qmail-popup(8)       Maintenance Procedures        qmail-popup(8)



NAME
     qmail-popup - read a POP username and password

SYNOPSIS
     qmail-popup hostname subprogram

DESCRIPTION
     qmail-popup reads a POP username and password from the  net-
     work.  It then runs subprogram.

     qmail-popup is most commonly invoked from inetd as

        qmail-popup CHANGEME checkpassword qmail-pop3d Maildir

     with CHANGEME replaced by the fully qualified domain name of
     the local host.

     qmail-popup expects descriptor 0 to read  from  the  network
     and  descriptor 1 to write to the network.  It reads a user-
     name and password from descriptor 0 in POP's USER-PASS style
     or  APOP  style.   It  invokes  subprogram,  with  the  same
     descriptors 0 and 1; descriptor 2 writing  to  the  network;
     and  descriptor  3 reading the username, a 0 byte, the pass-
     word, another 0 byte, an APOP timestamp derived  from  host-
     name,  and  a final 0 byte.  qmail-popup then waits for sub-
     program to finish.  It prints an error message if subprogram
     crashes or exits nonzero.

     qmail-popup should be used only  within  a  secure  network.
     Otherwise  an eavesdropper can steal passwords.  Even if you
     use APOP, an active attacker can still take over the connec-
     tion and wreak havoc.

     qmail-popup has a 20-minute idle timeout.

     qmail-popup is based on a program contributed by  Russ  Nel-
     son.

SEE ALSO
     maildir(5), qmail-local(8), qmail-pop3d(8)















SunOS 5.5                 Last change:                          1