Mutt Basic

[Peter Garrett]

OK I am starting a new thread with this, and it probably is more of a 
basic intro/howto than a mailing list post, but I thought it might be 
useful. Apologies to dial-up users if this is a bit big...

Leonard Charagnier is the latest in a long line of puzzled Mutt 
attempters. I am also one, having configured mutt very recently. So 
this is pitched at that level. No doubt others will have tips and 
corrections.

* Mutt Simple

I have found the easiest way to set Mutt up is to go with IMAP (or 
IMAPS), so this is just an outline of my progress so far, as a guide 
to the perplexed ;-)

* Things to understand (not technically correct but comprehensible)

	Mutt is only a Mail User Agent, not an SMTP program.
	Mutt needs helpers.
	People make it more complicated than necessary in their 
	howtos.
	
* For Email you need a *pusher* and a *puller*.
	Most clients these days do both.
	Mutt doesn't. 
	You may or may not need a distributor/filter.
	
* Pusher: smtp
	Agents: this is where people complicate matters.
	***You do not need postfix, exim, or sendmail***
	You need a simple pusher to push your mail out.
	
	I chose msmtp-mta (universe repository)
	The -mta is important - don't get msmtp, get
	msmtp-mta to satisfy the Mail transport Agent dependency for 
	Mutt.
	
* Puller: Something that will grab the mail or allow you to view it.
	Pop3 - grabs it and pulls it in, dumping it on your hard drive 
	:)
	The classic example of a puller would be fetchmail.
	Most ISPs support imap, so we don't need this puller if we use 
	imap instead of pop3.
		
* Filter/Distributor:			
	MDA, Mail Delivery Agent... classic example procmail. We don't 
	need this either for a simple setup with IMAP.
	
* First set up your pusher:
	This is done in ~/.msmtprc or on the command line (file is 
	better and easier in the long run) We need to tell mutt that 
	msmtp is pretending to be sendmail in ~/.muttrc as well.
	
* Now the puller:
	Not exactly a puller with IMAP - we just connect to the IMAP 
	server to see what is there ( think webmail without a web 
	browser).You can even do this in one line something like
	
mutt -f imaps://arthur.dent:t0w3Lm1ss!ng@mail.beeblebrox.com/INBOX
                    ^^^^      ^^^^
                   username:password 
                   
        The -f tells mutt it is looking for a file. It doesn't care if 
        the file is local or not. this way is a bit clumsy, and we 
        probably want to use TLS or something similar rather than a 
        plain text login. ~/.muttrc allows us to do this.
        
* Getting fancy: Is what most of the stuff you find on the web is 
	about, when it comes to mutt config. You can play with about 
	300 options, and most of the howtos can't restrain themselves 
	;p        
        
     	This is long enough as a starter ;-) if people are interested 
     	I can post a more-or-less generic config on the model I am 
     	currently using.
     	
     	I know this ruins the mystique, but actually it is rather 
     	simple. ;-) I get the impression a lot of people who write 
     	about this stuff are deliberately complicating it !
     	
     	Hope this is some use conceptually. It may not be technically 
     	pure but I think it helps to explain things ...
     	
     	Peter