remove_duplicate_imap_messages/README.md

# remove_duplicate_imap_messages

## Requirements

## Installation

### Linux

  ```bash
sudo python3 setup.py install
```

### Windows (from PowerShell, untested)

  ```powershell
& $(where.exe python).split()[0] setup.py install
```

## Usage

  ```bash
Usage: remove_duplicate_imap_messages.py [OPTIONS]

Options:
  -d, --debug-level [CRITICAL|ERROR|WARNING|INFO|DEBUG|NOTSET]
                                  Set the debug level for the standard output.
  -l, --log-file TEXT             File to store all debug messages.
  -n, --dummy                     Don't do anything, just show what would be
                                  done.
  -s, --imap-server TEXT          IMAP server
  -p, --imap-port INTEGER RANGE   IMAP server port  [1<=x<=65535]
  -u, --imap-user TEXT            User name to use for the connection to the
                                  IMAP server  [required]
  -P, --imap-password TEXT        Password to connect to the IMAP server.
                                  Warning! Use a configuration file to avoid
                                  revelaing your passwords.  [required]
  -S, --ssl BOOLEAN               Whether to use a secure connection or not.
  -m, --mailbox TEXT              IMAP mailboxes to check. Will compare
                                  messages between all mailboxes. Default:
                                  INBOX
  -m, --method [full|headers]     Method to decide messages are duplicated.
                                  The 'full' method will check that the whole
                                  message and headers are the same. The
                                  'headers' method will check that selected
                                  headers (with --header) are the same.
  -f, --header TEXT               Fields to compare when method is 'headers'
  --config FILE                   Read configuration from FILE.
  --help                          Show this message and exit.
```
### The 'full' method.
This method will take all information of the message (headers, dates, recipients, sender, subject, body, ...) and create a code (SHA256 hash), if the code is the same for another message then they are consider duplicates.

### The 'header' method
This method will take only the select headers (at least one) and create a code (SHA256 hash), if the code is the same for another message then they are consider duplicates.
Some common headers are:
- Subject
- Body
- To
- From
- Reply-To
And there is a RFC (Request For Comments with more) https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc2076 but ultimately you can add any custom header to a message with the right client or server tools.

## Security

- Try first with the --dummy run to see how many messages will be deleted, because there won't be any prompts and messages get deleted (almost) inmediately.
- Don't pass the password in the command line, use the --config file to store parameters and protect it with the right permissions.
- Use SSL or your messages and credentials will be visible in your network (and any networks you need to go throw to get to your mail server).