More on Fetchmail

(Recap: I'm trying to change where fetchmail sends my incoming mail - directing all to one user mailbox instead of four. After changing the configuration file, some messages still arrived in the old mailbox.)

I found something interesting yesterday. I had remembered that in addition to /etc/fetchmailrc, fetchmail commands can also be left in individual config files named .fetchmailrc (remember that the period in front of the name makes it a hidden file) found in each users' home directory. I didn't find any of those, but I found one called .fetchmailrc~. The tilde (~) on the end indicates that this is a 'before' file saved by emacs. This file held commands to redirect messages from the two accounts that have been giving me trouble to the old mailbox. Could this be the problem? I renamed it and waited for the next cycle for fetchmail.

As I would expect, there was no change. The fetchmail manual states that the program should reread the config each time it runs, but I'm just not seeing that happen. I rebooted the server.

After reboot the messages from one of the new accounts now went to the new destination! Apparently, the file with the tilde at the end of the name was still being read. Still, mail from one of the accounts is still going to the old mailbox, and I can't find why. I looked for hidden files in all of the home directories, but found none. Once again, I may give up for now, and just tackle this on the new server.

OK! I just retested, and mail from both accounts is now going to the old mailbox! I had it working once!! So much for the tilde idea. I'm noticing too that messages from my other servers (other than hotpop.com) are not longer begin retrieved. Running fetchmail with the --configdump option shows only the hotpop.com accounts setup. There's got to be another configuration file somewhere that is being used. I GIVE UP!!!