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Update the mail chapter with information on MUAs. Discuss mail(1),

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fetchmail, mutt, pine, and procmail (for good measure).

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Submitted by:	Marc Silver <marcs@draenor.org> (original version)
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Tom Rhodes 2004-03-16 06:57:37 +00:00
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en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/mail/chapter.sgml
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@ -32,11 +32,12 @@
<para><quote>Electronic Mail</quote>, better known as email, is one of the
most widely used forms of communication today. This chapter provides
a basic introduction to running a mail server on FreeBSD.
However, it is not a complete reference and in fact many
important considerations are omitted. For more complete
coverage of the subject, the reader is referred to the many
excellent books listed in <xref linkend="bibliography">.</para>
a basic introduction to running a mail server on &os;, as well as an
introduction to sending and receiving email using &os;; however,
it is not a complete reference and in fact many important
considerations are omitted. For more complete coverage of the
subject, the reader is referred to the many excellent books listed
in <xref linkend="bibliography">.</para>
<para>After reading this chapter, you will know:</para>
@ -51,6 +52,11 @@
files are located in FreeBSD.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>An understanding of the difference between remote and
local mailboxes.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>How to block spammers from illegally using your mail server as a
relay.</para>
@ -80,6 +86,22 @@
<listitem>
<para>How to configure SMTP Authentication for added security.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>How to install and use a Mail User Agent, such as
<application>mutt</application> to send and receive email.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>How to download your mail from a remote <acronym>POP</acronym>
or <acronym>IMAP</acronym> server.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>How to automatically apply filters and rules to incoming
email.</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>Before reading this chapter, you should:</para>
@ -110,25 +132,25 @@
<para>There are five major parts involved in an email exchange. They
are: <link linkend="mail-mua">the user program</link>, <link
linkend="mail-mta">the server daemon</link>, <link
linkend="mail-dns">DNS</link>, <link linkend="mail-receive">a POP or
IMAP daemon</link>, and of course, <link linkend="mail-host">the
linkend="mail-dns">DNS</link>, <link linkend="mail-receive">a
remote or local mailbox</link>, and of course, <link linkend="mail-host">the
mailhost itself</link>.</para>
<sect2 id="mail-mua">
<title>The User Program</title>
<para>This includes command line programs such as
<application>mutt</application>, <application>pine</application>,
<application>elm</application>, and
<application>mail</application>, and GUI programs such as
<application>mutt</application>,
<application>pine</application>, <application>elm</application>,
and <command>mail</command>, and <acronym>GUI</acronym> programs such as
<application>balsa</application>,
<application>xfmail</application> to name a few, and something
more <quote>sophisticated</quote> like a WWW browser. These
programs simply pass off the email transactions to the local <link
linkend="mail-host"><quote>mailhost</quote></link>, either by
calling one of the <link linkend="mail-mta">server daemons</link>
available or delivering it over TCP.</para>
</sect2>
programs simply pass off the email transactions to the local
<link linkend="mail-host"><quote>mailhost</quote></link>, either
by calling one of the <link linkend="mail-mta">server
daemons</link> available, or delivering it over <acronym>TCP</acronym>.</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="mail-mta">
<title>Mailhost Server Daemon</title>
@ -157,10 +179,13 @@
the most widely used.</para>
<para>The server daemon usually has two functions&mdash;it looks
after receiving incoming mail and delivers outgoing mail. It does
not allow you to connect to it via POP or IMAP to read your mail.
You need an additional <link linkend="mail-receive">daemon</link>
for that.</para>
after receiving incoming mail and delivers outgoing mail. It is
not responsible for allowing you to collect mail using protocols
such as <acronym>POP</acronym> or <acronym>IMAP</acronym> to
read your email, nor does it allow connecting to local
<filename>mbox</filename> or Maildir mailboxes. You may require
an additional <link linkend="mail-receive">daemon</link> for
that.</para>
<para>Be aware that some older versions of
<application>sendmail</application> have some serious security
@ -194,29 +219,117 @@
</indexterm>
<para>Receiving mail for your domain is done by the mail host. It
will collect mail sent to you and store it for reading or pickup.
In order to pick the stored mail up, you will need to connect to
the mail host. This is done by either using POP or IMAP. If you
want to read mail directly on the mail host, then a POP or IMAP
server is not needed.</para>
will collect mail sent to you and store it for reading or pickup
in either <filename>mbox</filename> or Maildir format, depending
on your configuration. Mail can then be remotely accessed using
either <acronym>POP</acronym> or <acronym>IMAP</acronym>, or
alternatively by using a mail user agent that is locally
installed on the mail host itself which will directly
communicate with the mailbox. This means that should you only
wish to read mail locally, you are not required to install a
<acronym>POP</acronym> or <acronym>IMAP</acronym> server.</para>
<indexterm><primary>POP</primary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>IMAP</primary></indexterm>
<para>If you want to run a POP or IMAP server, there are two things
you need to do:</para>
<sect3 id="pop-and-imap">
<title>Accessing remote mailboxes using <acronym>POP</acronym> and <acronym>IMAP</acronym></title>
<procedure>
<step>
<para>Get a POP or IMAP daemon from the <ulink
url="../../../../ports/mail.html">ports collection</ulink> and install
it on your system.</para>
</step>
<indexterm><primary>POP</primary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>IMAP</primary></indexterm>
<para>In order to access mailboxes remotely, you are required to
have access to a <acronym>POP</acronym> or <acronym>IMAP</acronym>
server. These protocols allow users to connect to their mailboxes from
remote locations with ease. Though both
<acronym>POP</acronym> and <acronym>IMAP</acronym> allow users
to remotely access mailboxes, <acronym>IMAP</acronym> offers
many advantages, some of which are:</para>
<step>
<para>Modify <filename>/etc/inetd.conf</filename> to load the
POP or IMAP server.</para>
</step>
</procedure>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para><acronym>IMAP</acronym> can store messages on a remote
server as well as fetch them.<para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para><acronym>IMAP</acronym> supports concurrent updates.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para><acronym>IMAP</acronym> can be extremely useful over
low-speed links as it allows users to fetch the structure
of messages without downloading them; it can also
perform tasks such as searching on the server in
order to minimize data transfer between clients and
servers.</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>In order to install a <acronym>POP</acronym> or
<acronym>IMAP</acronym> server, the following steps should be
performed:</para>
<procedure>
<step>
<para>Choose an <acronym>IMAP</acronym> or
<acronym>POP</acronym> server that best suits your needs.
The following <acronym>POP</acronym> and
<acronym>IMAP</acronym> servers are well known and serve
as some good examples:</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para><application>qpopper</application>;</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para><application>teapop</application>;</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para><application>imap-uw</application>;</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para><application>courier-imap</application>;</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</step>
<step>
<para>Install the <acronym>POP</acronym> or
<acronym>IMAP</acronym> daemon of your choosing from the
ports
collection.</para>
</step>
<step>
<para>Where required, modify <filename>/etc/inetd.conf</filename>
to load the <acronym>POP</acronym> or
<acronym>IMAP</acronym> server.</para>
</step>
</procedure>
<warning>
<para>It should be noted that both <acronym>POP</acronym> and
<acronym>IMAP</acronym> transmit information, including
username and password credentials in clear-text. This means
that if you wish to secure the transmission of information
across these protocols, you should consider tunneling
sessions over &man.ssh.1;. See the <ulink
url="../handbook/openssh.html#AEN13610">&os;
handbook</ulink> for more information.</para>
</warning>
</sect3>
<sect3 id="local">
<title>Accessing local mailboxes</title>
<para>Mailboxes may be accessed locally by directly utilizing
<acronym>MUA</acronym>'s on the server on which the mailbox
resides. This can be done using applications such as
<application>mutt</application> or <command>mail</command>.
</para>
</sect3>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="mail-host">
@ -247,8 +360,8 @@
<para>&man.sendmail.8; is the default Mail Transfer Agent (MTA) in
FreeBSD. <application>sendmail</application>'s job is to accept
mail from Mail User Agents (MUA) and deliver it to the
appropriate mailer as defined by its configuration file.
mail from Mail User Agents (<acronym>MUA</acronym>) and deliver it
to the appropriate mailer as defined by its configuration file.
<application>sendmail</application> can also accept network
connections and deliver mail to local mailboxes or deliver it to
another program.</para>
@ -914,14 +1027,14 @@ the DNS for <quote>customer.com</quote>.</programlisting>
<para>In default FreeBSD installations,
<application>sendmail</application> is configured to only
send mail from the host it is running on. For example, if
a POP3 server is installed, then users will be able to
check mail from school, work, or other remote locations
but they still will not be able to send outgoing emails
from outside locations. Typically, a few moments after
the attempt, an email will be sent from
<application>MAILER-DAEMON</application> with a
<errorname>5.7 Relaying Denied</errorname> error
message.</para>
a <acronym>POP</acronym> server is available, then users
will be able to check mail from school, work, or other
remote locations but they still will not be able to send
outgoing emails from outside locations. Typically, a few
moments after the attempt, an email will be sent from
<application>MAILER-DAEMON</application> with a
<errorname>5.7 Relaying Denied</errorname> error
message.</para>
<para>There are several ways to get around this. The most
straightforward solution is to put your ISP's address in
@ -1380,13 +1493,14 @@ hostname=_HOSTNAME_</programlisting>
role="fqdn">relay.example.net</hostid> as a mail relay.</para>
<para>In order to retrieve mail from your mailbox, you must
install a retrieval agent. The <application>fetchmail</application> utility
is a good choice as it supports many different protocols.
This program is available as a package or from the ports
collection (<filename role="package">mail/fetchmail</filename>).
Usually, your ISP will provide POP3. If you are using user PPP,
you can automatically fetch your mail when an Internet
connection is established with the following entry in
install a retrieval agent. The
<application>fetchmail</application> utility is a good choice as
it supports many different protocols. This program is available
as a package or from the ports collection (<filename
role="package">mail/fetchmail</filename>). Usually, your <acronym>ISP</acronym> will
provide <acronym>POP</acronym>. If you are using user <acronym>PPP</acronym>, you can
automatically fetch your mail when an Internet connection is
established with the following entry in
<filename>/etc/ppp/ppp.linkup</filename>:</para>
<programlisting>MYADDR:
@ -1574,6 +1688,550 @@ sasl_pwcheck_program="/usr/local/sbin/pwcheck"</programlisting>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="mail-agents">
<sect1info>
<authorgroup>
<author>
<firstname>Marc</firstname>
<surname>Silver</surname>
<contrib>Contributed by </contrib>
</author>
</authorgroup>
</sect1info>
<title>Mail User Agents</title>
<indexterm>
<primary>Mail User Agents</primary>
</indexterm>
<para>A Mail User Agent (<acronym>MUA</acronym>) is an application
that is used to send and receive email. Furthermore, as email
<quote>evolves</quote> and becomes more complex,
<acronym>MUA</acronym>'s are becoming increasingly powerful in the
way they interact with email; this gives users increased
functionality and flexibility. &os; contains support for
numerous mail user agents, all of which can be easily installed
using the <link linkend="ports">FreeBSD Ports Collection</link>.
Users may choose between graphical email clients such as
<application>evolution</application> or
<application>balsa</application>; console based clients such as
<application>mutt</application>, <application>pine</application>
or <command>mail</command>; or the web interfaces used by some
large organizations.</para>
<sect2 id="mail-command">
<title>mail</title>
<para>&man.mail.1; is the default Mail User Agent
(<acronym>MUA</acronym>) in &os;. It's a
console based <acronym>MUA</acronym> that offers all the basic
functionality required to send and receive text-based email,
though it is limited in interaction abilities with attachments
and can only support local mailboxes.</para>
<para>Although <command>mail</command> does not natively support
interaction with <acronym>POP</acronym> or
<acronym>IMAP</acronym> servers, these mailboxes may be
downloaded to a local <filename>mbox</filename> file using an
application such as <application>fetchmail</application>, which
will be discussed later in this chapter.</para>
<para>In order to send and receive email, simply invoke the
<command>mail</command> command as per the following
example:</para>
<screen>&prompt.user; <userinput>mail</userinput></screen>
<para>The contents of the user mailbox in
<filename role="directory">/var/mail/</filename> are
automatically read by the <command>mail</command> utility.
Should the mailbox be empty, the utility exits with a
message indicating that no mails could be found. Once the
mailbox has been read, the application interface is started, and
a list of messages will be displayed. Messages are automatically
numbered, as can be seen in the following example:</para>
<screen>Mail version 8.1 6/6/93. Type ? for help.
"/var/mail/marcs": 3 messages 3 new
>N 1 root@localhost Mon Mar 8 14:05 14/510 "test"
N 2 root@localhost Mon Mar 8 14:05 14/509 "user account"
N 3 root@localhost Mon Mar 8 14:05 14/509 "sample"</screen>
<para>Messages can now be read by using the <keycap>t</keycap>
<command>mail</command> command, suffixed by the message number
that should be displayed. In this example, we will read the
first email:</para>
<screen>& t 1
Message 1:
From root@localhost Mon Mar 8 14:05:52 2004
X-Original-To: marcs@localhost
Delivered-To: marcs@localhost
To: marcs@localhost
Subject: test
Date: Mon, 8 Mar 2004 14:05:52 +0200 (SAST)
From: root@localhost (Charlie Root)
This is a test message, please reply if you receive it.</screen>
<para>As can be seen in the example above, the <keycap>t</keycap>
key will cause the message to be displayed with full headers.
To display the list of messages again, the <keycap>h</keycap>
key should be used.</para>
<para>If the email requires a response, you may use
<command>mail</command> to reply, by using either the
<keycap>R</keycap> or <keycap>r</keycap> <command>mail</command>
keys. The <keycap>R</keycap> key instructs
<command>mail</command> to reply only to the sender of the
email, while <keycap>r</keycap> replies not only to the sender,
but also to other recipients of the message. You may also
suffix these commands with the mail number which you would like
make a reply to. Once this has been done, the response should
be entered, and the end of the message should be marked by a
single <keycap>.</keycap> on a new line. An example can be seen
below:</para>
<screen>& R 1 To: root@localhost Subject: Re: test
Thank you, I did get your email.
.
EOT</screen>
<para>In order to send new email, the <keycap>m</keycap>
key should be used, followed by the
recipient email address. Multiple recipients may also be
specified by separating each address with the <keycap>,</keycap>
delimiter. The subject of the message may then be entered,
followed by the message contents. The end of the message should
be specified by putting a single <keycap>.</keycap> on a new
line.</para>
<screen>& mail root@localhost
Subject: I mastered mail
Now I can send and receive email using mail ... :)
.
EOT</screen>
<para>While inside the <command>mail</command> utility, the
<keycap>?</keycap> command may be used to display help at any
time. The &man.mail.1; manual page should also be consulted for
more help with <command>mail</command>.</para>
<note>
<para>As previously mentioned, the &man.mail.1; command was not
originally designed to handle attachments, and thus deals with
them very poorly. Newer <acronym>MUA</acronym>'s such as
<application>mutt</application> handle attachments in a much
more intelligent way. But should you still wish to use the
<command>mail</command> command, the <filename
role="package">converters/mpack</filename> port may be of
considerable use.</para>
</note>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="mutt-command">
<title>mutt</title>
<para><application>mutt</application> is a small yet very
powerful Mail User Agent, with excellent features,
just some of which include:</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>The ability to thread messages;</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>PGP support for digital signing and encryption of
email;</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>MIME Support;</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Maildir Support;</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Highly customizable.</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>All of these features help to make
<application>mutt</application> one of the most advanced mail
user agents available. See <ulink
url="http://www.mutt.org">http://www.mutt.org</ulink> for more
information on mutt.</para>
<para>The stable version of <application>mutt</application> may be
installed using the <filename
role="package">mail/mutt</filename> port, while the current
development version may be installed via the <filename
role="package">mail/mutt-devel</filename> port. After the port
has been installed, <application>mutt</application> can be
started by issuing the following command:</para>
<screen>&prompt.user; <userinput>mutt</userinput></screen>
<para><application>mutt</application> will automatically read the
contents of the user mailbox in <filename
role="directory">/var/mail </filename> and display the contents
if applicable. If no mails are found in the user mailbox, then
<application>mutt</application> will wait for commands from the
user. The example below shows <application>mutt</application>
displaying a list of messages.</para>
<mediaobject>
<imageobject>
<imagedata fileref="mail/mutt1" format="PNG">
</imageobject>
</mediaobject>
<para>In order to read an email, simply select it using the cursor
keys, and press the <keycap>Enter</keycap> key. An example of
<application>mutt</application> displaying email can be seen
below:</para>
<mediaobject>
<imageobject>
<imagedata fileref="mail/mutt2" format="PNG">
</imageobject>
</mediaobject>
<para>As with the &man.mail.1; command,
<application>mutt</application> allows users to reply only to
the sender of the message as well as to all recipients. To
reply only to the sender of the email, use the
<keycap>r</keycap> keyboard shortcut. To send a group reply,
which will be sent to the original sender as well as all the
message recipients, use the <keycap>g</keycap> shortcut.</para>
<note>
<para><application>mutt</application> makes use of the
&man.vi.1; command as an editor for creating and replying to
emails. This may be customized by the user by creating or
editing their own <filename>.muttrc</filename> and setting the
<option>editor</option> variable.</para>
</note>
<para>In order to compose a new mail message, press
<keycap>m</keycap>. After a valid subject has been given,
<application>mutt</application> will start &man.vi.1; and the
mail can be written. Once the contents of the mail are
complete, save and quit from <command>vi</command> and
<application>mutt</application> will resume, displaying a
summary screen of the mail that is to be delivered. In order to
send the mail, press <keycap>y</keycap>. An example of the
summary screen can be seen below:</para>
<mediaobject>
<imageobject>
<imagedata fileref="mail/mutt3" format="PNG">
</imageobject>
</mediaobject>
<para><application>mutt</application> also contains extensive
help, which can be accessed from most of the menus by pressing
the <keycap>?</keycap> key. The top line also displays the
keyboard shortcuts where appropriate.</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="pine-command">
<title>pine</title>
<para><application>pine</application> is aimed at a beginner
user, but also includes some advanced features.</para>
<warning>
<para>The pine software has had several remote vulnerabilities
discovered in the past, which allowed remote attackers to
execute arbitrary code as users on the local system, by the
action of sending a specially-prepared email. All such
<emphasis>known</emphasis> problems have been fixed, but the
pine code is written in a very insecure style and the &os;
Security Officer believes there are likely to be other
undiscovered vulnerabilities. You install
<application>pine</application> at your own risk.</para>
</warning>
<para>The current version of <application>pine</application> may
be installed using the <filename
role="package">mail/pine4</filename> port. Once the port has
installed, <application>pine</application> can be started by
issuing the following command:</para>
<screen>&prompt.user; <userinput>pine</userinput></screen>
<para>The first time that <application>pine</application> is run
it displays a greeting page with a brief introduction, as well
as a request from the <application>pine</application>
development team to send an anonymous email message allowing
them to judge how many users are using their client. To send
this anonymous message, press <keycap>Enter</keycap>, or
alternatively press <keycap>E</keycap> to exit the greeting
without sending an anonymous message. An example of the
greeting page can be seen below:</para>
<mediaobject>
<imageobject>
<imagedata fileref="mail/pine1" format="PNG">
</imageobject>
</mediaobject>
<para>Users are then presented with the main menu, which can be
easily navigated using the cursor keys. This main menu provides
shortcuts for the composing new mails, browsing of mail directories,
and even the administration of address book entries. Below the
main menu, relevant keyboard shortcuts to perform functions
specific to the task at hand are shown.</para>
<para>The default directory opened by <application>pine</application>
is the <filename role="directory">inbox</filename>. To view the message index, press
<keycap>I</keycap>, or select the <quote>MESSAGE INDEX</quote>
option as seen below:</para>
<mediaobject>
<imageobject>
<imagedata fileref="mail/pine2" format="PNG">
</imageobject>
</mediaobject>
<para>The message index shows messages in the current directory,
and can be navigated by using the cursor keys. Highlighted
messages can be read by pressing the
<keycap>Enter</keycap> key.</para>
<mediaobject>
<imageobject>
<imagedata fileref="mail/pine3" format="PNG">
</imageobject>
</mediaobject>
<para>In the screenshot below, a sample message is displayed by
<application>pine</application>. Keyboard shortcuts are
displayed as a reference at the bottom of the screen. An
example of one of these shortcuts is the <keycap>r</keycap> key,
which tells the <acronym>MUA</acronym> to reply to the current
message being displayed.</para>
<mediaobject>
<imageobject>
<imagedata fileref="mail/pine4" format="PNG">
</imageobject>
</mediaobject>
<para>Replying to an email in <application>pine</application> is
done using the <application>pico</application> editor, which is
installed by default with <application>pine</application>.
The <application>pico</application> utility makes it easy to
navigate around the message and is slightly more forgiving on
novice users than &man.vi.1; or &man.mail.1;. Once the reply
is complete, the message can be sent by pressing
<keycombo action="simul"><keycap>Ctrl</keycap><keycap>X</keycap>
</keycombo>. The <application>pine</application> application
will ask for confirmation.</para>
<mediaobject>
<imageobject>
<imagedata fileref="mail/pine5" format="PNG">
</imageobject>
</mediaobject>
<para>The <application>pine</application> application can be
customized using the <option>SETUP</option> option from the main
menu. Consult <ulink url="http://www.washington.edu/pine/">
http://www.washington.edu/pine/</ulink>
for more information.</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="mail-fetchmail">
<sect1info>
<authorgroup>
<author>
<firstname>Marc</firstname>
<surname>Silver</surname>
<contrib>Contributed by </contrib>
</author>
</authorgroup>
</sect1info>
<title>Using fetchmail</title>
<indexterm>
<primary>Using fetchmail</primary>
</indexterm>
<para><application>fetchmail</application> is a full-featured
<acronym>IMAP</acronym> and <acronym>POP</acronym> client which
allows users to automatically download mail from remote
<acronym>IMAP</acronym> and <acronym>POP</acronym> servers and
into local mailboxes; there it can be accessed more easily.
<application>fetchmail</application> can be installed using the
<filename role="package">mail/fetchmail</filename> port, and
offers various features, some of which include:</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>Support of <acronym>POP3</acronym>,
<acronym>APOP</acronym>, <acronym>KPOP</acronym>,
<acronym>IMAP</acronym>, <acronym>ETRN</acronym> and
<acronym>ODMR</acronym> protocols.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Ability to forward mail using <acronym>SMTP</acronym>, which
allows filtering, forwarding, and aliasing to function
normally.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>May be run in daemon mode to check periodically for new
messages.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Can retrieve multiple mailboxes and forward them based
on configuration, to different local users.</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>While it is outside the scope of this document to explain
all of <application>fetchmail</application>'s features, some
basic features will be explained. The
<application>fetchmail</application> utility requires a
configuration file known as <filename>.fetchmailrc</filename>,
in order to run correctly. This file includes server information
as well as login credentials. Due to the sensitive nature of the
contents of this file, it is advisable to make it read-only, by
issuing the following command:</para>
<screen>&prompt.user; <userinput>chmod 600 .fetchmailrc</userinput></screen>
<para>The following <filename>.fetchmailrc</filename> serves as an
example for downloading a single user mailbox using
<acronym>POP</acronym>. It tells
<application>fetchmail</application> to connect to <hostid
role="fqdn">example.com</hostid> using a username of
<username>joesoap</username> and a password of
<quote>XXX</quote>. This example assumes that the user
<username>joesoap</username> is also a user on the local
system.</para>
<programlisting>poll example.com protocol pop3 username "joesoap" password "XXX"</programlisting>
<para>The next example connects to multiple <acronym>POP</acronym>
and <acronym>IMAP</acronym> servers and redirects to different
local usernames where applicable.</para>
<programlisting>poll example.com proto pop3:
user "joesoap", with password "XXX", is "jsoap" here;
user "andrea", with password "XXXX";
poll example2.net proto imap:
user "john", with password "XXXXX", is "myth" here;</programlisting>
<para>The <application>fetchmail</application> utility can be run in daemon
mode by running it with the <option>-d</option> flag, followed
by the interval (in seconds) that
<application>fetchmail</application> should poll servers listed
in the <filename>.fetchmailrc</filename> file. The following
example would cause <application>fetchmail</application> to poll
every 60 seconds:</para>
<screen>&prompt.user; <userinput>fetchmail -d 60</userinput></screen>
<para>More information on <application>fetchmail</application> can
be found at <ulink
url="http://www.catb.org/~esr/fetchmail/">
http://www.catb.org/~esr/fetchmail/</ulink>.</para>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="mail-procmail">
<sect1info>
<authorgroup>
<author>
<firstname>Marc</firstname>
<surname>Silver</surname>
<contrib>Contributed by </contrib>
</author>
</authorgroup>
</sect1info>
<title>Using procmail</title>
<indexterm>
<primary>Using procmail</primary>
</indexterm>
<para>The <application>procmail</application> utility is an
incredibly powerful application used to filter incoming mail.
It allows users to define <quote>rules</quote> which can be
matched to incoming mails to perform specific functions or to
reroute mail to alternative mailboxes and/or email addresses.
<application>procmail</application> can be installed using the
<filename role="package">mail/procmail</filename> port. Once
installed, it can be directly integrated into most
<acronym>MTA</acronym>'s; consult your <acronym>MTA</acronym>
documentation for more information. Alternatively,
<application>procmail</application> can be integrated by adding
the following line to a <filename>.forward</filename> in the home
directory of the user utilizing
<application>procmail</application> features.</para>
<programlisting>"|exec /usr/local/bin/procmail || exit 75"</programlisting>
<para>The following section will display some basic
<application>procmail</application> rules, as well as brief
descriptions on what they do. These rules, and others must be
inserted into a <filename>.procmailrc</filename> file, which
must reside in a user's the home directory.<para>
<para>The majority of these rules can also be found in the
<quote>procmailex</quote> manual page.</para>
<para>Forward all mail from <quote>user@example.com</quote> to an
external address of <quote>goodmail@example2.com</quote>:</para>
<programlisting>:0
* ^From.*user@example.com
! goodmail@example2.com</programlisting>
<para>Forward all mails shorter than 1000 bytes to an external
address of <quote>goodmail@example2.com</quote>:</para>
<programlisting>:0
* < 1000
! goodmail@example2.com</programlisting>
<para>Send all mail sent to <quote>alternate@example.com</quote>
into a mailbox called <filename>alternate</filename>.</para>
<programlisting>:0
* ^TOalternate@example.com
alternate</programlisting>
<para>Send all mail with a subject of <quote>Spam</quote> to
<filename>/dev/null</filename>.</para>
<programlisting>:0
^Subject:.*Spam
/dev/null</programlisting>
<para>A useful recipe that parses incoming &os;.org mailing lists
and places each list in it's own mailbox.</para>
<programlisting>:0
* ^Sender:.owner-freebsd-\/[^@]+@FreeBSD.ORG
{
LISTNAME=${MATCH}
:0
* LISTNAME??^\/[^@]+
FreeBSD-${MATCH}
}</programlisting>
</sect1>
</chapter>
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