Fetchmail
{{Short description|Email retriever utility}}
{{Infobox software
| logo =
| screenshot = Fetchmailconf01.png
| caption = Screenshot of fetchmail launcher
| author = Eric S. Raymond
| developer =
| released =
| latest release version = {{wikidata|property|edit|reference|P348}}
| latest release date = {{start date and age|{{wikidata|qualifier|P348|P577}}}}
| operating system = Unix-like
| platform =
| language =
| genre = Mail delivery agent
| license = GNU General Public License
| website = {{URL|https://www.fetchmail.info/}}
}}
Fetchmail is an open-source software utility for POSIX-compliant operating systems which is used to retrieve e-mail from a remote POP3, IMAP, or ODMR mail server to the user's local system. It was developed from the [https://github.com/soulwing/popclient popclient] program, written by Carl Harris.{{cite web |url=http://www.fetchmail.info/esrs-design-notes.html |title=Eric S. Raymond's former Design Notes On Fetchmail |author=Raymond, Eric |access-date=2007-04-03}}
Its chief significance is perhaps that its author, Eric S. Raymond, used it as a model to discuss his theories of open-source software development in a widely read and influential essay on software development methodologies The Cathedral and the Bazaar.
Design
By design, Fetchmail's only means of delivering messages is by submitting them to the local MTA/Message transfer agent or invoking a mail delivery agent[http://www.fetchmail.info/fetchmail-FAQ.html "...or into an MDA program..."], Section G1, The Fetchmail FAQ. like procmail, maildrop, or sendmail; delivering directly to mail folders such as maildir is not supported.
It is a C program evolved by gradual mutation from an ancestor already written in C.{{Cite journal |last=Richardson |first=Anthony |title=An Online Unix System Programming Course For Computer Engineering Students |journal=2004 Annual Conference Proceedings |date=2004 |pages=9.197.1–9.197.10 |publisher=ASEE Conferences |doi=10.18260/1-2--13866|doi-access=free }}
Dan Bernstein, getmail creator Charles Cazabon and FreeBSD developer Terry Lambert, have criticized Fetchmail's design,{{cite web |url=http://docs.freebsd.org/cgi/getmsg.cgi?fetch=585008+0+archive/2001/freebsd-arch/20010218.freebsd-arch |title=UUCP must stay; fetchmail sucks (was list 'o things) |access-date=2007-04-05 |author=Lambert, Terry }} its number of security holes,{{cite web |title=getmail frequently asked questions |url=http://pyropus.ca/software/getmail/faq.html#faq-about-why |access-date = 2007-04-05 |author=Cazabon, Charles }} and that it was prematurely put into "maintenance mode". In 2004, a new team of maintainers took over Fetchmail development,{{cite web |title=Developer History |url=http://www.fetchmail.info/ |access-date = 2007-04-05 }} and laid out development plans that broke with design decisions that Eric Raymond had made in earlier versions.{{cite web |title=Design Notes On Fetchmail |url=http://www.fetchmail.info/design-notes.html |access-date=2007-04-05}}
See also
{{Portal|Free and open-source software}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Official website|http://www.fetchmail.info/}}
- [https://sourceforge.net/projects/fetchmail/ Fetchmail at SourceForge]
{{E-mail clients}}https://sourceforge.net/directory/os:windows/?q=fetchmail
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