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  • Re: using ssh to login to mail on OSX

    From Sally Shears@sshears@theWorld.com to comp.sys.mac.system on Tuesday, July 01, 2003 14:33:48
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.mac.system

    Andy:P <youcangetme@eudoramail.com> wrote:
    : At home I am running OSX with the built-in mail app, that my wife is
    : now getting used to. I want to be able to login in from work to check
    : email and write any replies.

    : I was looking at MacSSH (I use OS9 at work) and wondered if it was
    : possible to install something like PINE at home so I could use the
    : same email folders at work that I use when sitting at home.

    For SSH from OS9 I like NiftyTelnet SSH; see VersionTracker. I like this program enough that I run it in Classic on my OS X machines.

    For your question, are you clear where is the mail that you want to see?
    On a mail server? On a mail server on the OS X machine at home? In mailbox files maintained by Mail.app?

    I use POP mail clients on different machines and have each one set "Leave
    mail on server for 14 days." That way, all the mail gets to my main
    machine as long as I check mail from that machine every 14 days. Of
    course, I don't have my outgoing mail except on the machine that sent it.

    Alternatively, I use PINE on the (Linux) mail server host for a quick look
    at my mail from anywhere.

    If you want to see the Mail.app folders, perhaps the easiest is vnc which
    has been mentioned here pretty often.

    -- Sally
    --

    Sally Shears (a.k.a. "Molly")
    sshears@theWorld.com -or- Sally@Shears.org
    http://theWorld.com/~sshears
    --- Synchronet 3.18b-Win32 NewsLink 1.113
  • From esalathe@esalathe@cascade.org (Eric Salathe) to comp.sys.mac.system on Tuesday, July 01, 2003 12:00:59
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.mac.system

    youcangetme@eudoramail.com (Andy:P):
    At home I am running OSX with the built-in mail app, that my wife is
    now getting used to. I want to be able to login in from work to check
    email and write any replies.

    I was looking at MacSSH (I use OS9 at work) and wondered if it was
    possible to install something like PINE at home so I could use the
    same email folders at work that I use when sitting at home.

    Anyone have any ideas on this?

    I have seen where people have installed pine on OS X, but it may
    involve more setup than you'd like and may not interact well with
    other e-mail clients (ie OS X Mail) when you are at home. This is the
    unix version, that will want to use sendmail and a local mail server
    rather than POP or IMAP. If you are able to set up pine or other
    command-line email program to work, then yes, you could ssh into the
    Mac and run it.

    A better option is to use a web-based e-mail reader at work; most ISPs
    offer this. Otherwise, you may be able to use a desktop e-mail client
    at work to access your personal e-mail. If your ISP uses POP, set up
    the e-mail program to leave messeges on the server. Then, you'd be
    able to delete the files from your work computer and still be able to
    download them when you get home. However, you will not be able to get
    old messages off the home system. Better yet, if your ISP supports
    imap, then you leave everything on the server and synchronize files
    and folders between multiple desktops and the server. mac.com allows
    this.

    It sounds like you and your wife share the same e-mail and OS X
    accounts. Both of you may be happier if you had your own accounts,
    then you won't need to worry about wiping out her e-mail when you are
    at work or otherwise messing up her user environment.

    -Eric
    --- Synchronet 3.18b-Win32 NewsLink 1.113
  • From youcangetme@youcangetme@eudoramail.com (Andy:P) to comp.sys.mac.system on Wednesday, July 02, 2003 06:14:14
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.mac.system

    Thank you for all these replies.

    At home I have OX with the standard Mail.app that POPs all of the mail
    into two folders. I was hoping to be able to SSH into my mac and see
    this mail.

    I have now got PINE working at home and can SSH across an internal
    network, but am given a new set of email folders. There must be a
    better way. For some reason SSH doesn't work from outside the firewall
    (I will check the firewall config.)

    I was hoping to keep all mail on my home mac and just peek into it. Squirrelmail looks good but there seems to be a lot to configure.
    Would I have to set my mac-up as an IMAP server?

    Thanks all. I will keep looking.
    andy:p
    --- Synchronet 3.18b-Win32 NewsLink 1.113
  • From Sally Shears@sshears@theWorld.com to comp.sys.mac.system on Friday, July 04, 2003 02:18:13
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.mac.system

    Andy:P <youcangetme@eudoramail.com> wrote:
    : Thank you for all these replies.

    : At home I have OX with the standard Mail.app that POPs all of the mail
    : into two folders. I was hoping to be able to SSH into my mac and see
    : this mail.

    : I have now got PINE working at home and can SSH across an internal
    : network, but am given a new set of email folders. There must be a
    : better way. For some reason SSH doesn't work from outside the firewall
    : (I will check the firewall config.)

    : I was hoping to keep all mail on my home mac and just peek into it.
    : Squirrelmail looks good but there seems to be a lot to configure.
    : Would I have to set my mac-up as an IMAP server?

    Andy, see my other reply.

    Once the mail is in Mail.app on the home machine, I don't think you can
    see it with any other application, except vnc which gives you a remote
    desktop in which you could run Mail.app

    But, if you have each mail client "leave mail on the POP server", you can
    look at it from two places.

    I understand IMAP might do a better job of all this.

    If you want to set up your home mac as an IMAP server, have you thought
    about how to get the mail into that server? I don't think an IMAP server
    will automatically get the mail from the Mail.app folders.

    I suggest you clarify where is the mail going to be when you try to see it from your office.

    -- Sally
    --

    Sally Shears (a.k.a. "Molly")
    sshears@theWorld.com -or- Sally@Shears.org
    http://theWorld.com/~sshears
    --- Synchronet 3.18b-Win32 NewsLink 1.113
  • From tristero@tristero@waste.net to comp.sys.mac.system on Friday, July 04, 2003 11:53:11
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.mac.system

    In article <be2o55$9a0$1@pcls4.std.com>, Sally Shears wrote:
    Once the mail is in Mail.app on the home machine, I don't think you can
    see it with any other application, except vnc

    That's definitely not true. Even without running a local imap server,
    it's easy to access Mail.app mail files directly with, say, VM (a
    wonderful mail client that runs in emacs).


    If you want to set up your home mac as an IMAP server, have you thought about how to get the mail into that server? I don't think an IMAP server will automatically get the mail from the Mail.app folders.

    It could, though not very cleanly. But it will happily get mail from
    files in some other place in his home directory, eg ~/Documents/mail/.
    So once he has the imap server up and running he'll need to move his
    currently stored mail into imap-accessible files. This process can be automated with a shell script or done manually with drag-n-drop in
    Mail.app; either way, it's a one time thing and no big deal.

    After the mail is moved, simply use these imap files for storage
    rather than Mall.app's pop-account files, and write a rule which
    automatically redirects newly arriving mail into an imap file. Now
    everything (*) is completely accessible to any imap client, local or
    remote, including Mail.app, though for security reasons I'm not sure
    I'd recommend remote access unless he goes through an ssh tunnel. He
    can even use Mail.app remotely.

    I've been running this way for a couple of years now, and it works
    very well indeed. Aside from the trivial issue of the initial
    one-time move of mail, the only other concern is Mail.app's local
    caching of imap data. Obviously this is a waste of space in this
    case, since the data is already local. Most of the caching can be
    disabled by selecting "Don't keep copies of any messages" in the
    Advanced tab of the local imap account preferences. But mail.app will
    still keep some amoount cached data for each file. Fortunately these
    caches are pretty small.



    (*) By default, Junk, Sent and Drafts won't be accessible to other
    imap clients. If you want them to be, check the appropriate box in
    the Special Mailboxes tab of the preferences for the local imap
    account.


    --- Synchronet 3.18b-Win32 NewsLink 1.113
  • From russotto@russotto@grace.speakeasy.net (Matthew Russotto) to comp.sys.mac.system on Tuesday, July 08, 2003 13:04:53
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.mac.system

    In article <HUdNa.101185$R73.10697@sccrnsc04>,
    tristero <tristero@waste.net> wrote:

    automatically redirects newly arriving mail into an imap file. Now >everything (*) is completely accessible to any imap client, local or
    remote, including Mail.app, though for security reasons I'm not sure
    I'd recommend remote access unless he goes through an ssh tunnel. He
    can even use Mail.app remotely.

    No need for a tunnel. Mail.app supports secure IMAP directly, so you just need a server which supports it.

    --
    Matthew T. Russotto mrussotto@speakeasy.net "Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice, and moderation in pursuit
    of justice is no virtue." But extreme restriction of liberty in pursuit of
    a modicum of security is a very expensive vice.
    --- Synchronet 3.18b-Win32 NewsLink 1.113