!/usr/bin/env perl

use warnings;
use strict;

=head1 INTRODUCTION

Checks if there are new unread messages in your GMail Inbox.

=head1 USAGE

$ perl check_gmail.pl
1       Swaroop C H     Looks like check_gmail.pl works


=cut

######## Configuration

Change this to your correct username.

use constant GMAIL_USERNAME => “username”;

Change this to your correct password.

use constant GMAIL_PASSWORD => “password”;

#### Don’t change anything below this.

use LWP::UserAgent;
use XML::Atom::Feed;

my $fetcher = LWP::UserAgent->new();
$fetcher->agent(”check_gmail.pl/0.01″);

my $request = HTTP::Request->new(
    ‘GET’   => “https://mail.google.com/gmail/feed/atom”,
);
$request->authorization_basic(GMAIL_USERNAME, GMAIL_PASSWORD);

my $response = $fetcher->request($request);

if (! $response->is_success())
{
    die(”Unsuccessful in trying to talk to GMail”);
}

my $content = $response->content;
my $feed = XML::Atom::Feed->new(\$content);
my @new_messages = $feed->entries();

my $i = 1;
foreach my $message(@new_messages)
{
    print join(”\t”, $i, $message->author->name,
                    $message->title), “\n”;
    $i++;
}

The End

16 Responses to “check_gmail”

1. Ankur Says:
   July 31st, 2006 at 11:49 am

   Your code reminds me of the book “Spidering Hacks” … old thou … is filled with many such interesting scripts …

2. PizzaDude Says:
   July 31st, 2006 at 3:51 pm

   Did you try it out ?

3. Philip Says:
   July 31st, 2006 at 8:08 pm

   why don’t you just use the pop3 interface?

4. Venkatesha Murthy Says:
   July 31st, 2006 at 8:15 pm

   Useful script; nice work! But I’d be wary of hardcoding my username and password into the script. Besides, I wouldn’t need one script for each GMail account (yes, I have more than one). Also, you can’t deploy this script for all users on your machine.

   You might want to have the script look in your home directory for a read-only-by-owner file for the username and passwords or take the filename as an option.

   V.

5. t3rmin4t0r Says:
   July 31st, 2006 at 9:17 pm

   HTTP Basic Auth is a really really bad idea. Also if you were really into perl, you should’ve

   use GMail::Checker;

   my $gwrapper = new GMail::Checker(USERNAME => “username”, PASSWORD => “password”);

   Anything’s that worth doing …

6. Swaroop Says:
   August 1st, 2006 at 6:49 am

   @Ankur : Okay

   @PizzaDude : Yes, it works

   @Philip : It was a situation where I didn’t have access to a POP3 client.

   @Venkatesha : Yeah yeah, I did all that (reading from ~/.gmailrc, etc.) in the script that I actually ended up using. What I pasted here was just the basic part.

   @Gopal : Sorry, I’m ignorant here. Is HTTP Basic auth insecure? How is it different from POP3 auth?

   I think I tried GMail::Checker but it didn’t work for me, I remember trying WWW::GMail also.

7. t3rmin4t0r Says:
   August 2nd, 2006 at 1:06 am

   @Gopal : Sorry, I’m ignorant here. Is HTTP Basic auth insecure? How is it different from POP3 auth

   Basic HTTP auth sends your password something like this

   GET / HTTP/1.1 Authorization: Basic dXNlcjpwYXNzd29yZA==

   >>> import base64
   >>> base64.decodestring("dXNlcjpwYXNzd29yZA==") 'user:password'
   

   But I just noticed that feed was on an https:// SSL connection, so there’s really no problem with man in the middle.

   PS: I’m just itching for the day when ‘you know what’ puts up the SOAP api on developer.yahoo.net

8. Swaroop Says:
   August 2nd, 2006 at 2:06 pm

   @t3rmin4tor : Okay, basically, there’s no security in basic auth, but at least SSL takes care that no one intercepts it, hmm….

   Yeah, so true, I had fun playing with ‘you know what’ too

9. varun Says:
   August 24th, 2006 at 8:27 am

   Firstly Awesome Wordpres Template !!

   You made it or purchased it ?

   And the script is a cool piece of code.. gonna test it sometime

10. Swaroop Says:
    August 25th, 2006 at 7:56 pm

    @Varun :

    I “purchased it”.

11. Its My Life …. » Python script to check gmail from ur console !!! Says:
    August 31st, 2006 at 9:24 am

    [...] http://www.swaroopch.info/archives/2006/07/31/check_gmail/ [...]

12. Umit Says:
    October 12th, 2006 at 1:24 am

    Guys, My gf has access to my gmail. She has changed my passowrd n secret Q. Can u help me out. She mite be accessing it. Mail me at Umitkulshrestha@gmail.com.

13. srinirao Says:
    October 13th, 2006 at 6:05 pm

    It doesn’t work for me. srinirao@srinirao:/tmp> perl gmail.pl Can’t locate XML/Atom/Feed.pm in @INC (@INC contains: /usr/lib/perl5/5.8.6/i586-linux-thread-multi /usr/lib/perl5/5.8.6 /usr/lib/perl5/siteperl/5.8.6/i586-linux-thread-multi /usr/lib/perl5/siteperl/5.8.6 /usr/lib/perl5/siteperl /usr/lib/perl5/vendorperl/5.8.6/i586-linux-thread-multi /usr/lib/perl5/vendorperl/5.8.6 /usr/lib/perl5/vendorperl .) at gmail.pl line 26. BEGIN failed–compilation aborted at gmail.pl line 26.

14. Swaroop Says:
    October 13th, 2006 at 8:04 pm

    @Srinirao : Isn’t it obvious that the module must be installed?

15. Umit Says:
    October 14th, 2006 at 8:31 pm

    can someone help me access my gmail account. i am blocked. have tried the conventional means…dooesnt help..i dont know hacking. pl help

16. Swaroop Says:
    October 14th, 2006 at 9:41 pm

    @Umit : Have you tried contacting Google Customer Care ?

Leave a Reply