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my kingdom for a decent imap mail checker

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    #1

    my kingdom for a decent imap mail checker

    I need.. no, MUST HAVE, a mail checker which can check multiple imap mailboxes for new messages. This is such a simple thing, but exceedingly hard to find a decent one on linux for some reason. I have spent so much time searching for one, I am seriously considering commisioning someone to write one, or just going back to gnome or xfce.

    A while back I was using poptray minus, which works well and gets the job done. The problem though is that I switched to imap so I could keep my mail in sync between all my computers, and poptray minus only does pop3... grrr!

    I have tried countless "plasmoid" mail checkers you find on kdeapps.org... most either simply do not work, or are buggy as hell.

    I've tried kshowmail. Only works with pop + buggy

    I have tried mail-notification which I used when I was using gnome. It pulled in a boatload of gnome dependances, but failed to even start under KDE.

    Gmail Notify - only Gmail and only ONE account.

    cGmail - Only gmail

    I've tried 'popper' only works under gnome

    Out of all these the BEST one i could find is something called "GX Mail Notify" which I am using now, but it is so basic that it is barely usable. It doesn't really notify you, it only displays the number or new messages, so very easy to miss.

    So, I am totally out of ideas. Idealy I would LOVE something like poptray minus that can check imap accounts, and actually shows the message subject, date, etc. But I will settle for something that at least pops up and says HEY YOU GOT NEW MAIL!

    Anyway, just thought I'd throw this out there and see if anyone has any ideas.
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    #2
    It isn't in the repositories, but you might want to take a look at KBiff -- KDE Mail Nofication Utility
    Windows no longer obstructs my view.
    Using Kubuntu Linux since March 23, 2007.
    "It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data." - Sherlock Holmes​
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      #3
      I tried compiling from kbiffs mercurial repo, but cmake complains saying:

      Code:
      CMake Error: your CXX compiler: "CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER-NOTFOUND" was not found.   Please set CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER to a valid compiler path or name.
      I tried running cmake with
      Code:
      cmake  -D CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=/usr/bin/gpp ..
      But it said

      Code:
      -- The CXX compiler identification is unknown
-- Check for working CXX compiler: /usr/bin/gpp
      Then it just hung.

      What compiler does it expect?
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        #4
        You can download the appropriate RPM binary and use Alien to convert it to a .deb file.
        Windows no longer obstructs my view.
        Using Kubuntu Linux since March 23, 2007.
        "It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data." - Sherlock Holmes​
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          #5
          Actually tried converting the suse rpm with alien but then trying to run kbiff it says

          kbiff: error while loading shared libraries: libkdeinit4_kbiff.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
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            #6
            Well, you can try using the 3.8 version downloaded from KBiff 3.8 on KDE-Apps.org.

            Added:

            Or maybe better still, is mail-notification, which is in the repositories, so can be installed from Muon Package Manager or from a console.
            Mail Notification can monitor multiple mailboxes concurrently, and supports Evolution, Gmail, IMAP, Maildir, mbox, MH, Mozilla products (Mozilla, SeaMonkey, Thunderbird, …), POP3, Sylpheed, Windows Live Hotmail and Yahoo! Mail mailboxes.
            It is a Gnome application, so it will bring in a butt-load of Gnome baggage. But, it might be what you are looking for.
            Last edited by Snowhog; Jun 08, 2012, 12:59 AM.
            Windows no longer obstructs my view.
            Using Kubuntu Linux since March 23, 2007.
            "It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data." - Sherlock Holmes​
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              #7
              I did try mail-notification but it just "goes away" after i set up an account. Not sure if its crashing or what. Do not see it running in top.

              In any case, I just went back to pop for my main desktop where I spend 90% of my time, so that I can continue to use poptray minus, which is the best pop3 checker at least. Then on my other machines I can use imap. Not perfect but I guess I will have to live with it.

              Amazing that there's no decent email checker for KDE. Plenty of half-assed ones though. Anyway, if some one reading this wants to write a program that will have a TON of users, take a look at poptry minus (which appears to be abandonware), improve on that, and add imap support. This is an integral tool for a lot of people who rely on their email.
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                #8
                If you have enough memory why not just leave your email app running all the time in a virtual desktop of its own? I do this myself with Thunderbird ... I had a lot of hassles with mail notification apps in the past, much the same problems as you. In the end I just kept Thunderbird running all the time and it doesn't use that much memory (about 50Mb). I've found some of those email checkers use nearly that much memory themselves so I don't think there's anything to gain by using them. I've got 2Gb of memory on this PC.
                Desktop PC: Intel Core-i5-4670 3.40Ghz, 16Gb Crucial ram, Asus H97-Plus MB, 128Gb Crucial SSD + 2Tb Seagate Barracuda 7200.14 HDD running Kubuntu 18.04 LTS and Kubuntu 14.04 LTS (on SSD).
                Laptop: HP EliteBook 8460p Core-i5-2540M, 4Gb ram, Transcend 120Gb SSD, currently running Deepin 15.8 and Manjaro KDE 18.
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                  #9
                  That is a good idea. I did find a Thunderbird addon called "FireTray" that seems to work pretty well. Keeps Thunderbird minimized to the KDE system tray, and is highly configurable as far as notifications. The trade off of course is that thunderbird is running constantly. Might see how well that works.
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                    #10
                    Originally posted by eggbert View Post
                    I did try mail-notification but it just "goes away" after i set up an account. Not sure if its crashing or what. Do not see it running in top.
                    Yes, been there tried that too. Same thing happened. I ended up filing a bug report with a workaround https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...on/+bug/919971

                    For some reason, that I can't remember, I still didn't find mail-notification very good and I ditched it. The problem might have been that it wanted gnome-keyring to save passwords, and I gave up. Since then, I think that mail-notification has become more integrated into Unity and may not work with KDE.


                    Originally posted by Snowhog
                    Well, you can try using the 3.8 version downloaded from KBiff 3.8 on KDE-Apps.org.
                    Tried this too. If you follow through the Ubuntu bug reports and packaging requests, you'll find there were some serious incompatibility issues that caused it to be dropped. Doesn't look promising.

                    I agree - why can't we have a simple mail-checker!
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                      #11
                      I use Thunderbird and overall, I'm happy with it. It does have a documented bug, which is easy to get around. What I enjoy is that it's much faster than KMail ever was the setup is automatic. It really took me 30 seconds! It took me more than a day to setup and configure KMail2 (not ready for prime time IMO). Let us know what you find or decide to do and please don't forget to mark this thread "SOLVED" when you get to your "happy place," <grin>. Good luck.
                      "If you're in a room with another person who sees the world exactly as you do, one of you is redundant." Dr. Steven Covey, The 7-Habits of Highly Effective People
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                        #12
                        There is a plasmoid in the repos called plasma-widget-mail that almost (but sadly not quite) does everything you want.

                        It supports POP3 and IMAP, can show email headers, and uses KDE4's notification system. Only thing it lacks is the ability to check multiple accounts. I use it myself, as I only need to check one account.
                        sigpic
                        "Let us think the unthinkable, let us do the undoable, let us prepare to grapple with the ineffable itself, and see if we may not eff it after all."
                        -- Douglas Adams
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                          #13
                          There is a plasmoid in the repos called plasma-widget-mail that almost (but sadly not quite) does everything you want.
                          I actually tried this one already. Not being able to check multiple accounts is a deal breaker unfortunately... I think i've tried all the "plasmoid" ones I could find. Most are either half-implemented, or are insanely buggy.

                          I wish I had the time, i'd take a whack at writing one myself, just out of necessity!
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