NAME

       mailbox-preview - list new email messages in an IMAP mailbox

SYNOPSIS

       mailbox-preview [[server][:mailbox]] [ --option ... ]
       mailbox-preview mail_spool_file_name [ --option ... ]
       mailbox-preview [[server][:mailbox]] --check oldsize [ --option ... ]
       mailbox-preview mail_spool_file_name --check oldsize [ --option ... ]

DESCRIPTION

       The  mailbox-preview  program reads an IMAP mailbox and uses scan(1) to display a summary,
       one line per new message.  It can be used stand-alone on the command line or as the  back-
       end of a graphical, literate new-mail notification program such as xlbiff(1).

       The  optional  first  argument  is  an  optional  name of an IMAP server (default “imap”),
       optionally followed by a colon and a mailbox name (default “inbox”).  Unless  the  default
       name  imap  resolves  on  your network to the name of your IMAP server, you will need this
       argument.  It is likely that the default mailbox name inbox will work for you.

       Your ~/.netrc file is consulted for the login and password for the IMAP server.   See  the
       FILES section, below, for the format of this file.

       If  the  first argument to mailbox-preview is instead the name of a file under a top-level
       directory that exists, it is treated as the name of a local mail drop, and  that  file  is
       used instead of doing IMAP.

       With  --check, the program conforms to the checkCommand protocol of xlbiff(1).  The output
       is the new mailbox size to pass next time as the argument to --check.   (The  contents  of
       the mailbox are not output.)  The exit value of the program describes how the mailbox size
       has changed, as documented under the -checkCommand option in xlbiff(1).

OPTIONS

       --check old_size
               Check for mailbox change instead  of  scanning;  see  the  description  above  and
               xlbiff(1).

       --width N
               Width in characters to pass to scan; default is $COLUMNS (from the environment).

       --max-messages N
               Display only the last N (default 20) new messages; 0 to display all.

       --form file
               Format file for scan; see mh-format(5).  Default is xlbiff.form

       --scanproc program
               Filename  of  the  program to pipe the messages through; default /usr/bin/mh/scan.
               If set explicitly to an empty string, the messages will be output  raw  (which  is
               probably useful only for debugging).

       --quiet Do not output the messages.  This option is probably useful only for debugging.

       --client-preview
               Do not request a short message preview from the IMAP server and instead create our
               own short form of the message.  Use this option if you don't like the preview your
               IMAP  server  generates.   It  has  no  effect unless the IMAP server advertises a
               preview capability.

       --imap-debug level
               Set the imaplib debug level; level 4 displays the IMAP protocol messages, level  5
               also displays IMAP literal strings.

FILES

       ~/.netrc
               Login  information for your IMAP server.  If your IMAP server requires a password,
               supply it on a machine line matching the IMAP server name, for example

                   machine server_name login account_name password your_pw

               If “login account_name” is omitted, account_name defaults to your user name.

BUGS REPORTS

       When reporting interoperability problems with an IMAP server, include the output of

         mailbox-preview srvr --imap-debug=4 --quiet 2>&1 | grep -v " LOGIN "

EXAMPLE

       Example command lines:

           mailbox-preview imap.example.com
           mailbox-preview imap.example.com --check 12

AUTHOR

       Stephen Gildea, November 2021

SEE ALSO

       xlbiff(1), scan(1)

                                            2022-12-01                         MAILBOX-PREVIEW(1)