[fetchmail-users] fetchmail at system startup

[Joe A. <jo...@j4...>]

My first foray into fetchmail.  Seem to have configured it properly, by some happenstance.  Even runs at system startup, as if I know what I was doing.  And that is certainly not certain.

However, I am given pause.  I am a bit puzzled how one can specify an alternate startup file, within the startup file (--fetchmailrc = path/file).   A circular argument kind of thing.
 
When I first started it (fetchmail, via system startup) it complained (from logs) that it could not find /etc/fetchmailrc.  Thinking that a typo, and having an "aha" moment regarding my above pondering, I copied my /root/.fetchmailrc to /etc/.  Alas, it still complained, so I renamed it, leaving off the leading ".".   

Now it seems to be quite happy reading /etc/fetchmailrc.  But I am not certain why.  Or if it is only reading that to find the "real" config file.  I hesitate to start hacking to find out, as it takes several minutes for this older Dell Poweredge to start up.  Boring.

Thanks for any assistance.

joe a.