1MAILTOOL(1) MAILTOOL(1)
2
6 mailtool - Process mailboxes
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9 mailtool [ options ... ]
10
13 mailtool is a diagnostic utility for handling various operations on
14 mailboxes. mailtool's main uses include: display the list of folders
15 in a mailbox; displaying list of messages in a mailbox; and copying
16 mailboxes.
17 The following mailboxes can be accessed by mailtool:
19 imap://userid@server[/options]
21 An IMAP account. mailtool will prompt for the login password.
22 imaps://userid@server[/options]
24 An IMAP account accessed via an encrypted SSL connection.
25 pop3://userid@server[/options]
27 A POP3 account. mailtool will prompt for the login password.
28 pop3s://userid@server[/options]
30 A POP3 account accessed via an encrypted SSL connection.
31 maildir:path
33 A local maildir mailbox. path specifies the maildir's location
34 relative to the home directory (NOT the current directory).
35 mbox:path
37 Local mbox mail folders. path specifies the path to an mbox
38 folder file, or a directory containing mbox folders, relative to
39 the home directory (NOT the current directory).
40 inbox:path
42 Local mbox mail folders, like ``mbox:path''; additionally, the
43 system spool mailbox is automatically copied to $HOME/Inbox,
44 which is accessible as folder INBOX.
45 The name of a remote IMAP or POP3 server may be followed by one or more
47 options that control various settings of the IMAP or POP3 connection:
48 /cram Do not open the account unless the server supports secure pass‐
50 word authentication. Secure password authentication verifies
51 the account's password using a challenge/response authentication
52 mechanism (where the label "cram" comes from). The actual pass‐
53 word is never actually transmitted to the server, and therefore
54 cannot be intercepted while in transit over an untrusted net‐
55 work.
56 Secure password authentication is not supported by all servers.
58 This option may not work with some servers. This option does
59 not enable secure password authentication, it only mandates its
60 use. If the server supports secure password authentication, it
61 will be used even without the /cram option. Traditional
62 userid/password authentication will be used only if the server
63 does not implement secure password authentication. The /cram
64 option makes secure password authentication mandatory.
65 The /cram option is marginally useful even with encrypted server
67 connections. The secure password authentication never sends the
68 explicit password to the server. Encryption makes it theoreti‐
69 cally impossible to recover the password from an encrypted data
70 connection; but with secure authentication the password is never
71 sent over the connection in the first place (the password's
72 validity is certified by exchanging certain mathematical calcu‐
73 lations between the server and the client). If the server is
74 compromised, the compromised server will not receive the account
75 password (unless the password is recovered from the server in
76 other ways).
77 /imap Do not use the SMAP if the server claims the availability of
79 this experimental mail access protocol, and fall back to IMAP
80 compatibility mode (this option is meaningful only with
81 ``imap://'' and ``imaps://'' URLs).
82 /nossl Do not upgrade a plain connection to an encrypted one. This
84 option is primarily used for testing and debugging purposes.
85 Sometimes this option might be useful with servers that claim to
86 offer encryption, but are unable to do so when taken up on their
87 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 certifi‐
92 cate must be validate when using an encrypted connection. The
93 certificate's name must match the server's name, and the cer‐
94 tificate must be signed by a trusted certificate authority.
95 The encrypted connection normally fails if the certificate can‐
97 not be validate. Validation requires that a list of trusted
98 certificate authorities must be known and configured. It's sim‐
99 ply impossible to know which certificate authorities are valid
100 without an explicit list of valid, known, trusted, certificate
101 authorities. If a trusted authority list is not configured, no
102 certificate can be validated. If the server's certificate is a
103 self-signed certificate (this is often used for testing pur‐
104 poses), or if it's not signed by a known authority, the
105 encrypted connection fails.
106 This /novalidate-cert option disables certificate validation.
108 The encrypted connection will be established even if the
109 server's certificate would otherwise be rejected.
110 Note: This option is applicable even when an encrypted IMAP or
112 POP3 connection is not explicitly requested. Many mail servers
113 are capable of automatically upgrading unencrypted connections
114 to a fully-encrypted connection. If a mail server claims to be
115 able to use encryption, then there's no reason not to use it.
116 The result is that all encryption certification requirements
117 still 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.
124 -list generates a simple folder listing, one folder name per line.
125 -tree shows folder names, while -list shows the actual mail folder path
126 in account.
127 mailtool -tree imap://jsmith@mail.example.com/novalidate-cert/cram
129 CREATING FOLDERS
131 mailtool { -create | -createdir } folder name account
132 -create creates a new subfolder of folder in account. The new sub‐
135 folder's name is name. -createdir creates a new folder directory (a
136 folder that contains other folders).
137 mailtool -create INBOX.lists announcements maildir:Maildir
139 This command creates a new folder ``announcements'' as a subfolders of
141 ``INBOX.lists'' in the local maildir.
142 DELETING FOLDERS
144 mailtool { -delete | -deletedir } folder account
145 -delete deletes an existing folder in account.
148 -deletedir deletes a folder directory.
150 mailtool -delete INBOX.lists.announcements maildir:Maildir
152 RENAMING FOLDERS
154 mailtool -rename oldfolder folder name account
155 -renames renames an existing oldfolder. The folder is renamed as name,
158 as a subfolder of folder. folder may be an empty string if the folder
159 should be moved to the top level of account's folder hierarchy.
160 mailtool -rename INBOX.lists.announcements INBOX.lists Announcements maildir:Maildir
162 The folder ``INBOX.lists.announcements'' is renamed to
164 ``INBOX.lists.Announcements''. This slightly unusual way to rename
165 folder allows folders to be relocated in the mail account's folder
166 hierarchy.
167 READING FOLDER'S INDEX
169 mailtool -index folder account
170 -index downloads and prints a summary of all messages in folder, in
173 account. The summary shows the sender's and recipients' address, the
174 message's subject, and size.
175 mailtool -index INBOX imap://john@mail.example.com/novalidate-cert
177 REMOVING A MESSAGE FROM A FOLDER
179 mailtool -remove folder n account
180 -remove removes message #n (ranging from 1 to the number of messages in
183 the folder) in folder, in account. The message numbers may be obtained
184 by using -index.
185 n may be a comma-separated list of message numbers, in strictly numeri‐
187 cally increasing order. -remove confirms the list of messages to remove
188 and issues a ``Ready:'' prompt. Press ENTER to remove the messages.
189 mailtool -remove INBOX 28,31 imap://john@mail.example.com/novalidate-cert
191 FILTERING MESSAGES
193 mailtool -filter folder account
194 -filter is a combination of -index and -remove. folder's index is
197 downloaded, and the summary of each message is shown, one message at a
198 time. Each message's summary is followed by a prompt: ``Delete, Skip,
199 or Exit''. Pressing D removes the message, S leaves the message
200 unchanged, and E leaves the remaining messages unchanged.
201 mailtool -filter INBOX pop3://john@mail.example.com/novalidate-cert
203 Note: -filter is not meant to be used with large folders.
205 Unless messages are removed quickly, the connection to the
206 server may be disconnected for inactivity.
207 COPYING FOLDERS
209 mailtool [ -recurse ] -tofolder tofolder -copyto toaccount -fromfolder
210 fromfolder fromaccount
211 This command copies an entire folder, fromfolder in fromaccount to a
214 new folder, tofolder (which will be created, if necessary) in toac‐
215 count. Optionally, -recurse specifies that all subfolders of from‐
216 folder should also be copied.
217 mailtool -tofolder INBOX -copyto maildir:Maildir \
219 -fromfolder "INBOX" imap://mbox100@mail.example.com/novalidate-cert
220 mailtool -recurse -tofolder INBOX.converted_mail \
222 -copyto maildir:Maildir -fromfolder "mail" \
223 imap://mbox100@mail.example.com/novalidate-cert
224 This example first copies the INBOX on the IMAP server to
226 $HOME/Maildir, then copies subfolders of ``mail'' on the IMAP server to
227 the ``converted_mail'' subfolder in the maildir.
228 mailtool -tofolder INBOX -copyto maildir:Maildir \
230 -fromfolder "INBOX" inbox:mail
231 mailtool -recurse -tofolder INBOX.converted_mail \
233 -copyto maildir:Maildir -fromfolder "" mbox:mail
234 This example first copies $HOME/Inbox (accessed as the INBOX folder in
236 inbox:mail) to $HOME/Maildir, then copies mbox folders from $HOME/mail
237 to the ``converted_mail'' subfolder in the maildir.
238 Note: Mail accounts that contain hybrid folders (folders that
240 contain both messages and subfolders) can only be copied to
241 account types that also support hybrid folders: either local
242 maildirs, or to remote servers that support hybrid folders.
243
245 cone(1).
246 10 April 2006 MAILTOOL(1)