| Fetchmail | |
|---|---|
 Screenshot of fetchmail launcher | |
| Original author | Eric S. Raymond |
| Stable release | |
| Repository | |
| Operating system | Unix-like |
| Type | Mail delivery agent |
| License | GNU General Public License |
| Website | www |
Fetchmail is anopen-source software utility forPOSIX-compliant operating systems which is used to retrievee-mail from a remotePOP3,IMAP, orODMR mail server to the user's local system. It was developed from thepopclient program, written by Carl Harris.[2]
Its chief significance is perhaps that its author,Eric S. Raymond, used it as a model to discuss his theories ofopen-source software development in a widely read and influential essay on software development methodologiesThe Cathedral and the Bazaar.
By design, Fetchmail's only means of delivering messages is by submitting them to the local MTA/Message transfer agent or invoking amail delivery agent[3] likeprocmail,maildrop, orsendmail; delivering directly to mail folders such asmaildir is not supported.
It is aC program evolved by gradual mutation from an ancestor already written in C.[4]
Dan Bernstein,getmail creator Charles Cazabon andFreeBSD developer Terry Lambert, have criticized Fetchmail's design,[5] its number of security holes,[6] and that it was prematurely put into "maintenance mode". In 2004, a new team of maintainers took over Fetchmail development,[7] and laid out development plans that broke with design decisions that Eric Raymond had made in earlier versions.[8]
