code: 9ferno

ref: bbd6a23c4f306339b4a6285cb419b2da339de397
dir: /man/2/pop3/

View raw version
.TH POP3 2
.SH NAME
pop3 \- Post Office Protocol
.SH SYNOPSIS
.EX
include "pop3.m";
pop3 := load Pop3 Pop3->PATH;

open:       fn(user, password, server: string): (int, string);
stat:       fn(): (int, string, int, int);
msglist:    fn(): (int, string, list of (int, int));
msgnolist:  fn(): (int, string, list of int);
top:        fn(m: int): (int, string, string);
get:        fn(m: int): (int, string, string);
delete:     fn(m: int): (int, string);
close:      fn(): (int, string);
.EE
.SH DESCRIPTION
.B Pop3
provides an interface to the Post Office Protocol
POP3 through a set of functions.
.PP
.B Open
opens a connection to a POP3
.IR server ,
logging in as the specified
.IR user
with the given
.IR password .
If
.I server
is
.IR nil ,
.B open
uses
.BR $pop3 ,
which must be defined in
.IR ndb (6).
The remaining functions assume a successfully opened connection.
.PP
.B Stat
returns the status of the user's mailbox.
The third element of its return tuple is the number of
messages and the fourth is the total number of bytes in the messages.
.PP
.B Msglist
lists the user's mailbox. The third element in its return tuple gives a list of pairs of numbers
comprising
.RI ( "message number, bytes in message" ).
.PP
.B Msgnolist
lists the user's mailbox as above but omits the bytes in each message.
.PP
.B Top
returns the top of message
.IR m .
.PP
.B Get
returns the full text of message
.IR m .
.PP
.B Delete
deletes message
.IR m .
.PP
.B Close
closes the connection to the POP3 server.
Note that subsequent reconnections to the server
may renumber the messages in the mail box and will certainly do so if the last connection
deleted messages.
.PP
Note also that a connection is static in the sense that mail messages entering the server during 
a connection will not be accessible. A reconnection is needed to see newly arrived messages.
.SH SOURCE
.B /appl/lib/pop3.b
.SH SEE ALSO
.IR acme (1)
.SH DIAGNOSTICS
All these functions return -1
and an error message on failure as the first two entries in their return tuples.