POP3D(8)

💖 POP3D(8) — the Cyrus IMAP girlies' guide to pop3d 💖

okay so bestie, welcome to the pop3d manual page, brought to you by the Cyrus IMAP ✨documentation✨. This is the page for the POP3 server process, and yes she's serving, literally, on port whatever you told her to. Let's get into it 🎀

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✨ NAME ✨

pop3d — Cyrus IMAP documentation

POP3 server process 🦋

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

pop3d [ -C config-file ] [ -U uses ] [ -T timeout ] [ -D ]
    [ -H ] [ -s ] [ -p ssf ]

that's the whole vibe, no cap.

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💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

pop3d is an POP3 server. She accepts commands on her standard input and responds on her standard output. She MUST be invoked by master(8) with those descriptors attached to a remote client connection. Like, this is not a "run her yourself and see what happens" situation, she needs master(8) to set her up properly, periodt. 👑

pop3d reads her configuration options out of the imapd.conf(5) file unless you tell her otherwise with -C.

If the directory log/user exists under the directory specified in the configdirectory configuration option, then pop3d will create protocol telemetry logs for sessions authenticating as user. Yes bestie, she's tracking things, but in a cute documented way 💖

Those telemetry logs will be stored in the log/user directory with a filename of the pop3d process-id. iykyk 🔥

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🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

• -C config-file — use the specified configuration file config-file instead of the default imapd.conf(5). main character energy, she brings her own config 💅
• -U uses — the maximum number of times that the process should be used for new connections before shutting down. The default is 250. she's got stamina but not infinite stamina ✨
• -T timeout — the number of seconds that the process will wait for a new connection before shutting down. Note that a value of 0 (zero) will disable the timeout. The default is 60. so like, she'll wait a whole minute and then she's out 🦋
• -D — run external debugger specified in debug_command. detective mode 🔍
• -H — tell httpd to expect a HAProxy protocol header from the sender. that's the tea ☕
• -s — serve POP3 over SSL (pop3s). All data to and from pop3d is encrypted using the Secure Sockets Layer. lock it down, princess 🔒👑
• -p ssf — tell pop3d that an external layer exists. An SSF (security strength factor) of 1 means an integrity protection layer exists. Any higher SSF implies some form of privacy protection. slay, security 🛡️

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🌈 EXAMPLES 🌈

pop3d is commonly included in the SERVICES section of cyrus.conf(5) like so:

SERVICES {
    imap        cmd="imapd -U 30" listen="imap" prefork=0
    imaps       cmd="imapd -s -U 30" listen="imaps" prefork=0 maxchild=100
    pop3        cmd="pop3d -U 30" listen="pop3" prefork=0
    pop3s       cmd="pop3d -s -U 30" listen="pop3s" prefork=0 maxchild=100
    lmtpunix    cmd="lmtpd" listen="/var/run/cyrus/socket/lmtp" prefork=0 maxchild=20
    sieve       cmd="timsieved" listen="sieve" prefork=0
    notify      cmd="notifyd" listen="/var/run/cyrus/socket/notify" proto="udp" prefork=1
    httpd       cmd="httpd" listen=8080 prefork=1 maxchild=20
}

look at her, thriving in the SERVICES block, iconic 💖

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🍓 FILES 🍓

• /etc/imapd.conf

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🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

imapd.conf(5), master(8)

go read those too bestie, they're giving context ✨

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💜 AUTHOR 💜

The Cyrus Team, Nic Bernstein (Onlight)

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👑 COPYRIGHT 👑

1993–2026, The Cyrus Team

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and that's the whole page fr fr 💀 don't skip the options, don't run her without master(8), and remember: she's a POP3 server, not a pop star (though honestly? both 🎤)

version 3.12.3, dated Jul 15, 2026, from the Cyrus IMAP girlies — bye bestie, mwah 🫶💖✨