FreeBSD6 Unleashed

Introduction to POP3

You now have a sound understanding of SMTP and Sendmail, and you have the tools you need to configure your server according to the needs of almost any typical Internet server. But SMTP is only half of the equation. For email to get completely from one user to another, there’s another process that needs to take place: downloading the mail through the Post Office Protocol, known as POP.

The Post Office Protocol enables users to access their mailboxes from remote client machines and download their messages. POP became necessary once it was clear that there would ultimately be a great many more Internet users who used graphical clientside email programs on their own dial-up computers, rather than server-side shell clients such ...