1MAILTOOL(1) Cone: COnsole Newsreader And E MAILTOOL(1)
2
6 mailtool - Process mailboxes
7
9 mailtool [options...]
10
12 mailtool is a diagnostic utility for handling various operations on
13 mailboxes. mailtool´s main uses include: display the list of folders
14 in a mailbox; displaying list of messages in a mailbox; and copying
15 mailboxes.
16 The following mailboxes can be accessed by mailtool:
18 imap://userid@server[/options]
20 An IMAP account. mailtool will prompt for the login password.
21 imaps://userid@server[/options]
23 An IMAP account accessed via an encrypted SSL connection.
24 pop3://userid@server[/options]
26 A POP3 account. mailtool will prompt for the login password.
27 pop3s://userid@server[/options]
29 A POP3 account accessed via an encrypted SSL connection.
30 maildir:path
32 A local maildir mailbox. path specifies the maildir´s location
33 relative to the home directory (NOT the current directory).
34 mbox:path
36 Local mbox mail folders. path specifies the path to an mbox folder
37 file, or a directory containing mbox folders, relative to the home
38 directory (NOT the current directory).
39 inbox:path
41 Local mbox mail folders, like “mbox:path”; additionally, the system
42 spool mailbox is automatically copied to $HOME/Inbox, which is
43 accessible as folder INBOX.
44 The name of a remote IMAP or POP3 server may be followed by one or more
46 options that control various settings of the IMAP or POP3 connection:
47 /cram
49 Do not open the account unless the server supports secure password
50 authentication. Secure password authentication verifies the
51 account´s password using a challenge/response authentication
52 mechanism (where the label "cram" comes from). The actual password
53 is never actually transmitted to the server, and therefore cannot
54 be intercepted while in transit over an untrusted network.
55 Secure password authentication is not supported by all servers.
57 This option may not work with some servers. This option does not
58 enable secure password authentication, it only mandates its use. If
59 the server supports secure password authentication, it will be used
60 even without the /cram option. Traditional userid/password
61 authentication will be used only if the server does not implement
62 secure password authentication. The /cram option makes secure
63 password authentication mandatory.
64 The /cram option is marginally useful even with encrypted server
66 connections. The secure password authentication never sends the
67 explicit password to the server. Encryption makes it theoretically
68 impossible to recover the password from an encrypted data
69 connection; but with secure authentication the password is never
70 sent over the connection in the first place (the password´s
71 validity is certified by exchanging certain mathematical
72 calculations between the server and the client). If the server is
73 compromised, the compromised server will not receive the account
74 password (unless the password is recovered from the server in other
75 ways).
76 /imap
78 Do not use the SMAP if the server claims the availability of this
79 experimental mail access protocol, and fall back to IMAP
80 compatibility mode (this option is meaningful only with “imap://”
81 and “imaps://” URLs).
82 /notls
84 Do not upgrade a plain connection to an encrypted one. This option
85 is primarily used for testing and debugging purposes. Sometimes
86 this option might be useful with servers that claim to offer
87 encryption, but are unable to do so when taken up on their offer.
88 /novalidate-cert
90 Do not validate the server´s SSL certificate when using an
91 encrypted connection. Normally the mail server´s SSL certificate
92 must be validate when using an encrypted connection. The
93 certificate´s name must match the server´s name, and the
94 certificate must be signed by a trusted certificate authority.
95 The encrypted connection normally fails if the certificate cannot
97 be validate. Validation requires that a list of trusted certificate
98 authorities must be known and configured. It´s simply impossible to
99 know which certificate authorities are valid without an explicit
100 list of valid, known, trusted, certificate authorities. If a
101 trusted authority list is not configured, no certificate can be
102 validated. If the server´s certificate is a self-signed certificate
103 (this is often used for testing purposes), or if it´s not signed by
104 a known authority, the encrypted connection fails.
105 This /novalidate-cert option disables certificate validation. The
107 encrypted connection will be established even if the server´s
108 certificate would otherwise be rejected.
109 Note
111 This option is applicable even when an encrypted IMAP or POP3
112 connection is not explicitly requested. Many mail servers are
113 capable of automatically upgrading unencrypted connections to a
114 fully-encrypted connection. If a mail server claims to be able
115 to use encryption, then there´s no reason not to use it. The
116 result is that all encryption certification requirements still
117 apply even when encryption is not explicitly requested.
118 Displaying mailbox contents
120 mailtool -tree | -list account
121 -tree shows a hierarchical representation of mail folders in account.
123 -list generates a simple folder listing, one folder name per line.
124 -tree shows folder names, while -list shows the actual mail folder path
125 in account.
126 mailtool -tree imap://jsmith@mail.example.com/novalidate-cert/cram
128 Creating folders
130 mailtool -create | -createdir folder name account
131 -create creates a new subfolder of folder in account. The new
133 subfolder´s name is name. -createdir creates a new folder directory (a
134 folder that contains other folders).
135 mailtool -create INBOX.lists announcements maildir:Maildir
137 This command creates a new folder “announcements” as a subfolders of
139 “INBOX.lists” in the local maildir.
140 Deleting folders
142 mailtool -delete | -deletedir folder account
143 -delete deletes an existing folder in account.
145 -deletedir deletes a folder directory.
147 mailtool -delete INBOX.lists.announcements maildir:Maildir
149 Renaming folders
151 mailtool -rename oldfolder folder name account
152 -renames renames an existing oldfolder. The folder is renamed as name,
154 as a subfolder of folder. folder may be an empty string if the folder
155 should be moved to the top level of account´s folder hierarchy.
156 mailtool -rename INBOX.lists.announcements INBOX.lists Announcements maildir:Maildir
158 The folder “INBOX.lists.announcements” is renamed to
160 “INBOX.lists.Announcements”. This slightly unusual way to rename folder
161 allows folders to be relocated in the mail account´s folder hierarchy.
162 Reading folder´s index
164 mailtool -index folder account
165 -index downloads and prints a summary of all messages in folder, in
167 account. The summary shows the sender´s and recipients´ address, the
168 message´s subject, and size.
169 mailtool -index INBOX imap://john@mail.example.com/novalidate-cert
171 Removing a message from a folder
173 mailtool -remove folder n account
174 -remove removes message #n (ranging from 1 to the number of messages in
176 the folder) in folder, in account. The message numbers may be obtained
177 by using -index.
178 n may be a comma-separated list of message numbers, in strictly
180 numerically increasing order. -remove confirms the list of messages to
181 remove and issues a “Ready:” prompt. Press ENTER to remove the
182 messages.
183 mailtool -remove INBOX 28,31 imap://john@mail.example.com/novalidate-cert
185 Filtering messages
187 mailtool -filter folder account
188 -filter is a combination of -index and -remove. folder´s index is
190 downloaded, and the summary of each message is shown, one message at a
191 time. Each message´s summary is followed by a prompt: “Delete, Skip, or
192 Exit”. Pressing D removes the message, S leaves the message unchanged,
193 and E leaves the remaining messages unchanged.
194 mailtool -filter INBOX pop3://john@mail.example.com/novalidate-cert
196 Note
198 -filter is not meant to be used with large folders. Unless messages
199 are removed quickly, the connection to the server may be
200 disconnected for inactivity.
201 Copying folders
203 mailtool [-recurse] -tofolder tofolder -copyto toaccount -fromfolder
204 fromfolder fromaccount
205 This command copies an entire folder, fromfolder in fromaccount to a
207 new folder, tofolder (which will be created, if necessary) in
208 toaccount. Optionally, -recurse specifies that all subfolders of
209 fromfolder should also be copied.
210 mailtool -tofolder INBOX -copyto maildir:Maildir \
213 -fromfolder "INBOX" imap://mbox100@mail.example.com/novalidate-cert
214 mailtool -recurse -tofolder INBOX.converted_mail \
216 -copyto maildir:Maildir -fromfolder "mail" \
217 imap://mbox100@mail.example.com/novalidate-cert
218 This example first copies the INBOX on the IMAP server to
220 $HOME/Maildir, then copies subfolders of “mail” on the IMAP server to
221 the “converted_mail” subfolder in the maildir.
222 mailtool -tofolder INBOX -copyto maildir:Maildir \
224 -fromfolder "INBOX" inbox:mail
225 mailtool -recurse -tofolder INBOX.converted_mail \
227 -copyto maildir:Maildir -fromfolder "" mbox:mail
228 This example first copies $HOME/Inbox (accessed as the INBOX folder in
231 inbox:mail) to $HOME/Maildir, then copies mbox folders from $HOME/mail
232 to the “converted_mail” subfolder in the maildir.
233 Note
235 Mail accounts that contain hybrid folders (folders that contain
236 both messages and subfolders) can only be copied to account types
237 that also support hybrid folders: either local maildirs, or to
238 remote servers that support hybrid folders.
239
241 cone(1).
242[FIXME: source] 05/08/2010 MAILTOOL(1)