Mail retrieval agent
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A mail retrieval agent (MRA) is a computer application that retrieves or fetches e-mail from a remote mail server and works with an mail delivery agent to deliver mail to a local or remote email mailbox.[citation needed] MRAs may be external applications by themselves or be built into a bigger application like an MUA. Significant examples of standalone MRAs include fetchmail, getmail and retchmail.[1]
The concept of MRA is not a standardized in email architecture. Although they operate like mail transfer agents, MRAs are technically clients when they retrieve and submit messages.
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[edit] Delivery mechanisms
The mail retrieval agent may support delivery of retrieved mail via the following mechanisms:
- Via a mail transport agent (Listening for SMTP transfers on port 25)
- Via a mail delivery agent
- Direct delivery to an mbox formatted mailbox
- Direct delivery to a maildir directory
- Output to standard output
[edit] Multiple mailbox support
The mail retriever agent may support retrieval of mail from multiple mailboxes simultaneously. This enables a mailserver to have a centrally configured mail retriever agent that runs against a dedicated mail system account and collects the mail for all users in a single invocation, rather than having the cron run the mail retriever agent against each mail recipients user account.
[edit] Examples
Examples of stand-alone MRAs include:
- fdm (e-mail utility)- A combined mail retrieval agent and mail delivery agent
- fetchmail
- getmail
- mpop
- retchmail
[edit] See also
[edit] References
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