delete-later.README [plain text]
******************* DELETE - LATER ********************
version 0.11 2007-02-06
A tool for deleting email messages on POP3 accounts
after a given period of time (in days)
E.g. if you want to keep the messages 30 days to
have webmail access while on the road
********************************************************
The script queries the current contents of a POP3 mailbox,
stores the message IDs of that run and saves them to a
MySQL database.
On each run, it compares the date on which the message was
first seen with the current date and deletes the message,
if that difference is greater than the value of the column
"retaindays".
The script stores account settings in a separate MySQL
table for easy maintenance each email account needs an
unique ID.
The script scales well on large installations with several
thousands of messages a day if you run it at a time of low
email volume (e.g. at 4 am).
REQUIREMENTS
------------
- MySQL database server and client software (v4.x or later,
www.mysql.com)
MySQL sources (for compiling mysqltcl only)
- mysqltcl script (www.xdobry.de/mysqltcl/)
- libexpect (v5 or later)
INSTALLATION
------------
1. create the tables "fetchmail" and "fetchmail_users" on a
MySQL server by running
CREATE TABLE `fetchmail` ( `UserID` BIGINT UNSIGNED NOT NULL DEFAULT 0, `UID` VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL DEFAULT '', `Fetchdate` DATE NOT NULL DEFAULT 0, PRIMARY KEY(`UserID`, `UID`));
CREATE TABLE `fetchmail_user` ( `UserID` BIGINT UNSIGNED NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT, `server` VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL DEFAULT '', `username` VARCHAR(63) NOT NULL DEFAULT '', `password` VARCHAR(63) NOT NULL DEFAULT '', `retaindays` INTEGER UNSIGNED NOT NULL DEFAULT 0, PRIMARY KEY(`UserID`));
2. Fill the table "fetchmail_users" with the settings of the
email accounts you wish to handle
3. copy the script "delete-later" to a safe place, (on
Linux/Unix: make it executable) and edit the first lines to
match your MySQL setup
4. run "delete-later" via cron AFTER you fetched your emails
with settings that keep the messages on the server (e.g. via
fetchmail --keep)
KNOWN ISSUES
------------
The mysqltcl libraries sometimes don't compile against
earlier versions of MySQL 4.x.
If you are experiencing any problems with compiling
mysqltcl, please look for pre-compiled binaries for your
distribution (or contact mail@xdobry.de), the win32 binaries
work out of the box on most M$ systems.
As most linux distributions don't include mysqltcl, get the
latest precompiled 5.x series MySQL binariesand the matching
source code from www.mysql.com, install them onto a separate
location and run "configure && make && make install" to
compile mysqltcl yourself.
NOTES
-----
The age of an email message is calculated by the difference
in days between the run of "delete-later" it was first seen
on and the current date, not the actual date the message was
sent. So if you run the script every week, the period after
which a message is delete may vary up to 14 days.
This was implemented that way, because of the common
practice of spammers to change the message date to some date
in the far future to place the message first in your inbox.
COPYRIGHT
---------
Copyright (c) 2007 Yoo GmbH
Zellwaldring 51
09603 GROSSVOIGTSBERG
GERMANY
Permission to use, copy, modify, distribute, and sell this software
and its documentation for any purpose is hereby granted without fee,
provided that the content of this README file appears in all copies
of the software and related documentation.
DISCLAIMER
----------
THE SCRIPT IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND.
WE (YOO) HEREBY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS WITH REGARD
TO THIS README AND SCRIPT, INCLUDING ALL WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS
OF MERCHANTABILITY, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, FITNESS
FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.
IN NO EVENT SHALL YOO AND/OR ITS REPRESENTATIVES AND/OR RESPECTIVE
SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL
DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA
OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER
TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR
PERFORMANCE OF THIS README OR SCRIPT.
CONTACT
-------
For help, bug reports or other request regarding "delete-later" please
contact Carsten Ralle (English/German) by writing an e-mail to
cr <at> i4yoo <dot> de
with a subject starting with "DELETE-LATER: "
Please note that messages containing HTML or images will be
automatically deleted.
********************************************************************************
Yoo GmbH, Zellwaldring 51, D-09603 Grossvoigtsberg, Germany
www.yoogmbh.de
********************************************************************************