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NAME

       mailtool - Process mailboxes

SYNOPSIS

       mailtool [options...]

USAGE

       mailtool is a diagnostic utility for handling various operations on
       mailboxes.  mailtool´s main uses include: display the list of folders
       in a mailbox; displaying list of messages in a mailbox; and copying
       mailboxes.

       The following mailboxes can be accessed by mailtool:

       imap://userid@server[/options]
           An IMAP account.  mailtool will prompt for the login password.

       imaps://userid@server[/options]
           An IMAP account accessed via an encrypted SSL connection.

       pop3://userid@server[/options]
           A POP3 account.  mailtool will prompt for the login password.

       pop3s://userid@server[/options]
           A POP3 account accessed via an encrypted SSL connection.

       maildir:path
           A local maildir mailbox.  path specifies the maildir´s location
           relative to the home directory (NOT the current directory).

       mbox:path
           Local mbox mail folders.  path specifies the path to an mbox folder
           file, or a directory containing mbox folders, relative to the home
           directory (NOT the current directory).

       inbox:path
           Local mbox mail folders, like “mbox:path”; additionally, the system
           spool mailbox is automatically copied to $HOME/Inbox, which is
           accessible as folder INBOX.

       The name of a remote IMAP or POP3 server may be followed by one or more
       options that control various settings of the IMAP or POP3 connection:

       /cram
           Do not open the account unless the server supports secure password
           authentication. Secure password authentication verifies the
           account´s password using a challenge/response authentication
           mechanism (where the label "cram" comes from). The actual password
           is never actually transmitted to the server, and therefore cannot
           be intercepted while in transit over an untrusted network.

           Secure password authentication is not supported by all servers.
           This option may not work with some servers. This option does not
           enable secure password authentication, it only mandates its use. If
           the server supports secure password authentication, it will be used
           even without the /cram option. Traditional userid/password
           authentication will be used only if the server does not implement
           secure password authentication. The /cram option makes secure
           password authentication mandatory.

           The /cram option is marginally useful even with encrypted server
           connections. The secure password authentication never sends the
           explicit password to the server. Encryption makes it theoretically
           impossible to recover the password from an encrypted data
           connection; but with secure authentication the password is never
           sent over the connection in the first place (the password´s
           validity is certified by exchanging certain mathematical
           calculations between the server and the client). If the server is
           compromised, the compromised server will not receive the account
           password (unless the password is recovered from the server in other
           ways).

       /imap
           Do not use the SMAP if the server claims the availability of this
           experimental mail access protocol, and fall back to IMAP
           compatibility mode (this option is meaningful only with “imap://”
           and “imaps://” URLs).

       /notls
           Do not upgrade a plain connection to an encrypted one. This option
           is primarily used for testing and debugging purposes. Sometimes
           this option might be useful with servers that claim to offer
           encryption, but are unable to do so when taken up on their offer.

       /novalidate-cert
           Do not validate the server´s SSL certificate when using an
           encrypted connection. Normally the mail server´s SSL certificate
           must be validate when using an encrypted connection. The
           certificate´s name must match the server´s name, and the
           certificate must be signed by a trusted certificate authority.

           The encrypted connection normally fails if the certificate cannot
           be validate. Validation requires that a list of trusted certificate
           authorities must be known and configured. It´s simply impossible to
           know which certificate authorities are valid without an explicit
           list of valid, known, trusted, certificate authorities. If a
           trusted authority list is not configured, no certificate can be
           validated. If the server´s certificate is a self-signed certificate
           (this is often used for testing purposes), or if it´s not signed by
           a known authority, the encrypted connection fails.

           This /novalidate-cert option disables certificate validation. The
           encrypted connection will be established even if the server´s
           certificate would otherwise be rejected.

               Note
               This option is applicable even when an encrypted IMAP or POP3
               connection is not explicitly requested. Many mail servers are
               capable of automatically upgrading unencrypted connections to a
               fully-encrypted connection. If a mail server claims to be able
               to use encryption, then there´s no reason not to use it. The
               result is that all encryption certification requirements still
               apply even when encryption is not explicitly requested.

   Displaying mailbox contents
       mailtool -tree | -list  account

       -tree shows a hierarchical representation of mail folders in account.
       -list generates a simple folder listing, one folder name per line.
       -tree shows folder names, while -list shows the actual mail folder path
       in account.

           mailtool -tree imap://jsmith@mail.example.com/novalidate-cert/cram

   Creating folders
       mailtool -create | -createdir  folder name account

       -create creates a new subfolder of folder in account. The new
       subfolder´s name is name.  -createdir creates a new folder directory (a
       folder that contains other folders).

           mailtool -create INBOX.lists announcements maildir:Maildir

       This command creates a new folder “announcements” as a subfolders of
       “INBOX.lists” in the local maildir.

   Deleting folders
       mailtool -delete | -deletedir  folder account

       -delete deletes an existing folder in account.

       -deletedir deletes a folder directory.

           mailtool -delete INBOX.lists.announcements maildir:Maildir

   Renaming folders
       mailtool -rename oldfolder folder name account

       -renames renames an existing oldfolder. The folder is renamed as name,
       as a subfolder of folder.  folder may be an empty string if the folder
       should be moved to the top level of account´s folder hierarchy.

           mailtool -rename INBOX.lists.announcements INBOX.lists Announcements maildir:Maildir

       The folder “INBOX.lists.announcements” is renamed to
       “INBOX.lists.Announcements”. This slightly unusual way to rename folder
       allows folders to be relocated in the mail account´s folder hierarchy.

   Reading folder´s index
       mailtool -index folder account

       -index downloads and prints a summary of all messages in folder, in
       account. The summary shows the sender´s and recipients´ address, the
       message´s subject, and size.

           mailtool -index INBOX imap://john@mail.example.com/novalidate-cert

   Removing a message from a folder
       mailtool -remove folder n account

       -remove removes message #n (ranging from 1 to the number of messages in
       the folder) in folder, in account. The message numbers may be obtained
       by using -index.

       n may be a comma-separated list of message numbers, in strictly
       numerically increasing order.  -remove confirms the list of messages to
       remove and issues a “Ready:” prompt. Press ENTER to remove the
       messages.

           mailtool -remove INBOX 28,31 imap://john@mail.example.com/novalidate-cert

   Filtering messages
       mailtool -filter folder account

       -filter is a combination of -index and -remove.  folder´s index is
       downloaded, and the summary of each message is shown, one message at a
       time. Each message´s summary is followed by a prompt: “Delete, Skip, or
       Exit”. Pressing D removes the message, S leaves the message unchanged,
       and E leaves the remaining messages unchanged.

           mailtool -filter INBOX pop3://john@mail.example.com/novalidate-cert

           Note
           -filter is not meant to be used with large folders. Unless messages
           are removed quickly, the connection to the server may be
           disconnected for inactivity.

   Copying folders
       mailtool [-recurse] -tofolder tofolder -copyto toaccount -fromfolder
                fromfolder fromaccount

       This command copies an entire folder, fromfolder in fromaccount to a
       new folder, tofolder (which will be created, if necessary) in
       toaccount. Optionally, -recurse specifies that all subfolders of
       fromfolder should also be copied.

           mailtool -tofolder INBOX -copyto maildir:Maildir \
               -fromfolder "INBOX" imap://mbox100@mail.example.com/novalidate-cert

           mailtool -recurse -tofolder INBOX.converted_mail \
               -copyto maildir:Maildir -fromfolder "mail" \
                   imap://mbox100@mail.example.com/novalidate-cert

       This example first copies the INBOX on the IMAP server to
       $HOME/Maildir, then copies subfolders of “mail” on the IMAP server to
       the “converted_mail” subfolder in the maildir.

           mailtool -tofolder INBOX -copyto maildir:Maildir \
              -fromfolder "INBOX" inbox:mail

           mailtool -recurse -tofolder INBOX.converted_mail \
               -copyto maildir:Maildir -fromfolder "" mbox:mail

       This example first copies $HOME/Inbox (accessed as the INBOX folder in
       inbox:mail) to $HOME/Maildir, then copies mbox folders from $HOME/mail
       to the “converted_mail” subfolder in the maildir.

           Note
           Mail accounts that contain hybrid folders (folders that contain
           both messages and subfolders) can only be copied to account types
           that also support hybrid folders: either local maildirs, or to
           remote servers that support hybrid folders.

SEE ALSO

       cone(1).

[FIXME: source]                   10/31/2009