So I use
GeekTool (an app that let's me print command output right onto my root window, like
root-tail and I wanted to have a simple notifier. I don't want a notifier that takes up menubar space on my already-small 12" screen, and they launch a web browser anyways, while I use Mail.app for POP3 Gmail. So I wrote some simple code for GeekTool:
print "G" if `curl -su <USER>:<PASSWORD> https://gmail.google.com/gmail/feed/atom` =~ /<entry>/
You can then just set GeekTool to run the file containing this command, or use perl -e to execute it right from GeekTool. Same with root-tail, I suppose.
Why did I post this? I have no clue, it's just interesting. A snipplet of code that others can probably use to their advantage, or even get more creative with it.
But there is also a POP3 version, if you like that more:
#!/usr/bin/perl
use Mail::POP3Client;
$pop = new Mail::POP3Client(
* * * *USER * * => $ENV{GMAIL_USER},
* * * *PASSWORD => $ENV{GMAIL_PASS},
* * * *HOST * * => "smtp.gmail.com",
* * * *PORT * * => 995,
* * * *USESSL * => 'true', *
* * * *);
my $count = $pop->Count;
my $plural = $count == 1 ? [ 'is', '' ] : [ 'are', 's' ];
print "$ENV{GMAIL_USER}: There $$plural[0] $count" .
*" message$$plural[1]\n";
* * * *
$pop->Close();
It was found at the
O'Reilly's Developer Weblog, if you're curious.
Anyone got other spiffy ideas on how to implement unobtrusive Gmail notifiers?
</randomRant>