inbox_count

inbox_count tells you how many email messages are in your inbox.

Usage

gilgamesh:~/projects/inbox_count $ ./inbox_count.py -h
Usage: inbox_count.py [options] [-u USERNAME -s HOST]

Logs into IMAP server HOST and displays the number of messages in USERNAME's inbox.

Options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -u USERNAME, --user=USERNAME
                        Username to log into server
  --password=PASSWORD   Password to log into server.  If not included and
                        password file not specified, password will be asked
                        for interactively.
  -s HOST, --server=HOST
                        Address of server
  -p PORT, --port=PORT  Port of server, defaults to 993
  --password-file=file  Read password from password file FILE
  --no-ssl              Do not use SSL.
  -v, --verbose         Be verbose.
  --debug               Be really verbose.

Example

gilgamesh:~/projects/inbox_count$ ./inbox_count.py -u example_user -s email.example.org --password-file password
25

If you don’t specify a password file or a password on the command line, inbox_count will ask you interactively.

gilgamesh:~/projects/inbox_count$ ./inbox_count.py -u example_user -s email.example.org
Password:
25

Get inbox_count

Download inbox_count.

Motivation

I was inspired by a blog post. In it, Thomas uses a script to graph the number of emails in his Evolution email inbox, helping him turn “Inbox Zero” into a game. I don’t use Evolution.

In that vein, this script returns a return code equal to the number of emails in your inbox. Unix tradition is that a return code of zero is success.

It’s not my intention, however, that you use this script to compulsively check your email status. That would likely be counterproductive–instead, it’s meant for crontastically recording your inbox counts so you can make pretty graphs and track yourself.

Security

Because command line arguments are usually available to other users on a system, inbox_count.py lets you specify the password in a password file. You can use filesystem permissions to lock down that password.

Licensing

This software is copyright 2009 Adam Wolf, and is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License.

This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.

Troubleshooting, Questions, or Comments:

inboxcount is located at http://feelslikeburning.com/projects/inboxcount.

The code is currently maintained at Github.

Feel free to contact me at http://feelslikeburning.com/contact!