The Fetchmail package contains a mail retrieval program. It retrieves mail from remote mail servers and forwards it to the local (client) machine's delivery system, so it can then be read by normal mail user agents.
This package is known to build and work properly using an LFS 11.3 platform.
Download (HTTP): https://downloads.sourceforge.net/fetchmail/fetchmail-6.4.36.tar.xz
Download MD5 sum: 8bfdc96f0241f328b17ef04666b2f155
Download size: 1.1 MB
Estimated disk space required: 12 MB including tests
Estimated build time: 0.1 SBU including tests
a local MDA (Procmail-3.22)
MIT Kerberos V5-1.20.1 and libgssapi
Python-3.11.2, built after Tk-8.6.13, with the py-future package
User Notes: https://wiki.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/wiki/fetchmail
Create a dedicated user for the fetchmail program.
Issue the following commands as the
root user:
useradd -c "Fetchmail User" -d /dev/null -g nogroup \
-s /bin/false -u 38 fetchmailInstall Fetchmail by running the following commands:
PYTHON=python3 \
./configure --prefix=/usr \
--enable-fallback=procmail &&
makeTo test the results, issue: make check.
Now, as the root user:
make install && chown -v fetchmail:nogroup /usr/bin/fetchmail
PYTHON=python3: a version of Python is
required, but only used to install a module to allow
fetchmailconf to be run. That module is unmaintained and should not be
used.
--enable-fallback=procmail: This tells
Fetchmail to hand incoming mail to
Procmail for delivery, if the port 25 mail
server is not present or not responding.
![[Note]](../images/note.png)
If you are connecting to a mailserver that supports SSL/TLS-wrapped or "implicit" mode on a dedicated port (default 993) you should use fetchmail --ssl or add the option 'ssl' in an rcfile.
cat > ~/.fetchmailrc << "EOF"
# The logfile needs to exist when fetchmail is invoked, otherwise it will
# dump the details to the screen. As with all logs, you will need to rotate
# or clear it from time to time.
set logfile fetchmail.log
set no bouncemail
# You probably want to set your local username as the postmaster
set postmaster <username>
poll SERVERNAME :
user <isp_username> pass <password>;
mda "/usr/bin/procmail -f %F -d %T";
EOF
touch ~/fetchmail.log &&
chmod -v 0600 ~/.fetchmailrcThis is an example configuration that should suffice for most people. You can add as many users and servers as you need using the same syntax.
man fetchmail: Look for the section near the bottom named CONFIGURATION EXAMPLES. It gives some quick examples. There are countless other configuration options once you get used to it.
If you expect to receive very little mail you can invoke fetchmail
when you wish to receive any incoming mail. More commonly, it is either
invoked in daemon mode with the -d option either on
the command line, or in .fetchmailrc (see 'DAEMON
MODE' in man fetchmailconf), or alternatively it is invoked from a
cron job.
when executed as a user, this will source
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is intended to assist you in setting up and editing a
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