fetchmail

Note

WebFaction supports IMAP and POP mail protocols, but IMAP is recommended. By default, IMAP leaves messages stored on the mail server, allowing you to access your mail from different computers and devices, while POP typically does not. If you still want to configure your email client to use POP, please see Configuring Other Mail Clients for details.

You can use fetchmail to retrieve mail from WebFaction’s mail servers. To configure fetchmail:

1. Open your $HOME/.fetchmailrc file in a text editor.

2. Add the following lines to the file:

   poll mail.webfactional.com with proto IMAP
   user mailbox_name there with password mysecret is username here
   

   where

   • mailbox_name is the name of the mailbox you configured in the WebFaction control panel,
   • mysecret is the password for the mailbox,
   • and username is your local (not WebFaction) username.

   Note

   For more information about configuring fetchmail, please see the fetchmail documentation. It contains important information about how mail is handled after being retrieved from the server.

3. Save and close .fetchmailrc.

Now, if you enter fetchmail and press Enter, your mail will be downloaded.