Install imapsync with Homebrew, apk, dnf, MacPorts, Nix, pacman

Project links

• Homepage
• Repository
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• imapsync

Project history

Gilles Lamiral's README gives an unusually clear origin story: he initially wrote imapsync in July 2001 for BaSystemes, which needed to install a new IMAP server without losing large old mailboxes reachable over an unreliable low-bandwidth ISDN link.

The same history section says imapsync began as a patch to copy_folder.pl from the Mail-IMAPClient Perl module examples. Its design was explicitly made with rsync in mind: reruns should avoid wasting bandwidth and avoid creating duplicates.

The ChangeLog is an RCS-style log with more than one thousand revisions. It documents a tool that evolved through provider-specific behavior, Gmail and Yahoo options, OAuth support, web/CGI use, Docker behavior, logging, folder mapping, and a large unit-test corpus.

Adoption history

imapsync moved from a bespoke migration script into a long-running public tool with a distinctive funding model. The README says it is free, open, and public under the NOLIMIT Public License, while the author sells builds and support as a way to maintain the tool over decades.

The installation docs cover Unix, Windows, macOS, Docker, Debian, FreeBSD, Arch Linux, CPanel, AWS EC2, and an online UI. That breadth reflects adoption by individual users, hosting providers, consultants, and administrators doing bulk migrations rather than only local backups.

Homebrew formula metadata lists imapsync as a bottled package for macOS and Linux. That packaging matters because imapsync has a deep Perl dependency surface; package managers turn it from a migration project into a single installable command.

How it is used

The core invocation names a source host, user, and password plus a destination host, user, and password. imapsync then recursively transfers folders and messages, preserves flags, and skips messages it has already identified on the destination.

The README is careful about operational limits: imapsync is for migration and backup, not active two-way synchronization. It points users who need two-way sync toward offlineimap or mbsync, and it documents strict destination cleanup with options such as --delete2.

Why package nerds care

For package nerds, imapsync is significant because it packages a messy real-world protocol job into a repeatable CLI. IMAP servers disagree, provider policies change, Gmail labels behave unlike folders, and credentials migrate from passwords to OAuth; imapsync's long option list is a fossil record of those edge cases.

It is also a useful example of an open tool that is commercially sustained without disappearing from package managers. The package remains scriptable and inspectable while the author sells convenience builds, support, and an online migration surface.

Timeline

• 2001: Gilles Lamiral writes imapsync for a BaSystemes IMAP server migration over a fragile ISDN link.
• 2007: imapsync.spec work appears in project FAQ history, showing packaging interest around Linux distributions.
• 2011: The GitHub repository is created.
• 2024: The ChangeLog reaches the 2.300 series with refactoring, CGI, Gmail, and logging changes.
• 2025: Release 2.314 is documented in the README and VERSION file.
• 2026: The ChangeLog records 2.32x revisions, including refactoring and option changes.

Related projects

• Mail-IMAPClient is the Perl module lineage named by imapsync's history section.
• rsync is the design inspiration named by the author for avoiding duplicate transfer work.
• offlineimap and mbsync are related IMAP synchronization tools that the README names for two-way synchronization use cases.

Sources

• https://api.github.com/repos/imapsync/imapsync
• https://formulae.brew.sh/api/formula/imapsync.json
• https://github.com/imapsync/imapsync
• https://imapsync.lamiral.info/
• https://imapsync.lamiral.info/ChangeLog
• https://imapsync.lamiral.info/INSTALL.d/INSTALL.ANY.txt
• https://imapsync.lamiral.info/README