mutt questions..

masseya · Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2002 4:40 pm Post subject: mutt questions..

I'm intersted in using mutt as my email client, but I have a few questions. It looks like there are a lot of configurations that people are using in their .muttrc files. Does anyone have any specific recommendations? There are also a lot of tutorials out there and I was wondering if anyone can recommend a fairly simple one that includes coverage of setting up PGP.
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leej · Apprentice Joined: 18 May 2002 Posts: 280

Pay a visit to www.mutt.org and download a sample .muttrc file. I'd recommend getting one recommended for new users, then moving onto more indepth ones (Thomas Roesslers for example) after a month or two.

Just beware of the fact that all MUA's (Mutt included), Procmail and MTA's that come with Gentoo are configured for Maildir by default (unlike the original builds). When creating a muttrc of your own, take a look at the global muttrc in /etc/mutt/Muttrc, and make sure you don't override any of the settings set in that file - with your local muttrc. Otherwise you might find that Mutt wont see your maildir and it could be confusing putting it right.

It's a fascinating little MUA. You'll be training it for ever because you'll constantly think of new tricks to teach it. :-)

masseya · Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2002 8:27 pm Post subject: mutt thanks..

Thanks for your tips leej! I'll be sure to check out the link you sent. Do you do anything that you find particularly cool with mutt? Why do you use it? I've heard it's really good for searching for things and for PGP stuff. I'm interested in both of those items and any experiences anyone would like to share about them. :wink:

_________________
if i never try anything, i never learn anything..
if i never take a risk, i stay where i am..

leej · Apprentice Joined: 18 May 2002 Posts: 280

masseya · Posted: Sat Jun 22, 2002 9:15 pm Post subject:

There's a really good document on installing and setting up mutt in the documentation forum.

_________________
if i never try anything, i never learn anything..
if i never take a risk, i stay where i am..

marcus · Posted: Sun Jun 30, 2002 8:21 pm Post subject:

Sorry for this newbie-question, but I really don't get the big picture! I find the "mutt and the single user" very informative, but I still don't get the basics.

I'm a single user exactly as described in the documentation mentioned above. I'm used to netscape-like mail configuration, and I easily set up clients such as sylpheed. However, I would prefer a console mail client.
What I don't get is the exact process of receiving, filtering, reading and sending. Or do I...?

As I have understood, I first of all need a program to get my mail from my mail server and place it in a mail directory (e.g in my home directory); fetchmail, getmail, ... (feel free to add alternatives)

Then, if I want filtering I need a program for that; procmail, ...

Then I need a client for reading what's received; mutt, pine, ...

For sending I, in addition to the client (and an editor), need a program for my mail to reach the outgoing mail server; sendmail, ssmtp, ...

Is this correct? I suppose some of the programs overlap each other, and some have far more features. For a newbie it seems an awful lot to configure. Isn't there just one program for all this? Which programs are required, and which are just recomended?
Or maybe more appropriate: Isn't there a more thorough documentation concerning all this?

Hope you'll help me to clear this out.

marcus · Posted: Sun Jun 30, 2002 8:29 pm Post subject:

Maybe I should add that I tried this combination for receiving mails:

getmail, as it claimed to be easier to configure than fetchmail
pine, as it is said to be for newbies

Getmail was in fact easy to configure, however, it didn't recognize my ~/mail which was generated by pine

I have a feeling that I am missing something here...

The "mutt and the single user" said that pine had its own sendmail, so I tried sending a mail to myself without having configured anything really. Of course, it didn't work...

masseya · Posted: Mon Jul 01, 2002 7:39 pm Post subject: mail admin howto..

It sounds like you are looking for a pretty comprehensive understanding of email. I would recommend reading the mail administrator's howto. I personally use mutt's IMAP features and don't do a whole lot of filtering because I'm lazy.

The document has a lot of references and it's a pretty decent introduction. There's a lot of good documentation on mutt if you search google as well. If you have specific questions, I would recommend asking them in a new thread so more people will see them and be able to respond.

_________________
if i never try anything, i never learn anything..
if i never take a risk, i stay where i am..