How To Install watch-maildirs on Debian 9

In this tutorial we learn how to install watch-maildirs on Debian 9. watch-maildirs is mswatch helper tools to watch maildirs and trigger on-demand syncs

Introduction

In this tutorial we learn how to install watch-maildirs on Debian 9.

What is watch-maildirs

watch-maildirs is:

mswatch is a command line Unix program that keeps two mailboxes synchronized more efficiently and with shorter delays than periodically synchronizing them.

mswatch watches mailboxes for changes to know when to initiate mailbox syncs. Using mswatch, your mail synchronization program can be called on demand instead of through polling, resulting in prompter mail delivery and lower bandwidth usage and server load.

mswatch is designed to work in conjunction with mailbox synchronization programs, and currently supports watching Linux (2.4+) hosted Maildirs (including Maildir folders, Maildir++). Future support for additional mailbox formats, especially for mbox, is planned.

This package provides the watch_maildirs and inputkill tools for use on imap server hosts.

There are three methods to install watch-maildirs on Debian 9. We can use apt-get, apt and aptitude. In the following sections we will describe each method. You can choose one of them.

Install watch-maildirs Using apt-get

Update apt database with apt-get using the following command.

sudo apt-get update

After updating apt database, We can install watch-maildirs using apt-get by running the following command:

sudo apt-get -y install watch-maildirs

Install watch-maildirs Using apt

Update apt database with apt using the following command.

sudo apt update

After updating apt database, We can install watch-maildirs using apt by running the following command:

sudo apt -y install watch-maildirs

Install watch-maildirs Using aptitude

If you want to follow this method, you might need to install aptitude first since aptitude is usually not installed by default on Debian. Update apt database with aptitude using the following command.

sudo aptitude update

After updating apt database, We can install watch-maildirs using aptitude by running the following command:

sudo aptitude -y install watch-maildirs

How To Uninstall watch-maildirs on Debian 9

To uninstall only the watch-maildirs package we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get remove watch-maildirs

Uninstall watch-maildirs And Its Dependencies

To uninstall watch-maildirs and its dependencies that are no longer needed by Debian 9, we can use the command below:

sudo apt-get -y autoremove watch-maildirs

Remove watch-maildirs Configurations and Data

To remove watch-maildirs configuration and data from Debian 9 we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get -y purge watch-maildirs

Remove watch-maildirs configuration, data, and all of its dependencies

We can use the following command to remove watch-maildirs configurations, data and all of its dependencies, we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get -y autoremove --purge watch-maildirs

Dependencies

watch-maildirs have the following dependencies:

References

Summary

In this tutorial we learn how to install watch-maildirs package on Debian 9 using different package management tools: apt, apt-get and aptitude.