GetMail - Version 1.6


INTRODUCTION:

GetMail is a POP Client, it is used for receiving mail to your
local Amiga host from an Internet POP host.

GetMail was written with referance to the following mail RFC's.
RFC-821, RFC-822, RFC-1081, RFC-1082, RFC-1225, RFC-1725.


REQUIREMENTS:

Getmail requires WB 2.04 as a minimum (and will also utilise the
file buffering of WB 3.0 where possible).

GetMail is for use with AmiTCP (it will not work with AS225), it
was developed on version 4.0 of AmiTCP but I suspect that it will
work on version 3.0 also.


BACKGROUND:

When I signed up to get Internet access I keenly downloaded software
from my local BBS and was immediately disapointed while reading the
installation instructions.  It was quite clear that much of the
software was ported from the Unix/UUCP environment as the software
wanted a lot of assigns like UULib:, UUSpool: and many environmental
variables.  Even worse, several software packages used the 
environmental variables in conflicting mannors.  The Ported Unix
code did not take full advantage to the Amiga OS and resulted in 
large executable sizes.  I decided to write my own utilities.


INSTALLATION:

I have provided both 68000 and 68020 executables.

Simply copy the GetMail executable (this is a dos command so no icon is
required) to a location somewhere in your path.  A good place for it is
in the AmiTCP:bin drawer.

I reccommend creating two environmental variables called EMAILADDR and
POPHOST.  EMAILADDR is for your full E-Mail address (Also used by PutMail).
POPHOST is for the host name of the POP Host that holds your E-Mail mailbox.
These assigns are not manditory but they do reduce the arguments that
you need to pass to GetMail.

Provided AmiTCP is up and running you can use GetMail immediately.



OVERVIEW:

GetMail receives mail to the local AmiTCP user's HOME directory.
The local file is "From " delimited (same as AmiPOP).

GetMail uses three environmental variables that all exist in AmiTCP
installations.  They are USER (userid), HOME (home drawer) and
HOSTNAME (localhostname.domain).


USAGE:

The command template for GetMail is "GetMail MAIL=MAILFILE/K,
USER/K,PASS=PASSWORD/A,EMAILADDR/K,POPHOST/K,DELETE/S,VERBOSE/S".


Lets go through the arguments one by one.


MAIL=MAILFILE     Optional argument.

This is the name of your local mail message file in your home directory
directory where messages are to be stored.  It must be file name with no
device name as GetMail appends this name to your home path.  The home path
is obtained from the environmental variable 'HOME'.  If the file does not
exist it will be created.  If it does exist the mail will be appended to it.
The default name is "MailBox.InWard".  The argument can be specified as
MAILFILE=foo or abreviated as MAIL=foo.


USER              Optional argument.

This is the LogonID you use to access the POP Host.  If you don't
provide this argument your local AmiTCP UserID will be used.
This required because sometimes your LogonID is not the same as your
mailbox UserID.


PASS=PASSWORD     Manditory argument.

This is the password you use to access the POP Host.


EMAIL=EMAILADDR   Optional argument.

This is your full E-Mail address.  If this argument is not supplied
GetMail will use the environmental variable EMAILADDR, if that doesn't
exist it will use your local AmiTCP UserID and the name of the POPHost
that you are connecting to.


POPHOST           Optional argument.

This is the name of the POP host that holds your E-Mail mailbox.
If this argument is not supplied GetMail will use the environmental
variable POPHOST, if that doesn't exist it will use the name of the
host that you are connected to (obtained from the domain part of the
local host namein the environmental variable HOSTNAME).


DELETE            Optional argument.

This argument switches on deletion of messages read from the mailbox.


VERBOSE           Optional argument.

This argument simply switches on verbose reporting of the program's
activities and progress.  If you have problems using GetMail this may
help explain why it's not working.  You can always redirect the verbose
output to a file and post this to be if you need assistance.


DEVELOPMENT:

GetMail was developed on an Amiga 3000 running WB 3.1 using SAS/C 6.55.


SO LONG AND THANKS FOR THE FISH:

I hope you find GetMail easy to use and usefull.

Bug reports, Comments, ideas, *POSTCARDS*, E-Mail, gifts and requests
for new utilities all welcome.

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This program is freeware, use and/or distribute as you wish
on a "NON Profit" basis.  Inclusion on the Aminet and Fred Fish
CD's is welcomed due to their long standing support of the Amiga.

No warranty exists, use this software at your own risk.
I will answer all E-Mail and Snail-Mail messages.
I do provide bug fixes via UUEncoded E-Mail.

Martin V Lanza
PO Box 8344,
Christchurch,
New Zealand.

mlanza@southern.co.nz

Home Phone 64-3-366-1618