Ok, weird tittle, but i hope the question will make more sense.
Currently i use Sylpheed as a mail client to fetch mail and store them in ~/mail
However, i would like to give fetchmail a try. But i would like to know what standars "mbox" is and where it is (Slack). Is it /var/mail/username?
Is Fetchmail going to create this dir? Basically, as far as i know, fetchmail will retrieve mail from servers and put it into a standars mbox, then i can read it with a mail client, even sylpheed? or only "old school" like Mutt and Pine? And then, how do i send mail? Do i have to configure sendmail as well?
Well, im very confused about all this e-mail bussiness in Linux as you can see from my questions, a short explanation would be awesome, or a link.
Thanks you VERY much
-NSKL

Not really the best answer to your question, but here's what I did, and I really know NOTHING about networking/sendmail/MTA's et al...

I am running Slack8.1. I was usually able to send mail out using simple plain old regular default sendmail, but I couldn't recieve mail in. So I read posts around a bit, and finally decided to go with Postfix. It really doesn't take much more than reading the INSTALL/README files, and basic /.configure make and make install abiliities.

Now I can send/recieve email from my domain? (anyway from the www.masterc.no-ip.org address ) and it goes directly to /var/mail/masterc (or whatever user it's sent to) and then I have kmail setup to go there an retrieve it (which didn't take much to setup either, it was as simple as supplying the path) and then I can read it.

I don't know if that helps much, I know it definitely doesn't answer some of the questions, but it works. I don't like doing things that way usually, and still do read up on it, but since I don't understand networking very well, I think I will eternally be lost on it.

Cool

Bah, i feel like you, eternally lost... It'll take a lot of reading to get out of this state...
Anyway, i was thinking to setup fetchmail to retrieve my mail from POP3 servers, and store it in /var/spool/mail/username but i dunno if this should be a file or a directory? I will probably find this out once i read up on fetchmail.
The real question is this. If i fetch my mail with fetchmail, and store it in aforementioned dir, i can point sylpheed to read the mail from there, but can i then simply use sylpheed to send mail, or do i have to setup all the sendmail as well?
Basically i want fetchmail to fetch mail, then sylpheed to read it, and send out new mail, without help of any other program. Making sense here?
Thanks
-NSKL

sylpheed DOES support standard MH mailbox format, one of the best things about it. but that will operate seperately to sendmail, you won't need it if you don't already.

What fetchmail does by default as soon as it retrieves your 'other' POP/IMAP mail is read is hand it over to YOUR SMTP daemon listening on port 25. The SMTP daemon will relay your mail - assuming that it is configured properly - and deliver it to the your default mailbox ( /var/spool/mail/username ?) which is in the standard mbox format ( as opposed to Maildir format that is more reliable over NFS ) using your Mail Delivery Agent, which in the case of sendmail is usually /bin/mail aka binmail. Most MUAs retrieve the mail from where the MDA delivers it and stores in in ~/mail (personal mail storage area that only the MUA is bothered about in case you want to retrieve your message ) or whatever they choose to call it just like your Sylpheed ( have never used it, had to look hard not to misspell it ). What I'd do is read the fetchmail documentation ( the manpage is really a handful ) and configure fetchmail to suit my needs. There is an X based program called fetchmailconf which will let you configure fetchmail through a friendlier interface.

Ok, with your help i got it sorted. I got fetchmail to fetch mail and store it in /var/spool/mail/username, gkrellm will report any new mail, and then i can read it with sylpheed and send e-mail using only sylpheed without sendmail, works great. Thanks you very much.
-NSKL

sylpheed is the only "poncy" mail client i've come acros that desals with MH mailboxes. you can of course use pine, elm etc... to access the exact same mail as with sylpheed, somethign not possible if you were to use kmail or similar.

Yeah but my Sylpheed moves the messages from /var/spool/mail/username to ~/Mail
Is this normal, or is it my Sylpheed configuration that causes this. And then what is the advantage, if any, of having mail in /var/spool/mail/username then in ~/Mail?
Thanks
-NSKL

no it's not normal, i'm pretty sure there is a way to keep it where it should be.

Acid, NSKL.. I think this is perfectly normal.. in fact desirable. All MUAs I've used so far ( pine, mutt etc ) do this by default. the /var/spool/mail/username file is for the MDA to deliver mail to. The MUA picks it up from that location, pops it off rightaway and keeps it in your 'personal folder' if you want. So basically, the var/spool location contains 'unread' mail where as the ~/ Mail folders contain the messages you've read.

That is.. if the /var/spool/mail/username is not empty, you have unread mail. If you configure your MUA to keep it there after the messages are read, that means to the *NIX system, you still have unread mail in your system mailbox. So the mail notification systems like biff/comsat will report that you have mail. Now, that in something that I dont want to happen, so keep I'd keep my 'read' stuff off of the system folders.

no, that is not at all true. the point of standard unix mail boxes is (among others) that you can share mail over a network from a standard mail server. The common approach is to set a mail server's /var/spool/mail folder as an nfs share and then mounted on each client machine as if it were their local one. This is what i do on my home network, and what i have been used to on all otehr comprehensive unix networks. if you still don't believe me...That's an awful lot of unread mail huh pine does use local mail folders but only for mail you are filtering within the program. if you don't like tried and tested unix conventions that's fine, i'll do it properly though, if you don't mind.

It's great being told things that you already do are impossible isn't it!?

point taken! I'd stick to unix conventions as long as I can, hehe. No offense!

The way I said was the way things were when I was working on some *NIX installations ( as a luser of course ) for a firm in the bay area. I pretty much assumed that 'this is the way world follows'.. looks like it isnt.


Thanks again for correcting me, bud. Its great to be told I'm wrong.

sorry, please don't take it the wrong way, just trying to set the facts straight. believe me, i've been corrected FAR more times than you have been!

No, I'm taking it the right way.

So I guess why they did it so is probably because their /var /spool share was up to the brim with mails and stuff, but they had more room in their /home share.