Network setup

For those who might find it of use, here is the setup I use on my Ubuntu laptop for network access (using UWS) and email (not using webmail) on the University of Alberta campus. YMMV.

About my machine

$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description:    Ubuntu 8.10
Release:    8.10
Codename:   intrepid

Wireless setup

Email setup

I don't like webmail, so instead of using the University webmail or my department's webmail, I download all my email to my laptop, and I read and send it using software installed locally.

Everyday use

From time to time, I type fetchmail at a shell prompt to download new mail. (Fetchmail can run in daemon mode too, downloading mail on its own from time to time; see the man page.)

To read or send mail, I type mutt. Incoming mail is stored in the =mailbox folder; when I've dealt with it, I move it to =ham. When spam gets through my (by now, well-trained) spam filter, I move it to =spam. From time to time I run the command

$ sb_mboxtrain.py -d ~/.hammiedb -g ~/Mail/ham -s ~/Mail/spam

to train my spam filter on the most recent email.

Software used

• esmtp (sudo apt-get install esmtp-run)
• Fetchmail (sudo apt-get install fetchmail)
• SpamBayes (sudo apt-get install spambayes)
• maildrop (sudo apt-get install maildrop)
• Mutt (sudo apt-get install mutt-patched)

Warning: Install esmtp before you install maildrop. (Otherwise maildrop will try to install an MTA on its own, and it'll choose exim4 by default, which is not the plan.)

Configuration files

Replace "CCID", "PASSWORD", "LOCALUSERNAME", and "NAME" below with the appropriate information.

~/.esmtprc

mda "/usr/bin/maildrop"
identity CCID@ualberta.ca
    hostname smtp.srv.ualberta.ca:587
    username "CCID"
    password "PASSWORD"
    starttls enabled

~/.fetchmailrc

set no bouncemail
poll pop.srv.ualberta.ca
    protocol pop3
    user CCID is LOCALUSERNAME here
    ssl
    mda "/usr/bin/maildrop"

~/.netrc

machine pop.srv.ualberta.ca login CCID password PASSWORD

~/.mailfilter

xfilter "/usr/bin/sb_filter.py -d $HOME/.hammiedb"
if (/^X-Spambayes-Classification: spam/)
    to $HOME/Mail/spam
else
    to $HOME/Mail/mailbox

~/.muttrc

set folder="~/Mail"
set spoolfile==mailbox
set mbox_type=maildir
my_hdr From: NAME <CCID@ualberta.ca>
set use_from=no
set use_envelope_from=yes