[manpage_begin pop3 n 1.7]
[comment {-*- tcl -*- doctools manpage}]
[moddesc   {Tcl POP3 Client Library}]
[titledesc {Tcl client for POP3 email protocol}]
[keywords mail email pop pop3 {rfc 1939} ssl tls secure]
[category  Networking]
[require Tcl  8.2]
[require pop3 [opt 1.7]]
[description]

The [package pop3] package provides a simple Tcl-only client library
for the POP3 email protocol as specified in
[uri http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc1939.txt {RFC 1939}].

It works by opening the standard POP3 socket on the server,
transmitting the username and password, then providing a Tcl API to
access the POP3 protocol commands.  All server errors are returned as
Tcl errors (thrown) which must be caught with the Tcl [cmd catch]
command.

[section API]

[list_begin definitions]

[call [cmd ::pop3::open] \
	[opt "[option -msex] 0|1"] \
	[opt "[option -retr-mode] retr|list|slow"] \
	[opt "[option -socketcmd] cmdprefix"] \
	[arg {host username password}] [opt [arg port]]]

Open a socket connection to the server specified by [arg host],
transmit the [arg username] and [arg password] as login information to
the server.  The default port number is [const 110], which can be
overridden using the optional [arg port] argument.  The return value
is a channel used by all of the other ::pop3 functions.

[para]

The command recognizes three options

[list_begin options]

[opt_def -msex boolean]

Setting this option tells the package that the server we are talking
to is an MS Exchange server (which has some oddities we have to work
around). The default is [const False].

[opt_def -retr-mode retr|list|slow].

The retrieval mode determines how exactly messages are read from the
server.

The allowed values are [const retr], [const list] and [const slow].
The default is [const retr]. See [cmd ::pop3::retrieve] for more
information.

[opt_def -socketcmd cmdprefix]

This option allows the user to overide the use of the builtin
[cmd socket] command with any API-compatible command. The envisioned
main use is the securing of the new connection via SSL, through the
specification of the command [cmd tls::socket]. This command is
specially recognized as well, changing the default port of the
connection to [const 995].

[list_end]


[call [cmd ::pop3::config] [arg chan]]

Returns the configuration of the pop3 connection identified by the
channel handle [arg chan] as a serialized array.


[call [cmd ::pop3::status] [arg chan]]

Query the server for the status of the mail spool.  The status is
returned as a list containing two elements, the first is the number of
email messages on the server and the second is the size (in octets, 8
byte blocks) of the entire mail spool.

[call [cmd ::pop3::last] [arg chan]]

Query the server for the last email message read from the spool.  This
value includes all messages read from all clients connecting to the
login account.  This command may not be supported by the email server,
in which case the server may return 0 or an error.

[call [cmd ::pop3::retrieve] [arg {chan startIndex}] [opt [arg endIndex]]]

Retrieve a range of messages from the server.  If the [arg endIndex]
is not specified, only one message will be retrieved.  The return
value is a list containing each message as a separate element.  See
the [arg startIndex] and [arg endIndex] descriptions below.

[para]

The retrieval mode determines how exactly messages are read from the
server. The mode [const retr] assumes that the RETR command delivers
the size of the message as part of the command status and uses this to
read the message efficiently. In mode [const list] RETR does not
deliver the size, but the LIST command does and we use this to
retrieve the message size before the actual retrieval, which can then
be done efficiently. In the last mode, [const slow], the system is
unable to obtain the size of the message to retrieve in any manner and
falls back to reading the message from the server line by line.

[para]

It should also be noted that the system checks upon the configured
mode and falls back to the slower modes if the above assumptions are
not true.


[call [cmd ::pop3::delete] [arg {chan startIndex}] [opt [arg endIndex]]]

Delete a range of messages from the server.  If the [arg endIndex] is
not specified, only one message will be deleted.  Note, the indices
are not reordered on the server, so if you delete message 1, then the
first message in the queue is message 2 (message index 1 is no longer
valid).  See the [arg startIndex] and [arg endIndex] descriptions
below.

[list_begin definitions]

[def [arg startIndex]]

The [arg startIndex] may be an index of a specific message starting
with the index 1, or it have any of the following values:

[list_begin definitions]

[def [const start]]

This is a logical value for the first message in the spool, equivalent
to the value 1.

[def [const next]]

The message immediately following the last message read, see
[cmd ::pop3::last]. 

[def [const end]]

The most recent message in the spool (the end of the spool).  This is
useful to retrieve only the most recent message.

[list_end]

[def [arg endIndex]]

The [arg endIndex] is an optional parameter and defaults to the value
"-1", which indicates to only retrieve the one message specified by

[arg startIndex].  If specified, it may be an index of a specific
message starting with the index "1", or it may have any of the
following values:

[list_begin definitions]

[def [const last]]

The message is the last message read by a POP3 client, see
[cmd ::pop3::last].

[def [const end]]

The most recent message in the spool (the end of the spool).

[list_end]
[list_end]

[call [cmd ::pop3::list] [arg chan] [opt [arg msg]]]

Returns the scan listing of the mailbox. If parameter [arg msg] is
given, then the listing only for that message is returned.


[call [cmd ::pop3::top] [arg chan] [arg msg] [arg n] ]


Optional POP3 command, not all servers may support this.

[cmd ::pop3::top] retrieves headers of a message, specified by
parameter [arg msg], and number of [arg n] lines from the message
body.

[call [cmd ::pop3::uidl] [arg chan] [opt [arg msg]]]

Optional POP3 command, not all servers may support this. 

[cmd ::pop3::uidl] returns the uid listing of the mailbox. If the
parameter [arg msg] is specified, then the listing only for that
message is returned.

[call [cmd ::pop3::close] [arg chan]]

Gracefully close the connect after sending a POP3 QUIT command down
the socket.

[list_end]


[section {Secure mail transfer}]

A pop3 connection can be secured with SSL/TLS by requiring the package
[package TLS] and then using the option [option -socketcmd] of the
command [cmd pop3::open] to force the use of the [cmd tls::socket]
command when opening the connection.

[example {
	package require tls
	tls::init -cafile /path/to/ca/cert -keyfile ...

	# Create secured pop3 channel
	pop3::open -socketcmd tls::socket \\
		$thehost $theuser $thepassword

	...
}]

[vset CATEGORY pop3]
[include ../doctools2base/include/feedback.inc]
[manpage_end]