mailq_applet version 1 - 21/10/2000 =================================== What this does -------------- mailq_applet is a gnome panel applet that watches your outgoing mail queue, showing different icons depending on whether there is mail in the queue or not. It's intended for dialup users who connect briefly just to send outgoing email; with this applet on your panel you can connect, wait until the queue is empty, and then disconnect again. How it works ------------ This program has been designed to work with Exim. If you're using a different MTA it probably won't work out-of-the-box, but it shouldn't be difficult to port. It invokes the command-line program "mailq", which returns a list of currently queued messages. To improve efficiency it also looks at the directory /var/spool/exim/input; if this hasn't changed it doesn't bother to run mailq. Before you start ---------------- To make this work you'll probably need to make two configuration changes to your system. First you need to change Exim's configuration file, probably in /etc/exim.conf, so that all users can run mailq and see the whole queue. By default mailq only lists messages that the invoking user sent - or in some cases none. See "man exim" for details. Add this line: queue_list_requires_admin = false Secondly, to make the optimisation that looks at the modification time of /var/spool/exim/input work, you need to make /var/spool/exim world readable. Note that /var/spool/exim/input can remain unreadble, so there is no possibility of intercepting other users' email. The command you need is: chmod a+r /var/spool/exim Compiling and Installing ------------------------ Compiling the code should be as simple as cd-ing into this directory and typing "make". To install, become root and "make install". This puts the executable in /usr/local/bin, and two miscellaneous configuration files in other directories. "Mailq Applet" should then appear on your "add new applet" menu under "Monitors". Icons ----- This version shows the presence of absence of mail with two icons: a "normal" postbox and a "full" one. My artistic ability is not great. If anyone would like to submit something better, please please do! Note ---- I've developed this on a Debian 2.2 (Potato) Linux system. It should work on other platforms that run GNOME. Let me know if you need to change anything and I'll add notes to future versions of this file. Feedback -------- Please let me know what you think. mailq_applet's web page is at http://ChezPhil.org/mailq_applet I hope you find this useful. --Phil.