offlineimap for archiving GMail locally, making sure to never touch/change the server data?

[jkg657n at petml.com]

Hi,

I'm having a heck of time understanding and selecting the right client
for my intended task.

I have a GMail account.

I want to regularly (initially, then incrementally) back up EVERYTHING
in the GMail account to a local (on my desktop machine) Maildir.  I'm
looking for an archival-only copy -- to protect against @Gmail loss
outside of my control.

I want to make sure that nothing I do to the data retrieved to, and
stored on, my local desktop -- like accidentally deleting/changing some
or all of the files -- would ever get mirrored back to the GMail server.
 I want it only to be "one way" backup -- FROM the Gmail server TO my
desktop.

I also want to be sure that the process of retrieval from the GMail
server does not change STATE of the messages on the Gmail server.  I
just read , e.g., that getmail will mark the messages as READ *on* the
Gmail server.  Iiuc, that's definitely what I want.

I guess what I'm asking is simply -- is 'getmail' or 'offlineimap' the
right tool for what I want to do?  And what the best config for doing
this is?

THanks!

Jim