DBMAIL-POP3D(8)

📦 version 3.5.6, in arch rolling

🌸 DBMAIL-POP3D(8) 🌸

okay so bestie, welcome to the dbmail-pop3d page — it's a section 8 manual page (that's the sysadmin-y daemon section, very main character) and it's all about the POP3 daemon. let's get into it 💅

✨ NAME ✨

dbmail-pop3d — the POP3 daemon that hands out Post Office Protocol, POP3, exactly as specified in RFC 1939. she's fully featured, she's iconic, she serves mail. periodt. 💖

🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

dbmail-pop3d [--config configfile] [--pidfile pidfile]
dbmail-pop3d [--config configfile] [--pidfile pidfile] --no-daemon
dbmail-pop3d [--config configfile] [--pidfile pidfile] --inetd

three whole moods, pick your fighter 🫶

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

the dbmail-pop3d daemon is a fully featured POP3 server. that's it, that's the sentence, and ngl she ate. 🔥

⭐ OPTIONS ⭐

  • -p, --pidfile pidfile — swaps in a different pid file, if you want. by default the daemons use dbmail-<daemon>.pid for their pid files, saving them in the directory specified by the pid_directory entry in dbmail.conf — or, if that doesn't exist, the value set by the configuration option --localstatedir. and heads up: they will halt if the pid file cannot be written. so use -p pidfile to drop the pid file wherever your system prefers to keep that kind of thing. 💅
  • -n, --no-daemon — no daemonize: inetd mode. the program stays attached to the console it was started from and will read and write on stdin/stdout. super useful for debugging when you pair it with the -v option. also the move for running from (x)inetd. 🧚
  • -D, --inetd — no daemonize again, but different flavour: the program stays attached to the console and will listen on the network sockets defined in dbmail.conf. this one's mostly for xinetd (Extended Internet Service Daemon). slay 🌈

💜 COMMON OPTIONS 💜

  • -f, --config configfile — specify an alternate config file.

use dbmail-<utility> --help to show the default location. (yes literally type that, it's in the manual. iykyk)

  • -q, --quiet — quietly skip interactive prompts and helpful status messages which would otherwise be printed to stdout. use two -q's to silence errors which would otherwise be printed to stderr. shhh 🤫
  • -v, --verbose — operate verbosely. some of the utilities in the DBMail suite can take two -v's for extra verbosity. those which don't understand this convention won't complain about having the extra -v and will simply operate at their normal verbosity. no drama, no cap. 🗣️
  • -V, --version — show the version and copyright, then exit. bye bestie 👋
  • -h, --help — show a brief summary of options, then exit. 🎀

🌸 SEE ALSO 🌸

dbmail(1), dbmail.conf(5), dbmail-deliver(1), dbmail-export(8), dbmail-httpd(8), dbmail-imapd(8), dbmail-lmtpd(8), dbmail-pop3d(8), dbmail-sieved(8), dbmail-sievecmd(8), dbmail-users(8), dbmail-util(8)

(yes dbmail-pop3d(8) shows up in its own SEE ALSO. she's self-referential, we love a confident queen 👑)

🍓 BUGS 🍓

for the latest announcements, please subscribe to the DBMail announce mailing list[1]

for general discussion, please subscribe to the DBMail general mailing list[2]

if you experience an issue with DBMail, please report it on the DBMail Bug Tracker[3]. it may be helpful to have a debug log available. 🙈

💀 LICENSE 💀

DBMail and its components are distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License Version 2. copyrights are held variously by the authors listed below.

🧚 AUTHOR(S) 🧚

DBMail is a collaborative effort among the core developers listed below and the tremendous help of the testers, patchers and bug hunters listed in the AUTHORS and THANKS files found in the DBMail source distribution. 🫶

the core developer crew:

  • Alan Hicks
  • Eelco van Beek
  • Aaron Stone
  • Paul J Stevens
  • Roel Rozendaal
  • Ilja Booij
  • IC&S

and the affiliations / handles that go with them, exactly as they're laid out in the original:

⭐ AUTHOR ⭐

Alan Hicks <ahicks@p-o.co.uk> — Author.

🔥 NOTES 🔥

  1. DBMail announce mailing list https://dbmail.org/wws/info/dbmail-announce/
  2. DBMail general mailing list https://dbmail.org/wws/info/dbmail-general/
  3. DBMail Bug Tracker https://github.com/dbmail/dbmail/issues
ok that's the whole page bestie, nothing skipped, every flag accounted for 💖 go configure your POP3 server and absolutely devour 💅✨

signed off with love — this was DBMAIL-POP3D(8), dated 08/28/2026, and you can find it again right here whenever you need her 🎀

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