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}}}}  | 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 POP3, IMAP, or 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 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 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 *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