From: Rob Funk <rfunk(_at_)funknet(_dot_)net>
Rob MacGregor wrote:
> However you could set fetchmail up with a 1 second delay,
>continually polling the external mail server.
>
>I'd hate to think of the overhead this would induce though...
Forget the overhead -- how about the wrath this would induce from your
ISP? An admin would get a bit testy about polling more often than
every five minutes, and more than once a minute is easily grounds for
disabling an account. Once a second doesn't even give the system a
chance to write new mail into the mailbox, considering the check takes
more than a second.
It wouldn't be quite that bad. The delay seems to be from completion of the
previous run. With mine set for 5 minutes and cycling through a number of
boxes it's usually more than 5 minutes between the first mailbox being
checked each time.
To be honest, it's largely down to the local ISP. I've got one box thats
polled every 2 minutes. Neither my ISP or my mail provider have ever
complained, but then I don't think my actions are a significant overhead
when compared to the few thousands of other individuals using their
services.
Rob
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