How To Install mb2md on Debian 10
Introduction
In this tutorial we learn how to install mb2md on Debian 10.
What is mb2md
mb2md is:
mb2md (mbox to maildir) takes one or more Mbox format mailbox files in a directory and convert them to Maildir format mailboxes.
As the Mbox format has some drawbacks, D. J. Bernstein created the Maildir format when he wrote Qmail. With the Mbox format all mail of a specific folder is stored as one large text file. The Maildir format stores each mail as a separate file. It is a faster and more efficient way to store mail. It works particularly well over NFS, which has a long history of locking-related woes.
The Mbox format is used by many POP3/IMAP servers, most mail servers (MTAs) and mail readers (MUAs). The Maildir format is used by Qmail, Courier-MTA and can be also used as a alternative mail storage format by Postfix and Exim or any MTA which can use procmail as MDA. POP3/IMAP servers which support Maildirs are e.g. Courier IMAP and Dovecot.
mb2md does not only convert Mbox mailbox files into a Maildir but can also convert the /var/spool/mail/$USER mailspool file. It is smart enough to not transfer a dummy message such as the UW IMAPD puts at the start of Mbox mailboxes - and you could add your own search terms into the script to make it ignore other forms of dummy first message.
There are three methods to install mb2md on Debian 10. We can use apt-get, apt and aptitude. In the following sections we will describe each method. You can choose one of them.
Install mb2md Using apt-get
Update apt database with apt-get using the following command.
sudo apt-get update
After updating apt database, We can install mb2md using apt-get by running the following command:
sudo apt-get -y install mb2md
Install mb2md Using apt
Update apt database with apt using the following command.
sudo apt update
After updating apt database, We can install mb2md using apt by running the following command:
sudo apt -y install mb2md
Install mb2md 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 mb2md using aptitude by running the following command:
sudo aptitude -y install mb2md
How To Uninstall mb2md on Debian 10
To uninstall only the mb2md package we can use the following command:
sudo apt-get remove mb2md
Uninstall mb2md And Its Dependencies
To uninstall mb2md and its dependencies that are no longer needed by Debian 10, we can use the command below:
sudo apt-get -y autoremove mb2md
Remove mb2md Configurations and Data
To remove mb2md configuration and data from Debian 10 we can use the following command:
sudo apt-get -y purge mb2md
Remove mb2md configuration, data, and all of its dependencies
We can use the following command to remove mb2md configurations, data and all of its dependencies, we can use the following command:
sudo apt-get -y autoremove --purge mb2md
Dependencies
mb2md have the following dependencies:
References
Summary
In this tutorial we learn how to install mb2md package on Debian 10 using different package management tools: apt, apt-get and aptitude.