I have a VPS (virtual private server) running Debian Linux. When I login using PuTTY the console shows - "You have mail"
I have no idea on how to retrieve this email. Which software do I need to install? Which steps to follow?
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5 Answers
Just type mail, it is the most basic way to read the mail. It should be installed by default on a Debian system, it comes from the mailutils package. Read the man page or type ? to figure out commands to use.
But there are better ways to read the mail. As noted earlier, mailx is an improved version. Even more user-friendly are mutt, cone and (al)pine. All of these are packaged by Debian and can be installed by apt-get
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(al)pineis cosy aspicoornano, so if you feel ok with the latters go with the first.– HasturCommented Jun 21, 2016 at 8:10
I find the mail program difficult to use. The mail is stored in a flat file, so I use vi /var/spool/mail/user and manage it there.
/var/mail/user
or
/var/spool/mail/user
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2don`t forget to read with CAT cat /var/mail/root cat /var/spool/mail/root Commented Jun 16, 2016 at 7:25
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This suggestion has been made before. Could you expand on what you are doing differently?– BurgiCommented Jun 21, 2016 at 7:55
mailx is present by default on most systems. Type mailx to invoke it. Read the manpages to understand how to navigate the mailx interface.
You need some sort of mail client to be configured. I use alpine as it has basic text-GUI and I used it somewhere previously and I am customed to it. Very easy to use, configurable, etc. btw. One way to manage is fetchmail:ing to some other location, if system has mail server installed. Plain .forward file with your mail address in it /home/dir is an option too! Don't create a loop, though!
