EMAIL2NCID(1)

📦
version 1.18 · 2 versions
, in fedora 43

💖 NAME 💖

email2ncid — it converts an email into an NCID message. that's the whole job bestie, no cap ✨

this one lives in the User Contributed Perl Documentation section of the manual, and yes it's giving "your procmail called and it wants a favor" energy 💅

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

email2ncid [--configfile    | -C <filename>]
           [--hostname-flag | -H <0|1>]
           [--help          | -h]
           [--man           | -m]
           [--notify        | -N <0|1>]
           [--ncidserver    | -n <[host][:port]>]
           [--test          | -t <1-9>]
           [--version       | -V]

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

okay so the email2ncid gateway is literally the main character here: it takes the contents of an email and sends them to the NCID server as one single line. one line. that's it. slay 💖

you call it from a .procmailrc file when an email contains this line:

Subject: NCID Message

the email2ncid gateway also has an option to send only the email subject line to the NCID server instead of the whole thing. you call it from a .procmailrc file when the email address or name matches on the email From: line. iykyk 🎀

the email has to be in either plain text, or HTML and plain text — no other formats, sorry bestie, the vibe check said no 🙈

and the output of email2ncid? a one line NCID message sent to an NCID server. periodt ✨

✨ OPTIONS ✨

  • -C, --configfile <filename> — says which configuration file to use. and the cute part? the program will still run if a configuration file is not found. she's resilient 💅
  • -H <0|1>, --hostname-flag <0|1> — when the hostname flag is set to 1, the IDENT string sent to a server will include the hostname along with the program name.

Default: 0

  • -h, --help — shows the help message and exits. baby's first flag 🫶
  • -m, --man — displays the manual page and exits. hi you're literally reading it rn 😭
  • -N <0|1>, --notify <0|1> — this option sends a message to NCID containing only the subject line instead of the email contents as one line. it's a notification of some type:
    • visitor arrived at a gate in a gated community
    • an important email arrived
  • -n <[host][:port]>, --ncidserver <[host][:port]> — specifies the NCID server. the port may be specified by suffixing the hostname with :<port>.

input must be <host:port> or <host>, or <:host>

not me being picky about the exact shape of this string 💀 get it wrong and it will not be the vibe.
  • -t <1-9>, --test <1-9> — test mode connects to the server and displays some information and the message. it does not send the message to the server. set the level to a higher number for more information. levels range from 1 to 9, but not all levels are used.
test = 1: show some variables and generated message
test = 2: additionally show 2 or 3 lines returned by server
test = 3: additionally show the email message

Default: no test mode

  • -V, --version — displays the version. tell me who you are queen 👑

🌈 REQUIREMENTS 🌈

the NCID server

http://ncid.sourceforge.net/ncid/ncid.html

a dynamic DNS service

a Mail Transport Agent (MTA)

exim, postfix, sendmail, etc.

firewall

forward port 25 TCP/UDP to the computer running the MTA 🔥

procmail

$HOME/.procmailrc must be created or updated to call email2ncid.

run the following command to automate this whole process for you (she's helpful like that):

ncid-setup email2ncid

Perl

perl 5.6 or higher, perl(Config::Simple)

🎀 FILES 🎀

prefix3=/etc/ncid/email2ncid.conf
$HOME/.procmailrc

💜 SEE ALSO 💜

email2ncid.conf.5, ncid-email2ncid-setup.1, ncidd.8, ncid.conf.5, ncid_gateways.7

and that's the whole page bestie!! this was email2ncid(1) from perl v5.42.0, dated 2025-08-06 — go forth and convert those emails, ily, drink water, bye 💖✨🦋

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