Using mw to create POP3 accounts only

[badger62]

Hi
I am trying to create an email account that retrieves via POP3 only . However it looks like mw defaults to creating IMAP accounts only. Is there a way to do this . I ask because my ISP's IMAP is bad . At the moment I am retrieving emails via IMAP successfully but I am unable to create email folders on the server from neomutt, this is an ISP problem part of the reason I stopped using IMAP with other email clients . It creates them locally but they do not show up in the sidebar . Is there a way of making folders that are local only visible and accessible on the sidebar ?

[LukeSmithxyz]

I've been seriously thinking about adding this, but I'm not personally familiar with a command-line program that uses POP equivalent to mbsync for IMAP. I'll look into it.

[Kr1ss-XD]

@LukeSmithxyz you might want to have a look at mailwizard, which implements POP3 support via getmail. Maybe that's helpful; it has been forked before your major refactoring though.

EDIT/ getmail is Python though, not sure if that would be an issue for you.

[LukeSmithxyz]

Oh yeah, I remember when he forked that. I'll look into getmail, since that's what he uses.

[LukeSmithxyz]

I think I'd prefer using mpop after some research. I don't have a pop server to test this out on though. If I get the time, I might get to it, but I'd have to familiarize myself with pop protocol.

Honestly I don't feel like this is a huge priory because I think 99% of people will always prefer IMAP nowadays, but I am open to adding it.

Another issue is logon testing. Right now, the script just tries to logon with mbsync. I'll probably need to devise another scripted way of testing logins that can work for imap and pop.

[Kr1ss-XD]

@LukeSmithxyz What about using neomutt itself as the POP3 client ?

[LukeSmithxyz]

To be clear, I mean for when the script itself tests the user logon to see if it's valid. Are you saying there's an easy neomutt login test that doesn't bring up the full program? I've never thought to look I guess.

[Kr1ss-XD]

No I don't know either, sorry. I never used POP3 myself.

It was just a quick idea. Because POP3 email is stored locally anyways, it might be easier to not use a third party app when neomutt has the functionality integrated.

[PRESFIL]

To be clear, I mean for when the script itself tests the user logon to see if it's valid.

@LukeSmithxyz , you can try search some solution with curl if neomutts way will be too crutchy (if an extra dependency is not a problem for you).

[LukeSmithxyz]

I had written some functions in openssl to test logons, but I've never tried curl. I'll look into it, but I'm not familiar with its syntax. The important thing is that it returns the right error code.

[PRESFIL]

I came across this before writing a PR. curl has as many as ~90 return codes. Foresight on their part. I thought bash needed a separate library for network stuff, but curl itself is a library as is, apparently 😄.

[LukeSmithxyz]

I have pushed a change that now checks the login with curl. Works fine for me, but I want to see how generalizable it is. #614 might be an issue with it.

[PRESFIL]

Works fine for me, but I want to see how generalizable it is. #614 might be an issue with it.

Yes, because it wasn't supposed to use POP3. 😃

I can try curl with my provider, but probably everything is arranged differently there, because curl allows you to work at the message level, and they are certainly different from IMAP.

[LukeSmithxyz]

Well yeah, I'm assuming that you'd be using a different port and also pop:// or whatever. I'm not sure if there's something else that would be needed.

I mightt just set up a POP server and see how I can get it working if I have the time.

[LukeSmithxyz]

For info, still thinking about adding this.

The curl login is already integrated, so mbsync is also no longer a runtime dependency (which is good for people who do not need mbsync for offline accounts either).

I might set up a POP server today to test it.

[LukeSmithxyz]

I've added this. Run mw with the -P option. You can specify the pop server information with -i and -I as if it is an IMAP server. mw will still use a maildir to store the mail locally (one INBOX).

I've tested this on my own server and it works well, but make me aware of any other issues.

[LukeSmithxyz]

Oh, and it uses mpop.

[badger62]

@LukeSmithxyz thanks , this looks great . I'll give it try.