
            maildrop - mail delivery agent with filtering abilities

   Copyright 1998-2002, Double Precision Inc.

   This  program is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public
   License. See COPYING for additional information.

Where to find maildrop

   Join the maildrop mailing list -
   http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/courier-maildrop.

   I've started a list of "tips and tricks" for writing mail filters with
   maildrop.

   The   HTML   version   of   the   maildrop   README   is   located  at
   http://www.flounder.net/~mrsam/maildrop/. Although the following files
   may  also  be  found there, please check your favorite archive for any
   local copies.

   Download maildrop: http://www.courier-mta.org/download.php#maildrop

Building RPMs

   Starting  with  version  0.99,  it  is  possible  to build binary RPMs
   directly  from  the  source  tarball,  so  there's no longer a need to
   provide  a  separate  set of source and binary RPMs. You will need RPM
   3.0  or  higher  in order to build a binary RPM. Execute the following
   command:
   rpm -ta maildrop-1.5.3.tar.bz2

   The  binary RPM will be built with a customized configuration (userdb,
   GDBM,  and quota enhancements enabled). Afterwards, simply execute rpm
   -i to install it. That's it.

   With  RPM 4.1 (Red Hat 8.0) use the 'rpmbuild' command instead of rpm:
   rpmbuild -ta maildrop-1.5.3.tar.bz2

   If   you   would   like   to   change  the  RPM  build  options,  move
   maildrop-1.5.3.tar.gz  to  your  SOURCES  directory,  extract the file
   maildrop.spec,  move  it  to  your  SPECS  directory,  customize it if
   necessary, then build from the spec file.

   maildrop  includes  documentation  in HTML, as well as traditional man
   pages.     The    HTML    versions    may    also    be    found    at
   http://www.flounder.net/~mrsam/maildrop/maildrop.html.

Introduction

   maildrop  is  the  mail  filter/mail deilvery agent that's used by the
   Courier Mail Server. You do not need to download maildrop from here if
   you  already have Courier installed. This is a standalone build of the
   maildrop mail filter that can be used with other mail servers.

   maildrop is a replacement for your local mail delivery agent. maildrop
   reads a mail message from standard input, then delivers the message to
   your  mailbox.  maildrop  knows  how  to  deliver  mail  to mbox-style
   mailboxes,  and  maildirs.  "maildir"  is a mailbox format used by the
   Qmail MTA.

   maildrop   will  optionally  read  instructions  from  a  file,  which
   describes  how  to  filter incoming mail. Instructions can be provided
   having  mail  delivered to alternate mailboxes, or forwarded somewhere
   else. Unlike procmail, maildrop uses a structured filtering language.

   maildrop  is written in C++, and is significantly larger than procmail
   in  compiled  form.  However, it uses resources much more efficiently.
   Unlike  procmail,  maildrop  will  not read a 10 megabyte mail message
   into  memory.  Large  messages  are saved in a temporary file, and are
   filtered  from  the  temporary  file. Temporary files are saved in the
   user's  home  directory.  If the standard input to maildrop is a file,
   and not a pipe, a temporary file will not be necessary.

   maildrop  checks  the  syntax  of  the  mail delivery instructions the
   filter  file, before attempting to deliver a message. Unlike procmail,
   if the filter file contains syntax errors, maildrop terminates without
   delivering  the message. The user can fix the typo without causing any
   mail to be lost.

Installation

   See  INSTALL  for  installation  information.  If  you  are  using  an
   RPM-based  Linux  distribution,  you  can  install  build a binary RPM
   directly from the source code.

Using maildrop with sendmail

   Maildrop  can  be  easily  used  as  sendmail's  local delivery agent,
   instead  of  procmail.  Here  is  the suggested entry for sendmail.cf,
   courtesy of Eric J. Schwertfeger <ejs@bfd.com>:

Mlocal,         P=/usr/local/bin/maildrop, F=lsAw5:/|@SPfhn, S=10/30, R=20/40,
                T=DNS/RFC822/X-Unix,
                A=maildrop -d $u

   You may also consider including the D, F, and M flags as well.

Other Links

   SuSE RPMs of maildrop

Revision history (including development versions)

   Change Log
