> You might try to strace mutt and examine the output for clues. See "man > strace" for details. Hi Brian Ford, I did what you said, but I am not a C++ or UNIX internals expert, so for me it is difficult to interpret the output. I am just a UNIX user. Three things I saw: 1. The different number in the error message when executed with strace: $ echo hallo | strace -o mutt2.log mutt -s test [EMAIL PROTECTED] Error sending message, child exited 128 (). Could not send the message. $ echo hallo | mutt -s test [EMAIL PROTECTED] Error sending message, child exited 127 (Exec error.). Could not send the message. 2. Searching for smtp in the strace file, there is no entry for it at all. I tried the same strace on my Windows XP PC and there I found: <snip> 2173 4266 266738 [main] mutt 612 spawn_guts: 612 = spawn_guts (/usr/sbin/ssmtp, C:\cygwin\usr\sbin\ssmtp.exe - - [EMAIL PROTECTED]) 2174 79 266817 [main] mutt 612! fhandler_base::close: closing '/tmp/mutt-SCHW1094-3976-1' handle 0x7DC 2175 36 266853 [main] mutt 612! fhandler_base::close: closing '/tmp/mutt-SCHW1094-3976-2' handle 0x714 2176 32 266885 [main] mutt 612! fhandler_base::close: closing '/tmp/mutt-SCHW1094-3976-2' handle 0x710 2177 33 266918 [main] mutt 612! spawn_guts: spawned windows pid 1080 2178 ********************************************** 2179 Program name: C:\cygwin\usr\sbin\ssmtp.exe (612) 2180 App version: 1005.9, api: 0.112 2181 DLL version: 1005.9, api: 0.112 2182 DLL build: 2004-03-18 23:05 2183 OS version: Windows NT-5.1 2184 Heap size: 402653184 2185 Date/Time: 2004-06-01 16:40:27 2186 ********************************************** 2187 113 340 [main] ssmtp 612 events_init: windows_system_directory 'C:\WINDOWS\System32\', windows_system _directory_length 20 2188 80 420 [main] ssmtp 612 _cygwin_istext_for_stdio: fd 0: opened as binary 2189 29 449 [main] ssmtp 612 _cygwin_istext_for_stdio: fd 1: opened as binary 2190 31 480 [main] ssmtp 612 _cygwin_istext_for_stdio: fd 2: opened as binary 2191 697 1177 [main] ssmtp 612 parse_options: tty 1041 </snip> So on XP it works without any problem (I also receive the mail on my remote mailbox). 3. There is some reference to a 'windows error 487' (which seems to mean 'Attempt to access invalid address.') which does not exist on my XP PC. But may be this only a 'follow up error'. Sending the complete strace output to the mailling list seems too much to me. Or should I send it to your mail address? Regards, Gert de Boer -- Unsubscribe info: http://cygwin.com/ml/#unsubscribe-simple Problem reports: http://cygwin.com/problems.html Documentation: http://cygwin.com/docs.html FAQ: http://cygwin.com/faq/