Windows, Python, Cygwin, Getmail question

[Graham Hobbs]

Hello,

I have been informed that it may be possible to run Getmail natively under Python on Windows XP WITHOUT Cygwin. I would appreciate if anybody can confirm this.

If so, where might I find Windows type documentation on installation, usage, etc (so far all I've seen is Unix stuff).

Am trying to avoid Cygwin because I am a novice at this comm stuff and a) Cygwin is large, b) a complexity I don't need, c) is a heavy additional layer just to support one application (Getmail).

Please, thanks.

Graham Hobbs

[Charles Cazabon]

Post by Graham Hobbs
I have been informed that it may be possible to run Getmail natively under
Python on Windows XP WITHOUT Cygwin. I would appreciate if anybody can
confirm this.
If so, where might I find Windows type documentation on installation, usage,
etc (so far all I've seen is Unix stuff).

You probably won't find Windows-specific documentation for getmail (beware if
you search; there is a Windows-specific program *also* called "Getmail" which
does something different; it only retrieves mail from Hotmail or something).

To try to run getmail natively under Windows, you'll need to install the
Windows version of Python (available from python.org), extract the getmail
tarball (WinZip and other programs can, I believe, extract from .tar.gz
files), then open a shell and install getmail normally, with the `python
setup.py build` and `python setup.py install` commands. You'll probably need
to give it some non-default arguments to specify where you want the files
installed; I have no idea how the Unix-like standard paths are handled under
Windows with Python.

Post by Graham Hobbs
Am trying to avoid Cygwin because I am a novice at this comm stuff and a)
Cygwin is large, b) a complexity I don't need, c) is a heavy additional
layer just to support one application (Getmail).

You might find it useful for other applications and utilities: for instance,
if you find you want to use other standard Unix mail-processing tools for
extracting your attachments, etc.

Charles

[Emilio Perea]

Post by Graham Hobbs
I have been informed that it may be possible to run Getmail natively
under Python on Windows XP WITHOUT Cygwin. I would appreciate if
anybody can confirm this.

I run getmail in XP under Microsoft Services for UNIX. Works fine, of
course, but your objections to Cygwin would also apply to SFU.

Post by Graham Hobbs
If so, where might I find Windows type documentation on installation,
usage, etc (so far all I've seen is Unix stuff).

For SFU (as presumably for Cygwin) it's the Unix documentation that
applies. I realize this does not help you, but it's possible that
the person who mentioned "without Cygwin" was thinking of SFU/SUA.