sift is a simple client-side, utility for manipulating messages stored upon a remote IMAP server.

Using sift you may conduct scripted operations against the messages stored upon a remote IMAP server via a simple collection of rules.

A common use for this tool would be to:

• Connect to a (remote) IMAP server.
• Open a particular folder.
• Find messages which are new and contain a given string in their subjects.
  • Mark them as read, and execute a program.

There are two types of rules which sift understands: Those that select messages and those which operate upon them.

At all times sift maintains a list of messages which are "selected". Using the rules you may refine which messages are currently selected, or operate upon those selected messages.

This idea of refining the selection of messages, then operating upon them is demonstrated in the sample rule-file included with the distribution.

The different types of rules are described more fully in the FAQ.

To use sift you must simply create a rule file, (the sample file makes a good starting point), and then pass that as an argument to the script.

If you've got any problems expressing your desired action(s) with the supplied rules and would like to see additional ones added please get in touch.

If you're using sift to cope with too much spam you might want to consider signing up to my antispam protection service.

You may download the current stable release from the following links:

• sift-0.5.tar.gz [14k]
• sift-0.5.tar.gz.asc -1k (GPG signature which may be validated using my public key).

There is also a Debian package available for the Stable (etch) release, you may find that in my apt-get repository.

If you'd like to try something more cutting edge please see the sift mercurial repository.

To use the software you'll need the Net::IMAP::Simple::SSL module. A Debian GNU/Linux users may install this by running:

apt-get install libnet-imap-simple-ssl-perl

Download, unpack, and run "make install".