functionality is included in those mail clients.Unfortunately, many MUAs do not know anything about POP3 or IMAP. To
eliminate that problem, you can use a program called Fetchmail to contact
mail servers using POP3 or IMAP, download mail from the servers, and then
inject those messages into the local MTA just as if they had come from a
standard SMTP server. The following sections explain how to install,
configure, and use the Fetchmail program.
Installing Fetchmail
Much as with other packages, you can install Fetchmail using either
synaptic or apt-get.
You can get the latest version of Fetchmail at www.catb.org/~esr/fetchmail.
Configuring Fetchmail
After you have installed Fetchmail, you must create the file .fetchmailrc
in your home directory, which provides the configuration for the Fetchmail
program.
You can create and subsequently edit the .fetchmailrc file by using any
text editor. The configuration file is straightforward and quite easy to create;
the following sections explain the manual method for creating and editing the
file. The information presented in the following sections does not discuss all
the options available in the .fetchmailrc file but covers the most
common ones needed to get a basic Fetchmail installation up and running.
You must use a text editor to create the file to include entries like the ones
shown as examples—modified for your personal information, of course. For
advanced configuration, see the man page for Fetchmail. The man page is
well written and documents all the configuration options in detail.
CAUTION
The .fetchmailrc file is divided into three sections: global options, mail
server options, and user options. It is important that these sections appear in
the order listed. Do not add options to the wrong section. Putting options in
the wrong place is one of the most common problems that new users make
with Fetchmail configuration files.