docker-offlineimap/docs/INSTALL.rst

98 lines
3.5 KiB
ReStructuredText
Raw Normal View History

.. -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
.. _OfflineIMAP: https://github.com/nicolas33/offlineimap
.. contents::
.. sectnum::
=============
Prerequisites
=============
In order to use `OfflineIMAP`_, you need to have these conditions satisfied:
1. Your mail server must support IMAP. Most Internet Service Providers and
corporate networks do, and most operating systems have an IMAP implementation
readily available. A special Gmail mailbox type is available to interface with
Gmail's IMAP front-end.
2. You must have Python version 2.6 or above installed. If you are running on
Debian GNU/Linux, this requirement will automatically be taken care of for you.
If you do not have Python already, check with your system administrator or
operating system vendor; or, download it from the Python website. If you intend
to use the SSL interface, your Python must have been built with SSL support.
3. Have a mail reader that supports the Maildir mailbox format. Most modern
mail readers have this support built-in, so you can choose from a wide variety
of mail servers. This format is also known as the "qmail" format, so any mail
reader compatible with it will work with `OfflineIMAP`_. If you do not have a
mail reader that supports Maildir, you can often install a local IMAP server and
point both `OfflineIMAP`_ and your mail reader at it.
============
Installation
============
You have three options:
1. a system-wide installation with Debian
2. a system-wide installation with other systems
3. a single-user installation. You can checkout the latest version of
`OfflineIMAP`_ from official `OfflineIMAP`_ repository.
System-Wide Installation, Debian
================================
If you are tracking Debian unstable, you may install `OfflineIMAP`_ by simply
running the following command as root::
apt-get install offlineimap
If you are not tracking Debian unstable, download the Debian `.deb` package from
the `OfflineIMAP`_ website and then run ``dpkg -i`` to install the downloaded
package. Then, skip to below. You will type offlineimap to invoke the
program.
System-Wide Installation, Other
===============================
Download the tar.gz version of the package from the website. Then run these
commands, making sure that you are the "root" user first::
tar -zxvf offlineimap_x.y.z.tar.gz
cd offlineimap-x.y.z
python2.2 setup.py install
On some systems, you will need to use python instead of python2.6. Next,
proceed to below. You will type offlineimap to invoke the program.
Single-Account Installation
===========================
Download the tar.gz version of the package from the website. Then run these
commands::
tar -zxvf offlineimap_x.y.z.tar.gz
cd offlineimap-x.y.z
When you want to run `OfflineIMAP`_, you will issue the cd command as above and
then type `./offlineimap.py`; there is no installation step necessary.
=============
Configuration
=============
`OfflineIMAP`_ is regulated by a configuration file that is normally stored in
`~/.offlineimaprc`. `OfflineIMAP`_ ships with a file named `offlineimap.conf`
that you should copy to that location and then edit. This file is vital to
proper operation of the system; it sets everything you need to run
`OfflineIMAP`_. Full documentation for the configuration file is included
within the sample file.
`OfflineIMAP`_ also ships a file named `offlineimap.conf.minimal` that you can
also try. It's useful if you want to get started with the most basic feature
set, and you can read about other features later with `offlineimap.conf`.