NAME

       mailbox-preview - list new email messages in an IMAP mailbox

SYNOPSIS

       mailbox-preview [[server][:mailbox]] [ --option ... ]
       mailbox-preview mail_spool_file_name [ --option ... ]
       mailbox-preview [[server][:mailbox]] --check oldsize [ --option ... ]
       mailbox-preview mail_spool_file_name --check oldsize [ --option ... ]

DESCRIPTION

       The mailbox-preview program reads an IMAP mailbox and uses scan(1) to display a summary, one line per new
       message.  It can be used stand-alone on the command line or as the back-end of a graphical, literate new-
       mail notification program such as xlbiff(1).

       The  optional  first argument is an optional name of an IMAP server (default “imap”), optionally followed
       by a colon and a mailbox name (default “inbox”).  Unless the default name imap resolves on  your  network
       to the name of your IMAP server, you will need this argument.  It is likely that the default mailbox name
       inbox will work for you.

       Your  ~/.netrc  file is consulted for the login and password for the IMAP server.  See the FILES section,
       below, for the format of this file.

       If the first argument to mailbox-preview is instead the name of a file under a top-level  directory  that
       exists, it is treated as the name of a local mail drop, and that file is used instead of doing IMAP.

       With  --check,  the  program  conforms  to the checkCommand protocol of xlbiff(1).  The output is the new
       mailbox size to pass next time as the argument to --check.  (The contents of the mailbox are not output.)
       The exit value of the program describes how the  mailbox  size  has  changed,  as  documented  under  the
       -checkCommand option in xlbiff(1).

OPTIONS

       --check old_size
               Check for mailbox change instead of scanning; see the description above and xlbiff(1).

       --width N
               Width in characters to pass to scan; default is $COLUMNS (from the environment).

       --max-messages N
               Display only the last N (default 20) new messages; 0 to display all.

       --form file
               Format file for scan; see mh-format(5).  Default is xlbiff.form

       --scanproc program
               Filename  of  the  program  to  pipe  the  messages  through;  default  /usr/bin/mh/scan.  If set
               explicitly to an empty string, the messages will be output raw (which is probably useful only for
               debugging).

       --quiet Do not output the messages.  This option is probably useful only for debugging.

       --client-preview
               Do not request a short message preview from the IMAP server and instead create our own short form
               of the message.  Use this option if you don't like the preview your IMAP  server  generates.   It
               has no effect unless the IMAP server advertises a preview capability.

       --imap-debug level
               Set  the  imaplib debug level; level 4 displays the IMAP protocol messages, level 5 also displays
               IMAP literal strings.

FILES

       ~/.netrc
               Login information for your IMAP server.  If your IMAP server requires a password, supply it on  a
               machine line matching the IMAP server name, for example

                   machine server_name login account_name password your_pw

               If “login account_name” is omitted, account_name defaults to your user name.

BUGS REPORTS

       When reporting interoperability problems with an IMAP server, include the output of

         mailbox-preview srvr --imap-debug=4 --quiet 2>&1 | grep -v " LOGIN "

EXAMPLE

       Example command lines:

           mailbox-preview imap.example.com
           mailbox-preview imap.example.com --check 12

AUTHOR

       Stephen Gildea, November 2021

SEE ALSO

       xlbiff(1), scan(1)

                                                   2022-12-01                                 MAILBOX-PREVIEW(1)