I did this for my MIT mail because the mit webmail interface isn't as powerful as google mail, and also I didn't like having to check two different webmail places. Gmail is exceedingly more powerful than the MIT webmail for finding, organising etc.
I can help anyone who wants to do this, you need to be there to enter your Kerberos username and password etc but it can be done from any athena workstation very quickly (see below). Just ask me - fkh at mit dot edu. Alternatively go through the steps below.
To set this up quickly,
1. Log into an Athena unix workstation (there is one in the crn cluser in 9 but any anthena workstation will do).
2. After login, a window called Terminal opens automatically. Type the following into this window: chpobox -s name@host, then press return. For example, if you want to forward all mail to "mymail@gmail.com", type chpobox -s mymail@gmail.com. That is a lower-case s, it matters. Upper-case would have a different effect (it would send a copy to gmail AND keep a copy in the MIT webmail).
3. That's it. Log out. All mail will come to the forwarding address from now on.
Mail forwarding is a pretty simple thing to set up, maybe this page makes it sound more complicated. The IS&T site has lots more info about managing mail but no single page like this. There is a command on athena called chpobox which can be used to forward all mail (it happens transparently, there is no extra "Fwd:" in the subject or anything).
Read more about Kerberized Telnet on the IS&T site, not necessary to get this working. You have to connect to the mit servers using telnet, which is a text-only interface for sending instructions to the system and the most scary part of the process. I've tried to make it less scary.
1. (If you don't already have this) get Kerberos Extras. Install the Kerberos Extras for Mac OS X.
2. (If not already done) get Kerberos tickets. Once the Kerberos Extras are installed, get Kerberos tickets by running the Kerberos application in the Utilities folder..
3. Run the Terminal application from the Utilities folder in your Applications folder.
4. Type this command and press return: telnet -xF athena.dialup.mit.edu. This will establish a telnet connection with the MIT server.
5. Ignore the message reading "You are not allowed to log in here: Unknown username Login incorrect". Instead, enter your Kerberos id (e.g. fkh). Then, your password. Nothing will show up when you type the password, this is normal.
6. Type the following command, with the address that you want to use: chpobox -s name@host, then press return. For example, if you want to forward all mail to "mymail@gmail.com", type chpobox -s mymail@gmail.com. That is a lower-case s, it matters. Upper-case would have a different effect. Read the technical details about the chpobox command on the athena help pages, you don't have to though.
7. Type logout and press return.
That's it! No more MIT webmail. From now on, every email sent to your @mit.edu address will transparently get sent on to your gmail/hotmail/whatever. Set gmail to reply using the mit address instead of your @gmail address, see this page in gmail help for details.
Good luck. Comments to fkh at mit dot edu.
Windows people can get HostExplorer from MIT to make the Kerborized Telnet connection. Skip steps 1-5 and log in with HostExplorer instead, everything should be the same at step 6 above.
If you run out of space in your gmail or hotmail, MIT can't help to resolve this.
If gmail were to go wrong on a crucial day, you couldn't get to your mail (actually, you could if you chose to duplicate all messages and keep one copy in MIT webmail, one in gmail).