Re: Muttrc example needed POP3/SMTP
On Thu, February 2, 2017 10:37 pm, sunrise wrote: > I already had getmail set up but didn't have msmtp installed. If exim4 is installed and configured, there is no need for msmtp, unless you need the profile feature of msmtp which gives you the ability to send messages through any of a number of smarthosts. Some may argue that exim4 is overkill for most users, but the package is mainstream, proven, and very capable; and, with the script provided by the Debian maintainer, configuration of exim4 is simple and quick. RH
Re: Muttrc example needed POP3/SMTP
On Thu, February 2, 2017 10:37 pm, sunrise wrote:
> Thanks a lot for both replies; I feel I am now several steps closer to
> getting a working system. I already had getmail set up but didn't have
> msmtp installed.
The Mail Transfer Agent (on Debian, typically Exim4) handles outgoing
messages on the local machine; these messages are sent to the mail server
of your Internet Service Provider (ISP), which acts as a "smarthost".
If you configure Exim4 (and you should, using the configuration dialogue
provided by the Debian maintainer), you specify the URL of the smarthost
(such as "mail.myisp.net"), the address which is to appear on outgoing
messages ("myn...@myisp.net"), and the password which the smarthost
requires for authentication. For this, see the command "dpkg-reconfigure
exim4-config" and the files "/etc/email-addresses" and
"/etc/exim4/password-client".
> One question I still have is: What are the advantages of using getmail
> and msmtp versus using mutt's built in POP3 and SMTP capabilities?
The author and maintainer of getmail has taken great pains to ensure that
getmail4 works reliably even if a POP3 server is "broken" (and that often
is the case). With a properly-configured getmail, you pretty much are
assured of never losing a message. In salvaging messages from a POP3
server, I personally have used getmail4 to download hundreds of thousands
of messages in a single marathon session running in excess of a day.
And, as I previously mentioned, you can use the combination of getmail4
and maildrop to sort incoming messages in any manner and to any degree you
wish, triggering periodic fetches with a cron job, even if no mutt session
is running. And then, when you do start mutt, you can view any of the
sort categories independently of the others. Thus, if you are pressed for
time, you can look only at messages of important categories, without the
necessity of wading message-by-message through stuff which is not urgent.
Also, if you do not have 24/7 access to the Internet, delegating
downloading (and sorting, if desired) allows you to go on-line, get your
messages while you browse or do other on-line work, then go offline and
read the messages with mutt.
But those who are accustomed to the Window$ way of doing things may prefer
a monolithic mail client which can fetch directly from a POP3 server and
send directly to a smarthost.
RH
Re: Muttrc example needed POP3/SMTP
On Thu, February 2, 2017 8:44 pm, sunrise wrote: > I would like to start using mutt but am somewhat intimidated by all the > possible options in the muttrc config file. Would someone be willing to > provide me with a basic muttrc I could use to get started? That's why they make search engines; you can find dozens of muttrc files, and any number of muttrc tutorials. You might consider using getmail4 for POP3? getmail4 is reliable and easy to configure, and by using getmail4 you simplify the configuration of muttrc. Later you can add maildrop to sort into categories messages retrieved by getmail4 -- it is a nice combination. RH
Re: unbind (all) key bindings
Whatever you choose to do, once you get used to it, it's the best email client out there ... Of the various mail user agents I have investigated, only mutt and gnus offer good efficiency in the handling of a large volume of messages. Not coincidentally, neither mutt nor gnus makes use of the rodent. gnus possibly is more efficient than is mutt, but the configuration and the command structure of gnus is rather obscure. More importantly, if Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen -- the creator of gnus, and perhaps the only man who fully understands the package -- falls off the edge of the earth, the popularity of gnus may decline rapidly. In contrast, mutt enjoys considerable popularity and long has been installed by default by Debian. And popularity perhaps is the best guarantee against obsolescence. Thus it is that mutt appears to be the better option in the long term. RLH
Re: Attachment signal
%4C %Z %?X?@ ? %{%b %d} %-15.15n (%?M?ยป%3M%4c?) %s
This is fantastic. This answers my question, before I had time to ask
it. Could you please describe how this works: %?X?@ ?
Those are string formatting directives.
First of all, you need to be searching the Mutt manual as a matter of
routine. Open a browser such as Firefox or Iceweasel, and use the browser
to open the file /usr/share/doc/mutt/html/index.html . Then from the EDIT
menu of the browser click FIND to open the string search window.
Now you can search for strings such as format and string. If you
search, you shall find sections on topics such as status format and
index format which sections explain formatting and the symbols.
You also shall find the comment: Format strings are similar to the
strings used in the C function printf to format output (see the man page
for more detail).
So now you open a terminal window and type man printf.
RLH
==
Give a man a fish, and tomorrow he shall return expecting another.
Teach a man to fish, and tomorrow he shall return to give you thanks.
=
Re: mutt: new user
On Sun November 17, 2013 5:30 am Martin Vegter wrote: ... I have the sent folder set up already. set mbox_type=Maildir setfolder=~/.mail/ set mbox=~/.mail/ set spoolfile=~/.mail/inbox/ setrecord=~/.mail/sent set postponed=~/.mail/drafts The problem is how to access it from mutt (how to see my sent emails). ... I don't know how to switch to sent folders. Another question I would like to ask is: I have now three folders: inbox, sent, drafts (as defined above). I would like to have another folder archive, where I could save my emails. (instead of keeping everything in inbox). But AFAIK, archive is not defined in mutt. ... Assuming that you are running Linux, the information you need may be found in the man (manual) pages. And even if you are not running Linux, you can find the man pages on-line with a Google search such as package name man page. Mutt has both commands and configuration variables; the muttrc man page has a list of commands and configuration variables, and explains the use of each. And, as previously noted, there is the Mutt manual. === Every mailbox (whether of the type mbox, maildir, or whatever) which you wish to browse (that is, which you wish to be displayed in the Mutt index) should be declared by the Mutt mailboxes command. So you might edit into your Mutt configuration file .muttrc the following lines: mailboxes ~/.mail/inbox/ mailboxes ~/.mail/sent mailboxes ~/.mail/drafts mailboxes ~/.mail/archive You have set the Mutt configuration variable mbox_type to Maildir; this is good. Mutt knows how to create a proper maildir structure (with cur, new, and tmp subdirectories) whenever it needs a new mailbox. However, it is not a bad idea to create in advance any mailboxes such as archive which you know that you are going to need. You can do this manually with the Bash mkdir command: $ mkdir -p ~/.mail/archive/(cur,new,tmp) However, there is a Bash command maildirmake written specifically for this task: $ maildirmake ~/.mail/archive See also Mutt Maildir Mini-HOWTO for pager and index commands. === RLH
Re: mutt: new user
On Sun, Nov 17, 2013 at 04:41:30PM +0100, Rejo Zenger wrote:
++ 17/11/13 08:16 -0600 - rlhar...@oplink.net:
$ mkdir -p ~/.mail/archive/(cur,new,tmp)
That should have curly brackets and read:
mkdir -p ~/.mail/archive/r{ur,new,tmp}
Correcting the typo:
mkdir -p ~/.mail/archive/{cur,new,tmp}
--
Suvayu
Thanks to beth Rejo and Suvayu!
maildirmake helps avoid such errors.
==
P.S. Martin -
One of the best features of Mutt is that the user can specify the editor
to be used in the composition of messages. So you can use the editor with
which you already are proficient, be it Emacs, Xemacs, vi, nano, or
whatever. This ability contributes greatly to the efficiency of Mutt.
==
RLH
Re: mutt: new user
Martin Vegter martin.veg...@aol.com wrote: I have just installed mutt, and I am little bit confused. ... On the web you can find a number of good Mutt guides which you can print out and use for reference. For example: = The Beginner's Guide to the Mutt E-Mail Client = My First Mutt = The Woodnotes Guide to the Mutt Email Client And then there is the Mutt manual. You can customize almost any behaviour of Mutt by simply editing the configuration file .muttrc . Most Mutt guides have sample .muttrc files. RLH
