gilgamesh:~/projects/inbox_count $ ./inbox_count.py -h
Usage: inbox_count.py [options] [-u USERNAME -s HOST]
Logs into IMAP server HOST and displays the number of messages in USERNAME's inbox.
Options:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-u USERNAME, --user=USERNAME
Username to log into server
--password=PASSWORD Password to log into server. If not included and
password file not specified, password will be asked
for interactively.
-s HOST, --server=HOST
Address of server
-p PORT, --port=PORT Port of server, defaults to 993
--password-file=file Read password from password file FILE
--no-ssl Do not use SSL.
-v, --verbose Be verbose.
--debug Be really verbose.
gilgamesh:~/projects/inbox_count$ ./inbox_count.py -u example_user -s email.example.org --password-file password
25
If you don't specify a password file or a password on the command line, inbox_count will ask you interactively.
gilgamesh:~/projects/inbox_count$ ./inbox_count.py -u example_user -s email.example.org
Password:
25
I was inspired by a blog post. In it, Thomas uses a script to graph the number of emails in his Evolution email inbox, helping him turn "Inbox Zero" into a game. I don't use Evolution.
In that vein, this script returns a return code equal to the number of emails in your inbox. Unix tradition is that a return code of zero is success.
It's not my intention, however, that you use this script to compulsively check your email status. That would likely be counterproductive--instead, it's meant for crontastically recording your inbox counts so you can make pretty graphs and track yourself.
Because command line arguments are usually available to other users on a system, inbox_count.py lets you specify the password in a password file. You can use filesystem permissions to lock down that password.
For a detailed changelog, use the git history currently available at Github.
v1.2: Fixed nasty bug where inbox_count included recently deleted messages. v1.1: Documentation fixes. v1.0: Initial release
This software is copyright 2009 Adam Wolf, and is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License.
This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
inbox_count is located at http://feelslikeburning.com/projects/inbox_count.
The code is currently maintained at Github.
Feel free to contact me at http://feelslikeburning.com/contact!