Free POP3 and SMTP access to Yahoo! Mail using YPOPS! in Ubuntu
Posted by admin on February 17th, 2008 
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This application is more like a gateway. It provides a POP3 server interface at one end to talk to email clients and an HTTP client (browser) interface at the other which allows it to talk to Yahoo! The same concept holds good for SMTP as well.It works with all know email clients like Outlook, Thunderbird, Evolution, Eudora etc.
Install YPOPs! for Ubuntu
First you need to add the following line to source list file by editing the /etc/apt/sources.list file
$sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list
Add the following line
deb http://tskariah.000webhost.com/ubuntu ubuntu main
Save and exit the file
Add the PGP public key for the new repository
$ wget http://tskariah.000webhost.com/t_skariah.asc.gpg
$ sudo apt-key add t_skariah.gpg
Update the source list
$ sudo apt-get update
Install YPOPs!
$ sudo aptitude install ypops
Re configure YPOPs! for Ubuntu
$ sudo dpkg-reconfigure -fgnome ypops
Other front-ends could be “dialog” (default), or “web”. The old /etc/ypops.ini would be saved as /etc/ypops.ini.bak
A dialog will popup with help for every option available .
Configuration note
- Don’t check the ‘Add a new account’ in the first step unless you have multiple yahoo accounts.
- If you’re installing YPOPs! on a LAN computer that acts as a router, replace the bind address 127.0.0.1 with the LAN address reachable by the other network PCs (192.168.1.1 or 10.10.0.1 for example).
How to start YPOPs! for Ubuntu manually
$ sudo /etc/init.d/ypops start
How to stop YPOPs! for Ubuntu manually:
$ sudo /etc/init.d/ypops stop
How to automatically start YPOPs! for Ubuntu at bootup
Use the configuration wizard.
How to remove YPOPs! for Ubuntu:
$ sudo apt-get remove ypops
Directory structure:
/etc/init.d/ypops - init script
/etc/ypops.ini - config file
/usr/bin/ypops - executable file
/var/log/ypops/ - log directory
/var/run/ypops.pid - pid file
WARNING: The log directory is readable by all. If the log-level is set to Advanced, YPOPs! would dump all the HTML pages there, which might contian private information.
Configuring Email Client (Mozilla Thunderbird)
If you want to configure Mozilla Thunderbird to access your yahoo email use the following steps
Click Tools-> Account Settings
Click Add Account button.
Choose Email account. Click Next
Type name and email address in the boxes. Click Next
Choose POP and type ‘localhost’ as the incoming server.
Depending on your preferences check or uncheck Use Global Inbox
Click Next. If your username is not already there by default, add it.
Click Next. Add the way you want your Account Name to look in Thunderbird.
Click Finish.
Now scroll down to the bottom of the Account Settings pane and click on Outgoing server (SMTP).
Click on Advanced. Click on Add.
Type 127.0.0.1 as the outgoing mail server. Port default is 25.
Check Use name and password. This is Thunderbird’s way of enabling authentication.
Type your Yahoo user name as username@yahoo.com.
Click No to Use secure connection and then OK twice.
Click OK to the Server Settings window.
Now get back into Account Settings
Go back to the Server Settings of you Yahoo Account in the Account Settings pane.
Do not check Use secure connection (SSL) or Use secure authentication.
Click on Advanced.
Choose where you want your emails to go in the POP tab.
Click on the SMTP tab and click on the drop down menu and select 127.0.0.1:25
Continue modifying any of your preferences in the account and then click on OK.
The first time you try to access the account, Mozilla will ask for a password and if you want Mozilla to remember the password.
May 25th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
One small correction to the YPOPs instructions:
This line
$ sudo apt-key add tskariah.gpg
Should be
sudo apt-key add t_skariah.asc.gpg
For new users that get a file not found error.
May 25th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
@harpoon
thanks for your comment i have updated the article
June 5th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
well… the repo is broken
June 7th, 2008 at 10:45 am
Hi,
Thanks I could configure the same in TB and Evolution. I am able to fetch mails, but unable to send mails using the smtp, every time i send, am asked for the authentication again and again, i enter the one for my account but am rejected everytime.
Any ideas?
June 10th, 2008 at 4:21 am
This doesn’t work anymore I think, at least didn’t when I tried.
June 12th, 2008 at 11:22 am
The server hosting the files is down since a week. Check out Thomas Skariah’s blog at .