On Thu, Apr 01, 2004 at 10:48:21PM -0700, s. keeling wrote:
> Incoming from debian3@tpg.com.au:
> >
> > First of all is this the correct place to ask for help with Debian?
>
> It certainly is. Welcome.
>
> > I am trying to setup email on a workstation via modem to an ISP
> >
> > I have not seen anything about something so simple as basic email setup
> > on reading thru debian-user-digest-request@lists.debian.org
> >
> > Have I picked the correct packages to get email working?
>
> Very good. Balsa and mutt are two of the same thing, but I imagine
> they can work together (one at a time).
>
> > I think I need the following
> >
> > MUA (Mail User Agent)
> > balsa - GNOME mail access
> > mutt - Command Line mail access
>
> See /etc/Muttrc. Copy it to your home directory as ~/.muttrc, then
> open it up in an editor and change whatever's obvious. Balsa should
> be even easier.
>
> > MDA (Mail Delivery Agent)
> > ipopd - POP3 from mail-server to workstation
>
> I use fetchmail, but it's your choice.
...indeed there are other choices than fetchmail, but ipopd isn't one
of them. ipopd is a POP *server*. You want a POP *client*. fetchmail
seems to be what 99% of people use. Configuration for this purpose is
trivial (see below) and if you do run into trouble there are loads of
other people using it who could help.
Neither of these are actually MDAs. An MDA is optional; the MTA can
handle local delivery as well. An MDA is useful for filtering,
spam-zapping etc. but exim at least is sufficiently flexible that it
can do all this anyway. (Don't know about postfix but I should imagine
it can too.) procmail is an example of an MDA. You can safely not
bother about having an MDA until you feel the need.
> > MTA (Mail Transfer Agent)
> > postfix - SMTP local mail transfer on workstation
>
> I use exim. Again, your choice.
...though exim seems to be the more popular choice, certainly for
non-"heavyweight" setups, which again gives the advantage that more
people will be able to help if you run into trouble.
> > the ISP uses a POP3 mail-server: mail.tpg.com.au
> >
> > where the ISP email address: debian3@tpg.com.au
> >
> > my workstation email address: debian@gin.mixer.net
> >
> > I can not send or receive email onto my workstation!
>
> That will be in the configuration of ipopd (receiving), and postfix
> (sending and receiving).
>
> > What configuration files do I have to look at to complete the setup?
>
> You may be able to get away with "dpkg-reconfigure postfix" or
> something. Check the debian-user archives at lists.debian.org. With
> exim, I just ran "eximconfig". Same with fetchmail - fetchmailconfig.
Think it's "fetchmailconf" (without the "ig")... but for this you
hardly need it.
You want a file ~/.fetchmailrc which looks similar to this:
# Configuration created Fri Nov 29 01:13:30 2002 by fetchmailconf
set postmaster "postmaster"
poll mail.tpg.com.au with proto POP3
user "debian3" there with password "yourpassword" is debian here
> > ps ISP offers a email web browser service via www.postoffice.tpg.com.au
>
> Good. That's useful for blowing away spam on the server before
> popping real mail to your box.
...as are pop3browser (interactive) and mailfilter (config-file-based).
--
Pigeon
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