Mutt
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Mutt
Mutt is a simple, configurable mail user agent (MUA)/email client. I got tired of using webmail to check my email, so I got Mutt set up on my computer instead. Mutt is intended to be an email browser, so most versions don't have built in SMTP support (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol). For a simple setup, you can use an external SMTP client like msmtp, which is how we'll do it in the examples below.
Install
For Debian-type distros (e.g. Debian, Ubuntu, ...), you can install Mutt and msmpt with
$ apt-get install mutt msmtp
Configure
You configure Mutt with the file '~/.muttrc'. To set it up with the Drexel email system, I looked up the server addresses, and created the .muttrc file:
# login information
set imap_user='<your-username>@drexel.edu'
set imap_pass='<your-password>'
set from="<your-username>@drexel.edu"
set use_from=yes # required so msmtp knows which account to use to send mails
# setting your realname is optional, but drexel addresses can be cryptic...
set realname="<your-realname>"
# email server location
set spoolfile=imaps://<your-username>@imap.mail.drexel.edu:993/INBOX
set folder=imaps://<your-username>@imap.mail.drexel.edu:993/
# use msmtp for sending mail
set sendmail=/usr/bin/msmtp # Debian-style system path, yours may be different
# save copies of sent email to the ${folder}Sent directory
# the '+' expands to $folders (like '~' to $HOME in bash)
set record=+Sent
set mail_check=600 # check for new mail every 10 minutes when user is active
set timeout=600 # check for new mail every 10 min. when user is not active
set editor="/usr/bin/emacs -nw" # use emacs for writing emails
set edit_headers # allow editing headers while your in emacs
Since this file contains your password, you should not allow other users to read it
$ chmod 644 ~/.muttrc
This still isn't terribly secure, so you could remove the password line entirely, in which case Mutt prompts you for it when it tries to log in (just like webmail does).
The mail_check and timeout settings set up how often Mutt checks for new mail, which I've set to be pretty slow. You can type '$' to sync, whenever you want to send outgoing mail or check for new mail.
Googling '.muttrc' should turn up tons of other goodies, or try 'man muttrc'...
You also have to configure msmtp with a ~/.msmtprc file
account default
host smtp.mail.drexel.edu
from <your-username>@drexel.edu
# use STMP authentication
auth on
user <your-username>
password <your-password>
# use TLS encryption
tls on
tls_trust_file /etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt
# to find information on a given smtp server from the command line, use
# $ msmtp --host=smtp.some.domain --server-info
The same security issues with plain text passwords apply to .msmtprc, so chmod 600 it, or possibly remove your password information entirely.
Usage
There's list of basic shortcuts across the top of the Mutt screen. Most importantly, '?:Help', which will give a list of all the current shortcuts.
Tutorial
An excellent tutorial page is my first mutt.
Multiple accounts
I finally had some time to play around and get drexel mail and Gmail working at the same time. The basic setup is the same as above, using msmtp to send the mail and mutt's build in IMAP capability to get it from the servers.
First configure msmtp with
# ~/.msmtp
# Mostly from Peter Garrett's examples
# https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-users/2007-September/122698.html
# Accounts from Scott Robbins' `A Quick Guide to Mutt'
# http://home.nyc.rr.com/computertaijutsu/mutt.html
account drexel
host smtp.mail.drexel.edu
from <drexel-from-address>@drexel.edu
auth on
user <drexel-username>
password <drexel-password>
tls on
#tls_trust_file /etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt
tls_trust_file /etc/pki/tls/cert.pem
account gmail
host smtp.gmail.com
from <gmail-from-address>@gmail.com
user <gmail-from-address>@gmail.com
password <gmail password>
port 587
auth on
tls on
tls_trust_file /etc/pki/tls/cert.pem
account default : drexel
This sets msmtp up so it can connect to either mail server. <drexel-username> is your username ('abc123'), <drexel-from-address> can be the same as <drexel-username>, but you can use any address you've set up as an alias. <gmail-from-address>@gmail.com is your full gmail email address. The tls_trust_file line depends on your distribution. For Debian-based distributions, use the ca-certificates.crt line; and for Red Hat-based distributions, use the cert.pem line. I don't know where the certificate information is stored for other distributions, but googling about should find it.
Then configure mutt with
# ~/.muttrc
mailboxes imaps://<drexel-username>@imap.mail.drexel.edu imaps://<gmail-username>@gmail.com@imap.gmail.com
source ~/.mutt/common
source ~/.mutt/drexel
# from http://wiki.mutt.org/?MuttGuide/UseIMAP
# account-hook to set up connection parameters (username, password, etc.)
# and folder hook for everything else.
account-hook . 'set imap_user=<drexel-username>@drexel.edu imap_pass="<drexel-password>"'
account-hook imaps://<drexel-username>@imap.mail.drexel.edu \
'set imap_user=<drexel-username>@drexel.edu imap_pass="<drexel-password>"'
account-hook imaps://<gmail-username>@gmail.com@imap.gmail.com \
'set imap_user=<gmail-username>@gmail.com imap_pass="<gmail-password>"'
folder-hook imaps://<drexel-username>@imap.mail.drexel.edu 'source ~/.mutt/drexel'
folder-hook imaps://<gmail-username>@gmail.com@imap.gmail.com 'source ~/.mutt/gmail'
# switch FROM field so msmtp changes sending account
# http://home.nyc.rr.com/computertaijutsu/mutt.html
macro generic "<esc>1" ":set from='<drexel-from-address>@drexel.edu'"
macro generic "<esc>2" ":set from='<gmail-username>@gmail.com'"
# no send2-hook in version 1.4.2.2i
send-hook '~f <drexel-from-address>@drexel.edu' 'set sendmail="/usr/local/bin/msmtp "'
send-hook '~f <gmail-username>@gmail.com' 'set sendmail="/usr/local/bin/msmtp -a gmail"'
#send-hook '~f <drexel-from-address>@drexel.edu' 'set sendmail="/usr/bin/msmtp "'
#send-hook '~f <gmail-username>@gmail.com' 'set sendmail="/usr/bin/msmtp -a gmail"'
set use_from=yes # required so msmtp knows which account to use to send mails
This sets up your two mailboxes (drexel and gmail) where you can recieve mail. It also sets up methods for switching between the two accounts. To ease in configuring the two accounts, we split most of the configuration details into ~/.mutt/common, ~/.mutt/drexel and ~/.mutt/gmail. Sourcing common brings in some configuration commands shared by both accounts. The drexel and gmail files contain account-specific configuration commands. All the password information is in .muttrc and .msmtprc though, so be sure to chmod 600 them. Make sure you get the path to msmtp right for your system (`which msmtp` should find it...).
Note that I removed the `folder-hook . 'source ~/.mutt/drexel' ' line that had been in my previous version. This line was stupid and switched back to my drexel settings whenever I left my Gmail inbox (say for my Gmail Sent Mail box). Without it, Mutt has been behaving much more intuitively.
The specific configuration files are:
These common configuration (these are all optional).
#~/.mutt/common set realname="<your-realname>" set move=no # stop asking to "move read messages to mbox" set mail_check=600 # check for new mail every 10 minutes when user is active set timeout=600 # check for new mail every 10 minutes when user is not active set editor="/usr/bin/emacs -nw" # use emacs as the editor set edit_headers # editable headers
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The Drexel setup
#~/.mutt/drexel
# Drexel information
# Drexel mail server addresses from
# http://www.drexel.edu/IRT/support/ConfigureEmail.html
# email server location
set spoolfile=imaps://<drexel-username>@imap.mail.drexel.edu:993/INBOX
set folder=imaps://<drexel-username>@imap.mail.drexel.edu:993/
# save copies of sent emails to the ${folder}Sent directory
# the '+' expands to $folders (like '~' to $HOME in the bash shell)
set record=+Sent
# use msmtp to send outgoing mail to the mailserver
# see ~/.msmtp for configuration
set sendmail=/usr/local/bin/msmtp
set from="<drexel-from-address>@drexel.edu"
And the Gmail setup
# Gmail information # Gmail mail server addresses from # http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=78799 # email server location set spoolfile=imaps://<gmail-username>@gmail.com@imap.gmail.com:993/INBOX set folder=imaps://<gmail-username>@gmail.com@imap.gmail.com:993/ # gmail does this automatically unset record # use msmtp to send outgoing mail to the mailserver # see ~/.msmtp for configuration set sendmail="/usr/local/bin/msmtp -a gmail" set from="<gmail-username>@gmail.com"
Firing up mutt takes you to your Drexel inbox like you're used to. You can change directories like your used to with 'c'. You switch accounts with 'c TAB TAB'. The first tab lists all the mailboxes in your drexel account, and the second lists all of your available accounts (mailboxes).
Strangely (I haven't figured out why yet), 'c TAB' from gmail also lists the *drexel* directories. No problem though, you can get a list of gmail directories with 'c +TAB TAB TAB' from gmail (I also don't understand what the second TAB does).
Anyhow, that should get people started. Post with tweaks :).
POP
I just added my Comcast email account (a necessary administrative evil) to the above configuration. Comcast doesn't supply an IMAP interface, so we're forced to fall back on POP. Luckily, that doesn't change much of the configuration, which consisted of creating a .mutt/comcast file:
# Comcast information # Comcast mail server addresses from # http://www.comcast.com/customers/faq/FaqDetails.ashx?Id=2165 # Ports from # http://www.comcast.com/customers/faq/FaqDetails.ashx?ID=2288 # email server location set spoolfile=pops://<comcast-username>@mail.comcast.net:110/INBOX set folder=pops://<comcast-username>@mail.comcast.net:110/ # gmail does this automatically unset record # use msmtp to send outgoing mail to the mailserver # see ~/.msmtp for configuration set sendmail="/usr/local/bin/msmtp -a gmail" set from="<gmail-username>@gmail.com" set nopop_delete set pop_checkinterval="600"
Where the gmail stuff is because I'm sending mail using gmail when I'm looking at my Comcast account. This avoids using Comcast as much as possible ;). Note that <comcast-username> is everything before the @ in your Comcast email address.
I then adjust my .muttrc file by adding Comcast to my list of mailboxes
mailboxes imaps://<drexel-username>@imap.mail.drexel.edu imaps://<gmail-username>@gmail.com@imap.gmail.com pops://<comcast-username>@mail.comcast.net
in a single long line. I also added account and folder hooks:
account-hook pops://<comcast-username>@mail.comcast.net \
'set pop_user=<comcast-username> pop_pass="<comcast-password>"'
folder-hook imaps://<comcast-username>@imap.comcast.net 'source ~/.mutt/comcast'
And that seems to handle it...
PGP
PGP is a encryption and authentication system often used for protecting email. The GnuPG implementation can be used with Mutt to send secure, authenticated emails between capable parties. See the GnuPG#Basic_Setup Gnu PG liki page for information on getting started.
Once you've got a key set up, determine the key ID for your pair with
$ gpg --list-keys --keyid-format 0xlong /home/user/.gnupg/pubring.gpg ----------------------------- pub 1024D/0xFC29BDCDF15F5BE8 2008-08-09 [expires: 2009-08-09] ...
Where '0xFC29BDCDF15F5BE8' is my long key ID (I don't understand the difference between the long and short keys, but I figure the longer one must be more specific, and since I only have to enter it once for Mutt, I chose the longer key.)
Then, tell Mutt how to use gpg, adding
source ~/.mutt/pgp
to your .muttrc file and creating ~/.mutt/pgp as follows (replacing my key ID with your own)
# from Justin R. Miller's # `Everything You Need To Know To Start Using GnuPG with Mutt' # http://codesorcery.net/old/mutt/mutt-gnupg-howto set pgp_decode_command="gpg %?p?--passphrase-fd 0? --no-verbose --batch --output - %f" set pgp_verify_command="gpg --no-verbose --batch --output - --verify %s %f" set pgp_decrypt_command="gpg --passphrase-fd 0 --no-verbose --batch --output - %f" set pgp_sign_command="gpg --no-verbose --batch --output - --passphrase-fd 0 --armor --detach-sign --textmode %?a?-u %a? %f" set pgp_clearsign_command="gpg --no-verbose --batch --output - --passphrase-fd 0 --armor --textmode --clearsign %?a?-u %a? %f" set pgp_encrypt_only_command="/usr/lib/mutt/pgpewrap gpg --batch --quiet --no-verbose --output - --encrypt --textmode --armor --always-trust --encrypt-to 0xFC29BDCDF15F5BE8 -- -r %r -- %f" set pgp_encrypt_sign_command="/usr/lib/mutt/pgpewrap gpg --passphrase-fd 0 --batch --quiet --no-verbose --textmode --output - --encrypt --sign %?a?-u %a? --armor --always-trust --encrypt-to 0xFC29BDCDF15F5BE8 -- -r %r -- %f" set pgp_import_command="gpg --no-verbose --import -v %f" set pgp_export_command="gpg --no-verbose --export --armor %r" set pgp_verify_key_command="gpg --no-verbose --batch --fingerprint --check-sigs %r" set pgp_list_pubring_command="gpg --no-verbose --batch --with-colons --list-keys %r" set pgp_list_secring_command="gpg --no-verbose --batch --with-colons --list-secret-keys %r" set pgp_autosign=yes set pgp_sign_as=0xFC29BDCDF15F5BE8 set pgp_replyencrypt=yes set pgp_timeout=1800 set pgp_good_sign="^gpg: Good signature from"
The above file autosigns all your sent emails (set pgp_autosign=yes), but you can obviously turn that off if you would like. To change signing/encryption on an email, use the 'p' key from the 'compose view' (the screen shown after you have finished editing a new e-mail)[1].
I've put my public key here in case any of you want to send me super-secret emails :p.
Browsing email with links
Usually mutt is pretty good about handling HTML in emails. When you get emails that are obviously HTML, ‘v’ will take you to the attachment list (which should show the email as type [text/html]), and enter will open the email in your browser (w3m, right?).
Sometimes you get [text/plain] emails with URLs in them, or maybe the above procedure just isn't working. In that case, add
macro pager \cb <pipe-entry>'w3m'<enter> 'Follow links in w3m'
somewhere in your mutt configuration files [2]. Then pressing ‘Ctrl-b’ will pipe the email you're looking at into w3m. Pressing ‘:’ in w3m will scan the document for URL-like strings and make them browsable.
Folder size in status bar
Add the folder size to the status bar by adding '%l' or '%L' to status_format in your ~/.muttrc file. For example
set status_format="-%r-Mutt: %f %L"
