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Re: POP3 mail fetcher that supports unreliable connections?



On Tue, 04 Nov 2003 at 01:22 GMT, Vincent Lefevre penned:
> On 2003-11-03 18:28:57 -0600, Ron Johnson wrote:
>> 
>> Really?  Do you know how?
> 
> Yes: fetchmail sent the mail to the local SMTP server, and there was a
> configuration problem. IMHO, a mail fetcher should never use this
> method by default.

Not to be persnickety -- okay, maybe to be persnickety --

The very first paragraph in `man fetchmail` says

	   fetchmail  is  a mail-retrieval and forwarding utility; it
	   fetches mail from  remote  mailservers  and  forwards  it  to
	   your  local  (client) machine's  delivery  system.   You  can
	   then handle the retrieved mail using normal mail user agents such
	   as mutt(1), elm(1) or Mail(1).   The fetchmail utility can be run
	   in a daemon mode to repeatedly poll one or more systems at a
	   specified interval.

Whatever you think about what a mail fetcher should be doing, shouldn't
you read at least the first paragraph of the man page before using a
tool?

In fact, the author (that's esr, if I recall correctly) considered
delivery to your local delivery system a *feature*, because it allows
you to use all of the powerful features available through the MTA of
your choice.

I'm sorry that you lost mail.  It absolutely sucks.  But I think it
might be an object lesson -- it's a good idea to read up on a tool
before using it, especially when you're going to use it on something as
sensitive as mail.

-- 
monique
PLEASE don't CC me.  Please.  Pretty please with sugar on top.
Whatever it takes, just don't CC me!  I'm already subscribed!!



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