219 lines
7.2 KiB
Markdown
219 lines
7.2 KiB
Markdown
OfflineImap
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===========
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Description
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-----------
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OfflineIMAP is a tool to simplify your e-mail reading. With OfflineIMAP, you can
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read the same mailbox from multiple computers. You get a current copy of your
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messages on each computer, and changes you make one place will be visible on all
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other systems. For instance, you can delete a message on your home computer, and
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it will appear deleted on your work computer as well. OfflineIMAP is also useful
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if you want to use a mail reader that does not have IMAP support, has poor IMAP
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support, or does not provide disconnected operation. It's homepage at
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http://offlineimap.org contains more information, source code, and online
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documentation.
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OfflineIMAP does not require additional python dependencies beyond python >=2.6
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(although python-sqlite is strongly recommended).
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OfflineIMAP is a Free Software project licensed under the GNU General Public
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License version 2 (or later). You can download it for free, and you can modify
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it. In fact, you are encouraged to contribute to OfflineIMAP.
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Documentation
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-------------
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The documentation is included (in .rst format) in the `docs` directory.
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Read it directly or generate nice html docs (python-sphinx needed) and/or
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the man page (python-docutils needed) while being in the `docs` dir via:
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'make doc' (user docs), 'make man' (man page only) or 'make' (both)
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(`make html` will simply create html versions of all *.rst files in /docs)
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The resulting user documentation will be in `docs/html`. The full user
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docs are also at: http://docs.offlineimap.org. Please see there for
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detailed information on how to install and configure OfflineImap.
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Quick Start
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===========
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First, install OfflineIMAP. See docs/INSTALL.rst or read
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http://docs.offlineimap.org/en/latest/INSTALL.html.
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(hint: `sudo python setup.py install`)
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Second, set up your configuration file and run it! The distribution
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includes offlineimap.conf.minimal (Debian users may find this at
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``/usr/share/doc/offlineimap/examples/offlineimap.conf.minimal``) that
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provides you with the bare minimum of setting up OfflineIMAP. You can
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simply copy this file into your home directory and name it
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``.offlineimaprc``. A command such as ``cp offlineimap.conf.minimal
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~/.offlineimaprc`` will do it. Or, if you prefer, you can just copy
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this text to ``~/.offlineimaprc``:
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[general]
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accounts = Test
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[Account Test]
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localrepository = Local
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remoterepository = Remote
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[Repository Local]
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type = Maildir
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localfolders = ~/Test
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[Repository Remote]
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type = IMAP
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remotehost = examplehost
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remoteuser = jgoerzen
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Now, edit the ``~/.offlineimaprc`` file with your favorite editor. All you have
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to do is specify a directory for your folders to be in (on the localfolders
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line), the host name of your IMAP server (on the remotehost line), and your
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login name on the remote (on the remoteuser line). That's it!
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To run OfflineIMAP, you just have to say `offlineimap` ― it will fire
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up, ask you for a login password if necessary, synchronize your folders,
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and exit. See?
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You can just throw away the rest of the finely-crafted, perfectly-honed user
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manual! Of course, if you want to see how you can make OfflineIMAP
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FIVE TIMES FASTER FOR JUST $19.95 (err, well, $0), you have to read on our
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full user documentation and peruse the sample offlineimap.conf (which
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includes all available options) for further tweaks!
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Mailing list & bug reporting
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----------------------------
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The user discussion, development and all exciting stuff take place in the
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OfflineImap mailing list at
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http://lists.alioth.debian.org/mailman/listinfo/offlineimap-project. You do not
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need to subscribe to send emails.
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Bugs, issues and contributions should be reported to the mailing list. Bugs can
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also be reported in the issue tracker at
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https://github.com/OfflineIMAP/offlineimap/issues.
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Configuration Examples
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======================
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Here are some example configurations for various situations. Please e-mail any
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other examples you have that may be useful to me.
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Multiple Accounts with Mutt
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---------------------------
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This example shows you how to set up OfflineIMAP to synchronize multiple
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accounts with the mutt mail reader.
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Start by creating a directory to hold your folders by running ``mkdir ~/Mail``.
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Then, in your ``~/.offlineimaprc``, specify:
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accounts = Personal, Work
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Make sure that you have both an [Account Personal] and an [Account Work]
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section. The local repository for each account must have different localfolder
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path names. Also, make sure to enable [mbnames].
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In each local repository section, write something like this:
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localfolders = ~/Mail/Personal
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Finally, add these lines to your ``~/.muttrc``:
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source ~/path-to-mbnames-muttrc-mailboxes
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folder-hook Personal set from="youremail@personal.com"
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folder-hook Work set from="youremail@work.com"
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set mbox_type=Maildir
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set folder=$HOME/Mail
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spoolfile=+Personal/INBOX
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That's it!
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UW-IMAPD and References
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-----------------------
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Some users with a UW-IMAPD server need to use OfflineIMAP's "reference" feature
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to get at their mailboxes, specifying a reference of ``~/Mail`` or ``#mh/``
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depending on the configuration. The below configuration from (originally from
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docwhat@gerf.org) shows using a reference of Mail, a nametrans that strips the
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leading Mail/ off incoming folder names, and a folderfilter that limits the
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folders synced to just three:
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[Account Gerf]
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localrepository = GerfLocal
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remoterepository = GerfRemote
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[Repository GerfLocal]
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type = Maildir
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localfolders = ~/Mail
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[Repository GerfRemote]
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type = IMAP
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remotehost = gerf.org
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ssl = yes
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remoteuser = docwhat
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reference = Mail
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# Trims off the preceeding Mail on all the folder names.
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nametrans = lambda foldername: \
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re.sub('^Mail/', '', foldername)
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# Yeah, you have to mention the Mail dir, even though it
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# would seem intuitive that reference would trim it.
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folderfilter = lambda foldername: foldername in [
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'Mail/INBOX',
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'Mail/list/zaurus-general',
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'Mail/list/zaurus-dev',
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]
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maxconnections = 1
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holdconnectionopen = no
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pythonfile Configuration File Option
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-------------------------------------
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You can have OfflineIMAP load up a Python file before evaluating the
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configuration file options that are Python expressions. This example is based
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on one supplied by Tommi Virtanen for this feature.
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In ~/.offlineimaprc, he adds these options:
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[general]
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pythonfile=~/.offlineimap.py
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[Repository foo]
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foldersort=mycmp
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Then, the ~/.offlineimap.py file will contain:
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prioritized = ['INBOX', 'personal', 'announce', 'list']
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def mycmp(x, y):
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for prefix in prioritized:
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xsw = x.startswith(prefix)
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ysw = y.startswith(prefix)
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if xsw and ysw:
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return cmp(x, y)
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elif xsw:
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return -1
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elif ysw:
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return +1
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return cmp(x, y)
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def test_mycmp():
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import os, os.path
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folders=os.listdir(os.path.expanduser('~/data/mail/tv@hq.yok.utu.fi'))
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folders.sort(mycmp)
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print folders
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This code snippet illustrates how the foldersort option can be customized with a
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Python function from the pythonfile to always synchronize certain folders first.
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