[OT] fetchmail, procmail and mutt (oh my!)

[Erik Trulsson]

On Wed, Jun 30, 2004 at 09:46:31PM -0500, Andrew L. Gould wrote:
> Background:
> When I travel, I use access a home server via ssh and deal with my email 
> using console applications.  I obtain my email from several sources 
> using fetchmail.  I have a .procmailrc file that properly puts the 
> emails into specified mbox files -- so far so good.
> 
> Problem:
> If I put 'mda /usr/local/bin/procmail' in the .fetchmailrc lines, 
> procmail puts the emails in the correct mbox files; but mutt complains 
> that the files are not valid email files and refuses to read them.
> 
> If I let fetchmail put the emails into my system mbox and use formail to 
> process the emails, copies of the emails get put into the correct mbox 
> files and mutt will open the files; but I have to go back and manually 
> delete the emails in my system mail box.
> 
> How can I get both valid mbox files and without having to manually 
> delete emails in my system folder?

>From the fetchmail(1) manpage:

    As each message is retrieved fetchmail normally delivers it via SMTP to
    port 25 on the machine it is running on (localhost), just as though  it
    were  being passed in over a normal TCP/IP link.  The mail will then be
    delivered locally via your system's MDA (Mail Delivery  Agent, usually
    sendmail(8)  but  your  system  may  use a different one such as smail,
    mmdf, exim, or qmail).  All the delivery-control  mechanisms (such  as
    .forward  files)  normally  available through your system MDA and local
    delivery agents will therefore work automatically.

>From the procmail(1) manpage:

    If procmail is not installed globally  as  the  default  mail delivery
    agent  (ask your system administrator), you have to make sure it is in-
    voked when your mail arrives.  In this case  your $HOME/.forward  file
    should  contain the line below.  Be sure to include the single and dou-
    ble quotes, and unless you know your site  to  be  running smrsh  (the
    SendMail Restricted SHell), it must be an absolute path.

    "|exec /usr/local/bin/procmail || exit 75"





-- 
<Insert your favourite quote here.>
Erik Trulsson
ertr1013 at student.uu.se