[Alpine-info] O365 XOAUTH2 via fetchmail

[Steve Litt]

Carlos E. R. said on Thu, 21 Apr 2022 14:56:11 +0200


>On 2022-04-21 14:31, Carl Edquist wrote:

>> On Thu, 21 Apr 2022, Carlos E. R. wrote:

>>   

>>> imapsync, which I mentioned in another post, doesn't care. It syncs 

>>> between imap servers, so in my case, one remote, one local using 

>>> dovecot; and my dovecot writes to mbox.

>>>

>>> It could be set as a cron job.

>>>

>>> Of course, if you are not already using a local imap server it is

>>> an extra complication.  

>> 

>> Thanks again for mentioning this - at some point i may try that out

>> if i get around to setting up dovcot locally.


I've been using a local Dovecot IMAP with Maildir storage for eight
years now, and it's been wonderful. I store my downloaded emails in
Dovecot, not in my email client.


>> 

>> Yeah, while i find the idea of running a local mail server (like

>> dovcot) kind of interesting (and in particular with things like

>> indexed full-text search), i have kind of come full circle and, for

>> the time being anyway, it strikes me that nothing beats the

>> delightfully-retro simplicity of a mailbox just being a file on your

>> filesystem.  


I would agree with the preceding except for one thing: All email
clients suck, and you never know when you're going to have to change
email clients. Different email clients use different kinds of files
(maildir, mh, and the various variants of mbox), so changing email
clients becomes a big todo. With my email safely stored in Dovecot, I
can use any email client that can access IMAP. I'm thinking of
switching to Alpine.


>>Mail gets delivered by fetchmail (or whatever) to

>> /var/mail/$USER; you read and compose mail in alpine; and alpine (or

>> your scripts) send it via sendmail.  

>

>

>Yes, that is (was) my setup. fetchmail + spamassassin + amavis +

>clamav 

>+ procmail delivering to mbox folders.

>

>Then at some point I added dovecot (because the imap package from Mark 

>Crispin became unavailable on openSUSE). Dovecot simply uses the 

>existing mbox files and serves them over imap. I can still use

>fetchmail (and I did for many months), or move email between imap

>servers using alpine, imapsync, thunderbird, whatever.


This is another benefit of a local IMAP server.


>This actually simplified my setup, in which I can access my local 

>folders both in Alpine and Thunderbird (this email is being composed

>in the later). It can be done without a local imap server, but that

>has its own complications (thunderbird does not see a plain mbox file

>till you add empty indexes).

>

>What I don't have currently is dovecot search.


I wonder if this would work for you:
https://wiki2.dovecot.org/Tools/Doveadm/SearchQuery



>> Maybe it's just nostalgia talking, but most of the time i feel like

>> the modern email experience hasn't really improved on the classic

>> model.



:-)  Now what's not to like about DKIM, DMARC, OATH2, and all that other

stuff designed to make email inconvenient so people will switch to
facebook?


>> 

>> I get that the idea of IMAP and getting to "leave your mail on the 

>> server" is seductively convenient, compared to owning and managing

>> your own data (especially if you want to access it from multiple

>> devices), but then again this probably explains why gmail got to be

>> so big.  


By running my own local Dovecot IMAP server locally, leaving the stuff
on the server really is convenient. I like having my 20+ years of
emails not depending on which email client I happen to use.


>

>

>Yes, the thing is I use several machines. Imap simplfies things.

>

>> 

>> ...

>> 

>> And to follow up on a comment Eduardo made, I do hope that even if

>> the giant corporations manage to exile IMAP and SMTP from their

>> fortresses, these classic protocols will still enjoy a good, long,

>> free life in the wilderness of the borderlands, among their fellow

>> average-sized programs.  


I hope so too.


>

>I hope imap lives forever.


Me too.


SteveT

Steve Litt 
March 2022 featured book: Making Mental Models: Advanced Edition
http://www.troubleshooters.com/mmm