Problem downloading mail with fetchmail

[Flyingdancer]

I've been struggling to get emails using fetchmail from my ISP. Horde works fine and retrieves email.

However, the syslog just shows this again and again:
Unknown login or authentication error on <user>@<domain>@<mailserver>

I logon direct to my isp via thunderbird as <user>@<domain> with <password>
#
Any ideas why fetchmail keeps failing. It's been months now

Thanks

[asparak]

Obviously - Anonymise it, but can you post your fetchmailrc?

[Flyingdancer]

Thanks, here's the [anonymised] fetchmailrc in /home/[me]

set postmaster "postmaster"
set bouncemail
set no spambounce
set properties ""
set daemon 300
set syslog

poll [mailserver] proto pop3
user [name]@[domain]
pass [password]
user '[name]@[domain]' there with password '[password]' is '[me]' here

[asparak]

try:

poll [mailserver] proto pop3 user '[username]' pass '[password]' is '[me]' here


e.g. poll pop.gmail.com proto pop3 user 'anyone@gmail.com' pass 'anypassword' is 'somebody' here


I think its picking up your domain twice as you appear to be listing details twice

[Flyingdancer]

Thanks for your suggestion. I altered every fetchmailrc one at a time but still get:

Dec 9 09:24:38 bubba fetchmail[8992]: awakened at Wed Dec 9 09:24:38 2009
Dec 9 09:24:38 bubba fetchmail[8992]: Unknown login or authentication error on [user]@[domain]@[mailserver]
Dec 9 09:24:38 bubba fetchmail[8992]: socket error while fetching from [user]@[domain]@[mailserver]
Dec 9 09:24:38 bubba fetchmail[8992]: Query status=2 (SOCKET)

Hmm..

[asparak]

You have enclosed your username and password in single quotes?

[Flyingdancer]

Yes they are in 'quotes' in fetchmailrc

[asparak]

Thats very odd.

OK, lets establish some basics here. Have your fetchmailrc's ever worked? Have you used these settings on another system somewhere and got data? Is pop3 supported (gmail for example needs it turned on expicitly)
Do you need to enable SSL support for your ISP?
Does your ISP use a different port ie 2525 and not 25?

Sorry for asking so many questions, but I'm trying to work out what the issue is for you.

[Flyingdancer]

I'm really grateful for your help.
Have your fetchmailrc's ever worked? Have you used these settings on another system somewhere and got data?
- no, but I have got mail onto the bubba by going into Horde in the past. I can IMAP this with Thunderbird on my PC
Is pop3 supported (gmail for example needs it turned on expicitly)
- yes, It's what I use to download to Thunderbird
Do you need to enable SSL support for your ISP?
- no
Does your ISP use a different port ie 2525 and not 25?
- 110 in and 25 out

I think it's something to do with the mail server not expecting a login as [user]@[domain]@[mailserver], bit I can't see how to drop the @[mailserver]
It's got me flummoxed!

[asparak]

hmmm.....

So your fetchmailrc looks like this:
set postmaster "postmaster"
set bouncemail
set no spambounce
set properties ""
set daemon 300
set syslog

poll [mailserver] proto pop3 user '[name]@[domain]' pass '[password]' is '[me]' here

Very strange. I have mine identical to that and I don't see any problems at all. Who is your ISP? Might be something specific to them.
Have you by any chance tried telnet'ing to the mailserver to check you get a connection?

[Flyingdancer]

Exactly the same! I'll try the telnet and a call to their helpdesk(!)

[n-sol support]

While searching google for a solution on a little fetchmail - issue we have,
I came accross your post from a few months ago.
I don't know if you already have it working yet,
but if I compare with my own fetchmailrc, I notice some difference in syntax
According to the manuals I used several years ago, it should read:
(that is, if you use it to poll mail for your own domain, not some ISP-mailbox)

poll [server] with proto POP3 localdomains [yourdomain.tld]
user "[user]" there with password "[password]" is [localuser] here

Mind DOUBLE quote!
If we use FQDN for the mailserver, use double quotes too,
If we use IP, we set the "aka" option, like poll 123.123.123.123 aka "123.123.123.123"
(because sometimes IP address is handled as FQDN, and this way, we 'always win'

Hope this could still be of some use.
Luc