This isn't exactly a PHP question, but it's related. What I'm looking for is a command line mail client. Not something that uses a text based GUI, like Pico. More like something I can use the way I use CURL to basically send requests to the mail server, and get the content of the email returned to me.
My ultimate goal is to have a shell script run regularly that empties all of the emails in a POP account and loads them into my own SQL database. Then have my own PHP to access the data once it's on my server.
What I'm working on is not a webmail client, per say.
Also, I'd like this cli client I use to be portable from server to server, and I'd like it to be able to isolate only the text portion of multi-part email messages. I've tried messing with both the IMAP functions in PHP and the pear mail functions. The problem is that OS X Security Updates often overwrite any additions I compile into PHP. Thats why my solution needs to be stand-alone (plus in an emergency, I'd like to be able to set this up on a new server as fast as possible). The more I think about what I need, the more i think "curl for pop" is what I need.