combining POP mail and mail file with local "repeating" and combining POP server?

[Daniel Barclay <dsb@smart.net>]

Is there any POP server that can combine the mail from another POP server
with mail in a mail file?

I'd like to have a local POP server that, when queried, queries another
POP server and looks at a local mail file, and then serves the combined
set of messages to the POP client.



Here's why I ask:

1.
- mail is delived to a mail spool file on my ISP's machine
- my ISP has a POP server
- I retrieve regular mail on demand over POP using Netscape

2.
- I filter messages from high-volume mailing lists (such as this
  one) into a separate mail file using a .forward file in my shell 
  account on my ISP's machine

- I download that mail file every so often with a cron job, appending 
  it to a new-mail file

- when I read mailing-list mail, I use Emacs RMAIL to read the
  mail from that new-mail file into an RMAIL file


3.
- I want to switch to reading those mailing list messages in Netscape.

- I want to keep downloading the high-volume messages.  (I don't want
  them to accumulate on my ISP's machine, in case I don't read mail
  often enough and they exceed my disk-space quota.  I also don't want 
  them cluttering up my regular mail file in case I need to telnet in 
  from some remote location and do a "less" on my mail file.)

- I want regular messages to remain on my ISP's machine until I retrieve 
  them from Netscape.  (I check my mail in "keep-on-server" mode from 
  work (or using telnet from some remote location) if I haven't yet 
  retrieved it from home.)

- Netscape 4.x (yes, I know...) can only retrieve from one POP server.


4.
Here's what I think I'd like to happen:

- I keep separating high-volume mail using my .forward file on my ISP's
  machine.

- I keep downloading the high-volume mail separately.

- When I retrieve mail using Netscape at home, it connects to a special,
  local POP server.

- The local POP server queries my ISP's POP server, _and_ looks at
  the downloaded mail file, and presents the _combined_ set of
  messages to Netscape.

  (Netscape at home runs in don't-keep-messages-on-server mode, so the 
  local POP server would use that mode to talk to the ISP POP server, 
  and would delete messages from the downloaded mail file.)


Other approaches that work would be fine too.

Some related questions seem to be:

Is there any safe way to asynchronously append messages to a Netscape
mail file?  Or would I need to run a command when I know I'm not using
the mail that to which messages are appended externally?

Can fetchmail download only certain messages?  (Maybe I could retrieve
the mailing-list messages with cron, and leave the remainder there, if
there's a (reliable) way to get list messages back into Netscape.)




Thanks,
Daniel
-- 
Daniel Barclay
dsb@smart.net


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