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[fetchmail] Idea regarding integration of (nasty) HTTPMail transport

2003-08-25 22:23:16
Hi all,

Can't believe that after 15 years in Unix land, I've never had a change to use fetchmail. Very cool program.

I was introduced to it because a client requested that they have their Hotmail folded into their real Inbox. Not having a Hotmail account, I had to go down the path of determining what kind of mail download protocol(s) they supported and then how to use fetchmail to pass it though the MTA.

Of course, after digging around on the Hotmail site, I realized that no protocols appeared to be supported - even with the paid accounts. Newsgroup searching made me some to the sinking realization that they are trying the same crap they pulled with Exchange: building a proprietary protocol into Outlook Express that only works with Hotmail/MSN, and vise-versa. Very uncool.

Thankfully, the HotWay project has engineered a POP-to-HTTPMail proxy (hotwayd). Using this and fetchmail, we are able to satisfy the client's request.

But it got me thinking: Could this bastard protocol be added to fetchmail's repertoire? I - of course - fear legitimizing the protocol. But it would remove the need for setting up a daemon just to do the conversion - which can be confusing for new users.

This isn't a feature request - I may do the work myself. But I'm just wondering if this idea been floated before? If there's no chance of it being integrated, or the patch being put up, it may not be worth starting.

Thanks much for the great program,

Craig

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Craig Pratt
Strongbox Network Services Inc.
craigATstrong-boxDOTnet


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