Pop3mail Hex VersionInline docs

Pop3 client to download email (including attachments) from the inbox via the commandline or Elixir API.
Written in Elixir, using an Erlang pop3 client with SSL support derived from the epop package.
Decodes multipart content, quoted-printables, base64 and encoded-words.

Implemented RFC’s in Pop3mail to decode email

Before you start

Gmail users:

Installation from scratch

Install Elixir

Follow the instructions on http://elixir-lang.org/install.html

Also install git and optionally also rebar3.

Erlang/OTP version

Use this list for Elixir and OTP compatibility.

Clone project

$ git clone https://github.com/nico-amsterdam/pop3mail.git

Compile & unit test

$ cd pop3mail
$ mix deps.get
$ mix test

For usage, see usage chapter below.

Install in an Elixir project

  1. Add pop3mail to your list of dependencies in mix.exs: 
       def deps do
     [{:pop3mail, "~> 1.5"}]
   end

Upgrade to 1.5

Pop3mail 1.5 uses pop3client 1.4

Use pop3client 1.4 for OTP 26 and higher. Pop3client 1.3 on OTP 26 results in a connection_failed error, because it doesn’t provide cacerts keys to the ssl connections, and OTP 26 has safer ssl defaults to verify the server certificate.

pop3client v1.4 by default verifies the server certificate on OTP 25 and 26. It’s uses the cacerts keys from the OS via :public_key.cacerts_get/0

The pop3mail cli has a new cacertfile parameter to supply your own CA Certificates.

Upgrade instructions 1.3.1 to 1.3.2

Run:

mix deps.clean erlpop
mix deps.update pop3mail

After the mix deps.clean erlpop command, the deps/erlpop directory should be gone, and also the _build/dev/lib/erlpop and _build/test/lib/erlpop should be vanished.

Upgrade instructions 1.3.0 to 1.3.1

Version 1.3.1 doesn’t require erlpop as github dependency anymore, because it is now available in hex.pm as ‘pop3client’ and added as dependency for pop3mail. Remove {:erlpop, github: “nico-amsterdam/erlpop”} in your mix.exs. If you don’t mix reports: ‘Dependencies have diverged’

Usage

Commandline script

The script downloads email and writes the content in the inbox folder.

$ pop3mail_downloader --help
$ pop3mail_downloader --username=<your email username> --password=<your email password> --max=10 --raw

or without shell/batch script:

*nix

$ mix run_pop3mail --help
$ mix run_pop3mail --username='<your email username>' --password='<your email password>' --max=10 --raw

Windows

C:\pop3mail\mix run_pop3mail --help
C:\pop3mail\mix run_pop3mail --username="<your email username>" --password="<your email password>" --max=10 --raw

The script defaults to Gmail, but you can specify other POP3 server and port settings.

Use in Elixir

Documentation is available online

Example:

$ iex -S mix

# notice that you must use the c-sigil ~c for character lists
iex(1)> {:ok, client} = :epop_client.connect(~c"user@gmail.com", ~c"password", 
...(1)>   [:ssl, {:addr, ~c"pop.gmail.com"}, {:port, 995}, {:user, ~c"user@gmail.com"}])
iex(2)> :epop_client.stat(client) 
iex(3)> {:ok, mail_content} = :epop_client.bin_retrieve(client, 1) 
iex(4)> {:message, header_list, body_content } = :epop_message.bin_parse(mail_content)
iex(5)> Pop3mail.header_lookup(header_list, "Subject")
iex(6)> Pop3mail.header_lookup(header_list, "From")
iex(7)> Pop3mail.header_lookup(header_list, "Date")
iex(8)> part_list = Pop3mail.decode_body_content(header_list, body_content)
iex(9)> length(part_list)
iex(10)> part = Enum.at(part_list, 0)
iex(11)> part.media_type
iex(12)> part.filename
iex(13)> part.charset
iex(14)> part.content
iex(15)> :epop_client.delete(client, 1)
iex(16)> {:ok, mail_content} = :epop_client.bin_retrieve(client, 2) 
iex(17)> {:message, header_list, body_content } = :epop_message.bin_parse(mail_content)
iex(18)> Pop3mail.header_lookup(header_list, "Subject")
iex(19)> :epop_client.quit(client)

Spam folder

You better turn off the spam folder of your email account if you don’t want to miss any email with this program. In Gmail you cannot turn it off, but you can create a filter for spam with the option ‘Never send it to spam’.

Reset Gmail

Gmail remembers which mails are already read. Fortunetely Gmail can be reset to re-read all emails.

Login in www.gmail.com. In Gmail webmail Settings > Forwarding and POP/IMAP, select another option for POP, like Download mail from now on. Save change. Go back to settings and select Download all mail, Save change.

Now your email client should download all mail again.

Access Gmail with less secure apps

Google only trusts google apps. Gmail is trusted, but pop3mail not. You will notice that authentication fails, and google will sent you a security warning by email. Access with less secure apps can be turned on for your google account at: https://myaccount.google.com/lesssecureapps 2 step verification must be on: https://myaccount.google.com/signinoptions/two-step-verification In the 2 step verification section, it is possible to set an app password: https://myaccount.google.com/apppasswords Use the 16 character password.

More info: Sign in with app passwords

License

MIT

Acknowledgment

Thanks Erik Søe Sørensen for upgrading the Epop client to the OTP 15 Erlang version.