I want to use Thunderbird as an IMAP client to backup Gmail and would prefer to run it from a CRON... Basically want to wake it up, sync IMAP folders than shutdown... I tried offlineIMAP with no success and it seems that Thunderbird is a reasonable solution.
What would the command line settings be to have it check, download, then shutdown?
Perhaps fetchmail would be better suited to what you're trying to accomplish? http://www.fetchmail.info/
I believe you can launch Thunderbird by just typing thunderbird in the terminal. As to auto checking, I believe Thunderbird has an option (burred in the settings somewhere) to check for new mail at start up. Also be sure that you're fetching the entire messages with IMAP and not just the headers. Otherwise it wont exactly be a backup.
If you just want to backup your Gmail account, maybe should you have a look at this post.
It's about the Backup Gmail script.
You can also set up automated incremental backups if i'm right (haven't personally tested it).
Usage: backup_gmail.py backup_dir email@address password
Options:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-r, --restore Restore backup to online gmail account
-i, --inc Use incremental backup
-k, --keep_status Keep the mail read status (Slow)
-s START_DATE, --start=START_DATE
Backup mail starting from this date. Format:
30-Jan-2010
-e END_DATE, --end=END_DATE
Backup mail until to this date Format: 30-Jan-2010
--include=INCLUDE_LABELS
Only backup these labels. Separate labels by '^'
Format: label1^label2
--exclude=EXCLUDE_LABELS
Do not backup these labels. If --include is used this
flag will be ignored. Separate labels by '^' Format:
label1^label2
-c CONFIG_FILE, --config=CONFIG_FILE
Load setting from config file
-p PROFILE, --profile=PROFILE
Use this profile in the config file.
