PostOfficeProtocol

MeatballWiki | RecentChanges | Random Page | Indices | Categories

The post office protocol is the most popular means to fetch mail from server on the internet. Actually, version 3, also known as POP3 is the most popular version. The actual specification is RFC 1939. However, here's a quick summary of the commands for those who telnet to port 110 (the POP3) to read their mail:

USER <username>: Login with the given user name.
PASS <plaintext>: The password (in plaintext) for the given user name.
STAT: Counts the messages and their total size. The result is +OK <message-count> <octet-count>.
LIST: List messages (by number) and their sizes.
LIST <number>: Retrieves the size of the message with the given number. The result is +OK <number> <octet-count>.
RETR <number>: Retrieve the message with the given number.
DELE <number>: Deletes the message with the given number.
NOOP: No operation. Does nothing. Useful while idling reading mail to keep the connection open.
RSET: Resets the mail server to its state before you logged in. Thus, if you deleted something but didn't mean it, you can RSET.
TOP <number> <length>: Not all POP3 servers support this command, but it retrieves the top <length> lines of the message of the given number. Useful if you suspect UUENCODED spam.
QUIT: Log off

Typical manual session (what you type in bold):

 +OK QPOP (version 3.1-aidan-1) at mail starting.
 USER username
 +OK Password required for username.
 PASS password
 +OK username has 4 visible messages (0 hidden) in 63338 octets.
 LIST
 +OK 4 visible messages (63338 octets)
 1 30557
 2 1280
 3 30274
 4 1227
 .
 TOP 1 10
 (spam goes here)
 DELE 1
 +OK Message 1 has been deleted.
 RETR 2
 (insert mail here)
 TOP 3 10
 (spam goes here)
 DELE 3
 +OK Message 3 has been deleted.
 RETR 4
 (insert mail here)
 QUIT

CategoryWebTechnology (maybe CategoryInternetTechnology??)

PostOfficeProtocol

Discussion