;first-a&quot;, &quot;first-b&quot;),
    (&quot;second-a&quot;, &quot;second-b&quot;),
    (&quot;third-a&quot;, &quot;third-b&quot;),
    )
# One pair
parameter = (
    (&quot;lone-a&quot;, &quot;lone-b&quot;),
    )
</pre>

<h3 id="conf-retriever">Creating the <span class="file">[retriever]</span> section</h3>
<p>
    The
    <span class="file">retriever</span>
    section of the rc file tells getmail what mail account to retrieve mail
    from, and how to access that account.  Begin with the section header line as
    follows:
</p>
<pre class="example">
[retriever]
</pre>
<p>
    Then, include a
    <span class="file">type</span>
    <a href="#parameter-string">string parameter</a>
    to tell getmail what type of mail retriever to use to retrieve mail from
    this account.  The possible values are:
</p>
<ul>
    <li>
        <a href="#retriever-simplepop3">SimplePOP3Retriever</a>
        &mdash; for single-user POP3 mail accounts.
    </li>
    <li>
        <a href="#retriever-brokenpop3">BrokenUIDLPOP3Retriever</a>
        &mdash; for broken POP3 servers that do not support the
        <span class="file">UIDL</span>
        command, or which do not uniquely identify messages; this provides basic
        support for single-user POP3 mail accounts on such servers.
    </li>
    <li>
        <a href="#retriever-simpleimap">SimpleIMAPRetriever</a>
        &mdash; for single-user IMAP mail accounts.
    </li>
    <li>
        <a href="#retriever-simplepop3ssl">SimplePOP3SSLRetriever</a>
        &mdash; same as SimplePOP3Retriever, but uses SSL encryption.
    </li>
    <li>
        <a href="#retriever-brokenpop3ssl">BrokenUIDLPOP3SSLRetriever</a>
        &mdash; same as BrokenUIDLPOP3Retriever, but uses SSL encryption.
    </li>
    <li>
        <a href="#retriever-simpleimapssl">SimpleIMAPSSLRetriever</a>
        &mdash; same as SimpleIMAPRetriever, but uses SSL encryption.
    </li>
    <li>
        <a href="#retriever-multidroppop3">MultidropPOP3Retriever</a>
        &mdash; for domain mailbox (multidrop) POP3 mail accounts.
    </li>
    <li>
        <a href="#retriever-multidroppop3ssl">MultidropPOP3SSLRetriever</a>
        &mdash; same as MultidropPOP3Retriever, but uses SSL encryption.
    </li>
    <li>
        <a href="#retriever-multidropsdps">MultidropSDPSRetriever</a>
        &mdash; for domain mailbox
        <a href="http://www.demon.net/helpdesk/products/mail/sdps-tech.shtml">SDPS mail accounts</a>,
        as provided by the UK ISP Demon.
    </li>
    <li>
        <a href="#retriever-multidropimap">MultidropIMAPRetriever</a>
        &mdash; for domain mailbox (multidrop) IMAP mail accounts.
    </li>
    <li>
        <a href="#retriever-multidropimapssl">MultidropIMAPSSLRetriever</a>
        &mdash; same as MultidropIMAPRetriever, but uses SSL encryption.
    </li>
</ul>

<h4 id="conf-retriever-multidrop">What is a &quot;multidrop&quot; mailbox?  How do I know if I have one?</h4>
<p>
    Some ISPs, mailhosts, and other service providers provide a mail service
    they refer to as a &quot;domain mailbox&quot; or &quot;multidrop
    mailbox&quot;.  This is where they register a domain for you, and mail
    addressed to any local-part in that domain ends up in a single mailbox
    accessible via POP3, with the message envelope (envelope sender address
    and envelope recipient address) recorded properly in the message header,
    so that it can be re-constructed after you retrieve the messages with
    POP3 or IMAP.  The primary benefit of this is that you can run your
    own MTA (qmail, Postfix, sendmail, Exchange, etc.) for your domain without
    having to have an SMTP daemon listening at a static IP address.
</p>
<p>
    Unfortunately, a lot of what is advertised and sold as multidrop service
    really isn't.  In many cases, the envelope recipient address of the message
    is not properly recorded, so the envelope information is lost and cannot
    be reconstructed.  If the envelope isn't properly preserved, it isn't
    a domain mailbox, and you therefore can't use a multidrop retriever with
    that mailbox.
</p>
<p>
    To determine if you have a multidrop mailbox, check the following list:
    if any of these items are not true, you do not have a multidrop mailbox.
</p>
<ul>
    <li>
        the mailbox must receive one copy of the message for each envelope
        recipient in the domain; if the message was addressed to three
        local-parts in the domain, the mailbox must receive three separate
        copies of the message.
    </li>
    <li>
        the envelope sender address must be recorded in a header field
        named
        <span class="file">Return-Path</span>
        at the top of the message.  If the message (incorrectly) already
        contained such a header field, it must be deleted before the
        envelope sender address is recorded.
    </li>
    <li>
        the envelope recipient address must be recorded in a new header field.
        These may be named various things, but are commonly
        <span class="file">Delivered-To</span>,
        <span class="file">X-Envelope-To</span>,
        and similar values.  In the case of messages which had multiple
        recipients in the domain, this must be a single address, reflecting the
        particular recipient of this copy of the message.  Note that this
        field (and the envelope recipient address) are not related to
        informational header fields created by the originating MUA, like
        <span class="file">To</span>
        or
        <span class="file">cc</span>.
    </li>
</ul>
<p>
    If you're not sure whether you have a multidrop mailbox, you probably don't.
    You probably want to use
    <a href="#retriever-simplepop3">SimplePOP3Retriever</a>
    (for POP3 mail accounts) or
    <a href="#retriever-simpleimap">SimpleIMAPRetriever</a>
    (for IMAP mail accounts) retrievers.
</p>
<p>
    Specify the mail account type with one of the above values, like this:
</p>
<pre class="example">
type = <span class="meta">typename</span>
</pre>
<p>
    Then, include lines for any parameters and their values which are required
    by the retriever.  The parameters and their types are documented below.
</p>

<h4 id="retriever-parameters">Common retriever parameters</h4>
<p>
    All retriever types take several common required parameters:
</p>
<ul>
    <li>
        server
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; the name or IP address of the server to retrieve mail from
    </li>
    <li>
        username
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; username to provide when logging in to the mail server.
        If you enable <a href="#use_netrc">use_netrc</a>, the netrc file
        can supply a username for each retriever.
    </li>
</ul>
<p>
    All retriever types also take several optional parameters:
</p>
<ul>
    <li>
        port
        (<a href="#parameter-integer">integer</a>)
        &mdash; the TCP port number to connect to.  If not provided, the default
        is a port appropriate for the protocol (110 for POP3, etc.)
    </li>
    <li>
        password
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; password to use when logging in to the mail server.  If not
        using Kerberos authentication -- see below -- getmail gets the password
        credential for the POP/IMAP server in one of the following ways:
        <ol>
            <li>from the <span class="file">password</span> configuration item in the getmailrc file</li>
            <li>by running an arbitrary command specified with the password_command parameter (see below)</li>
            <li>from Python keyring if available</li>
            <li>if <a href="#use_netrc">use_netrc</a> option is True, from a .netrc file
            <li>if not found via any of the above methods, getmail will prompt for the password when run</li>
        </ol>
        To store your POP/IMAP account password into the Python keyring, ensure
        the password is not provided in the getmailrc file, and run getmail with
        the special option <span class="file">--store-password-in-keyring</span>;
        getmail will run, prompt you for the password, store it in the Python
        keyring, and exit without retrieving mail.  If this option is not
        recognized, your Python installation does not have Python keyring.
    </li>
    <li id="password_command">
        password_command
        (<a href="#parameter-tuplestrings">tuple of quoted strings</a>)
        &mdash; retrieve the account password by running an arbitrary external
        program.  The program must write the password and nothing else to stdout,
        and must exit with a status of 0 on success.  Note that the password parameter
        (above) overrides this parameter; specify one or the other, not both.
        This parameter is specified as the program to run as the first string in the
        tuple, and all remaining strings are arguments passed to that program.
        <pre class="example">
password_command = (&quot;/path/to/password-retriever&quot;, &quot;-p&quot;, &quot;myaccount@example.org&quot;)
        </pre>
    </li>
</ul>
<p>
    All POP3 retriever types also take the following optional parameters:
</p>
<ul>
    <li>
        use_xoauth2
        (<a href="#parameter-boolean">boolean</a>)
        &mdash; whether to use XOAUTH2 for login with the POP3 server.
        If not set, normal password-based authentication is used.  This currently
        supports Gmail and Microsoft Office 365; if anyone extends this to support
        other POP3 providers, please let me know so I can include such support
        in getmail.  <strong>Note that using XOAUTH2 is no more secure than a
        regular getmail configuration with a mode 0600 getmailrc file</strong>.
        You will need to set <a href="#password_command">password_command</a>
        as well to tell getmail to invoke the getmail-gmail-xoauth-tokens
        helper program; that script requires a positional argument to tell it
        json file where to read the initial tokens from and where it writes the access
        and refresh tokens to, and the file requires manual initial setup.
        Keep write access to the json file.
        This functionality was contributed by Stefan Krah,
        who has additional information about using it here:
        <a href="http://www.bytereef.org/howto/oauth2/getmail.html">http://www.bytereef.org/howto/oauth2/getmail.html</a>.
        See docs/getmailrc-examples.
    </li>
</ul>
<p>
    All IMAP retriever types also take the following optional parameters:
</p>
<ul>
    <li>
        mailboxes
        (<a href="#parameter-tuplestrings">tuple of quoted strings</a>)
        &mdash; a list of mailbox paths to retrieve mail from, expressed as a
        Python tuple. If not specified, the default is to retrieve mail from the
        mail folder named
        <span class="file">INBOX</span>.
        You might want to retrieve messages from several different mail folders,
        using a configuration like this:
        <pre class="example">
mailboxes = (&quot;INBOX&quot;, &quot;INBOX.spam&quot;,
    &quot;mailing-lists.model-railroading&quot;)
        </pre>
        Note that the format for hierarchical folder names is determined by the
        IMAP server, not by getmail.  Consult your server's documentation or
        postmaster if you're unsure what form your server uses.
        If your mailbox names contain non-ASCII characters, ensure that your
        getmailrc file is stored with UTF-8 encoding so that getmail can
        correctly determine the unicode character names that need to be quoted
        in IMAP's modified UTF-7 encoding; if you do not do this, the mailbox
        names will not match what the server expects them to be, or will cause
        UnicodeErrors when attempting to load your getmailrc file.
        As a special case, in getmail version 4.29.0 and later, the unquoted
        base (non-tuple) value
        <span class="file">ALL</span> (case-sensitive) means to retrieve mail
        from all selectable IMAP mailboxes in the account.  To retrieve messages
        from all mailboxes, you would use:
        <pre class="example">
mailboxes = ALL
        </pre>
    </li>
    <li>
        use_peek
        (<a href="#parameter-boolean">boolean</a>)
        &mdash; whether to use PEEK to retrieve the message; the default is
        True.  IMAP servers typically mark a message as seen if PEEK is not used
        to retrieve the message content.  Versions of getmail prior to 4.26.0
        did not use PEEK to retrieve messages.
    </li>
    <li>
        move_on_delete
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; if set, messages are moved to the named IMAP mail folder before
        being deleted from their original location.  The specified mail folder
        must exist; getmail will not create it.  Note that if you configure
        getmail not to delete retrieved messages (the default behaviour), they
        will not be moved at all.
    </li>
    <li>
        <a name="uid_cache">cache_uid</a>
        (<a href="#parameter-boolean">string</a>)
        &mdash;
        With this option the highest imap UID is used as the starting position when fetching the uid list.
        An UID is not removed any more in the oldmail-file, if it has disappeared on the server.
        If imap_search is non-default, this option is not applied.
        <ul>
            <li>
            If the string is <pre class="example">true</pre>
            the highest UID is taken from the oldmail-file.
            </li>
            <li>
            Else the string is interpreted as file name for the given retriever.
            In the file the highest UID for each mailbox is stored
            before the email is delivered to its destination.
            If something goes wrong with the delivery of an email,
            you would have to remove the uid_cache file manually
            to have that email fetched from the server again.
            oldmail-files are updated only after the delivery.
            </li>
        </ul>
    </li>
    <li>
        record_mailbox
        (<a href="#parameter-boolean">boolean</a>)
        &mdash; whether to add a X-getmail-retrieved-from-mailbox: header field
        to retrieved messages, containing the name of the selected mailbox that
        the message was retrieved from.  This is on by default, but can be disabled.
    </li>
    <li>
        use_kerberos
        (<a href="#parameter-boolean">boolean</a>)
        &mdash; whether to use Kerberos authentication with the IMAP server.
        If not set, normal password-based authentication is used.  Note that when
        you use Kerberos authentication, it is up to you to ensure you have a
        valid Kerberos ticket (perhaps by running a ticket-renewing agent such
        as <a href="http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/software/kstart/">kstart</a> or similar).
        This feature requires that a recent version of pykerberos with GSS
        support is installed; check your OS distribution or see
        <a href="http://honk.sigxcpu.org/projects/pykerberos/">http://honk.sigxcpu.org/projects/pykerberos/"</a>
        for details.
    </li>
    <li>
        use_xoauth2
        (<a href="#parameter-boolean">boolean</a>)
        &mdash; whether to use XOAUTH2 for login with the IMAP server.
        If not set, normal password-based authentication is used.  This currently
        supports Gmail and Microsoft Office 365; if anyone extends this to support
        other IMAP providers, please let me know so I can include such support
        in getmail.  <strong>Note that using XOAUTH2 is no more secure than a
        regular getmail configuration with a mode 0600 getmailrc file</strong>.
        You will need to set <a href="#password_command">password_command</a>
        as well to tell getmail to invoke the getmail-gmail-xoauth-tokens
        helper program; that script requires a positional argument to tell it
        json file where to read the initial tokens from and where it writes the access
        and refresh tokens to, and the file requires manual initial setup.
        Keep write access to the json file.
        This functionality was contributed by Stefan Krah,
        who has additional information about using it here:
        <a href="http://www.bytereef.org/howto/oauth2/getmail.html">http://www.bytereef.org/howto/oauth2/getmail.html</a>.
        See docs/getmailrc-examples.
    </li>
    <li>
        imap_search, imap_on_delete
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; imap_search is the second parameter of Python's
        <a href="https://docs.python.org/3/library/imaplib.html#imaplib.IMAP4.search">IMAP search</a>.
        Set <pre class="example">imap_search = UNSEEN</pre> to skip read messages.
        The value is case-insensitive. It may be in parentheses.
        As an example <pre class="example">
imap_search = Unseen
imap_on_delete = \Seen</pre>
        fetches only new messages and sets the message flag to <span class="file">SEEN</span> on "delete"
        (only <span class="file">\Delete</span> in it will actually delete the email on the server).
        Setting the flag will also override the global <span class="file">delete = true</span>
        (which is also made sure via <span class="file">-d</span> in the command line).
        <span class="file">\Seen</span> avoids further retrieval without deleting the message on the server.
        The default is <pre class="example">
imap_search = ALL
imap_on_delete = (\Deleted \Seen)</pre>
        For more on IMAP SEARCH see <href="https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc3501#page-49">rfc3501</a>.
        <p>
        The command line parameter
        <pre class="file">--searchset/-s</pre>
        </p><p>
        (search and set) overrides imap_search to select emails to retrieve and imap_on_delete to set flags on the server
        A starting
        <span class="file">,</span>
        becomes IMAP flag char
        <span class="file">\</span>.
        <span class="file">-s</span> implies <span class="file">-d</span>, ie is like <span class="file">-ds</span>.
        <span class="file">-ds,</span>
        alone is
        <span class="file">\SEEN</span>.
        <span class="file">-ds,</span> means "mark as read".
        Without <span class="file">,</span> it is a search string to select mail to retrieve.
        </p>
    </li>
    <li>
        imap_id_extension (<a href="#parameter-string">boolean</a>).
        If set, getmail sends <span class="file">getmail 6.0.0</span> as client ID to the server.
        The default is <span class="file">False</span>.
    </li>
</ul>

<h4 id="retriever-ssl-client">SSL Client Parameters</h4>
<p>
    All SSL-enabled retriever types also take the following options, to allow
    specifying the use of a particular client key and client certificate
    in establishing a connection to the server.
</p>
<ul>
    <li>
        keyfile
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; use the specified PEM-formatted key file in the SSL negotiation.
    </li>
    <li>
        certfile
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; use the specified PEM-formatted certificate file in the SSL
        negotiation.
    </li>
</ul>

<h4 id="retriever-ssl-extra">SSL Certificate Validation and Server Parameters</h4>
<p>
    All SSL-enabled POP and IMAP retriever types also take the following options,
    allowing you to require validation of the server's SSL certificate, or to check the
    server's certificate fingerprint against a known good value, or to control
    the specific SSL cipher used during the connection.
</p>
<p>
    <strong>Note: using these features, including server certificate validation,
    requires using Python 2.7 or higher with getmail.</strong>
    If you use an earlier version of Python, these features will not work, and
    no server certificate validation will be performed.
    Also note that these features are not currently implemented for SPDS
    retrievers; I would be interested in hearing from SPDS users who desire
    these features.
</p>
<ul>
    <li>
        ca_certs
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; advanced option to perform validation of the server's SSL
        certificate.  Specify the path to a PEM-formatted list of 1 or more
        valid and trusted root certification authority (CA) certificates.
        <strong>Note: this option is only available with Python 2.7 or higher.</strong>
        <br />
        To find out which root CA is used to sign the chain of certificates for
        a given server, you can run
        <pre class="example">
openssl s_client -showcerts -connect HOST:PORT &lt; /dev/null 2&gt;/dev/null \
  | grep '^[[:space:]]*i:' | tail -n 1
</pre>
        If the server's certificate cannot be validated based upon the supplied
        trusted root certificates, getmail will abort the connection.
        <br />
        Root certificates are not supplied with getmail; your OS probably installs a set
        by default for use by the system, or you may wish to use a specific set of
        trusted root certificates provided by your employer or a trusted third
        party.  Common locations for OS-supplied SSL root certification authority
        certificates include:
        <ul>
            <li>Linux (Debian, Ubuntu, Arch, SuSE): <pre class="file">/etc/ssl/certs/</pre></li>
            <li>Linux (RedHat, Fedora, CentOS): <pre class="file">/etc/pki/tls/certs/</pre></li>
            <li>FreeBSD: <pre class="file">/usr/local/share/certs/</pre></li>
            <li>OpenBSD: <pre class="file">/etc/ssl/</pre></li>
            <li>OSX: <pre class="file">/System/Library/OpenSSL/certs/</pre></li>
            <li>Windows: ask Microsoft</li>
        </ul>
    </li>
    <li>
        ssl_ciphers
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; advanced option to control which SSL cipher algorithms will be
        allowed to proceed.  See the
        <a href="http://www.openssl.org/docs/apps/ciphers.html">Open SSL documentation</a>
        for details.
        If the specified setting results in no possible ciphers available,
        getmail will abort the connection.
        E.g. on error <span class="file">DH_KEY_TOO_SMALL</span>, one could downgrade the security level via
        <pre class="file">ssl_ciphers = DEFAULT@SECLEVEL=1</pre>
        <strong>Note: this option is only available with Python 2.7 or higher.</strong>
    </li>
    <li>
        ssl_version
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; advanced option to control which SSL version getmail tries to
        use to connect to the server; the default is &quot;sslv23&quot;.  Another
        useful value is probably &quot;sslv3&quot;.  The possible values are:

        <ul>
          <li>sslv23</li>
          <li>sslv3</li>
          <li>tlsv1</li>
          <li>tlsv1_1</li>
          <li>tlsv1_2</li>
        </ul>

        <p>Note that this option exists only to help in connecting
        certain legacy, out-of-date, broken servers; most users should
        not specify this option at all.  Using this option without
        knowing what you are doing can reduce the effectiveness of
        your encrypted connection.

        <p><strong>Note: this option is only available with Python 2.7 or higher.</strong>

        <p>Note: see the <a href="faq.html#faq-notabug-gmail-tls-sni">FAQ for details
        on how to work around Gmail connection problems with OpenSSL v.1.1.1 and later</a>.
    </li>
    <li>
        ssl_fingerprints
        (<a href="#parameter-tuplestrings">tuple of quoted strings</a>)
        &mdash; advanced option to notice when the server's SSL certificate
        changes.  Supply a list of one or more SHA256 certificate fingerprints,
        and getmail will confirm whether the server's certificate fingerprint is
        in the list of allowed fingerprints; if it is not, getmail will abort
        the connection.  Getmail will log the fingerprint of the server's certificate
        if you supply the <span class="file">--fingerprint</span> commandline option.
        <strong>Note: this option is only available with Python 2.7 or higher.</strong>
    </li>
    <li>
        ssl_cert_hostname
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; advanced option to specify an alternate hostname which is expected
        in the server's SSL certificate hostname field.  Specify this if the name
        used to connect to the server is known not to match the hostname in the
        server's certificate; otherwise, getmail will error out with a hostname
        mismatch.
    </li>
</ul>

<h4 id="retriever-simplepop3">SimplePOP3Retriever</h4>
<p>
    The SimplePOP3Retriever class takes the
    <a href="#retriever-parameters">common retriever parameters</a>
    above, plus the following optional parameters:
</p>
<ul>
    <li>
        use_apop
        (<a href="#parameter-boolean">boolean</a>)
        &mdash; if set to True, getmail will use APOP-style authentication to
        log in to the server instead of normal USER/PASS authentication.  This
        is not supported by many POP3 servers.  Note that APOP adds much less
        security than might be supposed; weaknesses in its hashing algorithm
        mean that an attacker can recover the first three characters of the
        password after snooping on only a few hundred authentications between
        a client and server &mdash; see
        <a href="http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/464477/30/0/threaded">http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/464477/30/0/threaded</a>
        for details.  The default is
        <span class="file">False</span>.
    </li>
    <li>
        timeout
        (<a href="#parameter-integer">integer</a>)
        &mdash; how long (in seconds) to wait for socket operations to complete
        before considering them failed.  If not specified, the default is 180
        seconds.  You may need to increase this value in particularly poor
        networking conditions.
    </li>
    <li>
        delete_dup_msgids
        (<a href="#parameter-boolean">boolean</a>)
        &mdash; if set to True, and the POP3 server identifies multiple messages
        as having the same &quot;unique&quot; identifier, all but the first will
        be deleted without retrieving them.
    </li>
</ul>

<h4 id="retriever-brokenpop3">BrokenUIDLPOP3Retriever</h4>
<p class="note">
    This retriever class is intended only for use with broken POP3 servers
    that either do not implement the
    <span class="file">UIDL</span>
    command, or which do not properly assign unique identifiers to messages
    (preventing getmail from determining which messages it has seen before).
    It will identify every message in the mailbox as a new message, and
    therefore if you use this retriever class and opt not to delete messages
    after retrieval, it will retrieve those messages again the next time
    getmail is run.  Use this retriever class only if your mailbox is hosted
    on such a broken POP3 server, and the server does not provide another
    means of getmail accessing it (i.e., IMAP).
</p>
<p>
    The BrokenUIDLPOP3Retriever class takes the
    <a href="#retriever-parameters">common retriever parameters</a>
    above, plus the following optional parameters:
</p>
<ul>
    <li>
        use_apop
        (<a href="#parameter-boolean">boolean</a>)
        &mdash; see
        <a href="#retriever-simplepop3">SimplePOP3Retriever</a>
        for definition.
    </li>
    <li>
        timeout
        (<a href="#parameter-integer">integer</a>)
        &mdash; see
        <a href="#retriever-simplepop3">SimplePOP3Retriever</a>
        for definition.
    </li>
</ul>

<h4 id="retriever-simpleimap">SimpleIMAPRetriever</h4>
<p>
    The SimpleIMAPRetriever class takes the
    <a href="#retriever-parameters">common retriever parameters</a>
    above, plus the following optional parameters:
</p>
<ul>
    <li>
        timeout
        (<a href="#parameter-integer">integer</a>)
        &mdash; see
        <a href="#retriever-simplepop3">SimplePOP3Retriever</a>
        for definition.
    </li>
</ul>

<h4 id="retriever-simplepop3ssl">SimplePOP3SSLRetriever</h4>
<p>
    The SimplePOP3SSLRetriever class takes the
    <a href="#retriever-parameters">common retriever parameters</a>
    above, plus the following optional parameters:
</p>
<ul>
    <li>
        use_apop
        (<a href="#parameter-boolean">boolean</a>)
        &mdash; see
        <a href="#retriever-simplepop3">SimplePOP3Retriever</a>
        for definition.
    </li>
    <li>
        delete_dup_msgids
        (<a href="#parameter-boolean">boolean</a>)
        &mdash; see
        <a href="#retriever-simplepop3">SimplePOP3Retriever</a>
        for definition.
    </li>
    <li>
        ca_certs
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; see <a href="#retriever-ssl-extra">SSL Certificate Validation and Server Parameters</a>
        for definition
    </li>
    <li>
        ssl_ciphers
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; see <a href="#retriever-ssl-extra">SSL Certificate Validation and Server Parameters</a>
        for definition
    </li>
    <li>
        ssl_version
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; see <a href="#retriever-ssl-extra">SSL Certificate Validation and Server Parameters</a>
        for definition
    </li>
    <li>
        ssl_fingerprints
        (<a href="#parameter-tuplestrings">tuple of quoted strings</a>)
        &mdash; see <a href="#retriever-ssl-extra">SSL Certificate Validation and Server Parameters</a>
        for definition
    </li>
</ul>

<h4 id="retriever-brokenpop3ssl">BrokenUIDLPOP3SSLRetriever</h4>
<p class="note">
    The BrokenUIDLPOP3SSLRetriever class takes the
    <a href="#retriever-parameters">common retriever parameters</a>
    above, plus the following optional parameters:
</p>
<ul>
    <li>
        use_apop
        (<a href="#parameter-boolean">boolean</a>)
        &mdash; see
        <a href="#retriever-simplepop3">SimplePOP3Retriever</a>
        for definition.
    </li>
    <li>
        keyfile
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; see
        <a href="#retriever-ssl-client">SSL Client Parameters</a>
        for definition.
    </li>
    <li>
        certfile
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; see
        <a href="#retriever-ssl-client">SSL Client Parameters</a>
        for definition.
    </li>
    <li>
        ca_certs
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; see <a href="#retriever-ssl-extra">SSL Certificate Validation and Server Parameters</a>
        for definition
    </li>
    <li>
        ssl_ciphers
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; see <a href="#retriever-ssl-extra">SSL Certificate Validation and Server Parameters</a>
        for definition
    </li>
    <li>
        ssl_version
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; see <a href="#retriever-ssl-extra">SSL Certificate Validation and Server Parameters</a>
        for definition
    </li>
    <li>
        ssl_fingerprints
        (<a href="#parameter-tuplestrings">tuple of quoted strings</a>)
        &mdash; see <a href="#retriever-ssl-extra">SSL Certificate Validation and Server Parameters</a>
        for definition
    </li>
</ul>

<h4 id="retriever-simpleimapssl">SimpleIMAPSSLRetriever</h4>
<p>
    The SimpleIMAPSSLRetriever class takes the
    <a href="#retriever-parameters">common retriever parameters</a>
    above, plus the following optional parameters:
</p>
<ul>
    <li>
        mailboxes
        (<a href="#parameter-tuplestrings">tuple of quoted strings</a>)
        &mdash; see
        <a href="#retriever-parameters">common retriever parameters</a>
        for definition.
    </li>
    <li>
        move_on_delete
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; see
        <a href="#retriever-simpleimap">SimpleIMAPRetriever</a>
        for definition.
    </li>
    <li>
        keyfile
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; see
        <a href="#retriever-ssl-client">SSL Client Parameters</a>
        for definition.
    </li>
    <li>
        certfile
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; see
        <a href="#retriever-ssl-client">SSL Client Parameters</a>
        for definition.
    </li>
    <li>
        ca_certs
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; see <a href="#retriever-ssl-extra">SSL Certificate Validation and Server Parameters</a>
        for definition
    </li>
    <li>
        ssl_ciphers
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; see <a href="#retriever-ssl-extra">SSL Certificate Validation and Server Parameters</a>
        for definition
    </li>
    <li>
        ssl_version
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; see <a href="#retriever-ssl-extra">SSL Certificate Validation and Server Parameters</a>
        for definition
    </li>
    <li>
        ssl_fingerprints
        (<a href="#parameter-tuplestrings">tuple of quoted strings</a>)
        &mdash; see <a href="#retriever-ssl-extra">SSL Certificate Validation and Server Parameters</a>
        for definition
    </li>
    <li>
        imap_search
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; see
        <a href="#retriever-simpleimap">SimpleIMAPRetriever</a>
        for definition.
    </li>
</ul>

<h4 id="retriever-multidroppop3">MultidropPOP3Retriever</h4>
<p>
    The MultidropPOP3Retriever class takes the
    <a href="#retriever-parameters">common retriever parameters</a>
    above, plus the following required parameter:
</p>
<ul>
    <li>
        envelope_recipient
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; the name and position of the header field which records the
        envelope recipient address.  This is set to a value of the form
        <span class="file">
            <span class="meta">field_name</span>
            :
            <span class="meta">field_position</span>
        </span>.
        The first (topmost) Delivered-To: header field would be specified as:
        <pre class="example">
envelope_recipient = delivered-to:1
        </pre>
    </li>
</ul>
<p>
    The MultidropPOP3Retriever also takes the following optional parameters:
</p>
<ul>
    <li>
        use_apop
        (<a href="#parameter-boolean">boolean</a>)
        &mdash; see
        <a href="#retriever-simplepop3">SimplePOP3Retriever</a>
        for definition.
    </li>
    <li>
        timeout
        (<a href="#parameter-integer">integer</a>)
        &mdash; see
        <a href="#retriever-simplepop3">SimplePOP3Retriever</a>
        for definition.
    </li>
</ul>

<h4 id="retriever-multidroppop3ssl">MultidropPOP3SSLRetriever</h4>
<p>
    The MultidropPOP3SSLRetriever class takes the
    <a href="#retriever-parameters">common retriever parameters</a>
    above, plus the following required parameter:
</p>
<ul>
    <li>
        envelope_recipient
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; see
        <a href="#retriever-multidroppop3">MultidropPOP3Retriever</a>
        for definition.
    </li>
</ul>
<p>
    The MultidropPOP3SSLRetriever class also takes the following optional
    parameters:
</p>
<ul>
    <li>
        use_apop
        (<a href="#parameter-boolean">boolean</a>)
        &mdash; see
        <a href="#retriever-simplepop3">SimplePOP3Retriever</a>
        for definition.
    </li>
    <li>
        keyfile
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; see
        <a href="#retriever-ssl-client">SSL Client Parameters</a>
        for definition.
    </li>
    <li>
        certfile
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; see
        <a href="#retriever-ssl-client">SSL Client Parameters</a>
        for definition.
    </li>
    <li>
        ca_certs
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; see <a href="#retriever-ssl-extra">SSL Certificate Validation and Server Parameters</a>
        for definition
    </li>
    <li>
        ssl_ciphers
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; see <a href="#retriever-ssl-extra">SSL Certificate Validation and Server Parameters</a>
        for definition
    </li>
    <li>
        ssl_version
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; see <a href="#retriever-ssl-extra">SSL Certificate Validation and Server Parameters</a>
        for definition
    </li>
    <li>
        ssl_fingerprints
        (<a href="#parameter-tuplestrings">tuple of quoted strings</a>)
        &mdash; see <a href="#retriever-ssl-extra">SSL Certificate Validation and Server Parameters</a>
        for definition
    </li>
</ul>

<h4 id="retriever-multidropsdps">MultidropSDPSRetriever</h4>
<p>
    The MultidropSDPSRetriever class takes the
    <a href="#retriever-parameters">common retriever parameters</a>
    above, plus the following optional parameters:
</p>
<ul>
    <li>
        timeout
        (<a href="#parameter-integer">integer</a>)
        &mdash; see
        <a href="#retriever-simplepop3">SimplePOP3Retriever</a>
        for definition.
    </li>
</ul>

<h4 id="retriever-multidropimap">MultidropIMAPRetriever</h4>
<p>
    The MultidropIMAPRetriever class takes the
    <a href="#retriever-parameters">common retriever parameters</a>
    above, plus the following required parameter:
</p>
<ul>
    <li>
        envelope_recipient
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; see
        <a href="#retriever-multidroppop3">MultidropPOP3Retriever</a>
        for definition.
    </li>
</ul>
<p>
    The MultidropIMAPRetriever class also takes the following optional
    parameters:
</p>
<ul>
    <li>
        timeout
        (<a href="#parameter-integer">integer</a>)
        &mdash; see
        <a href="#retriever-simplepop3">SimplePOP3Retriever</a>
        for definition.
    </li>
    <li>
        mailboxes
        (<a href="#parameter-tuplestrings">tuple of quoted strings</a>)
        &mdash; see
        <a href="#retriever-parameters">common retriever parameters</a>
        for definition.
    </li>
    <li>
        move_on_delete
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; see
        <a href="#retriever-simpleimap">SimpleIMAPRetriever</a>
        for definition.
    </li>
    <li>
        imap_search
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; see
        <a href="#retriever-simpleimap">SimpleIMAPRetriever</a>
        for definition.
    </li>
</ul>

<h4 id="retriever-multidropimapssl">MultidropIMAPSSLRetriever</h4>
<p>
    The MultidropIMAPSSLRetriever class takes the
    <a href="#retriever-parameters">common retriever parameters</a>
    above, plus the following required parameter:
</p>
<ul>
    <li>
        envelope_recipient
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; see
        <a href="#retriever-multidroppop3">MultidropPOP3Retriever</a>
        for definition.
    </li>
</ul>
<p>
    The MultidropIMAPSSLRetriever class also takes following optional
    parameters:
</p>
<ul>
    <li>
        mailboxes
        (<a href="#parameter-tuplestrings">tuple of quoted strings</a>)
        &mdash; see
        <a href="#retriever-parameters">common retriever parameters</a>
        for definition.
    </li>
    <li>
        move_on_delete
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; see
        <a href="#retriever-simpleimap">SimpleIMAPRetriever</a>
        for definition.
    </li>
    <li>
        keyfile
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; see
        <a href="#retriever-ssl-client">SSL Client Parameters</a>
        for definition.
    </li>
    <li>
        certfile
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; see
        <a href="#retriever-ssl-client">SSL Client Parameters</a>
        for definition.
    </li>
    <li>
        ca_certs
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; see <a href="#retriever-ssl-extra">SSL Certificate Validation and Server Parameters</a>
        for definition
    </li>
    <li>
        ssl_ciphers
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; see <a href="#retriever-ssl-extra">SSL Certificate Validation and Server Parameters</a>
        for definition
    </li>
    <li>
        ssl_version
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; see <a href="#retriever-ssl-extra">SSL Certificate Validation and Server Parameters</a>
        for definition
    </li>
    <li>
        ssl_fingerprints
        (<a href="#parameter-tuplestrings">tuple of quoted strings</a>)
        &mdash; see <a href="#retriever-ssl-extra">SSL Certificate Validation and Server Parameters</a>
        for definition
    </li>
    <li>
        imap_search
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; see
        <a href="#retriever-simpleimap">SimpleIMAPRetriever</a>
        for definition.
    </li>
</ul>

<h3 id="retriever-examples">Retriever examples</h3>
<p>
    A typical POP3 mail account (the basic kind of mailbox provided by most
    internet service providers (ISPs)) would use a retriever configuration like
    this:
</p>
<pre class="example">
[retriever]
type = SimplePOP3Retriever
server = popmail.isp.example.net
username = account_name
password = my_mail_password
</pre>

<p>
    If your ISP provides POP3 access on a non-standard port number, you would
    need to include the port parameter:
</p>
<pre class="example">
[retriever]
type = SimplePOP3Retriever
server = popmail.isp.example.net
port = 8110
username = account_name
password = my_mail_password
</pre>

<p>
    If your ISP provides POP3-over-SSL and you wanted to use that, your
    retriever configuration might look like this:
</p>
<pre class="example">
[retriever]
type = SimplePOP3SSLRetriever
server = popmail.isp.example.net
username = account_name
password = my_mail_password
</pre>

<p>
    If you have an IMAP mail account and want to retrieve messages from several
    mail folders under that account, and you want to move messages to a special
    folder when deleting them, you would use a retriever configuration like
    this:
</p>
<pre class="example">
[retriever]
type = SimpleIMAPRetriever
server = imapmail.isp.example.net
username = account_name
password = my_mail_password
mailboxes = (&quot;INBOX&quot;, &quot;lists.unix&quot;, &quot;lists.getmail&quot;)
move_on_delete = mail.deleted
</pre>

<p>
    If you are retrieving your company's mail from a domain POP3 mailbox for
    delivery to multiple local users, you might use a retriever configuration
    like this:
</p>
<pre class="example">
[retriever]
type = MultidropPOP3Retriever
server = imapmail.isp.example.net
username = account_name
password = company_maildrop_password
envelope_recipient = delivered-to:1
</pre>


<h3 id="conf-destination">Creating the <span class="file">[destination]</span> section</h3>
<p>
    The
    <span class="file">destination</span>
    section of the rc file tells getmail what to do with retrieved messages.
    Begin with the section header line as follows:
</p>
<pre class="example">
[destination]
</pre>
<p>
    Then, include a
    <span class="file">type</span>
    <a href="#parameter-string">string parameter</a>
    to tell getmail what type of mail destination this is.  The possible values
    are:
</p>
<ul>
    <li>
        <a href="#destination-maildir">Maildir</a>
        &mdash; deliver all messages to a local qmail-style
        <a href="http://cr.yp.to/proto/maildir.html">maildir</a>
    </li>
    <li>
        <a href="#destination-mboxrd">Mboxrd</a>
        &mdash; deliver all messages to a local mboxrd-format mbox file
        with fcntl-type locking.
    </li>
    <li>
        <a href="#destination-mdaexternal">MDA_external</a>
        &mdash; use an external message delivery agent (MDA) to
        deliver messages.  Typical MDAs include
        <a href="http://www.flounder.net/~mrsam/maildrop/maildrop.html">maildrop</a>,
        <a href="http://www.procmail.org/">procmail</a>,
        and others.
    </li>
    <li>
        <a href="#destination-mdalmtp">MDA_lmtp</a>
        &mdash; deliver messages to an external MDA via the LMTP protocol.
    </li>
    <li>
        <a href="#destination-multidestination">MultiDestination</a>
        &mdash; unconditionally deliver messages to multiple destinations
        (maildirs, mbox files, external MDAs, or other destinations).
    </li>
    <li>
        <a href="#destination-multisorter">MultiSorter</a>
        &mdash; sort messages according to the envelope recipient
        (requires a domain mailbox retriever) and deliver to a variety of
        maildirs, mbox files, external MDAs, or other destinations based on
        regular expressions matching the recipient address of each message.
        Messages not matching any of the regular expressions are delivered to a
        default &quot;postmaster&quot; destination.
    </li>
    <li>
        <a href="#destination-multiguesser">MultiGuesser</a>
        &mdash; sort messages according to getmail's best <strong>guess</strong>
        at what the envelope recipient of the message might have been, and
        deliver to a variety of maildirs, mbox files, external
        MDAs, or other destinations based on regular expressions matching those
        addresses. Messages not matching any of the regular expressions are
        delivered to a default &quot;postmaster&quot; destination.
    </li>
    <li>
        <a href="#destination-mdaqmaillocal">MDA_qmaillocal</a>
        &mdash; use
        <a href="http://qmail.org/man/man8/qmail-local.html">qmail-local</a>
        to deliver messages according to instructions in a
        <a href="http://qmail.org/man/man9/dot-qmail.html">.qmail file</a>.
    </li>
</ul>

<h4 id="destination-maildir">Maildir</h4>
<p>
    The Maildir destination delivers to a qmail-style
    <a href="http://cr.yp.to/proto/maildir.html">maildir</a>.
    The maildir must already exist, and must contain all of the
    subdirectories required by the maildir format.
    getmail will
    <strong>not</strong>
    create the maildir if it does not exist.
    If you're not familiar with the maildir format, the requirements
    in a nutshell are:  it must be a directory containing three
    writable subdirectories
    <span class="file">cur</span>,
    <span class="file">new</span>,
    and
    <span class="file">tmp</span>,
    and they must all reside on the same filesystem.
</p>
<p>
    The Maildir destination takes one required parameter:
</p>
<ul>
    <li>
        path
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; the path to the maildir, ending in slash
        (<span class="file">/</span>).
        This value will be expanded for leading
        <span class="file">~</span>
        or
        <span class="file">~<span class="meta">USER</span></span>
        and environment variables in the form
        <span class="file">$<span class="meta">VARNAME</span></span>
        or
        <span class="file">${<span class="meta">VARNAME</span>}</span>.
        You might want to deliver messages to a maildir named
        <span class="file">Maildir</span>
        in your home directory; you could do this with a configuration like
        this:
        <pre class="example">
[destination]
type = Maildir
path = ~/Maildir/
        </pre>
    </li>
</ul>
<p>
    The Maildir destination also takes two optional parameters:
</p>
<ul>
    <li>
        user
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; on Unix-like systems, if supplied, getmail will change the
        effective UID to that of the named user before delivering messages to
        the maildir.  Note that this typically requires root privileges.
        getmail will not deliver to maildirs as root, so this
        &quot;optional&quot; parameter is required in that situation.
    </li>
    <li>
        filemode
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; if supplied, getmail will cause the delivered message files in
        the maildir to have at most these permissions (given in standard Unix
        octal notation).  Note that the current umask is masked out of the
        given value at file creation time.  The default value, which should be
        appropriate for most users, is &quot;0600&quot;.
    </li>
</ul>

<h4 id="destination-mboxrd">Mboxrd</h4>
<p>
    The Mboxrd destination delivers to an
    <a href="http://qmail.org/man/man5/mbox.html">mboxrd-format mbox file</a>
    with either fcntl-type (lockf) or flock-type file locking.  The file must
    already exist and appear to be a valid mboxrd file before getmail will try
    to deliver to it &mdash; getmail will
    <strong>not</strong>
    create the file if it does not exist.  If you want to create a new mboxrd
    file for getmail to use, simply create a completely empty (0-byte) file.
</p>
<p class="warning">
    You must ensure that all other programs accessing any the mbox file expect
    mboxrd-format mbox files and the same type of file locking that you
    configure getmail to use; failure to do so can cause mbox corruption.
    If you do not know what type of file locking your system expects, ask
    your system administrator.
    If you are the system administrator and don't know what type of file locking
    your system expects, do not use Mboxrd files; use Maildirs instead.
    Note that delivering to mbox files over NFS can be
    unreliable and should be avoided; this is the case with any MDA.
</p>
<p>
    The Mboxrd destination takes one required parameter:
</p>
<ul>
    <li>
        path
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; the path to the mbox file. This value will be expanded for
        leading
        <span class="file">~</span>
        or
        <span class="file">~<span class="meta">USER</span></span>
        and environment variables in the form
        <span class="file">$<span class="meta">VARNAME</span></span>
        or
        <span class="file">${<span class="meta">VARNAME</span>}</span>.
        You might want to deliver messages to an mbox file named
        <span class="file">inbox</span>
        in your home directory; you could do this with a configuration like
        this:
        <pre class="example">
[destination]
type = Mboxrd
path = ~/inbox
        </pre>
    </li>
</ul>
<p>
    The Mboxrd destination also takes two optional parameters:
</p>
<ul>
    <li>
        user
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; on Unix-like systems, if supplied, getmail will change the
        effective UID to that of the named user before delivering messages to
        the mboxrd file.  Note that this typically requires root privileges.
        getmail will not deliver to mbox files as root, so this
        &quot;optional&quot; parameter is required in that situation.
    </li>
    <li>
        locktype
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; which type of file locking to use; may be
        &quot;<span class="file">lockf</span>&quot;
        (for fcntl locking) or
        &quot;<span class="file">flock</span>&quot;.
        The default in getmail 4.7.0 and later is
        <span class="file">lockf</span>.
    </li>
</ul>

<h4 id="destination-mdaexternal">MDA_external</h4>
<p>
    MDA_external delivers messages by running an external program (known as a
    message delivery agent, or MDA) and feeding it the message on its standard
    input.  Some typical MDAs include
    <a href="http://www.flounder.net/~mrsam/maildrop/maildrop.html">maildrop</a>
    and
    <a href="http://www.procmail.org/">procmail</a>.
</p>
<p>
    The MDA_external destination takes one required parameter:
</p>
<ul>
    <li>
        path
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; the path to the command to run. This value will be expanded for
        leading
        <span class="file">~</span>
        or
        <span class="file">~<span class="meta">USER</span></span>
        and environment variables in the form
        <span class="file">$<span class="meta">VARNAME</span></span>
        or
        <span class="file">${<span class="meta">VARNAME</span>}</span>.
    </li>
</ul>
<p>
    The MDA_external destination also takes several optional parameters:
</p>
<ul>
    <li>
        arguments
        (<a href="#parameter-tuplestrings">tuple of quoted strings</a>)
        &mdash; arguments to be supplied to the command. The following
        substrings will be substituted with the equivalent values from the
        message:
        <ul>
            <li>
                <span class="sample">%(sender)</span>
                &mdash; envelope return-path address
            </li>
        </ul>
        If the message is retrieved with a multidrop retriever class, the
        message recipient (and parts of it) are also available with the
        following replacement substrings:
        <ul>
            <li>
                <span class="sample">%(recipient)</span>
                &mdash; envelope recipient address
            </li>
            <li>
                <span class="sample">%(local)</span>
                &mdash; local-part of the envelope recipient address
            </li>
            <li>
                <span class="sample">%(domain)</span>
                &mdash; domain-part of the envelope recipient address
            </li>
            <li>
                <span class="sample">%(mailbox)</span>
                &mdash; the IMAP mailbox name the message was retrieved from;
                for POP, this will be empty
            </li>
        </ul>
        The default value of the
        <span class="file">arguments</span>
        parameter is
        <span class="sample">()</span>,
        so no arguments are supplied to the command.
    </li>
    <li>
        unixfrom
        (<a href="#parameter-boolean">boolean</a>)
        &mdash; whether to include a Unix-style mbox
        <span class="file">From_</span>
        line at the beginning of the message supplied to the command.  Defaults
        to false.  Some MDAs expect such a line to be present and will fail
        to operate if it is missing.
    </li>
    <li>
        user
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; if supplied, getmail will change the effective UID to that of
        the named user. Note that this typically requires root privileges.
    </li>
    <li>
        group
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; if supplied, getmail will change the effective GID to that of
        the named group. Note that this typically requires root privileges.
    </li>
    <li>
        allow_root_commands
        (<a href="#parameter-boolean">boolean</a>)
        &mdash; if set, getmail will run external commands even if it is
        currently running with root privileges.  The default is false, which
        causes getmail to raise an exception if it is asked to run an external
        command as root.
        <span class="warning">
            Note that setting this option has serious security implications.
            Don't use it if you don't know what you're doing.
            I strongly recommend against running external processes as root.
        </span>
    </li>
    <li>
        ignore_stderr
        (<a href="#parameter-boolean">boolean</a>)
        &mdash; if set, getmail will not consider it an error if the program
        writes to stderr.  The default is false, which causes getmail to
        consider the delivery failed and leave the message on the server,
        proceeding to the next message.
        This prevents loss of mail if the MDA writes to stderr but fails to
        exit nonzero when it encounters an error.
        <span class="warning">
            Note that setting this option has serious implications; some MDAs
            can fail to deliver a message but still exit 0, which can cause
            loss of mail if this option is set.  Only change this setting if
            you are confident your MDA always exits nonzero on error.
        </span>
    </li>
    <li>
        pipe_stdout
        (<a href="#parameter-boolean">boolean</a>)
        &mdash; if set, stdout generated by the external MDA will be piped
        to stdout of getmail.  The default is true, which is the default
        with fetchmail. Settings it to false will retain the former
        behavior of getmail and suppress any data written to stdout.
    </li>
</ul>
<p>
    A basic invocation of an external MDA might look like this:
</p>
<pre class="example">
[destination]
type = MDA_external
path = /path/to/mymda
arguments = (&quot;--log-errors&quot;, )
</pre>
<p>
    Something more complex might look like this:
</p>
<pre class="example">
[destination]
type = MDA_external
path = /path/to/mymda
# Switch to fred's UID and the mail group GID before delivering his mail
user = fred
group = mail
arguments = (&quot;--strip-forbidden-attachments&quot;, &quot;--recipient=%(recipient)&quot;)
</pre>

<h4 id="destination-mdalmtp">MDA_lmtp</h4>
<p>
    MDA_lmtp delivers messages via LMTP by connecting to a Unix domain or TCP
    socket. It currently does not support any authentication.
</p>
<p>
    The MDA_lmtp destination takes one required parameter:
</p>
<ul>
    <li>
        host
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; the host to connect to. Either a DNS-resolvable hostname, an IP
        address or absolute path to a Unix domain socket.
    </li>
</ul>
<p>
    The MDA_lmtp destination also takes several optional parameters:
</p>
<ul>
    <li>
        port
        (<a href="#parameter-integer">integer</a>)
        &mdash; the remote port to connect to. Ignored if
        <span class="sample">host</span>
        is a Unix domain socket.
    </li>
    <li>
        fallback
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; an alternative recipient address to deliver to in case delivery
        to the intended recipient fails permanently (i.e. with a 5xx status
        code).
    </li>
    <li>
        override
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; deliver mail to an alternative recipient address instead of the
        one given by the envelope or mail headers. Behaviour of the fallback
        parameter still applies in case delivery fails.
    </li>
</ul>
<p>
    A configuration connecting to a Dovecot LMTP server might look like this:
</p>
<pre class="example">
[destination]
type = MDA_lmtp
host = /run/dovecot/lmtp
</pre>
<p>
    Another example delivering to a remote host on a non-standard port:
</p>
<pre class="example">
[destination]
type = MDA_lmtp
host = mail.example.com
port = 3333
</pre>
<p>
    An example where each mail is delivered to user <em>alice</em>, but if this
    fails (i.e. their user quota has been reached) it is delivered to <em>bob</em>:
</p>
<pre class="example">
[destination]
type = MDA_lmtp
host = mail.example.com
override = alice
fallback = bob
</pre>

<h4 id="destination-multidestination">MultiDestination</h4>
<p>
    MultiDestination doesn't do any message deliveries itself; instead,
    it lets you specify a list of one or more other destinations which
    it will pass each message to.  You can use this to deliver each message
    to several different destinations.
</p>
<p>
    The MultiDestination destination takes one required parameter:
</p>
<ul>
    <li>
        <p>
            destinations
            (<a href="#parameter-tuplestrings">tuple of quoted strings</a>)
            &mdash; the destinations which the messages will be passed to.
            A destination is a string that refers to another configuration
            file section by name (shortcuts for maildirs and mboxrd files are
            also provided; see below), like this:
        </p>
<pre class="example">
destinations = ('[other-destination-1]', '[other-destination-2]')

[other-destination-1]
type = Mboxrd
path = /var/spool/mail/alice
user = alice

[other-destination-2]
type = Maildir
path = /home/joe/Maildir/
user = joe
</pre>
        <p>
            Because Maildir and Mboxrd destinations are common, you can specify
            them directly as a shortcut
            <strong>
                if they do not require a
                <span class="file">user</span>
                parameter.
            </strong>
            If the string (after expansion; see below) starts with a dot or
            slash and ends with a slash, it specifies the path of a Maildir
            destination, while if it starts with a dot or a slash and does not
            end with a slash, it specifies the path of a Mboxrd destination.
        </p>
        <p>
            For instance, you can deliver mail to two maildirs with the following:
        </p>
<pre class="example">
destinations = ('~/Mail/inbox/', '~/Mail/archive/current/')
</pre>
        <p>
            Each destination string is first expanded for leading
            <span class="file">~</span>
            or
            <span class="file">~<span class="meta">USER</span></span>
            and environment variables in the form
            <span class="file">$<span class="meta">VARNAME</span></span>
            or
            <span class="file">${<span class="meta">VARNAME</span>}</span>.
        </p>
    </li>
</ul>
<p>
    Some examples:
</p>
<ul>
    <li>
        To deliver to a maildir named
        <span class="file">Maildir</span>
        in the home directory of user
        <span class="file">jeff</span>, when
        <span class="file">getmail</span> is run as that user:
<pre class="example">
[destination]
type = MultiDestination
destinations = (&quot;~jeff/Maildir/&quot;, )
</pre>
    </li>
    <li>
        To deliver to an mboxrd file:
<pre class="example">
[destination]
type = MultiDestination
destinations = (&quot;/var/spool/mail/alice&quot;, )
</pre>
    </li>
    <li>
        To deliver with an external MDA:
<pre class="example">
[destination]
type = MultiDestination
destinations = (&quot;[procmail-as-bob]&quot;, )

[procmail-as-bob]
type = MDA_external
path = /path/to/procmail
arguments = ('~bob/.procmailrc', '-f', '%(sender)')
user = bob
</pre>
    </li>
</ul>
<p>
    Of course, the whole point of MultiDestination is to allow you to specify
    multiple destinations, like this:
</p>
<pre class="example">
[destination]
type = MultiDestination
destinations = (
    &quot;~jeff/Mail/inbox&quot;,
    &quot;[procmail-as-jeff]&quot;,
    &quot;/var/mail-archive/incoming&quot;
    )

[procmail-as-jeff]
type = MDA_external
path = /path/to/procmail
arguments = ('~jeff/.procmailrc', '-f', '%(sender)')
user = jeff
</pre>

<h4 id="destination-multisorter">MultiSorter</h4>
<p>
    MultiSorter compares the envelope recipient address of messages against a
    list of user-supplied regular expressions and delivers the message to the
    destination (maildir, mboxrd file, or other) associated with any matching
    patterns.  A message can match multiple patterns and therefore be delivered
    to multiple matching destinations.  Any message which matches none of the
    patterns is delivered to a default destination for the postmaster.
</p>
<p class="important">
    Because MultiSorter requires the envelope recipient to operate, it must be
    used with a domain mailbox retriever.  If you instead want to do some basic
    message sorting based on getmail's best guess as to the envelope
    recipient of the message, see the
    <a href="#destination-multiguesser">MultiGuesser</a>
    destination class below.
</p>
<p>
    The MultiSorter destination takes one required parameter:
</p>
<ul>
    <li>
        default
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; the destination for messages which aren't matched by any of the
        &quot;locals&quot; regular expressions.  The destination can be a
        maildir, mboxrd file, or other destination.  See
        <a href="#destination-multidestination">MultiDestination</a>
        for an explanation of how the type of destination is interpreted from
        this value.
    </li>
</ul>
<p>
    The MultiSorter destination also takes one optional parameter:
</p>
<ul>
    <li>
        locals
        (<a href="#parameter-tuple2tuples">tuple of 2-tuples</a>)
        &mdash; zero or more regular expression &ndash; destination pairs.
        Messages will be delivered to each destination for which the envelope
        recipient matches the given regular expression.  The regular expression
        and destination are supplied as two quoted strings in a tuple; locals is
        then a tuple of such pairs of strings.  Destinations are specified in
        the same manner as with the &quot;default&quot; parameter, above.
    </li>
</ul>
<p>
    Important note:  if your regular expression contains backslashes (by
    themselves, or as part of an escaped character or symbol like
    <span class="file">\n</span>
    or
    <span class="file">\W</span>
    ), you need to tell the parser that this expression must be parsed
    &quot;raw&quot; by prepending the string with an &quot;r&quot;:
</p>
<pre class="example">
locals = (
    (r'jeff\?\?\?@.*', '[jeff]'),
    ('alice@', '[alice]')
    )

locals = (
    ('jeff@.*', '[jeff]'),
    (r'alice\D+@', '[alice]')
    )
</pre>
<p>
    Note that if you don't understand regular expressions, you don't need to
    worry about it. In general, an email address is a regular expression that
    matches itself.  The only significant times this isn't the case is when the
    address contains odd punctuation characters like
    <span class="file">^</span>,
    <span class="file">$</span>,
    <span class="file">\</span>,
    or
    <span class="file">[</span>.
    Handy hints:
</p>
<ul>
    <li>
        the regular expression
        <span class="file">.</span>
        (dot) matches anything
    </li>
    <li>
        matches can occur anywhere in the address.  If you want to only match at
        the beginning, start your expression with the
        <span class="file">^</span>
        character.  If you only want to match the whole address, also end your
        expression with a dollar sign
        <span class="file">$</span>.
    </li>
</ul>
<p>
    Using regular expressions:
</p>
<ul>
    <li>
        The regular expression
        <span class="file">joe@example.org</span>
        matches the addresses
        <span class="file">joe@example.org</span>,
        <span class="file">joe@example.org.net</span>,
        and <span class="file">heyjoe@example.org</span>.
    </li>
    <li>
        The regular expression
        <span class="file">^jeff@</span>
        matches the addresses
        <span class="file">jeff@example.org</span>
        and
        <span class="file">jeff@example.net</span>,
        but not <span class="file">otherjeff@example.org</span>.
    </li>
    <li>
        The regular expression
        <span class="file">sam</span>
        matches the addresses
        <span class="file">sam@example.org</span>,
        <span class="file">samantha@example.org</span>,
        <span class="file">asam@example.org</span>,
        and
        <span class="file">chris@isam.example.net</span>.
    </li>
</ul>
<p>
    Some examples:
</p>
<ul>
    <li>
        <ul>
            <li>
                Deliver mail matching
                <span class="file">jeff@example.net</span>
                to
                <span class="file">~jeff/Maildir/</span>
            </li>
            <li>
                Deliver mail matching
                <span class="file">alice@<span class="meta">anything</span></span>
                to
                <span class="file">~alice/inbox</span>
            </li>
            <li>
                Deliver all other mail to
                <span class="file">~bob/Maildir/</span>
            </li>
        </ul>
<pre class="example">
[destination]
type = MultiSorter
default = [bob-default]
locals = (
    ('jeff@example.net', '[jeff]'),
    ('alice@', '[alice]')
    )

[jeff]
type = Maildir
path = ~jeff/Maildir/
user = jeff

[alice]
type = Mboxrd
path = ~alice/inbox
user = alice

[bob-default]
type = Maildir
path = ~bob/Maildir/
user = bob
</pre>
    </li>
    <li>
        <ul>
            <li>
                Deliver mail for jeff, bob, and alice to maildirs in their home
                directories
            </li>
            <li>Deliver copies of all messages to samantha's mail archive</li>
            <li>
                Deliver copies of all messages to a program that logs certain
                information.  This program should run as the user
                <span class="filename">log</span>,
                and command arguments should tell it to record the info to
                <span class="filename">/var/log/mail/info</span>
            </li>
        </ul>
<pre class="example">
[destination]
type = MultiSorter
default = doesn't matter, this won't be used, as locals will always match
locals = (
    ('^jeff@', '[jeff]'),
    ('^bob@', '[bob]'),
    ('^alice@', '[alice]'),
    ('.', '[copies]'),
    ('.', '[info]')
    )

[alice]
type = Maildir
path = ~alice/Maildir/
user = alice

[bob]
type = Maildir
path = ~bob/Maildir/
user = bob

[jeff]
type = Maildir
path = ~jeff/Maildir/
user = jeff

[copies]
type = Maildir
path = ~samantha/Mail/archive/copies/
user = samantha

[info]
type = MDA_external
path = /path/to/infologger
arguments = ('--log=/var/log/mail/info', '--sender=%(sender)', '--recipient=%(recipient))
user = log
</pre>
    </li>
</ul>

<h4 id="destination-multiguesser">MultiGuesser</h4>
<p>
    MultiGuesser tries to guess what the envelope recipient address of the
    message might have been, by comparing addresses found in the message header
    against a list of user-supplied regular expressions, and delivers the message to the
    destination (maildir, mboxrd file, or other) associated with any matching
    patterns.  A message can match multiple patterns and therefore be delivered
    to multiple matching destinations.  Any message which matches none of the
    patterns is delivered to a default destination for the postmaster.
    In this fashion, you can do basic mail filtering and sorting with getmail
    without using an external filtering message delivery agent (MDA) (such
    as maildrop or procmail), if and only if the message recipient is the criteria
    you want to filter on.
</p>
<p>
    If you want to filter based on arbitrary message criteria, like &quot;What address
    is in the To: header field?&quot; or &quot;Who is the message from?&quot;, then
    use the filtering MDA of your choice, called from a getmail
    <a href="#destination-mdaexternal">MDA_external</a> destination.
    </p>
<p>
    MultiGuesser is similar to
    <a href="#destination-multisorter">MultiSorter</a>,
    except that it does not operate on the true envelope recipient address, and
    therefore does not require a domain mailbox retriever.  Because it is
    &quot;guessing&quot; at the intended recipient of the message based on the
    contents of the message header, it is fallible &mdash; for instance, the
    address of a recipient of a mailing list message may not appear in the
    header of the message at all.  If your
    <span class="file">locals</span>
    regular expression patterns are only looking for that address, MultiGuesser
    will then have to deliver it to the destination specified as the
    <span class="file">default</span>
    recipient.
</p>
<p>
    This functionality is very similar to the guessing functionality of
    getmail version 2, which was removed in version 3.  MultiGuesser extracts
    a list of addresses from the message header like this:
</p>
<ol>
    <li>
        it looks for addresses in any
        <span class="file">Delivered-To:</span> header fields.
    </li>
    <li>
        if no addresses have been found, it looks for addresses in any
        <span class="file">Envelope-To:</span> header fields.
    </li>
    <li>
        if no addresses have been found, it looks for addresses in any
        <span class="file">X-Envelope-To:</span> header fields.
    </li>
    <li>
        if no addresses have been found, it looks for addresses in any
        <span class="file">Apparently-To:</span> header fields.
    </li>
    <li>
        if no addresses have been found, it looks for addresses in any
        <span class="file">Resent-to:</span>
        or
        <span class="file">Resent-cc:</span>
        header fields (or
        <span class="file">Resent-bcc:</span>,
        which shouldn't be present).
    </li>
    <li>
        if no addresses have been found, it looks for addresses in any
        <span class="file">To:</span>
        or
        <span class="file">cc:</span>
        header fields (or
        <span class="file">bcc:</span>,
        which shouldn't be present).
    </li>
</ol>
<p>
    The MultiGuesser destination takes one required parameter:
</p>
<ul>
    <li>
        default
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; see
        <a href="#destination-multisorter">MultiSorter</a>
        for definition.
    </li>
</ul>
<p>
    The MultiGuesser destination also takes one optional parameter:
</p>
<ul>
    <li>
        locals
        (<a href="#parameter-tuple2tuples">tuple of 2-tuples</a>)
        &mdash; see
        <a href="#destination-multisorter">MultiSorter</a>
        for definition.
    </li>
</ul>
<p>
    Examples:
</p>
<p>
    If you have a simple POP3 account (i.e. it's not a multidrop mailbox)
    and you want to deliver your personal mail to your regular maildir,
    but deliver mail from a couple of mailing lists (identified by the list
    address appearing in the message header) to separate maildirs,
    you could use a MultiGuesser configuration like this:
</p>
<pre class="example">
[destination]
type = MultiGuesser
default = ~/Maildir/
locals = (
    ("list-address-1@list-domain-1", "~/Mail/mailing-lists/list-1/"),
    ("list-address-2@list-domain-2", "~/Mail/mailing-lists/list-2/"),
    )
</pre>
<p>
    See <a href="#destination-multisorter">MultiSorter</a>
    above for other examples of getmail rc usage; the only difference is the
    <span class="file">type</span>
    parameter specifying the
    <span class="file">MultiGuesser</span>
    destination.
</p>

<h4 id="destination-mdaqmaillocal">MDA_qmaillocal</h4>
<p>
    MDA_qmaillocal delivers messages by running the
    <span class="file">qmail-local</span>
    program as an external MDA.
    <span class="file">qmail-local</span>
    uses
    <span class="file">.qmail</span>
    files to tell it what to do with messages.  If you're not already familiar
    with qmail, you don't need to use this destination class.
</p>
<p>
    The MDA_qmaillocal destination takes several optional parameters:
</p>
<ul>
    <li>
        qmaillocal
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; path to the
        <span class="file">qmail-local</span>
        program. The default value is
        <span class="file">/var/qmail/bin/qmail-local</span>.
    </li>
    <li>
        user
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; supplied to
        <span class="file">qmail-local</span>,
        and also tells getmail to change the current effective UID to that of
        the named user before running
        <span class="file">qmail-local</span>.
        Note that this typically requires root privileges. The default value is
        the account name of the current effective UID.
    </li>
    <li>
        group
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; if supplied, getmail will change the effective GID to that of
        the named group before running
        <span class="file">qmail-local</span>.
        Note that this typically requires root privileges.
    </li>
    <li>
        homedir
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; supplied to
        <span class="file">qmail-local</span>.
        The default value is the home directory of the account with the current
        effective UID.
    </li>
    <li>
        localdomain
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; supplied to
        <span class="file">qmail-local</span>
        as its
        <span class="file">domain</span>
        argument.  The default value is the fully-qualified domain name of the
        local host.
    </li>
    <li>
        defaultdelivery
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; supplied to
        <span class="file">qmail-local</span>
        as its
        <span class="file">defaultdelivery</span>
        argument.  The default value is
        <span class="file">./Maildir/</span>.
    </li>
    <li>
        conf-break
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; supplied to
        <span class="file">qmail-local</span>
        as its
        <span class="file">dash</span>
        argument.  The default value is
        <span class="file">-</span>.
    </li>
    <li>
        localpart_translate
        (<a href="#parameter-tuplestrings">2-tuple of quoted strings</a>)
        &mdash; if supplied, the recipient address of the message (which is used
        to construct the
        <span class="file">local</span>
        argument (among others) to
        <span class="file">qmail-local</span>)
        will have any leading instance of the first string replaced with the
        second string.  This can be used to remap recipient addresses, trim
        extraneous prefixes (such as the qmail virtualdomain
        <span class="file">prepend</span>
        value), or perform other tasks. The default value is
        <span class="file">('', '')</span>
        (i.e., no translation).
    </li>
    <li>
        strip_delivered_to
        (<a href="#parameter-boolean">boolean</a>)
        &mdash; if set,
        <span class="file">Delivered-To:</span>
        header fields will be removed from the message before handing it to
        <span class="file">qmail-local</span>.
        This may be necessary to prevent qmail-local falsely detecting a looping
        message if (for instance) the system retrieving messages otherwise
        believes it has the same domain name as the retrieval server.
        <span class="warning">
            Inappropriate use of this option may cause message loops.
        </span>
        The default value is
        <span class="file">False</span>.
    </li>
    <li>
        allow_root_commands
        (<a href="#parameter-boolean">boolean</a>)
        &mdash; if set, getmail will run
        <span class="file">qmail-local</span>
        even if it is currently running with root privileges.  The default is
        false, which causes getmail to raise an exception if it is asked to run
        an external command as root.
        <span class="warning">
            Note that setting this option has serious security implications.
            Don't use it if you don't know what you're doing.
            I strongly recommend against running external processes as root.
        </span>
    </li>
</ul>
<p>
    A basic invocation of qmail-local might look like this:
</p>
<pre class="example">
[destination]
type = MDA_qmaillocal
user = joyce
</pre>
<p>
    Something more complex might look like this:
</p>
<pre class="example">
[destination]
type = MDA_qmaillocal
user = joyce
# The mail domain isn't the normal FQDN of the server running getmail
localdomain = host.example.net
# Trim the server's virtualdomain prepend value from message recipient before
# sending it to qmail-local
localpart_translate = ('mailhostaccount-', '')
</pre>

<h3 id="conf-options">Creating the <span class="file">[options]</span> section</h3>
<p>
    The optional
    <span class="file">options</span>
    section of the rc file can be used to alter getmail's default behaviour.
    The parameters supported in this section are as follows:
</p>
<ul>
    <li>
        verbose
        (<a href="#parameter-integer">integer</a>)
        &mdash; controls getmail's verbosity.  If set to 2, getmail prints
        messages about each of its actions.  If set to 1, it prints messages
        about retrieving and deleting messages (only).  If set to 0, getmail
        will only print warnings and errors. Default: 1.
    </li>
    <li>
        read_all
        (<a href="#parameter-boolean">boolean</a>)
        &mdash; if set, getmail retrieves all available messages.  If unset,
        getmail only retrieves messages it has not seen before.  Default: True.
    </li>
    <li>
        <a name="use_netrc">use_netrc</a>
        (<a href="#parameter-boolean">boolean</a>)
        &mdash; if set, getmail will read a <span class="file">.netrc</span>
        or <span class="file">.authinfo</span> file to set the
        <span class="file">username</span> and/or
        <span class="file">password</span> parameter for matching
        retrievers.
        A retriever matches if its <span class="file">server</span> parameter
        matches a <span class="file">machine</span> entry in the netrc file.
        The location of the .netrc file to read can be set with
        the <a href="#netrc_file">netrc_file</a> option.  Default: False.
    </li>
    <li>
        <a name="netrc_file">netrc_file</a>
        (<a href="#parameter-boolean">string</a>)
        &mdash; sets the file that <a href="#use_netrc">use_netrc</a> reads.
        Has no effect unless <a href="#use_netrc">use_netrc</a> is True.
        Default: unset, which means <a href="#use_netrc">use_netrc</a> will
        read the default netrc file for your system,
        typically <span class="file">~/.netrc</span>, unless
        <span class="file">NETRC</span> or <span class="file">CURLOPT_NETRC_FILE</span>
        is defined.
    </li>
    <li>
        delete
        (<a href="#parameter-boolean">boolean</a>)
        &mdash; if set, getmail will delete messages after retrieving and
        successfully delivering them.  If unset, getmail will leave messages on
        the server after retrieving them.  Default: False.
    </li>
    <li>
        delete_after
        (<a href="#parameter-integer">integer</a>)
        &mdash; if set, getmail will delete messages this number of days after
        first seeing them, if they have been retrieved and delivered.  This, in
        effect, leaves messages on the server for a configurable number of days
        after retrieving them. Note that the delete parameter has higher
        priority; if both are set, the messages will be deleted immediately.
        Default: 0, which means not to enable this feature.
    </li>
    <li>
        to_oldmail_on_each_mail
        (<a href="#parameter-boolean">boolean</a>)
        &mdash; if set, getmail will update the oldmail file on each mail.
        This is slower, but avoids re-downloading mails,
        if something went wrong, like the server dying.
        <span class="file">--to-oldmail-on-each-mail</span> in the command line.
        Default: False.
    </li>
    <li>
        only_oldmail_file
        (<a href="#parameter-boolean">boolean</a>)
        &mdash; if set, getmail will not retrieve mails but only update the oldmail file with mails currently on the server.
        These mails will not be retrieved as long as the oldmail file exists.
        <span class="file">--only-oldmail-file</span> in the command line.
        Default: False.
    </li>
    <li>
        skip_imap_fetch_size
        (<a href="#parameter-boolean">boolean</a>)
        &mdash; will skip fetching RFC822.SIZE.
        This speeds up mail checks, particularly with a davmail proxies.
        <pre>skip_imap_fetch_size</pre>
        is only valid for IMAP and not valid with any of
        <pre>max_message_size</pre>,
        <pre>max_bytes_per_session</pre>,
        <pre>delete_bigger_than</pre>.
    </li>
    <li>
        mark_read
        (<a href="#parameter-boolean">boolean</a>)
        &mdash; if set, getmail will mark messages as read after retrieving.
        It sets, the IMAP <span class="file">(\Seen)</span> flag on the server.
        The command parameter <span class="file">-m/--mark-read</span> can be used to override the option.
        <span class="file">-m/--mark-read</span> is related to <span class="file">--searchset/-s</span>,
        a synonym to <span class="file">-ds,</span> = <span class="file">-ds,Seen</span>.
        Default: False.
    </li>
    <li>
        delete_bigger_than
        (<a href="#parameter-integer">integer</a>)
        &mdash; if set, getmail will delete messages larger than this number of
        bytes after retrieving them, even if the
        <span class="file">delete</span>
        and <span class="file">delete_after</span>
        options are disabled.  The purpose of this feature is to allow deleting
        only large messages, to help keep a mailbox under quota.
        Has no effect if <span class="file">delete</span> is set, as that will
        unconditionally remove messages.  If
        <span class="file">delete_after</span> is also set, the message will be
        deleted immediately after retrieval if it is over this size, and
        otherwise will be deleted according to the setting of
        <span class="file">delete_after</span>.
        Default: 0, which means not to enable this feature.
    </li>
    <li>
        max_bytes_per_session
        (<a href="#parameter-integer">integer</a>)
        &mdash; if set, getmail will retrieve messages totalling up to this
        number of bytes before closing the session with the server.  This can
        be useful if you do not want large messages causing large bursts of
        network traffic.  Default: 0, which means not to enable this feature.
        Note that message sizes reported by the server are used, and therefore
        may vary slightly from the actual size on disk after message retrieval.
    </li>
    <li>
        max_message_size
        (<a href="#parameter-integer">integer</a>)
        &mdash; if set, getmail will not retrieve messages larger than this
        number of bytes.  Default: 0, which means not to enable this feature.
    </li>
    <li>
        max_messages_per_session
        (<a href="#parameter-integer">integer</a>)
        &mdash; if set, getmail will process a maximum of this number of
        messages before closing the session with the server.  This can be useful
        if your network or the server is particularly unreliable.  Default: 0,
        which means not to enable this feature.
    </li>
    <li>
        delivered_to
        (<a href="#parameter-boolean">boolean</a>)
        &mdash; if set, getmail adds a Delivered-To: header field to the
        message.  If unset, it will not do so.  Default: True.  Note that this
        field will contain the envelope recipient of the message if the
        retriever in use is a multidrop retriever; otherwise it will contain the
        string &quot;unknown&quot;.
    </li>
    <li>
        received
        (<a href="#parameter-boolean">boolean</a>)
        &mdash; if set, getmail adds a Received: header field to the message.
        If unset, it will not do so.  Default: True.
    </li>
    <li>
        message_log
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; if set, getmail will record a log of its actions to the named
        file.  The value will be expanded for leading
        <span class="file">~</span>
        or
        <span class="file">~<span class="meta">USER</span></span>
        and environment variables in the form
        <span class="file">$<span class="meta">VARNAME</span></span>
        or
        <span class="file">${<span class="meta">VARNAME</span>}</span>.
        Default: '' (the empty string), which means not to enable this feature.
    </li>
    <li>
        message_log_syslog
        (<a href="#parameter-boolean">boolean</a>)
        &mdash; if set, getmail will record a log of its actions using the
        system logger.
        <span class="warning">
            Note that syslog is inherently unreliable and can lose log messages.
        </span>
        Default: False.
    </li>
    <li>
        message_log_verbose
        (<a href="#parameter-boolean">boolean</a>)
        &mdash; if set, getmail will log to the message log file (or syslog)
        information about messages not retrieved and the reason for not
        retrieving them, as well as starting and ending information lines.
        By default, it will log only about messages actually retrieved, and
        about error conditions.
        <span class="warning">
            Note that this has no effect if neither message_log nor
            message_log_syslog is in use.
        </span>
        Default: False.
    </li>
</ul>
<p>
    Most users will want to either enable the
    <span class="file">delete</span>
    option (to delete mail after retrieving it), or disable the
    <span class="file">read_all</span>
    option (to only retrieve previously-unread mail).
</p>
<p>
    The verbose, read_all, delete, and mark_read parameters can be overridden
    at run time with
    <a href="#running">commandline options</a>.
</p>


<h4 id="options-example"><span class="file">[options]</span> example</h4>
<p>
    To configure getmail to operate quietly, to retrieve only new mail,
    to delete messages after retrieving them, and to log its actions to
    a file, you could provide the following in your getmail rc file(s):
</p>
<pre class="example">
[options]
verbose = 0
read_all = false
delete = true
message_log = ~/.getmail/log
</pre>


<h3 id="conf-filters">Creating the <span class="file">[filter-<span class="meta">something</span>]</span> sections</h3>
<p>
    The
    filter-<span class="meta">something</span>
    section(s) of the rc file (which are not required) tell getmail to process
    messages in some way after retrieving them, but before delivering them to
    your destinations.  Filters can tell getmail to drop a message (i.e. not
    deliver it at all), add information to the message header (i.e. for a spam-
    classification system or similar), or modify message content (like an
    antivirus system stripping suspected MIME parts from messages).
</p>
<p>
    You can specify any number of filters; provide a separate rc file section
    for each, naming each of them
    filter-<span class="meta">something</span>.
    They will be run in collated order, so it's likely simplest to name them
    like this:
</p>
<ul>
    <li class="file">[filter-1]</li>
    <li class="file">[filter-2]</li>
    <li class="file">[filter-3]</li>
</ul>
<p>
    Begin with the section header line as follows:
</p>
<pre class="example">
[filter-<span class="meta">something</span>]
</pre>
<p>
    Then, include a
    <span class="file">type</span>
    <a href="#parameter-string">string parameter</a>
    to tell getmail what type of filter.  The possible values are:
</p>
<ul>
    <li>
        <a href="#conf-filters-classifier">Filter_classifier</a>
        &mdash; run the message through an external program, and insert the
        output of the program into
        <span class="file">X-getmail-filter-classifier:</span>
        header fields in the message.  Messages can be dropped by having the
        filter return specific exit codes.
    </li>
    <li>
        <a href="#conf-filters-external">Filter_external</a>
        &mdash; supply the message to an external program, which can then modify
        the message in any fashion.  The program must print the modified message
        to stdout. getmail reads the modified message from the program in this
        fashion before proceeding to the next filter or destination.  Messages
        can be dropped by having the filter return specific exit codes.
    </li>
    <li>
        <a href="#conf-filters-tmda">Filter_TMDA</a>
        &mdash; run the message through the
        <span class="file">tmda-filter</span>
        program for use with the
        <a href="http://www.tmda.net/">Tagged Message Delivery Agent (TMDA)</a>
        package.  If
        <span class="file">tmda-filter</span>
        returns 0, the message will be passed to the next filter (or
        destination).  If it returns 99, the message will be dropped,
        and TMDA is responsible for sending a challenge message, queuing
        the original, etc., as with normal TMDA operation in a
        <span class="file">.qmail</span>,
        <span class="file">.courier</span>,
        or
        <span class="file">.forward</span>
        file.
    </li>
</ul>
<p>
    By default, if a filter writes anything to
    <span class="file">stderr</span>,
    getmail will consider the delivery to have encountered an error.  getmail
    will leave the message on the server and proceed to the next message.
    You must configure any filter you use not to emit messages to stderr except
    on errors &mdash; please see the documentation for your filter program
    for details.
    Optionally, if you know your filter can emit warnings on stderr under
    non-error conditions, you can set the
    <span class="file">ignore_stderr</span> option.
</p>

<h4 id="conf-filters-classifier">Filter_classifier</h4>
<p>
    Filter_classifier runs the message through an external program, placing the
    output of that program into
    <span class="file">X-getmail-filter-classifier:</span>
    header fields.  It can also cause messages to be dropped by exiting with
    a return code listed in the exitcodes_drop parameter.
</p>
<p>
    Filter_classifier has one required parameter:
</p>
<ul>
    <li>
        path
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; the path to the command to run. This value will be expanded for
        leading
        <span class="file">~</span>
        or
        <span class="file">~<span class="meta">USER</span></span>
        and environment variables in the form
        <span class="file">$<span class="meta">VARNAME</span></span>
        or
        <span class="file">${<span class="meta">VARNAME</span>}</span>.
    </li>
</ul>
<p>
    In addition, Filter_classifier takes the following optional parameters:
</p>
<ul>
    <li>
        arguments
        (<a href="#parameter-tuplestrings">tuple of quoted strings</a>)
        &mdash; arguments to be supplied to the command.  The following
        substrings will be substituted with the equivalent values from the
        message:
        <ul>
            <li>
                <span class="sample">%(sender)</span>
                &mdash; envelope return-path address
            </li>
        </ul>
        If the message is retrieved with a multidrop retriever class, the
        message recipient (and parts of it) are also available with the
        following replacement substrings:
        <ul>
            <li>
                <span class="sample">%(recipient)</span>
                &mdash; envelope recipient address
            </li>
            <li>
                <span class="sample">%(local)</span>
                &mdash; local-part of the envelope recipient address
            </li>
            <li>
                <span class="sample">%(domain)</span>
                &mdash; domain-part of the envelope recipient address
            </li>
        </ul>
        The default value of the
        <span class="file">arguments</span>
        parameter is
        <span class="sample">()</span>,
        so no arguments are supplied to the command.    </li>
    <li>
        unixfrom
        (<a href="#parameter-boolean">boolean</a>)
        &mdash; whether to include a Unix-style mbox
        <span class="file">From_</span>
        line at the beginning of the message supplied to the command.  Default:
        False.
    </li>
    <li>
        user
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; if supplied, getmail will change the effective UID to that of
        the named user. Note that this typically requires root privileges.
    </li>
    <li>
        group
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; if supplied, getmail will change the effective GID to that of
        the named group. Note that this typically requires root privileges.
    </li>
    <li>
        allow_root_commands
        (<a href="#parameter-boolean">boolean</a>)
        &mdash; if set, getmail will run external commands even if it is
        currently running with root privileges.  The default is false, which
        causes getmail to raise an exception if it is asked to run an external
        command as root.
        <span class="warning">
            Note that setting this option has serious security implications.
            Don't use it if you don't know what you're doing.
            I strongly recommend against running external processes as root.
        </span>
    </li>
    <li>
        ignore_stderr
        (<a href="#parameter-boolean">boolean</a>)
        &mdash; if set, getmail will not consider it an error if the filter
        writes to stderr.  The default is false, which causes getmail to
        consider the delivery failed and leave the message on the server,
        proceeding to the next message.
        This prevents loss of mail if the filter writes to stderr but fails to
        exit nonzero when it encounters an error.
        <span class="warning">
            Note that setting this option has serious implications; some
            poorly-written programs commonly used as mail filters can
            can mangle or drop mail but still exit 0, their only clue to failure
            being warnings emitted on stderr.  Only change this setting if
            you are confident your filter always exits nonzero on error.
        </span>
    </li>
    <li>
        exitcodes_drop
        (<a href="#parameter-tupleintegers">tuple of integers</a>)
        &mdash; if the filter returns an exit code in this list, the message
        will be dropped.  The default is
        <span class="sample">(99, 100)</span>.
    </li>
    <li>
        exitcodes_keep
        (<a href="#parameter-tupleintegers">tuple of integers</a>)
        &mdash; if the filter returns an exit code other than those in
        <span class="file">exitcodes_drop</span>
        and
        <span class="file">exitcodes_keep</span>,
        getmail assumes the filter encountered an error.  getmail will then not
        proceed, so that the message is not lost. The default is
        <span class="sample">(0, )</span>.
    </li>
</ul>


<h4 id="conf-filters-external">Filter_external</h4>
<p>
    Filter_external runs the message through an external program, and replaces
    the message with the output of that program, allowing the filter to make
    arbitrary changes to messages.  It can also cause messages to be dropped by
    exiting with a return code listed in the exitcodes_drop parameter.
</p>
<p>
    Filter_external has one required parameter:
</p>
<ul>
    <li>
        path
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; see
        <a href="#conf-filters-classifier">Filter_classifier</a>
        for definition.
    </li>
</ul>
<p>
    In addition, Filter_external takes the following optional parameters:
</p>
<ul>
    <li>
        arguments
        (<a href="#parameter-tuplestrings">tuple of quoted strings</a>)
        &mdash; see
        <a href="#conf-filters-classifier">Filter_classifier</a>
        for definition.
    </li>
    <li>
        unixfrom
        (<a href="#parameter-boolean">boolean</a>)
        &mdash; see
        <a href="#conf-filters-classifier">Filter_classifier</a>
        for definition.
    </li>
    <li>
        user
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; see
        <a href="#conf-filters-classifier">Filter_classifier</a>
        for definition.
    </li>
    <li>
        group
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; see
        <a href="#conf-filters-classifier">Filter_classifier</a>
        for definition.
    </li>
    <li>
        allow_root_commands
        (<a href="#parameter-boolean">boolean</a>)
        &mdash; see
        <a href="#conf-filters-classifier">Filter_classifier</a>
        for definition.
    </li>
    <li>
        ignore_header_shrinkage
        (<a href="#parameter-boolean">boolean</a>)
        &mdash; by default, getmail will warn if a filtered message's header
        contains fewer fields than the source message had, to warn you if your
        filter is unexpectedly deleting information from messages it handles.
        If you know your filter can legitimately produce a message with a
        shorter header (such as if it encapsulates the original message),
        set this option to disable the warning.  <b>Do not simply set this
        if you see the warning; you must understand whether your filter is
        operating correctly or not before you use this</b>.
    </li>
    <li>
        ignore_stderr
        (<a href="#parameter-boolean">boolean</a>)
        &mdash; see
        <a href="#conf-filters-classifier">Filter_classifier</a>
        for definition.
    </li>
    <li>
        exitcodes_drop
        (<a href="#parameter-tupleintegers">tuple of integers</a>)
        &mdash; see
        <a href="#conf-filters-classifier">Filter_classifier</a>
        for definition.
    </li>
    <li>
        exitcodes_keep
        (<a href="#parameter-tupleintegers">tuple of integers</a>)
        &mdash; see
        <a href="#conf-filters-classifier">Filter_classifier</a>
        for definition.
    </li>
</ul>

<h4 id="conf-filters-tmda">Filter_TMDA</h4>
<p>
    Filter_external runs the message through the external program
    <span class="file">tmda-filter</span>, allowing the use of the
    <a href="http://www.tmda.net/">Tagged Message Delivery Agent (TMDA)</a>
    package.  As TMDA relies on the message envelope, this filter requires
    the use of a multidrop retriever class to function.  It sets the
    three environment variables
    <span class="file">SENDER</span>,
    <span class="file">RECIPIENT</span>,
    and
    <span class="file">EXT</span>
    prior to running
    <span class="file">tmda-filter</span>.
</p>
<p class="warning">
    I've tested this filter, and it Works For Me&trade;, but I'm not a regular
    TMDA user.  I would appreciate any feedback about its use from TMDA users.
</p>
<p>
    Filter_TMDA has no required parameters.  It has the following optional
    parameters:
</p>
<ul>
    <li>
        path
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; the path to the
        <span class="file">tmda-filter</span>
        binary.  Default:
        <span class="file">/usr/local/bin/tmda-filter</span>.
        This value will be expanded for leading
        <span class="file">~</span>
        or
        <span class="file">~<span class="meta">USER</span></span>
        and environment variables in the form
        <span class="file">$<span class="meta">VARNAME</span></span>
        or
        <span class="file">${<span class="meta">VARNAME</span>}</span>.
    </li>
    <li>
        user
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; see
        <a href="#conf-filters-classifier">Filter_classifier</a>
        for definition.
    </li>
    <li>
        group
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; see
        <a href="#conf-filters-classifier">Filter_classifier</a>
        for definition.
    </li>
    <li>
        allow_root_commands
        (<a href="#parameter-boolean">boolean</a>)
        &mdash; see
        <a href="#conf-filters-classifier">Filter_classifier</a>
        for definition.
    </li>
    <li>
        ignore_stderr
        (<a href="#parameter-boolean">boolean</a>)
        &mdash; see
        <a href="#conf-filters-classifier">Filter_classifier</a>
        for definition.
    </li>
    <li>
        conf-break
        (<a href="#parameter-string">string</a>)
        &mdash; this value will be used to split the local-part of the envelope
        recipient address to determine the value of the
        <span class="file">EXT</span>
        environment variable.  For example, if the envelope sender address is
        <span class="file">sender-something@host.example.org</span>,
        and the envelope recipient address is
        <span class="file">user-ext-ext2@host.example.net</span>,
        and
        <span class="file">conf-break</span>
        is set to
        <span class="file">-</span>,
        getmail will set the environment variables
        <span class="file">SENDER</span>
        to
        &quot;<span class="file">sender-something@host.example.org</span>&quot;,
        <span class="file">RECIPIENT</span>
        to
        &quot;<span class="file">user-ext-ext2@host.example.net</span>&quot;,
        and
        <span class="file">EXT</span>
        to
        &quot;<span class="file">ext-ext2</span>&quot;.
        Default: &quot;-&quot;.
    </li>
</ul>

<h4 id="filter-examples"><span class="file">[filter-<span class="meta">something</span>]</span> examples</h4>
<p>
    You might filter spam messages in your MUA based on information added to the
    message header by a spam-classification program.  You could have that
    information added to the message header with a filter configuration like
    this:
</p>
<pre class="example">
[filter-3]
type = Filter_classifier
path = /path/to/my-classifier
arguments = ('--message-from-stdin', '--report-to-stdout')
user = nobody
</pre>

<p>
    You might use a program to prevent users from accidentally destroying their
    data by stripping suspected attachments from messages.  You could have that
    information added to the message header with a filter configuration like
    this:
</p>
<pre class="example">
[filter-3]
type = Filter_external
path = /path/to/my-mime-filter
arguments = ('--message-from-stdin', '--remove-all-but-attachment-types=text/plain,text/rfc822')
user = nobody
</pre>

<p>
    You might use TMDA to challenge messages from unknown senders.  If the
    default parameters are fine for your configuration, this is as simple as:
</p>
<pre class="example">
[filter-3]
type = Filter_TMDA
</pre>

<h3 id="examplerc">getmail rc file examples</h3>
<p>
    Several examples of different getmail rc configuration are available
    in the included file
    <a href="getmailrc-examples">getmailrc-examples</a>.
</p>

<!-- ********************************************************************** -->
<h1 id="running">Running getmail</h1>
<p>
    To use getmail, simply run the script
    <span class="file">getmail</span>,
    which is typically installed in
    <span class="file">/usr/local/bin/</span>
    by default.  getmail will read the default getmail rc file
    (<span class="file">getmailrc</span>)
    from the default configuration/data directory
    (<span class="file">~/.config/getmail/</span> or <span class="file">~/.getmail/</span>)
    and begin operating.
</p>
<p>
    You can modify this behaviour by supplying commandline options to getmail.
</p>

<!-- ********************************************************************** -->
<h2 id="running-commandline-options">Commandline options</h2>
<p>
    getmail understands the following options:
</p>
<ul>
    <li>--version &mdash; show getmail's version number and exit</li>
    <li>--help or -h &mdash; show a brief usage summary and exit</li>
    <li>
        --getmaildir=<span class="meta">DIR</span>
        or
        -g<span class="meta">DIR</span>
        &mdash; use
        <span class="meta">DIR</span>
        for configuration and data files
    </li>
    <li>
        --rcfile=<span class="meta">FILE</span>
        or
        -r<span class="meta">FILE</span>
        &mdash; read getmail rc file
        <span class="meta">FILE</span>
        instead of the default. The file path is assumed to be relative to the
        <span class="meta">getmaildir</span>
        directory unless this value starts with a slash
        (<span class="file">/</span>).
        This option can be given multiple times to have getmail retrieve mail
        from multiple accounts.
        This option can also be omitted. Then all files in
        <span class="meta">getmaildir</span>
        are used, apart from
        <span class="file">oldmail-*, *.json, .*</span>
    </li>
    <li>
        --only-account=<span class="meta">email@address</span>
        or
        -o<span class="meta">email@address</span>
        choses the rc file based on the username/email.
    </li>
    <li>
        --searchset=,<span class="meta">flag</span> or
        --searchset=<span class="meta">search string</span>
        or -s,<span class="meta">flag</span>.
        No flag -s, is -s,Seen.
        See imap_search and imap_on_delete.
    </li>
    <li>
        -m/--mark-read is like <span class="file">-ds,</span>.
        It overrides
        <span class="file">mark_read</span>
        in
        <span class="file">[options]</span>
    </li>
    <li>
        --dump &mdash; read rc files, dump configuration, and exit (debugging)
    </li>
    <li>--trace &mdash; print extended debugging information</li>
</ul>
<p>
    If you are using a single getmailrc file with an IMAP server that understands
    the IDLE extension from <a href="http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc2177.txt">RFC 2177</a>,
    you can use the --idle=<span class="meta">MAILBOX</span> option to specify
    that getmail should wait on the server to notify getmail of new mail in the
    specified mailbox after getmail is finished retrieving mail.
</p>
<p>
    In addition, the following commandline options can be used to override any
    values specified in the
    <span class="file">[options]</span>
    section of the getmail rc files:
</p>
<ul>
    <li>
        --verbose or -v &mdash; operate more verbosely.  Can be given multiple
        times.
    </li>
    <li>--quiet or -q &mdash; print only warnings or errors while running</li>
    <li>--delete or -d &mdash; delete messages after retrieving</li>
    <li>--dont-delete or -l &mdash; do not delete messages after retrieving</li>
    <li>--all or -a &mdash; retrieve all messages</li>
    <li>--new or -n &mdash; retrieve only new (unseen) messages</li>
</ul>
<p>
    For instance, if you want to retrieve mail from two different mail accounts,
    create a getmail rc file for each of them (named, say,
    <span class="file">getmailrc-account1</span>
    and
    <span class="file">getmailrc-account2</span>)
    and put them in directory
    <span class="file">~/.config/getmail/</span>.
    Then run getmail as follows:
</p>
<pre class="example">
$ getmail --rcfile getmailrc-account1 --rcfile getmailrc-account2
</pre>
<p>
    If those files were located in a directory other than the default, and you
    wanted to use that directory for storing the data files as well, you could
    run getmail as follows:
</p>
<pre class="example">
$ getmail --getmaildir /path/to/otherdir --rcfile getmailrc-account1 --rcfile getmailrc-account2
</pre>

<!-- ********************************************************************** -->
<h2 id="running-mda">Using getmail as an MDA</h2>
<p>
    getmail includes helper scripts which allow you to use it to deliver mail
    from other programs to maildirs or mboxrd files.
</p>

<h3 id="running-mda-maildir">Using the <span class="file">getmail_maildir</span> MDA</h3>
<p>
    The
    <span class="file">getmail_maildir</span>
    script can be used as an MDA from other programs to deliver mail to
    maildirs.  It reads the mail message from stdin, and delivers it to a
    maildir path provided as an argument on the commandline.  This path
    must (after expansion by the shell, if applicable) start with a dot
    or slash and end with a slash.
</p>
<p>
    <span class="file">getmail_maildir</span>
    uses the contents of the
    <span class="file">SENDER</span>
    environment variable to construct a
    <span class="file">Return-Path:</span>
    header field and the contents of the
    <span class="file">RECIPIENT</span>
    environment variable to construct a
    <span class="file">Delivered-To:</span>
    header field at the top of the message.
</p>
<p>
    <span class="file">getmail_maildir</span>
    also accepts the options
    <span class="file">--verbose</span>
    or
    <span class="file">-v</span>
    which tell it to print a status message on success.  The default is to
    operate silently unless an error occurs.
</p>

<h4 id="running-mda-maildir-example">Example</h4>
<p>
    You could deliver a message to a maildir named
    <span class="file">Maildir</span>
    located in your home directory by running the following command
    with the message on stdin:
</p>
<pre class="example">
$ getmail_maildir $HOME/Maildir/
</pre>

<h3 id="running-mda-mbox">Using the <span class="file">getmail_mbox</span> MDA</h3>
<p>
    The
    <span class="file">getmail_mbox</span>
    script can be used as an MDA from other programs to deliver mail to
    mboxrd-format mbox files.  It reads the mail message from stdin, and
    delivers it to an mbox path provided as an argument on the commandline.
    This path must (after expansion by the shell, if applicable) start with a
    dot or slash and not end with a slash.
</p>
<p>
    <span class="file">getmail_maildir</span>
    uses the contents of the
    <span class="file">SENDER</span>
    environment variable to construct a
    <span class="file">Return-Path:</span>
    header field and mbox
    <span class="file">From_</span>
    line and the contents of the
    <span class="file">RECIPIENT</span>
    environment variable to construct a
    <span class="file">Delivered-To:</span>
    header field at the top of the message.
</p>
<p>
    <span class="file">getmail_mbox</span>
    also accepts the options
    <span class="file">--verbose</span>
    or
    <span class="file">-v</span>
    which tell it to print a status message on success.  The default is to
    operate silently unless an error occurs.
</p>

<h4 id="running-mda-mbox-example">Example</h4>
<p>
    You could deliver a message to an mboxrd-format mbox file named
    <span class="file">inbox</span>
    located in a directory named
    <span class="file">mail</span>
    in your home directory by running the following command with the message on
    stdin:
</p>
<pre class="example">
$ getmail_mbox $HOME/mail/inbox
</pre>

<!-- ********************************************************************** -->
<h2 id="running-fetch">Using getmail_fetch to retrieve mail from scripts</h2>
<p>
    getmail includes the <span class="file">getmail_fetch</span>
    helper script, which allows you to retrieve mail from a POP3 server without
    the use of a configuration file.  It is primarily intended for use in
    automated or scripted environments, but can be used to retrieve mail normally.
</p>
<p>
    See the <span class="file">getmail_fetch</span> manual page for details
    on the use of <span class="file">getmail_fetch</span>.
</p>

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