[vox-tech] email notification tool

[ME]

dylan said:
> hi-
>
> i am looking for a software package, if one exists, that would execute an
> arbitrary script when email arrives, or is present in my Maildir folders.
>
> something kind of like biff - but that would be able to handle Maildir
> format, and that would execute a script instead of modifying the terminal
> window.
>
> as ridiculous as this might sound -- i would like to put an LED in the
> hand
> of a small figurine that lights up when i have email -- i would be sending
> serial commands via shell scripts to a Basic Stamp in order to toggle the
> LED..... i know pretty dorky...  :)

Hmm.. looking through my debian packages, I find this:
----> ixbiff <----
notify user when mail arrives by blinking keyboard leds

Details:
Ixbiff blinks the keyboard LEDs when new mail arrives. The keyboard LEDs
used depend upon the daemon's configuration.

For obvious reasons only three mailboxes can be checked.

Currently, ixbiff is Linux specific and requires root access.

Ixbiff supports the standard UNIX mbox format as well as qmail's Maildir
format.
-------------------

But maybe building your own is desired? How about:

(I am nearly certain this will work...) You could use procmail and add a
line much like you would for calling spamc or spamassassin in piping the
message through your script.

Of course, the difference is that the script would actually be a kind of
wrapper. Example:

file /tmp/this.sh:
----BEGIN----
#!/bin/bash
#

cat

/path/to/led/script/to/run > /dev/null 2>&1
----END----

In such a case, the data piped in gets piped out, and a script also gets
called.

Of course, if you are looking for something less-hackish to add onto,
check out some of these:
clockmail_applet/MailCheck Applet that works from X and can be docked.
(from miguel@kernel.org, jberkman@andrew.cmu.edu,
jaka.mocnik@kiss-uni-li.si, poettering@gmx.net)

And:
mailcheck (may permit running applications and work from a shell without X)
(from jeff@debian.org)

HTH
-ME