On Mon, Feb 15, 2021 at 06:04:03PM -0600, boB Stepp <robertvst...@gmail.com>
wrote:
> On 21/02/16 12:28AM, Øyvind A. Holm wrote:
> > On 2021-02-16 00:17:22, Øyvind A. Holm wrote:
> > > On 2021-02-15 16:01:06, boB Stepp wrote:
> > > > > On Monday, 15 February at 21:53, boB Stepp wrote:
> > > > > > And from reading the Mutt manual I have encountered the
> > > > > > alternates option, but now I am not sure what it is useful for
> > > > > > and how to most effectively use it.
> > > >
> > > > And "alternates" is still a mystery...
> > >
> > > It is used if you have any alternate or old email addresses.
> > > `alternates` makes it possible for Mutt to mark messages in the index
> > > with "F" (from one of your addresses), "+" or "T" (to one of your
> > > addresses), etc. For example,
> > >
> > > alternates job_em...@example.net
> > > alternates old_em...@example.com
> > > alternates another_...@example.org
> > >
> > > Now Mutt knows that all these addresses belong to you.
> >
> > A small correction (even though the above example will work). The
> > parameter after `alternates` is a regexp, so a more correct way to write
> > them would be
> >
> > alternates ^job_email@example\.net$
> > alternates ^old_email@example\.com$
> > alternates ^another_old@example\.org$
> >
> > to avoid false positives with for example "yet_another_...@example.org".
>
> So is this mostly to provide labeling information in the index? I suppose it
> might be usable for some sort of filtering purposes...
>
> --
> Wishing you only the best,
>
> boB Stepp
Alternates is also relevant for the reverse_name setting:
reverse_name
Type: boolean
Default: no
It may sometimes arrive that you receive mail to a
certain machine, move the messages to
another machine, and reply to some the messages
from there. If this variable is set, the default
From: line of the reply messages is built using
the address where you received the messages you
are replying to if that address matches your
“alternates”. If the variable is unset, or the
address that would be used doesn't match your
“alternates”, the From: line will use your address
on the current machine.
Also see the “alternates” command.
Very handy when you have hundreds of email addresses.
cheers,
raf
