Pine (Alpine)
This FAQ gives a step by step guideline on how to configure alpine for your Berkeley bMail account. Alpine is an updated version of the old “pine” program, used by some as a mail client on linux systems. To work with bMail and two-factor authentication, you should use Alpine version 2.26 or newer. Alpine source code can be downloaded from the Latest Alpine Release Home Page.
You will first need to be sure that your bMail account has IMAP enabled:
Then, setup Alpine to use XOAUTH2 authentication with bMail. Full details and example images may be found at https://alpineapp.email/alpine/alpine-info/misc/xoauth2.html#SettingUpGmail.
Briefly:
- First, register a new “app” with Google, to generate a Client-ID and a Client-Secret. You’ll create an Internal project, in the berkeley.edu organization, under the Learning location; you don’t need to add any scopes or test users. You’ll create new credentials (OAuth client ID), and be given the Client-ID and Client-Secret — use the clipboard to copy these for using in the Alpine app.
- Second, go to the configuration screen for XOAUTH2 in Alpine: press M S U and copy and paste the Client-Id and Client-Secret you just got. Be sure to clear out any existing dummy values before pasting in your saved values!
- Third, authorize Alpine to access your bMail account. You’ll configure your inbox-path and smtp-server, and then go through the CalNet 2-step authentication process, getting a URL that you’ll paste as a “Code” back in Alpine; if successful, you’ll be prompted by Alpine to save the Refresh and Access tokens, using a new MasterPassword key (this key will be needed each time you start Alpine on this device).