NAME
CheckGmail - system tray applet to check a Gmail account for new mail
SYNOPSIS
checkgmail [-profile] [-hosted] [-popup_delay] [-no_cookies] [-private]
[-v | -verbose] [-nocrypt] [-h]
DESCRIPTION
CheckGmail is an alternative Gmail Notifier for Linux and other *nix
systems. It is fast, secure and uses minimal bandwidth via the use of
Atom feeds.
CheckGmail is a system tray application that checks a Gmail account for
new mail. When new mail is present the tray icon changes, an optional
animated popup is displayed and a tooltip displays the number and
details of new messages. Configuration is GUI-based and the application
is designed to be simple, elegant and unobtrusive.
CheckGmail aims to be relatively secure in terms of password storage.
Combined with Crypt::Simple(3pm) the program provides the option of
either encrypting the saved password information or - for maximum
security - re-entering your password each time the application is run.
If you decide to save the password, it is encrypted using a passphrase
generated from machine-unique information (the eth0 MAC address and/or
uname system information). Encrypting the password prevents both casual
reading of plain text passwords on your machine, but more importantly
allows the CheckGmail config file in your home directory to be stored
securely on external backups.
For the password encryption function, CheckGmail depends on the Perl
module Crypt::Simple(3pm) CheckGmail will save passwords as plain text
if this module (or associated modules) is not present on the system.
OPTIONS
-profile=[profile_name]
Using this switch causes CheckGmail to read preferences from a
file named prefs-[profile_name] in ~/.checkgmail - thus allowing
multiple instances of CheckGmail to be run to check different
Gmail accounts.
-hosted=[Gmail hosted domain]
Allows checkgmail to work for Gmail hosted domains. E.g. if
your hosted domain is test.net, run the program with
-hosted=test.net Once run, the -hosted flag is not required
again for that profile.
N.B: You will need to delete the Atom feed address from your
preferences or use a new profile before using this option for
the first time. Following a change in the Gmail login code for
hosted domains, this option does not appear to be compatible
with the -no_cookies method of checking mail.
-popup_delay=[time in millisecs]
Sets the time taken between the mouse entering the system tray
icon and the tooltip being displayed. Default is 250 millisecs
as of version 1.10 (previous versions used no delay).
-no_cookies
Uses the old Atom feed retrieval method (default in versions
1.7.2 and earlier) of sending the username and password across
https. The alternative, and currently default method, is to
login to Gmail, save the authentication cookies, and then
retrieve the Atom feeds without requiring any further
authentication - this method has the benefit of allowing various
actions to be carried out upon new messages received, such as
deleting, marking as read, archiving or reporting spam.
-private
Prevents the display of message details in the popup - only the
number of new messages will be displayed.
-v | -verbose
Causes CheckGmail to print details of mail checking and mail
contents to STDOUT
-nocrypt
Disables the use of Crypt::Simple to encrypt saved password
information - passwords will be saved as plain text.
-h Prints a usage message.
ENVIRONMENT
HTTPS_PROXY
Setting the HTTPS_PROXY environment variable will cause
CheckGmail to use the specified proxy server when checking for
new mail.
FILES
~/.checkgmail/prefs.xml
User configuration file
~/.checkgmail/lang.xml
Language translations
AUTHOR
Owen Marshall <owenjm at the email provider which this utility checks>
CheckGmail(1)