pop3browser(1)
NAME
pop3browser -- small perl script to access POP3 mail accounts
DESCRIPTION
pop3browser is a perl script that uses libnet-perl to give access to
POP3 mail accounts without fetching the messages.
pop3browser can be used to delete unwanted mails (SPAM), especially
when they come with large attachments, before downloading them over
low-bandwidth connections. The --limit option of fetchmail is very useful to filter such large mails which can then be inspected with
pop3browser.
The program supports normal POP3 authentication and APOP.
USAGE
pop3browser welcomes you with a short copyright note and a command line
prompt. The settings for a mailbox (host, password etc.) have to be
specified in a configuration file (similar to fetchmail). pop3browser
understands the following commands:
hosts list available hosts specified in .pop3browserrc
- login n
- log into host no. n, use 'hosts' to get a list of available hosts
- o(pen) n
- same as login
- apop n same as login but uses APOP
- c(lose)
- delete messages marked for deletion and close current connection
- list list sizes and message numbers of the mails on the account
- s(how) n
- show header and some body lines of mail number n
- m(ailbox)
- list message number, size, sender and subject for each mail
- d(elete) n
- delete mail number n
- undel(ete) n
- undelete mail number n
- k(ill) expr
- delete mails matching expr in header
- u(nkill) expr
- undelete mails matching expr in header
- q(uit) delete messages marked for deletion and quit program
- exit same as quit
- help print a command summary
CONFIG FILE
The definitions for a mailbox are specified in ~/.pop3browserrc. One
line per mailbox. Lines starting with # are ignored. Each definition
must be in the following form:.br hostname <tab or space> userid <tab
or space> password <tab or space> protocol (optional)
For example:
#definition for bar@pop.foo.com
#pop-server UID passwd protocol
pop.foo.com bar s3cr3t apop
#end of definition
Recognised options for the protocol are pop3 and apop. If no protocol
is specified the command login/open assumes pop3. The command apop
ignores the protocol option.
To override the default header-filter of the show command you can specify a custom set of keywords in ~/.pop3browserrc. Lines starting with
"@headpattern" or "@bodylines" are parsed by pop3browser. Settings for
the header-filter must be in the following form:
@headpattern <tab or space> = <tab or space> "<keyword1>","<keyword2>",....
The filter keywords are matched against the start of a header line.
Settings for the number of body lines to show, have to be in the following form:
@bodylines <tab or space> = <tab or space> <Number>
Example:
@headpatterns = "From:","To:","Subject:","Date:","CC"
@bodylines = 10
The file ~/.pop3browserrc must only be readable for the owning user.
pop3browser corrects other file modes automatically.
SEE ALSO
AUTHOR
Christoph Baumann <cgb@debian.org>
THANKS
- Jorrit 'J"o' Fahlke, for his overhaul of the config file parser
Takeshi Hamasaki, for the headpattern patch