Re: [Fetchmail-users] Is it possible to have fetchmail chk /var/spool/mail/

[Peter P. <ro...@ri...>]

On Sat, Jan 15, 2022 at 04:26:11PM +0100, Matthias Andree wrote:
> Am 15.01.22 um 16:21 schrieb hput via Fetchmail-users:
> > If it is possible to have fetchmail check for mail at
> > /var/spool/mail/MY-USER
> > 
> > Can anyone give me a few clues as to how that would be entered into
> > ~/.fetchmailrc along with the polls of pop3 servers.
> 
> Harry,
> 
> Why would anyone need that?

It is possible that their setup is the same as mine here - fetchmail
handling a couple of remote accounts and delivering to a Maildir in
my home directory, and me wondering what to do with the messages that
my local system is sending to me - cron reports, apt-listchanges after
updates, sbuild logs, etc. For the present I've made a symlink making
it easier to point Mutt at it every now and then, and that's enough
for me personally.

> /var/spool/mail/$USER is traditionally where fetchmail would *PLACE*
> downloaded mail by means of a mail delivery agent or mail transport
> agent, not *FIND* it.
> 
> Consequently, fetchmail cannot do that, and it is unlikely it ever will,
> because that would be reversing the purpose. It is way out of scope.

Of course, one *could* run a local POP3/IMAP server with a simple
configuration that only provides access to this one account and
this one mailbox... It might be a bit of overkill, but it would allow
fetchmail to query it and move the mail somewhere else.

G'luck,
Peter

-- 
Peter Pentchev  ro...@ri... ro...@de... pp...@st...
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