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).

AUTHOR

       Sam Varshavchik

Cone©                                              04/04/2011                                        MAILTOOL(1)