Editing 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}}}}
<!-- | latest preview version = 6.5.0-beta3
| latest preview date = {{release date and age|2021|04|24}} -->
| 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 [[Post Office Protocol|POP3]], [[Internet Message Access Protocol|IMAP]], or [[On-Demand Mail Relay|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.<ref>{{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}}</ref>

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]]<ref>[http://www.fetchmail.info/fetchmail-FAQ.html ''"...or into an MDA program..."''], Section&nbsp;G1, The Fetchmail FAQ.</ref> like [[procmail]], [[maildrop]], or [[sendmail]]; delivering directly to mail folders such as [[maildir]] is not supported.

It is a [[C (programming language)|C program]] evolved by gradual mutation from an ancestor already written in C.<ref>{{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 }}</ref>

[[Dan Bernstein]], [[getmail]] creator Charles Cazabon and [[FreeBSD]] developer Terry Lambert, have criticized Fetchmail's design,<ref>{{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 }}</ref> its number of security holes,<ref>{{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 }}</ref> and that it was prematurely put into "maintenance mode". In 2004, a new team of maintainers took over Fetchmail development,<ref>{{cite web |title=Developer History |url=http://www.fetchmail.info/ |access-date = 2007-04-05 }}</ref> and laid out development plans that broke with design decisions that Eric Raymond had made in earlier versions.<ref>{{cite web |title=Design Notes On Fetchmail |url=http://www.fetchmail.info/design-notes.html |access-date=2007-04-05}}</ref>

== See also ==
{{Portal|Free and open-source software}}
*[[Mail retrieval agent]]
*[[getmail]]
*[[fdm (software)|fdm]]
*[[OfflineIMAP]]

==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

[[Category:Free email software]]
[[Category:Mail delivery agents]]

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