23. What shell does a Linux Administrator assign to a POP3 mail-only account?

POP3 mail only account is assigned to the /bin/false shell. However, assigning bash shell to a POP3 mail only gives user login access, which is avoided. /bin/nologin can also be used. This shell is provided to the user when we don’t want to give shell access to the user. The user cannot access the shell and it rejects shell login on the server as in Telnet. It is mainly for the security of the shells.

POP3 is basically used for downloading mail to mail program. So for illegal downloading of emails on the shell, this account is assigned to the /bin/false shell or /bin/nologin. These both shells are same as they both do the same work of rejecting the user login to the shell.

The main difference between these two shells is that false shell shows the incorrect code and any unusual coding when user login to it. But the nologin shell simply tells that no such account is available. So nologin shell is used often in Linux.