[gentoo-user] fcron & fetchmail & procmail and the "why not?"

[gentoo-user] fcron & fetchmail & procmail and the "why not?"

[meino.cramer]

Hi,

I have used for testing the following combo:
Configured fetchmail for my user account and configured
procmail to deliver the mail.
I called fetchmail by hand:
It works.
In my fetchmailrc there is the line 

    mda "/usr/bin/procmail -d %T"

as said: When started by hand everything is fine.

Also fcron is installed and my personal fcrontab contains
the line:

    @ 5 mrxvt -fn 10x20 -display :0.0 -g 30x5+0+0 -e dialog --yesno "TEST" 10 30

which also works: Every five minutes a dialog box pops up.

BUT!

When using the line:

    @ 5 fetchmail -a

nothing happens: The mail remains on the server and can be downloaded
with

    fetchmail -a

from the commandline.

May be I am a little overhacked today...but what the hack I am doing
wrong here?

Thank you very much for any help in advance!
mcc

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Re: [gentoo-user] fcron & fetchmail & procmail and the "why not?"

[Ward Poelmans]

On Sun, Sep 20, 2009 at 17:34,  <meino.cramer@gmx.de> wrote:
>
> When using the line:
>
>    @ 5 fetchmail -a
>
> nothing happens: The mail remains on the server and can be downloaded
> with
>
>    fetchmail -a
>
> from the commandline.
>
> May be I am a little overhacked today...but what the hack I am doing
> wrong here?

Are you sure the cron job runs? Check the logs. Or try adding:
*/5 * * * * fetchmail -a
in your cron file.

Ward

[gentoo-user] Re: fcron & fetchmail & procmail and the "why not?"

[Harry Putnam]

Ward Poelmans <wpoely86@gmail.com> writes:

> On Sun, Sep 20, 2009 at 17:34,  <meino.cramer@gmx.de> wrote:
>>
>> When using the line:
>>
>>    @ 5 fetchmail -a
>>
>> nothing happens: The mail remains on the server and can be downloaded
>> with
>>
>>    fetchmail -a
>>
>> from the commandline.
>>
>> May be I am a little overhacked today...but what the hack I am doing
>> wrong here?
>
> Are you sure the cron job runs? Check the logs. Or try adding:
> */5 * * * * fetchmail -a
> in your cron file.

Another way to go at it might be to use fetchmails' built in daemon
mode (fetchmail -d INTERVAL).  And forget about cron.

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: fcron & fetchmail & procmail and the "why not?"

[meino.cramer]

Harry Putnam <reader@newsguy.com> [09-09-21 04:25]:
> Ward Poelmans <wpoely86@gmail.com> writes:
> 
> > On Sun, Sep 20, 2009 at 17:34,  <meino.cramer@gmx.de> wrote:
> >>
> >> When using the line:
> >>
> >>    @ 5 fetchmail -a
> >>
> >> nothing happens: The mail remains on the server and can be downloaded
> >> with
> >>
> >>    fetchmail -a
> >>
> >> from the commandline.
> >>
> >> May be I am a little overhacked today...but what the hack I am doing
> >> wrong here?
> >
> > Are you sure the cron job runs? Check the logs. Or try adding:
> > */5 * * * * fetchmail -a
> > in your cron file.
> 
> Another way to go at it might be to use fetchmails' built in daemon
> mode (fetchmail -d INTERVAL).  And forget about cron.
> 
> 

fcron does run (see my previous mail).
I will try the daemon mode. What will be the best place to fire up
fetchmail then?
...but I am still curious what prevents the call by fcron, since this
is also recommended by some howtos...



-- 
Please don't send me any Word- or Powerpoint-Attachments
unless it's absolutely neccessary. - Send simply Text.
See http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html
In a world without fences and walls nobody needs gates and windows.

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: fcron & fetchmail & procmail and the "why not?"

[Johám-Luís Miguéns Vila]

meino.cramer@gmx.de writes:

> Harry Putnam <reader@newsguy.com> [09-09-21 04:25]:
>> Ward Poelmans <wpoely86@gmail.com> writes:
>> 
>> > On Sun, Sep 20, 2009 at 17:34,  <meino.cramer@gmx.de> wrote:
>> >>
>> >> When using the line:
>> >>
>> >>    @ 5 fetchmail -a
>> >>
>> >> nothing happens: The mail remains on the server and can be downloaded
>> >> with
>> >>
>> >>    fetchmail -a
>> >>
>> >> from the commandline.
>> >>
>> >> May be I am a little overhacked today...but what the hack I am doing
>> >> wrong here?
>> >
>> > Are you sure the cron job runs? Check the logs. Or try adding:
>> > */5 * * * * fetchmail -a
>> > in your cron file.
>> 
>> Another way to go at it might be to use fetchmails' built in daemon
>> mode (fetchmail -d INTERVAL).  And forget about cron.
>> 
>> 
>
> fcron does run (see my previous mail).
> I will try the daemon mode. What will be the best place to fire up
> fetchmail then?
> ...but I am still curious what prevents the call by fcron, since this
> is also recommended by some howtos...

Have you tried to write a shell script calling fetchmail and call that from fcron?

@ 5 /wherever/your/script/is.sh
-- 
I loathe people who keep dogs.  They are cowards who haven't got the guts
to bite people themselves.
		-- August Strindberg
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Re: [gentoo-user] fcron & fetchmail & procmail and the "why not?"

[Stroller]

On 20 Sep 2009, at 16:34, meino.cramer@gmx.de wrote:
> ...
> When using the line:
>
>    @ 5 fetchmail -a
>
> nothing happens: The mail remains on the server and can be downloaded
> with
>
>    fetchmail -a
>
> from the commandline.

Here my crontab says:

   0-59/4 * * * *		/usr/bin/fetchmail  > /dev/null 2>&1

I suggest trying the full path, but you  may also be able to redirect  
to somewhere other than /dev/null & perhaps see something useful?

Stroller.

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: fcron & fetchmail & procmail and the "why not?"

[meino.cramer]

Johám-Luís Miguéns Vila <galiza.ceive@gmail.com> [09-09-21 17:13]:
> meino.cramer@gmx.de writes:
> 
> > Harry Putnam <reader@newsguy.com> [09-09-21 04:25]:
> >> Ward Poelmans <wpoely86@gmail.com> writes:
> >> 
> >> > On Sun, Sep 20, 2009 at 17:34,  <meino.cramer@gmx.de> wrote:
> >> >>
> >> >> When using the line:
> >> >>
> >> >>    @ 5 fetchmail -a
> >> >>
> >> >> nothing happens: The mail remains on the server and can be downloaded
> >> >> with
> >> >>
> >> >>    fetchmail -a
> >> >>
> >> >> from the commandline.
> >> >>
> >> >> May be I am a little overhacked today...but what the hack I am doing
> >> >> wrong here?
> >> >
> >> > Are you sure the cron job runs? Check the logs. Or try adding:
> >> > */5 * * * * fetchmail -a
> >> > in your cron file.
> >> 
> >> Another way to go at it might be to use fetchmails' built in daemon
> >> mode (fetchmail -d INTERVAL).  And forget about cron.
> >> 
> >> 
> >
> > fcron does run (see my previous mail).
> > I will try the daemon mode. What will be the best place to fire up
> > fetchmail then?
> > ...but I am still curious what prevents the call by fcron, since this
> > is also recommended by some howtos...
> 
> Have you tried to write a shell script calling fetchmail and call that from fcron?
> 
> @ 5 /wherever/your/script/is.sh
> -- 
> I loathe people who keep dogs.  They are cowards who haven't got the guts
> to bite people themselves.
> 		-- August Strindberg
>  - This message may be digitally signed: GPG KeyID:0x9D2FD6C8 || FNMT SSL cert

No I havent, since I see no difference to calling a "real" executable
-- but I will give it try.
By the way: Calling fetchmal -d from ~/.openbox/autostart.sh also does
not work, but other programs started from there do have no problems.




-- 
Please don't send me any Word- or Powerpoint-Attachments
unless it's absolutely neccessary. - Send simply Text.
See http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html
In a world without fences and walls nobody needs gates and windows.

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: fcron & fetchmail & procmail and the "why not?"

[Ward Poelmans]

On Mon, Sep 21, 2009 at 17:43,  <meino.cramer@gmx.de> wrote:
> By the way: Calling fetchmal -d from ~/.openbox/autostart.sh also does
> not work, but other programs started from there do have no problems.

Try running fetchmail -d -v --logfile ~/fetchmail.log in your
autostart or cron and see if fetchmail gets started and if it gives
any kind of error.

Ward

Re: [gentoo-user] fcron & fetchmail & procmail and the "why not?"

[meino.cramer]

Stroller <stroller@stellar.eclipse.co.uk> [09-09-21 17:13]:
> 
> On 20 Sep 2009, at 16:34, meino.cramer@gmx.de wrote:
> >...
> >When using the line:
> >
> >   @ 5 fetchmail -a
> >
> >nothing happens: The mail remains on the server and can be downloaded
> >with
> >
> >   fetchmail -a
> >
> >from the commandline.
> 
> Here my crontab says:
> 
>   0-59/4 * * * *		/usr/bin/fetchmail  > /dev/null 2>&1
> 
> I suggest trying the full path, but you  may also be able to redirect 
> to somewhere other than /dev/null & perhaps see something useful?
> 
> Stroller.
> 

Ha! :)

To not to involve stdout was the hack!

Currently I am running fetchmail via fcron and does what it should
since fetchmail directly reports to /dev/null.

I think I will change the whole suff to run in daemon mode, since I 
think (to be read as: "...not know for sure...") that it is a little
bit more performant. Or?

Thanks for the help! :)
Keep hacking!
mcc

-- 
Please don't send me any Word- or Powerpoint-Attachments
unless it's absolutely neccessary. - Send simply Text.
See http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html
In a world without fences and walls nobody needs gates and windows.

Re: [gentoo-user] fcron & fetchmail & procmail and the "why not?"

[Stroller]

On 21 Sep 2009, at 17:06, meino.cramer@gmx.de wrote:
> ...
> To not to involve stdout was the hack!
>
> Currently I am running fetchmail via fcron and does what it should
> since fetchmail directly reports to /dev/null.

Sorry to seem like a numptie, but are you saying you fixed it?

The problem was solved merely by adding the redirect?

> I think I will change the whole suff to run in daemon mode, since I
> think (to be read as: "...not know for sure...") that it is a little
> bit more performant. Or?

I  run as user, 2 users, each with their own .fetchmailrc & each  
adding their own entry into their own crontab. I.E. just like you have  
it now. I have been running my system this way for years.

The notion of daemon mode bothers me, because it must be run by root  
(IIRC) and the various users all put their separate private email  
passwords in a single file in /etc  OTOH, the daemon mode  
configuration file is readable only by root, and if the root account  
is compromised then the users' private  .fetchmailrc files can be read  
anywhere.

Fetchmail is a bit of a kludge, really. I wouldn't worry too much  
about being best conformant.

Stroller.

Re: [gentoo-user] fcron & fetchmail & procmail and the "why not?"

[Neil Bothwick]

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On Tue, 22 Sep 2009 12:46:27 +0100, Stroller wrote:

> The notion of daemon mode bothers me, because it must be run by root

Users can run in daemon mode too, although that means you'll have one
daemon running for each user.
 
> (IIRC) and the various users all put their separate private email  
> passwords in a single file in /etc 

You can omit the passwords from fetchmailrc and include them in individual
user's .netrc files,according to the man page.

"If you do not specify a password, and fetchmail cannot extract one from
your ~/.fetchmailrc file,  it  will  look  for  a ~/.netrc file in your
home directory before requesting one interactively; if an entry matching
the mailserver is found in that file, the password will be used.
Fetchmail first looks for a match on poll name; if it finds none, it
checks for  a match on via name."


-- 
Neil Bothwick

Unsupported service (adj): Broken (see Demon)

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