WHAT IS IT? This is a POP3 client module for perl5. It provides an object-oriented interface to a POP3 server. It can be used to write perl-based biff clients, mail readers, or whatever. See the inline POD doco for more details. (perldoc Mail::POP3Client) HOW DO I INSTALL/TEST IT? To install Mail::POP3Client: % perl Makefile.PL % make % make test % make install NOTE: if you want to test against a real mailbox, set the environment variable POPTESTACCOUNT to some POP3 account in the following format: user:password:host. % export POPTESTACCOUNT=jsmith:secret:pop3.my.do.main % make test On Win32 ActiveState perl, you can install it using the Perl Package Manager (ppm). HOW DO I USE THIS WHEN MY ISP WON'T INSTALL IT FOR ME? You have 2 choices. You can go through the installation process using a prefix option to the make command like this: % perl Makefile.PL prefix=/some/other/directory then just make; make install as above. Or you can create a directory called Mail somewhere and just put POP3Client.pm in there. You will then have to put this directory into your include path (@INC) either on the command line or in your code (i.e. use lib '/path/to/directory'; ). You need to include the directory above Mail and case does matter. Choice 1 is better because you can track what modules you have installed but if you don't have command line access you'll have to go with choice 2. WHERE IS THE DOCUMENTATION? The documentation is in the code in POD format. To read it, use 'perldoc Mail::POP3Client' or you can extract it to html using pod2html. I'M SURE MY USERNAME AND PASSWORD ARE CORRECT BUT IT WON'T CONNECT. WHAT'S WRONG? Most likely, the server is claiming to support APOP, but for some reason, doesn't. Try adding 'AUTH_MODE=>PASS' to the constructor. Written by Sean Dowd