From 6ae7bf50506bd40e5469719299464bdf5bc867bd Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: pdmef Date: Fri, 2 Sep 2005 00:18:09 +0000 Subject: [PATCH] Rocco Rutte: - merge in some mutt changes: do SGML -> DocBook but not remove SASL1 support git-svn-id: svn://svn.berlios.de/mutt-ng/trunk@474 e385b8ad-14ed-0310-8656-cc95a2468c6d --- ChangeLog.mutt | 17 + VERSION.svn | 2 +- configure.in | 75 +- doc/Makefile.in | 86 +- doc/chunk.xsl | 6 + doc/html.xsl | 5 + doc/manual.sgml.head | 8439 ++++++++++++++++++++--------- doc/manual.sgml.tail | 439 +- doc/manual.txt | 12003 +++++++++++++++-------------------------- init.h | 2 +- makedoc.c | 111 +- 11 files changed, 10821 insertions(+), 10364 deletions(-) create mode 100644 doc/chunk.xsl create mode 100644 doc/html.xsl diff --git a/ChangeLog.mutt b/ChangeLog.mutt index 8ebdf5c..311689c 100644 --- a/ChangeLog.mutt +++ b/ChangeLog.mutt @@ -1,3 +1,20 @@ +2005-09-01 17:07:14 Brendan Cully (brendan) + + * configure.in, imap/auth_sasl.c, main.c, mutt_sasl.c, + mutt_sasl.h, pop_auth.c: Remove obsolete Cyrus SASL 1.5 support. + + * doc/chunk.xsl, doc/html.xsl: Docbook support files, dropped + in the initial commit. + + * doc/manual.sgml.tail, configure.in, doc/Makefile.in, + doc/manual.sgml.head, makedoc.c: Convert documentation from + linuxdoc to docbook format. Let the bug avalanche begin. + +2005-08-30 21:34:36 Lars Hecking (brendan) + + * configure.in: Don't define domain="no" when configured + --without-domain. Closes: #2046. + 2005-08-24 15:17:43 Brendan Cully (brendan) * pgp.c: Don't treat PGP inline signature verification errors as diff --git a/VERSION.svn b/VERSION.svn index 8410b8b..5f3bb98 100644 --- a/VERSION.svn +++ b/VERSION.svn @@ -1 +1 @@ -473 +474 diff --git a/configure.in b/configure.in index 9838694..52e4d75 100644 --- a/configure.in +++ b/configure.in @@ -480,7 +480,9 @@ AC_SUBST(DOTLOCK_PERMISSION) AC_ARG_WITH(domain, AC_HELP_STRING([--with-domain=DOMAIN], [Specify your DNS domain name]), [if test $withval != yes; then - AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED(DOMAIN,"$withval",[ Define your domain name. ]) + if test $withval != no; then + AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED(DOMAIN,"$withval",[ Define your domain name. ]) + fi fi]) need_socket="no" @@ -1131,33 +1133,60 @@ fi dnl -- end libesmtp -- dnl -- sgml tools -- -AC_MSG_CHECKING([for SGML Tools style]) -SGML2TXT_CMD="true" -SGML2PS_CMD="true" -SGML2HTML_CMD="true" -case "`uname -s`" in - FreeBSD) - SGML2TXT_CMD="sgmlfmt -f ascii manual.sgml && uniq < manual.ascii | expand > manual.txt && rm -rf manual.ascii || true" - SGML2PS_CMD="sgmlfmt -f ps manual.sgml || true" - SGML2HTML_CMD="sgmlfmt -f html manual.sgml || true" - AC_MSG_RESULT(FreeBSD) + +dnl Documentation tools +have_openjade="no" +AC_PATH_PROG([OSPCAT], [ospcat], [none]) +if test "$OSPCAT" != "none" +then + AC_MSG_CHECKING([for openjade docbook stylesheets]) + dslosfile=`ospcat --public-id="-//Norman Walsh//DOCUMENT DocBook Print Stylesheet//EN"` + DSLROOT=`echo $dslosfile | sed -n -e "s/.*SOIBASE='\(@<:@^'@:>@*\)\/catalog'.*/\1/p"` + # ospcat may spit out an absolute path without an SOIBASE + if test -z "$DSLROOT" + then + DSLROOT=`echo $dslosfile | sed -e 's|\(.*\)/print/docbook.dsl|\1|'` + fi + if test -f $DSLROOT/print/docbook.dsl + then + AC_MSG_RESULT([in $DSLROOT]) + have_openjade="yes" + else + AC_MSG_RESULT([not found: PDF documentation will not be built.]) + fi +fi +AC_SUBST(DSLROOT) + +AC_MSG_CHECKING([for lynx]) +AC_PATH_PROG([HTML2TXT_CMD], [lynx], [none]) +if test x"$HTML2TXT_CMD" = x"none" +then + AC_MSG_CHECKING([for w3m]) + AC_PATH_PROG([HTML2TXT_CMD], [w3m], [none]) +fi +case "$HTML2TXT_CMD" in + *lynx*) + HTML2TXT_CMD="$HTML2TXT_CMD -dump -nolist -with_backspaces \$^ > \$@" ;; - SunOS) - SGML2TXT_CMD="sgml2txt -l manual || true" - SGML2PS_CMD="sgml2latex -l -p manual || true" - SGML2HTML_CMD="sgml2html -l manual || true" - AC_MSG_RESULT(Solaris) + *w3m*) + HTML2TXT_CMD="$HTML2TXT_CMD -dump \$^ > \$@" ;; *) - SGML2TXT_CMD="if linuxdoc -B txt -c latin --pass='-P -c' manual ; then uniq < manual.txt | expand > _manual.txt ; rm manual.txt ; col -b < _manual.txt > manual.txt ; rm -rf _manual.txt ; fi || true" - SGML2PS_CMD="sgml2latex --output=ps manual || true" - SGML2HTML_CMD="sgml2html manual || true" - AC_MSG_RESULT(Linux (default)) + HTML2TXT_CMD="true" ;; esac -AC_SUBST(SGML2TXT_CMD) -AC_SUBST(SGML2PS_CMD) -AC_SUBST(SGML2HTML_CMD) +AC_SUBST(HTML2TXT_CMD) + +AC_MSG_CHECKING([for tidy]) +AC_PATH_PROG([HTMLCLEAN_CMD], [tidy], [none]) + +if test x"$HTMLCLEAN_CMD" != x"none" +then + HTMLCLEAN_CMD="$HTMLCLEAN_CMD -i -m -asxml -utf8 " +else + HTMLCLEAN_CMD="echo " +fi +AC_SUBST(HTMLCLEAN_CMD) AC_OUTPUT(Makefile intl/Makefile m4/Makefile po/Makefile.in doc/Makefile contrib/Makefile diff --git a/doc/Makefile.in b/doc/Makefile.in index e7780dd..eabce9a 100644 --- a/doc/Makefile.in +++ b/doc/Makefile.in @@ -28,6 +28,8 @@ subdir = doc CPPFLAGS = @CPPFLAGS@ +DSLROOT = @DSLROOT@ + DEFS = -DSYSCONFDIR=\"$(sysconfdir)\" -DBINDIR=\"$(bindir)\" -DHAVE_CONFIG_H=1 -DPKGDOCDIR=\"$(docdir)\" INCLUDES = -I. -I.. -I$(includedir) -I$(top_srcdir) @@ -39,21 +41,19 @@ DISTFILES = Makefile.in dotlock.man \ PGP-Notes.txt \ applying-patches.txt \ devel-notes.txt \ - manual.txt \ muttrc.man.head \ muttrc.man.tail \ - muttrc.man \ mbox.man \ mmdf.man \ manual.sgml.head \ manual.sgml.tail \ - manual.sgml \ - manual.html \ - stamp-doc-sgml \ - stamp-doc-man \ instdoc.sh.in \ patch-notes.txt \ - smime-notes.txt + smime-notes.txt \ + html.xsl chunk.xsl + +BUILT_DISTFILES = stamp-doc-xml stamp-doc-man stamp-doc-chunked \ + manual.txt manual.html srcdir_DOCFILES = PGP-Notes.txt applying-patches.txt \ devel-notes.txt patch-notes.txt smime-notes.txt @@ -62,13 +62,7 @@ srcdir_DOCFILES = PGP-Notes.txt applying-patches.txt \ topsrcdir_DOCFILES = COPYRIGHT GPL INSTALL ChangeLog \ UPGRADING README NEWS TODO TODO.mutt-ng README.SSL -all: muttng.1 muttrc.man try-html try-txt - -try-html: ../makedoc$(EXEEXT) - test -f manual.html || $(MAKE) manual.html || cp $(srcdir)/manual*.html ./ - -try-txt: ../makedoc$(EXEEXT) - test -f manual.txt || $(MAKE) manual.txt || cp $(srcdir)/manual.txt ./ +all: muttng.1 muttrc.man manual.html stamp-doc-chunked manual.txt install: all instdoc $(top_srcdir)/mkinstalldirs $(DESTDIR)$(mandir)/man1 @@ -88,9 +82,10 @@ install: all instdoc for f in $(srcdir_DOCFILES) ; do \ $(INSTALL) -m 644 $(srcdir)/$$f $(DESTDIR)$(docdir) ; \ done - $(INSTALL) -m 644 manual.txt $(DESTDIR)$(docdir) || true + -$(INSTALL) -m 644 manual.txt $(DESTDIR)$(docdir) || true + -$(INSTALL) -m 644 manual.html $(DESTDIR)$(docdir) || true $(top_srcdir)/mkinstalldirs $(DESTDIR)$(docdir)/html - for file in manual*.html ; do \ + -cd html; for file in *.html ; do \ $(INSTALL) -m 644 $$file $(DESTDIR)$(docdir)/html/ || true ;\ done @@ -105,26 +100,44 @@ uninstall: rm -f $(DESTDIR)$(docdir)/$$f ; \ done -rm -f $(DESTDIR)$(docdir)/manual.txt - for f in manual*.html ; do \ + -rm -f $(DESTDIR)$(docdir)/manual.html + -cd html; for f in *.html ; do \ rm -f $(DESTDIR)$(docdir)/html/$$f ; \ done -rmdir $(DESTDIR)$(docdir)/html check: -manual.txt: manual.sgml - @SGML2TXT_CMD@ - -manual.html: manual.sgml - @SGML2HTML_CMD@ +manual.txt: manual.html + @HTML2TXT_CMD@ + +manual.html: $(srcdir)/html.xsl manual.xml + -xsltproc --nonet -o $@ $^ + @HTMLCLEAN_CMD@ $@ || true + +manual-chunked stamp-doc-chunked: $(srcdir)/chunk.xsl manual.xml + test -d html || mkdir html + -xsltproc --nonet -o html/ $^ + touch stamp-doc-chunked + cd html; for file in *.html ; do \ + @HTMLCLEAN_CMD@ $file || true ; \ + done + +manual.pdf: stamp-doc-tex + -if test -f manual.tex; then pdfjadetex manual.tex; fi -manual.ps: manual.sgml - @SGML2PS_CMD@ +manual.tex stamp-doc-tex: manual.xml + -if test -n "$(DSLROOT)"; then \ + openjade -t tex -D $(DSLROOT) -d print/docbook.dsl dtds/decls/xml.dcl manual.xml; \ + fi + touch stamp-doc-tex clean: - rm -f *~ *.html *.orig *.rej stamp-doc-sgml stamp-doc-man *.ps + rm -f *~ *.html *.orig *.rej stamp-doc-* *.ps mutt.1 muttrc.man + rm -f *.aux *.log *.tex *.out clean-real: - rm -f manual.txt + rm -f manual.txt manual.html manual.xml manual.pdf + rm -rf html maintainer-clean: clean clean-real distclean @@ -149,16 +162,21 @@ dist distdir: Makefile $(DISTFILES) ln $(srcdir)/$$file $(distdir) 2> /dev/null \ || cp -p $(srcdir)/$$file $(distdir); \ done - for file in $(srcdir)/manual-*.html ; do \ - ln $$file $(distdir) 2> /dev/null \ - || cp -p $$file $(distdir) ; \ + for file in $(BUILT_DISTFILES) ; do \ + ln $$file $(distdir) 2> /dev/null \ + || cp -p $$file $(distdir) ; \ + done + mkdir $(distdir)/html + cd html; for file in *.html ; do \ + ln $$file ../$(distdir)/html 2> /dev/null \ + || cp -p $$file ../$(distdir)/html ; \ done ../makedoc$(EXEEXT): $(top_srcdir)/makedoc.c (cd .. && $(MAKE) makedoc$(EXEEXT)) -update-doc: ../makedoc$(EXEEXT) stamp-doc-sgml stamp-doc-man manual.txt manual.html - +update-doc: ../makedoc$(EXEEXT) stamp-doc-xml stamp-doc-man stamp-doc-chunked manual.txt manual.html + EDIT=sed -e 's,@sysconfdir\@,$(sysconfdir),g' \ -e 's,@bindir\@,$(bindir),g' \ -e 's,@docdir\@,$(docdir),g' @@ -172,9 +190,9 @@ muttrc.man stamp-doc-man: ../makedoc$(EXEEXT) $(top_srcdir)/init.h muttrc.man.he > muttrc.man touch stamp-doc-man -manual.sgml stamp-doc-sgml: ../makedoc$(EXEEXT) $(top_srcdir)/init.h manual.sgml.head manual.sgml.tail $(top_srcdir)/VERSION.in $(top_srcdir)/VERSION.svn +manual.xml stamp-doc-xml: ../makedoc$(EXEEXT) $(top_srcdir)/init.h manual.sgml.head manual.sgml.tail $(top_srcdir)/VERSION.in $(top_srcdir)/VERSION.svn ( sed -e "s/@VERSION\@/`cat $(top_srcdir)/VERSION.in`-r`cat $(top_srcdir)/VERSION.svn`/" $(srcdir)/manual.sgml.head ;\ $(MAKEDOC_CPP) $(top_srcdir)/init.h | ../makedoc -s ) | \ - cat - $(srcdir)/manual.sgml.tail > manual.sgml - touch stamp-doc-sgml + cat - $(srcdir)/manual.sgml.tail > manual.xml + touch stamp-doc-xml diff --git a/doc/chunk.xsl b/doc/chunk.xsl new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ae0f6c9 --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/chunk.xsl @@ -0,0 +1,6 @@ + + + + + + diff --git a/doc/html.xsl b/doc/html.xsl new file mode 100644 index 0000000..473e0a6 --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/html.xsl @@ -0,0 +1,5 @@ + + + + + diff --git a/doc/manual.sgml.head b/doc/manual.sgml.head index 179aa7d..8928af9 100644 --- a/doc/manual.sgml.head +++ b/doc/manual.sgml.head @@ -1,362 +1,668 @@ - - + + -The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client -<author>by Andreas Krennmair <htmlurl url="mailto:ak@synflood.at" name="<ak@synflood.at>"> and others - originally based on <em>mutt</em> by Michael Elkins <htmlurl url="mailto:me@cs.hmc.edu" name="<me@cs.hmc.edu>"> and others -<date>version @VERSION@ +<bookinfo> + +<title>The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client + +by Andreas Krennmair and others + originally based on mutt by Michael Elkins and others + + + + +<ak@synflood.at> + + +<me@cs.hmc.edu> + + + + + + +version devel-r473 + -Michael Elinks on mutt, circa 1995: ``All mail clients suck. -This one just sucks less.'' - Sven Guckes on mutt, ca. 2003: ``But it still sucks!'' + + +Michael Elinks on mutt, circa 1995: ``All mail clients suck. This one just sucks less.'' - Sven Guckes on mutt, ca. 2003: ``But it still sucks!'' + + - + + + +Introduction -Introduction + +Overview -Overview -

- +Mutt-ng is a small but very powerful text-based MIME mail client. Mutt-ng is highly configurable, and is well suited to the mail power user with advanced features like key bindings, keyboard macros, mail threading, regular expression searches and a powerful pattern matching language for selecting groups of messages. + -

This documentation additionally contains documentation to +This documentation additionally contains documentation to Mutt-NG, a fork from Mutt with the goal to fix all the little annoyances of Mutt, to integrate all the Mutt patches that are floating around in the web, and to add other new features. Features specific to Mutt-ng will be discussed in an extra section. Don't be confused when most of the documentation talk about Mutt and not Mutt-ng, Mutt-ng contains all Mutt features, plus many more. + + + + + + + + + +Mutt-ng Home Page + + +http://www.muttng.org + + + + + + + + + +Mailing Lists + + - + + -Mutt-ng Home Page -

- + +mutt-ng-users@lists.berlios.de -- This is where the mutt-ng user support happens. + + + - + +mutt-ng-devel@lists.berlios.de -- The development mailing list for mutt-ng + + -Mailing Lists -

+ - - -- This is where the mutt-ng user support happens. - -- The development mailing list for mutt-ng - + - + + + + + -Software Distribution Sites -

+ +Software Distribution Sites + + So far, there are no official releases of Mutt-ng, but you can download -daily snapshots from +daily snapshots from http://mutt-ng.berlios.de/snapshots/ + + + + + + + + + +IRC + + +Visit channel #muttng on irc.freenode.net (www.freenode.net) to chat with other people interested in Mutt-ng. + - + + + -IRC -

-Visit channel to chat with other people interested in Mutt-ng. + - + +Weblog -Weblog -

+ If you want to read fresh news about the latest development in Mutt-ng, and get informed about stuff like interesting, Mutt-ng-related articles and packages for your favorite distribution, you can read and/or subscribe to our -. +Mutt-ng development weblog. + + + + + + + - + +Copyright -Copyright -

+ Mutt is Copyright (C) 1996-2000 Michael R. Elkins <me@cs.hmc.edu> and others + + This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. + + This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. + + You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111, USA. + - + + + - + + + -Getting Started + - Basic Concepts + - Screens and Menus + +Getting Started -

mutt-ng offers different screens of which every has its special - purpose: + +Basic Concepts - + +Screens and Menus - The +mutt-ng offers different screens of which every has its special +purpose: + - The - The + - The +The index displays the contents of the currently opened +mailbox. - The + + - The +The pager is responsible for displaying messages, that +is, the header, the body and all attached parts. - The + + - The +The file browser offers operations on and displays +information of all folders mutt-ng should watch for mail. - The + + - + +The sidebar offers a permanent view of which mailboxes +contain how many total, new and/or flagged mails. -

When mutt-ng is started without any further options, it'll open - the users default mailbox and display the index. + + + - + +The help screen lists for all currently available +commands how to invoke them as well as a short description. - Configuration + + + -

Mutt-ng does +The compose menu is a comfortable interface take last +actions before sending mail: change subjects, attach files, remove +attachements, etc. -

Mutt-ng is configured using configuration files which allow - users to add comments or manage them via version control systems - to ease maintenance. + + + -

Also, mutt-ng comes with a shell script named +The attachement menu gives a summary and the tree +structure of the attachements of the current message. - + + + - Functions + +The alias menu lists all or a fraction of the aliases +a user has defined. -

Mutt-ng offers great flexibility due to the use of functions: - internally, every action a user can make mutt-ng perform is named - ``function.'' Those functions are assigned to keys (or even key - sequences) and may be completely adjusted to user's needs. The - basic idea is that the impatient users get a very intuitive - interface to start off with and advanced users virtually get no - limits to adjustments. + + + - + +The key menu used in connection with encryption lets +users choose the right key to encrypt with. - Interaction + + -

Mutt-ng has two basic concepts of user interaction: + - + - There is one dedicated line on the screen used to query - the user for input, issue any command, query variables and - display error and informational messages. As for every type of - user input, this requires manual action leading to the need of - input. + +When mutt-ng is started without any further options, it'll open +the users default mailbox and display the index. + - The automatized interface for interaction are the so - called + + + + + + +Configuration + + +Mutt-ng does not feature an internal configuration +interface or menu due to the simple fact that this would be too +complex to handle (currently there are several hundred +variables which fine-tune the behaviour.) + + + +Mutt-ng is configured using configuration files which allow +users to add comments or manage them via version control systems +to ease maintenance. + + + +Also, mutt-ng comes with a shell script named grml-muttng +kindly contributed by users which really helps and eases the +creation of a user's configuration file. When downloading the +source code via a snapshot or via subversion, it can be found in +the contrib directory. + + + + + - + - + +Functions - Modularization + +Mutt-ng offers great flexibility due to the use of functions: +internally, every action a user can make mutt-ng perform is named +``function.'' Those functions are assigned to keys (or even key +sequences) and may be completely adjusted to user's needs. The +basic idea is that the impatient users get a very intuitive +interface to start off with and advanced users virtually get no +limits to adjustments. + -

Although mutt-ng has many functionality built-in, many - features can be delegated to external tools to increase - flexibility: users can define programs to filter a message through - before displaying, users can use any program they want for - displaying a message, message types (such as PDF or PostScript) - for which mutt-ng doesn't have a built-in filter can be rendered - by arbitrary tools and so forth. Although mutt-ng has an alias - mechanism built-in, it features using external tools to query for - nearly every type of addresses from sources like LDAP, databases - or just the list of locally known users. + + + - + - Patterns + +Interaction -

Mutt-ng has a built-in pattern matching ``language'' which is - as widely used as possible to present a consistent interface to - users. The same ``pattern terms'' can be used for searching, - scoring, message selection and much more. + +Mutt-ng has two basic concepts of user interaction: + - + - + + - Screens and Menus + +There is one dedicated line on the screen used to query +the user for input, issue any command, query variables and +display error and informational messages. As for every type of +user input, this requires manual action leading to the need of +input. - Index + + + -

The index is the screen that you usually see first when you - start mutt-ng. It gives an overview over your emails in the - currently opened mailbox. By default, this is your system mailbox. - The information you see in the index is a list of emails, each with - its number on the left, its flags (new email, important email, - email that has been forwarded or replied to, tagged email, ...), - the date when email was sent, its sender, the email size, and the - subject. Additionally, the index also shows thread hierarchies: - when you reply to an email, and the other person replies back, you - can see the other's person email in a "sub-tree" below. This is - especially useful for personal email between a group of people or - when you've subscribed to mailing lists. + +The automatized interface for interaction are the so +called hooks. Hooks specify actions the user wants to be +performed at well-defined situations: what to do when entering +which folder, what to do when displaying or replying to what +kind of message, etc. These are optional, i.e. a user doesn't +need to specify them but can do so. - + + - Pager + -

The pager is responsible for showing the email content. On the - top of the pager you have an overview over the most important email - headers like the sender, the recipient, the subject, and much more - information. How much information you actually see depends on your - configuration, which we'll describe below. + -

Below the headers, you see the email body which usually contains - the message. If the email contains any attachments, you will see - more information about them below the email body, or, if the - attachments are text files, you can view them directly in the - pager. + + + + + + + +Modularization + + +Although mutt-ng has many functionality built-in, many +features can be delegated to external tools to increase +flexibility: users can define programs to filter a message through +before displaying, users can use any program they want for +displaying a message, message types (such as PDF or PostScript) +for which mutt-ng doesn't have a built-in filter can be rendered +by arbitrary tools and so forth. Although mutt-ng has an alias +mechanism built-in, it features using external tools to query for +nearly every type of addresses from sources like LDAP, databases +or just the list of locally known users. + + + + + -

To give the user a good overview, it is possible to configure - mutt-ng to show different things in the pager with different - colors. Virtually everything that can be described with a regular - expression can be colored, e.g. URLs, email addresses or smileys. + - + +Patterns - File Browser + +Mutt-ng has a built-in pattern matching ``language'' which is +as widely used as possible to present a consistent interface to +users. The same ``pattern terms'' can be used for searching, +scoring, message selection and much more. + -

The file browser is the interface to the local or remote - file system. When selecting a mailbox to open, the browser allows - custom sorting of items, limiting the items shown by a regular - expression and a freely adjustable format of what to display in - which way. It also allows for easy navigation through the - file system when selecting file(s) to attach to a message, select - multiple files to attach and many more. + + + - + + + - Sidebar + -

The sidebar comes in handy to manage mails which are spread - over different folders. All folders users setup mutt-ng to watch - for new mail will be listed. The listing includes not only the - name but also the number of total messages, the number of new and - flagged messages. Items with new mail may be colored different - from those with flagged mail, items may be shortened or compress - if they're they to long to be printed in full form so that by - abbreviated names, user still now what the name stands for. + - + - Help + +Screens and Menus + + +Index + + +The index is the screen that you usually see first when you +start mutt-ng. It gives an overview over your emails in the +currently opened mailbox. By default, this is your system mailbox. +The information you see in the index is a list of emails, each with +its number on the left, its flags (new email, important email, +email that has been forwarded or replied to, tagged email, ...), +the date when email was sent, its sender, the email size, and the +subject. Additionally, the index also shows thread hierarchies: +when you reply to an email, and the other person replies back, you +can see the other's person email in a "sub-tree" below. This is +especially useful for personal email between a group of people or +when you've subscribed to mailing lists. + + + + + + + + + +Pager + + +The pager is responsible for showing the email content. On the +top of the pager you have an overview over the most important email +headers like the sender, the recipient, the subject, and much more +information. How much information you actually see depends on your +configuration, which we'll describe below. + + + +Below the headers, you see the email body which usually contains +the message. If the email contains any attachments, you will see +more information about them below the email body, or, if the +attachments are text files, you can view them directly in the +pager. + + + +To give the user a good overview, it is possible to configure +mutt-ng to show different things in the pager with different +colors. Virtually everything that can be described with a regular +expression can be colored, e.g. URLs, email addresses or smileys. + + + + + -

The help screen is meant to offer a quick help to the user. It - lists the current configuration of key bindings and their - associated commands including a short description, and currently - unbound functions that still need to be associated with a key - binding (or alternatively, they can be called via the mutt-ng - command prompt). + - + +File Browser - Compose Menu + +The file browser is the interface to the local or remote +file system. When selecting a mailbox to open, the browser allows +custom sorting of items, limiting the items shown by a regular +expression and a freely adjustable format of what to display in +which way. It also allows for easy navigation through the +file system when selecting file(s) to attach to a message, select +multiple files to attach and many more. + -

The compose menu features a split screen containing the - information which really matter before actually sending a - message by mail or posting an article to a newsgroup: who gets - the message as what (recipient, newsgroup, who gets what kind of - copy). Additionally, users may set security options like - deciding whether to sign, encrypt or sign and encrypt a message - with/for what keys. + + + -

Also, it's used to attach messages, news articles or files to - a message, to re-edit any attachment including the message - itself. + - + +Sidebar - Alias Menu + +The sidebar comes in handy to manage mails which are spread +over different folders. All folders users setup mutt-ng to watch +for new mail will be listed. The listing includes not only the +name but also the number of total messages, the number of new and +flagged messages. Items with new mail may be colored different +from those with flagged mail, items may be shortened or compress +if they're they to long to be printed in full form so that by +abbreviated names, user still now what the name stands for. + -

The alias menu is used to help users finding the recipients - of messages. For users who need to contact many people, there's - no need to remember addresses or names completely because it - allows for searching, too. The alias mechanism and thus the - alias menu also features grouping several addresses by a shorter - nickname, the actual alias, so that users don't have to select - each single recipient manually. + + + - + - Attachment Menu + +Help -

As will be later discussed in detail, mutt-ng features a good - and stable MIME implementation, that is, is greatly supports - sending and receiving messages of arbitrary type. The - attachment menu displays a message's structure in detail: what - content parts are attached to which parent part (which gives a - true tree structure), which type is of what type and what size. - Single parts may saved, deleted or modified to offer great and - easy access to message's internals. + +The help screen is meant to offer a quick help to the user. It +lists the current configuration of key bindings and their +associated commands including a short description, and currently +unbound functions that still need to be associated with a key +binding (or alternatively, they can be called via the mutt-ng +command prompt). + - + + + + + + + +Compose Menu + + +The compose menu features a split screen containing the +information which really matter before actually sending a +message by mail or posting an article to a newsgroup: who gets +the message as what (recipient, newsgroup, who gets what kind of +copy). Additionally, users may set security options like +deciding whether to sign, encrypt or sign and encrypt a message +with/for what keys. + + + +Also, it's used to attach messages, news articles or files to +a message, to re-edit any attachment including the message +itself. + + + + + + + + + +Alias Menu + + +The alias menu is used to help users finding the recipients +of messages. For users who need to contact many people, there's +no need to remember addresses or names completely because it +allows for searching, too. The alias mechanism and thus the +alias menu also features grouping several addresses by a shorter +nickname, the actual alias, so that users don't have to select +each single recipient manually. + - Key Menu + + + + + -

+Attachment Menu - + +As will be later discussed in detail, mutt-ng features a good +and stable MIME implementation, that is, is greatly supports +sending and receiving messages of arbitrary type. The +attachment menu displays a message's structure in detail: what +content parts are attached to which parent part (which gives a +true tree structure), which type is of what type and what size. +Single parts may saved, deleted or modified to offer great and +easy access to message's internals. + + + + + + + + + +Key Menu + + +FIXME + + + + + + + + + - + -Moving Around in Menus -

+ + +Moving Around in Menus + + Information is presented in menus, very similar to ELM. Here is a table showing the common keys used to navigate menus in Mutt-ng. + + + - + j or Down next-entry move to the next entry k or Up previous-entry move to the previous entry z or PageDn page-down go to the next page @@ -365,64 +671,91 @@ Z or PageUp page-up go to the previous page * or End last-entry jump to the last entry q quit exit the current menu ? help list all key bindings for the current menu - + + + + + + + + + - + +Editing Input Fields -Editing Input Fields

+ Mutt-ng has a builtin line editor which is used as the primary way to input textual data such as email addresses or filenames. The keys used to move around while editing are very similar to those of Emacs. + - -^A or bol move to the start of the line -^B or backward-char move back one char + + + +^A or <Home> bol move to the start of the line +^B or <Left> backward-char move back one char Esc B backward-word move back one word -^D or delete-char delete the char under the cursor -^E or eol move to the end of the line -^F or forward-char move forward one char +^D or <Delete> delete-char delete the char under the cursor +^E or <End> eol move to the end of the line +^F or <Right> forward-char move forward one char Esc F forward-word move forward one word - complete complete filename or alias +<Tab> complete complete filename or alias ^T complete-query complete address with query ^K kill-eol delete to the end of the line ESC d kill-eow delete to the end of the word ^W kill-word kill the word in front of the cursor ^U kill-line delete entire line ^V quote-char quote the next typed key - history-up recall previous string from history - history-down recall next string from history - backspace kill the char in front of the cursor +<Up> history-up recall previous string from history +<Down> history-down recall next string from history +<BackSpace> backspace kill the char in front of the cursor Esc u upcase-word convert word to upper case Esc l downcase-word convert word to lower case Esc c capitalize-word capitalize the word ^G n/a abort - n/a finish editing - +<Return> n/a finish editing + + + -You can remap the -command. For example, to make the + You can remap the editor functions using the bind +command. For example, to make the Delete key delete the character in front of the cursor rather than under, you could use + - +bind editor <delete> backspace + - + + + + + -Reading Mail - The Index and Pager -

+ +Reading Mail - The Index and Pager + Similar to many other mail clients, there are two modes in which mail is read in Mutt-ng. The first is the index of messages in the mailbox, which is called the ``index'' in Mutt-ng. The second mode is the display of the message contents. This is called the ``pager.'' + + The next few sections describe the functions provided in each of these modes. + -The Message Index -

+ +The Message Index - + + + c change to a different mailbox ESC c change to a folder in read-only mode C copy the current message to another mailbox @@ -444,68 +777,198 @@ U undelete messages matching a pattern u undelete-message v view-attachments x abort changes and exit - display-message - jump to the next new message +<Return> display-message +<Tab> jump to the next new message @ show the author's full e-mail address $ save changes to mailbox / search ESC / search-reverse ^L clear and redraw the screen ^T untag messages matching a pattern - + + + -Status Flags -

+ +Status Flags + In addition to who sent the message and the subject, a short summary of the disposition of each message is printed beside the message number. Zero or more of the following ``flags'' may appear, which mean: + + + + + + +D + + +message is deleted (is marked for deletion) + + + +d + + +message have attachments marked for deletion + + + +K + + +contains a PGP public key + + + +N + + +message is new + + + +O + + +message is old + + + +P + + +message is PGP encrypted + + + +r + + +message has been replied to + + + +S + + +message is signed, and the signature is succesfully verified + + + +s + + +message is signed + + + +! + + +message is flagged + + + +* + + +message is tagged + + + + + + +Some of the status flags can be turned on or off using -

- - + + -Some of the status flags can be turned on or off using - - + +set-flag (default: w) + + + + + +clear-flag (default: W) + + + + -

+ + + Furthermore, the following flags reflect who the message is addressed to. They can be customized with the - variable. +$to_chars variable. + + + + + + ++ + + +message is to you and you only + + + +T + + +message is to you, but also to or cc'ed to others + + + +C + + +message is cc'ed to you + + + +F + + +message is from you + + + +L + + +message is sent to a subscribed mailing list + + + + + + + -

- - + + -The Pager -

+ +The Pager + By default, Mutt-ng uses its builtin pager to display the body of messages. -The pager is very similar to the Unix program less though not nearly as featureful. + - - go down one line - display the next page (or next message if at the end of a message) + + + +<Return> go down one line +<Space> display the next page (or next message if at the end of a message) - go back to the previous page n search for next match S skip beyond quoted text @@ -515,27 +978,37 @@ T toggle display of quoted text ESC / search backwards for a regular expression \ toggle search pattern coloring ^ jump to the top of the message - + + + -In addition, many of the functions from the +In addition, many of the functions from the index are available in +the pager, such as delete-message or copy-message (this is one advantage over using an external pager to view messages). + + Also, the internal pager supports a couple other advanced features. For one, it will accept and translate the ``standard'' nroff sequences for bold and underline. These sequences are a series of either the letter, -backspace (^H), the letter again for bold or the letter, backspace, +backspace (ˆH), the letter again for bold or the letter, backspace, ``_'' for denoting underline. Mutt-ng will attempt to display these in bold and underline respectively if your terminal supports them. If -not, you can use the bold and underline +not, you can use the bold and underline color objects to specify a color or mono attribute for them. + + Additionally, the internal pager supports the ANSI escape sequences for character attributes. Mutt-ng translates them into the correct color and character settings. The sequences Mutt-ng supports are: + -

- + + + ESC [ Ps;Ps;Ps;...;Ps m where Ps = 0 All Attributes Off @@ -555,20 +1028,33 @@ Colors are 5 magenta 6 cyan 7 white - + + + + Mutt-ng uses these attributes for handling text/enriched messages, and they -can also be used by an external -script for highlighting purposes. autoview +script for highlighting purposes. Note: If you change the colors for your display, for example by changing the color associated with color2 for your xterm, then that color will be used instead of green. + -Threaded Mode

-When the mailbox is by + + + +Threaded Mode + + + When the mailbox is sorted by threads, there are +a few additional functions available in the index and pager modes. + + + - + ^D delete-thread delete all messages in the current thread ^U undelete-thread undelete all messages in the current thread ^N next-thread jump to the start of the next thread @@ -583,150 +1069,236 @@ ESC t tag-thread toggle the tag on the current thread ESC v collapse-thread toggle collapse for the current thread ESC V collapse-all toggle collapse for all threads P parent-message jump to parent message in thread - + - + + +Note: Collapsing a thread displays only the first message in the thread and hides the others. This is useful when threads contain so many messages that you can only see a handful of threads on -the screen. See %M in . -For example, you could use "%?M?(#%03M)&(%4l)?" in to optionally +the screen. See %M in index-format. +For example, you could use "%?M?(#%03M)&(%4l)?" in index-format to optionally display the number of hidden messages if the thread is collapsed. + + + + See also: strict-threads. + + + + + + +Miscellaneous Functions -See also: . + +create-alias (default: a) -Miscellaneous Functions -

(default: a) + + Creates a new alias based upon the current message (or prompts for a -new one). Once editing is complete, an -command is added to the file specified by the variable for future use. -does not add the aliases specified there-in, you must also the file. +new one). Once editing is complete, an alias +command is added to the file specified by the alias-file variable for future use. Note: +Specifying an alias-file +does not add the aliases specified there-in, you must also source the file. + -

(default: ESC P) + +check-traditional-pgp (default: ESC P) + + + This function will search the current message for content signed or encrypted with PGP the "traditional" way, that is, without proper MIME tagging. Technically, this function will temporarily change the MIME content types of the body parts containing PGP data; this -is similar to the function's +is similar to the edit-type function's effect. + + + +display-toggle-weed (default: h) + -

(default: h) + +Toggles the weeding of message header fields specified by ignore commands. + -Toggles the weeding of message header fields specified by commands. + +edit (default: e) -

(default: e) + + This command (available in the ``index'' and ``pager'') allows you to edit the raw current message as it's present in the mail folder. After you have finished editing, the changed message will be appended to the current folder, and the original message will be marked for deletion. + -

-(default: ^E on the attachment menu, and in the pager and index menus; ^T on the + +edit-type + +(default: ˆE on the attachment menu, and in the pager and index menus; ˆT on the compose menu) + + This command is used to temporarily edit an attachment's content type to fix, for instance, bogus character set parameters. When invoked from the index or from the pager, you'll have the opportunity to edit the top-level attachment's content type. On the -, you can change any +attach-menu, you can change any attachment's content type. These changes are not persistent, and get lost upon changing folders. + -Note that this command is also available on the . There, it's used to + +Note that this command is also available on the compose-menu. There, it's used to fine-tune the properties of attachments you are going to send. + + + +enter-command (default: ``:'') -

(default: ``:'') + + This command is used to execute any command you would normally put in a configuration file. A common use is to check the settings of variables, or -in conjunction with to change settings on the +in conjunction with macro to change settings on the fly. + -

(default: ^K) + +extract-keys (default: ˆK) + + + This command extracts PGP public keys from the current or tagged message(s) and adds them to your PGP public key ring. + -

(default: -^F) + +forget-passphrase (default: +ˆF) + + + This command wipes the passphrase(s) from memory. It is useful, if you misspelled the passphrase. + -

(default: L) + +list-reply (default: L) + + + Reply to the current or tagged message(s) by extracting any addresses which -match the regular expressions given by the -commands, but also honor any +match the regular expressions given by the lists +commands, but also honor any Mail-Followup-To header(s) if the +honor-followup-to configuration variable is set. Using this when replying to messages posted to mailing lists helps avoid duplicate copies being sent to the author of the message you are replying to. + + + +pipe-message (default: |) - (default: |) + + Asks for an external Unix command and pipes the current or -tagged message(s) to it. The variables , , and control the exact behavior of this +tagged message(s) to it. The variables pipe-decode, pipe-split, pipe-sep and wait-key control the exact behavior of this function. + - (default: ESC e) + +resend-message (default: ESC e) + + + With resend-message, mutt takes the current message as a template for a new message. This function is best described as "recall from arbitrary folders". It can conveniently be used to forward MIME messages while preserving the original mail structure. Note that the amount of headers -included here depends on the value of the +included here depends on the value of the weed variable. + + This function is also available from the attachment menu. You can use this to easily resend a message which was included with a bounce message as a message/rfc822 body part. + + + +shell-escape (default: !) - (default: !) + -Asks for an external Unix command and executes it. The can be used to control + +Asks for an external Unix command and executes it. The wait-key can be used to control whether Mutt-ng will wait for a key to be pressed when the command returns (presumably to let the user read the output of the command), based on the return status of the named command. + - (default: T) + +toggle-quoted (default: T) -The variable to detect quoted text when + + + +The pager uses the quote-regexp variable to detect quoted text when displaying the body of the message. This function toggles the display of the quoted material in the message. It is particularly useful when are interested in just the response and there is a large amount of quoted text in the way. + + + +skip-quoted (default: S) - (default: S) + + This function will go to the next line of non-quoted text which come after a line of quoted text in the internal pager. + - + + + -Sending Mail -

+ + -The following bindings are available in the + + + +Sending Mail + + +The following bindings are available in the index for sending messages. + + + - + m compose compose a new message r reply reply to sender g group-reply reply to all recipients @@ -734,81 +1306,117 @@ L list-reply reply to mailing list address f forward forward message b bounce bounce (remail) message ESC k mail-key mail a PGP public key to someone - + + + + Bouncing a message sends the message as is to the recipient you specify. Forwarding a message allows you to add comments or modify the message you are forwarding. These items are discussed -in greater detail in the next chapter . +in greater detail in the next chapter forwarding-mail. + -Composing new messages + +Composing new messages -

When you want to send an email using mutt-ng, simply press +When you want to send an email using mutt-ng, simply press m on your keyboard. Then, mutt-ng asks for the recipient via a prompt in the last line: + + + - + To: - + -

After you've finished entering the recipient(s), press return. If you + + + +After you've finished entering the recipient(s), press return. If you want to send an email to more than one recipient, separate the email -addresses using the comma ",". Mutt-ng then asks you for the email subject. Again, press return after you've entered it. After that, mutt-ng got the most important information from you, and starts up an editor where you can then enter your email. + -

The editor that is called is selected in the following way: you + +The editor that is called is selected in the following way: you can e.g. set it in the mutt-ng configuration: + + + - + set editor = "vim +/^$/ -c ':set tw=72'" set editor = "nano" set editor = "emacs" - + -

If you don't set your preferred editor in your configuration, mutt-ng -first looks whether the environment variable + + +If you don't set your preferred editor in your configuration, mutt-ng +first looks whether the environment variable $VISUAL is set, and if so, it takes its value as editor command. Otherwise, it has a look -at $EDITOR and takes its value if it is set. If no editor command +can be found, mutt-ng simply assumes vi to be the default editor, since it's the most widespread editor in the Unix world and it's pretty safe to assume that it is installed and available. + -

When you've finished entering your message, save it and quit your + +When you've finished entering your message, save it and quit your editor. Mutt-ng will then present you with a summary screen, the compose menu. On the top, you see a summary of the most important available key commands. Below that, you see the sender, the recipient(s), Cc and/or Bcc recipient(s), the subject, the reply-to address, and optionally information where the sent email will be stored and whether it should be digitally signed and/or encrypted. + -

Below that, you see a list of "attachments". The mail you've just + +Below that, you see a list of "attachments". The mail you've just entered before is also an attachment, but due to its special type (it's plain text), it will be displayed as the normal message on the receiver's side. - -

At this point, you can add more attachments, pressing + + +At this point, you can add more attachments, pressing a, you +can edit the recipient addresses, pressing t for the "To:" field, +c for the "Cc:" field, and b for the "Bcc: field. You can +also edit the subject the subject by simply pressing s or the +email message that you've entered before by pressing e. You will then again return to the editor. You can even edit the sender, by pressing -<esc>f, but this shall only be used with caution. + -

Alternatively, you can configure mutt-ng in a way that most of the + +Alternatively, you can configure mutt-ng in a way that most of the above settings can be edited using the editor. Therefore, you only need to add the following to your configuration: + - + + + set edit_headers - + + + -

Once you have finished editing the body of your mail message, you are -returned to the +Once you have finished editing the body of your mail message, you are +returned to the compose menu. The following options are available: + - + + + a attach-file attach a file A attach-message attach message(s) to the message ESC k attach-key attach a PGP public key @@ -829,148 +1437,247 @@ q quit quit (abort) sending the message w write-fcc write the message to a folder i ispell check spelling (if available on your system) ^F forget-passphrase wipe passphrase(s) from memory - + + + - +Note: The attach-message function will prompt you for a folder to attach messages from. You can now tag messages in that folder and they will be attached to the message you are sending. Note that certain operations like composing a new mail, replying, forwarding, etc. are -not permitted when you are in that folder. The %r in will change to +not permitted when you are in that folder. The %r in status-format will change to a 'A' to indicate that you are in attach-message mode. + - + + + -Replying + + + + +Replying - Simple Replies + +Simple Replies -

When you want to reply to an email message, select it in the index - menu and then press +When you want to reply to an email message, select it in the index +menu and then press r. Mutt-ng's behaviour is then similar to the +behaviour when you compose a message: first, you will be asked for +the recipient, then for the subject, and then, mutt-ng will start +the editor with the quote attribution and the quoted message. This +can e.g. look like the example below. + - + + + On Mon, Mar 07, 2005 at 05:02:12PM +0100, Michael Svensson wrote: > Bill, can you please send last month's progress report to Mr. > Morgan? We also urgently need the cost estimation for the new > production server that we want to set up before our customer's > project will go live. - + + -

You can start editing the email message. It is strongly - recommended to put your answer -

The quote attribution is configurable, by default it is set to - + +You can start editing the email message. It is strongly +recommended to put your answer below the quoted text and to +only quote what is really necessary and that you refer to. Putting +your answer on top of the quoted message, is, although very +widespread, very often not considered to be a polite way to answer +emails. + + + +The quote attribution is configurable, by default it is set to + + set attribution = "On %d, %n wrote:" - + + + + -

It can also be set to something more compact, e.g. - + +It can also be set to something more compact, e.g. + + set attribution = "attribution="* %n <%a> [%(%y-%m-%d %H:%M)]:" - + + + + + + +The example above results in the following attribution: -

The example above results in the following attribution: - + * Michael Svensson <svensson@foobar.com> [05-03-06 17:02]: > Bill, can you please send last month's progress report to Mr. > Morgan? We also urgently need the cost estimation for the new > production server that we want to set up before our customer's > project will go live. - + + -

Generally, try to keep your attribution short yet - information-rich. It is -

When you're done with writing your message, save and quit the - editor. As before, you will return to the compose menu, which is - used in the same way as before. + +Generally, try to keep your attribution short yet +information-rich. It is not the right place for witty quotes, +long "attribution" novels or anything like that: the right place +for such things is - if at all - the email signature at the very +bottom of the message. + - + +When you're done with writing your message, save and quit the +editor. As before, you will return to the compose menu, which is +used in the same way as before. + - Group Replies + + + -

In the situation where a group of people uses email as a - discussion, most of the emails will have one or more recipients, - and probably several "Cc:" recipients. The group reply functionality - ensures that when you press + + + +Group Replies + + +In the situation where a group of people uses email as a +discussion, most of the emails will have one or more recipients, +and probably several "Cc:" recipients. The group reply functionality +ensures that when you press g instead of r to do a reply, +each and every recipient that is contained in the original message +will receive a copy of the message, either as normal recipient or +as "Cc:" recipient. + + + + + - + + + + +List Replies + + +When you use mailing lists, it's generally better to send your +reply to a message only to the list instead of the list and the +original author. To make this easy to use, mutt-ng features list +replies. + + + +To do a list reply, simply press L. If the email contains +a Mail-Followup-To: header, its value will be used as reply +address. Otherwise, mutt-ng searches through all mail addresses in +the original message and tries to match them a list of regular +expressions which can be specified using the lists command. +If any of the regular expression matches, a mailing +list address has been found, and it will be used as reply address. + + + + + +lists linuxevent@luga\.at vuln-dev@ mutt-ng-users@ + + - List Replies + -

When you use mailing lists, it's generally better to send your - reply to a message only to the list instead of the list and the - original author. To make this easy to use, mutt-ng features list - replies. + +Nowadays, most mailing list software like GNU Mailman adds a +Mail-Followup-To: header to their emails anyway, so setting +lists is hardly ever necessary in practice. + -

To do a list reply, simply press + + - -lists linuxevent@luga\.at vuln-dev@ mutt-ng-users@ - + + + -

Nowadays, most mailing list software like GNU Mailman adds a - + - + + - + +Editing the message header -Editing the message header -

+ When editing the header of your outgoing message, there are a couple of special features available. + -If you specify - -Mutt-ng will pick up +If you specify -You can also attach files to your message by specifying - -where Fcc: filename + +Mutt-ng will pick up filename +just as if you had used the edit-fcc function in the compose menu. + + + +You can also attach files to your message by specifying + +Attach: filename [ description ] + +where filename is the file to attach and description is an optional string to use as the description of the attached file. + -When replying to messages, if you remove the +When replying to messages, if you remove the In-Reply-To: field from +the header field, Mutt-ng will not generate a References: field, which allows you to create a new message thread. + -Also see . + +Also see edit-headers. + - + + + + + -Using Mutt-ng with PGP + +Using Mutt-ng with PGP -

+ If you want to use PGP, you can specify + + + +Pgp: [ E | S | S<id> ] - + + ``E'' encrypts, ``S'' signs and -``S<id>'' signs with the given key, setting permanently. +``S<id>'' signs with the given key, setting pgp-sign-as permanently. + + If you have told mutt to PGP encrypt a message, it will guide you through a key selection process when you try to send the message. Mutt-ng will not ask you any questions about keys which have a @@ -978,1310 +1685,2258 @@ certified user ID matching one of the message recipients' mail addresses. However, there may be situations in which there are several keys, weakly certified user ID fields, or where no matching keys can be found. + + In these cases, you are dropped into a menu with a list of keys from which you can select one. When you quit this menu, or mutt can't find any matching keys, you are prompted for a user ID. You can, as -usually, abort this prompt using ˆG. When you do so, mutt will return to the compose screen. + + Once you have successfully finished the key selection, the message will be encrypted using the selected public keys, and sent out. + -Most fields of the entries in the key selection menu (see also ) + +Most fields of the entries in the key selection menu (see also pgp-entry-format) have obvious meanings. But some explanations on the capabilities, flags, and validity fields are in order. + + The flags sequence (%f) will expand to one of the following flags: - + + R The key has been revoked and can't be used. X The key is expired and can't be used. d You have marked the key as disabled. c There are unknown critical self-signature packets. - + + + + The capabilities field (%c) expands to a two-character sequence representing a key's capabilities. The first character gives -the key's encryption capabilities: A minus sign (-) means +that the key cannot be used for encryption. A dot (.) means that it's marked as a signature key in one of the user IDs, but may -also be used for encryption. The letter e indicates that this key can be used for encryption. - + + + The second character indicates the key's signing capabilities. Once -again, a ``-'' implies ``not for signing'', ``.'' implies that the key is marked as an encryption key in one of the user-ids, and -``s'' denotes a key which can be used for signing. + + + +Finally, the validity field (%t) indicates how well-certified a user-id +is. A question mark (?) indicates undefined validity, a minus +character (-) marks an untrusted association, a space character +means a partially trusted association, and a plus character (+) indicates complete validity. + + + + + - + -Sending anonymous messages via mixmaster + +Sending anonymous messages via mixmaster -

+ You may also have configured mutt to co-operate with Mixmaster, an anonymous remailer. Mixmaster permits you to send your messages anonymously using a chain of remailers. Mixmaster support in mutt is for mixmaster version 2.04 (beta 45 appears to be the latest) and 2.03. It does not support earlier versions or the later so-called version 3 betas, of which the latest appears to be called 2.9b23. + + To use it, you'll have to obey certain restrictions. Most -important, you cannot use the Cc and Bcc headers. To tell Mutt-ng to use mixmaster, you have to select a remailer chain, using the mix function on the compose menu. + + The chain selection screen is divided into two parts. In the (larger) upper part, you get a list of remailers you may use. In the lower part, you see the currently selected chain of remailers. + -You can navigate in the chain using the +You can navigate in the chain using the chain-prev and +chain-next functions, which are by default bound to the left +and right arrows and to the h and l keys (think vi keyboard bindings). To insert a remailer at the current chain -position, use the insert function. To append a remailer behind +the current chain position, use select-entry or append. You can also delete entries from the chain, using the corresponding function. Finally, to abandon your changes, leave the menu, or -accept them pressing (by default) the Return key. + + Note that different remailers do have different capabilities, indicated in the %c entry of the remailer menu lines (see -). Most important is +mix-entry-format). Most important is the ``middleman'' capability, indicated by a capital ``M'': This means that the remailer in question cannot be used as the final element of a chain, but will only forward messages to other mixmaster remailers. For details on the other capabilities, please have a look at the mixmaster documentation. + + + + + + + + + - + - + -Forwarding and Bouncing Mail

Often, it is necessary to forward mails to other people. + +Often, it is necessary to forward mails to other people. Therefore, mutt-ng supports forwarding messages in two different ways. + -

The first one is regular forwarding, as you probably know it from -other mail clients. You simply press +The first one is regular forwarding, as you probably know it from +other mail clients. You simply press f, enter the recipient email address, the subject of the forwarded email, and then you can edit the message to be forwarded in the editor. The forwarded message is separated from the rest of the message via the two following markers: + + + - ------ Forwarded message from Lucas User ----- + +----- Forwarded message from Lucas User <luser@example.com> ----- -From: Lucas User +From: Lucas User <luser@example.com> Date: Thu, 02 Dec 2004 03:08:34 +0100 -To: Michael Random +To: Michael Random <mrandom@example.com> Subject: Re: blackmail Pay me EUR 50,000.- cash or your favorite stuffed animal will die a horrible death. ------ End forwarded message ----- +----- End forwarded message ----- + -

When you're done with editing the mail, save and quit the editor, + + + +When you're done with editing the mail, save and quit the editor, and you will return to the compose menu, the same menu you also encounter when composing or replying to mails. + -

The second mode of forwarding emails with mutt-ng is the -so-called +The second mode of forwarding emails with mutt-ng is the +so-called bouncing: when you bounce an email to another address, it will be sent in practically the same format you send it (except for headers that are created during transporting the -message). To bounce a message, press b and enter the recipient email address. By default, you are then asked whether you really want to bounce the message to the specified recipient. If you answer with yes, the message will then be bounced. + -

To the recipient, the bounced email will look as if he got it -like a regular email where he was +To the recipient, the bounced email will look as if he got it +like a regular email where he was Bcc: recipient. The only possibility to find out whether it was a bounced email is to carefully study the email headers and to find out which host really sent the email. + + + + + - + -Postponing Mail

+ +Postponing Mail + At times it is desirable to delay sending a message that you have -already begun to compose. When the variable. This means that you can recall the +already begun to compose. When the postpone-message function is +used in the compose menu, the body of your message and attachments +are stored in the mailbox specified by the postponed variable. This means that you can recall the message even if you exit Mutt-ng and then restart it at a later time. + + Once a message is postponed, there are several ways to resume it. From the -command line you can use the ``-p'' option, or if you compose a new +message from the index or pager you will be prompted if postponed messages exist. If multiple messages are currently postponed, the -postponed menu will pop up and you can select which message you would like to resume. + - +Note: If you postpone a reply to a message, the reply setting of the message is only updated when you actually finish the message and send it. Also, you must be in the same folder with the message you replied to for the status of the message to be updated. + -See also the quad-option. + +See also the postpone quad-option. + - + + + - + + + + + + + + + +Configuration -Configuration + +Locations of Configuration Files -Locations of Configuration Files -

While the default configuration (or ``preferences'') make Mutt-ng usable right out + +While the default configuration (or ``preferences'') make Mutt-ng usable right out of the box, it is often desirable to tailor Mutt-ng to suit your own tastes. When Mutt-ng is first invoked, it will attempt to read the ``system'' configuration -file (defaults set by your local system administrator), unless the ``-n'' option is specified. This file is -typically /usr/local/share/muttng/Muttngrc or /etc/Muttngrc, -Mutt-ng users will find this file in /usr/local/share/muttng/Muttrc or -/etc/Muttngrc. Mutt will next look for a file named .muttrc -in your home directory, Mutt-ng will look for .muttngrc. If this file -does not exist and your home directory has a subdirectory named .muttng/muttngrc. - -.muttrc (or .muttngrc for Mutt-ng) is the file where you will -usually place your to configure Mutt-ng. +file (defaults set by your local system administrator), unless the ``-n'' commandline option is specified. This file is +typically /usr/local/share/muttng/Muttngrc or /etc/Muttngrc, +Mutt-ng users will find this file in /usr/local/share/muttng/Muttrc or +/etc/Muttngrc. Mutt will next look for a file named .muttrc +in your home directory, Mutt-ng will look for .muttngrc. If this file +does not exist and your home directory has a subdirectory named .mutt, +mutt try to load a file named .muttng/muttngrc. + + + +.muttrc (or .muttngrc for Mutt-ng) is the file where you will +usually place your commands to configure Mutt-ng. + + + + + - + -Basic Syntax of Initialization Files

+ +Basic Syntax of Initialization Files -An initialization file consists of a series of . Each line of the file may contain one or more commands. + +An initialization file consists of a series of commands. Each line of the file may contain one or more commands. When multiple commands are used, they must be separated by a semicolon (;). - + + set realname='Mutt-ng user' ; ignore x- - + + The hash mark, or pound sign (``#''), is used as a ``comment'' character. You can use it to annotate your initialization file. All text after the comment character to the end of the line is ignored. For example, + - + + + my_hdr X-Disclaimer: Why are you listening to me? # This is a comment - + + + -Single quotes (') and double quotes (&dquot;) can be used to quote strings + +Single quotes (') and double quotes (") can be used to quote strings which contain spaces or other special characters. The difference between the two types of quotes is similar to that of many popular shell programs, namely that a single quote is used to specify a literal string (one that is not interpreted for shell variables or quoting with a backslash [see next paragraph]), while double quotes indicate a string for which should be evaluated. For example, backtics are evaluated inside of double -quotes, but not for single quotes. + + \ quotes the next character, just as in shells such as bash and zsh. -For example, if want to put quotes ``&dquot;'' inside of a string, you can use +For example, if want to put quotes ``"'' inside of a string, you can use ``\'' to force the next character to be a literal instead of interpreted character. - + + set realname="Michael \"MuttDude\" Elkins" - + + + + ``\\'' means to insert a literal ``\'' into the line. ``\n'' and ``\r'' have their usual C meanings of linefeed and carriage-return, respectively. + + A \ at the end of a line can be used to split commands over multiple lines, provided that the split points don't appear in the middle of command names. + + Please note that, unlike the various shells, mutt-ng interprets a ``\'' at the end of a line also in comments. This allows you to disable a command split over multiple lines with only one ``#''. + - + + + # folder-hook . \ set realname="Michael \"MuttDude\" Elkins" - + + + + When testing your config files, beware the following caveat. The backslash at the end of the commented line extends the current line with the next line - then referred to as a ``continuation line''. As the first line is commented with a hash (#) all following continuation lines are also part of a comment and therefore are ignored, too. So take care of comments when continuation lines are involved within your setup files! + + Abstract example: - - + + + + + line1\ line2a # line2b\ line3\ line4 line5 - + + + + line1 ``continues'' until line4. however, the part after the # is a comment which includes line3 and line4. line5 is a new line of its own and thus is interpreted again. + + The commands understood by mutt are explained in the next paragraphs. -For a complete list, see the . +For a complete list, see the commands. + + + + + + + - + +Expansion within variables -Expansion within variables + +Besides just assign static content to variables, there's plenty of +ways of adding external and more or less dynamic content. + -

Besides just assign static content to variables, there's plenty of - ways of adding external and more or less dynamic content. + +Commands' Output - Commands' Output + +It is possible to substitute the output of a Unix command in an +initialization file. This is accomplished by enclosing the command +in backquotes (``) as in, for example: + -

It is possible to substitute the output of a Unix command in an - initialization file. This is accomplished by enclosing the command - in backquotes (``) as in, for example: + - + my_hdr X-Operating-System: `uname -a` - + -

The output of the Unix command ``uname -a'' will be substituted - before the line is parsed. Note that since initialization files are - line oriented, only the first line of output from the Unix command - will be substituted. + - Environment Variables + +The output of the Unix command ``uname -a'' will be substituted +before the line is parsed. Note that since initialization files are +line oriented, only the first line of output from the Unix command +will be substituted. + -

UNIX environments can be accessed like the way it is done in - shells like sh and bash: Prepend the name of the environment by a - ``$'' sign. For example, + - -set record=+sent_on_$HOSTNAME - + +Environment Variables + + +UNIX environments can be accessed like the way it is done in +shells like sh and bash: Prepend the name of the environment by a +``$'' sign. For example, + -

sets the variable to the - string $HOSTNAME. + -

+set record=+sent_on_$HOSTNAME + - Configuration Variables + -

As for environment variables, the values of all configuration - variables as string can be used in the same way, too. For example, + +sets the record variable to the +string +sent_on_ and appends the value of the evironment +variable $HOSTNAME. + - -set imap_home_namespace = $folder - + +Note: There will be no warning if an environment variable +is not defined. The result will of the expansion will then be empty. + -

would set the value of to the value to - which is -

won't change even - if gets changed. + +Configuration Variables -

+As for environment variables, the values of all configuration +variables as string can be used in the same way, too. For example, + - Self-Defined Variables + + + +set imap_home_namespace = $folder + + + + + +would set the value of imap-home-namespace to the value to +which folder is currently set +to. + + + +Note: There're no logical links established in such cases so +that the the value for imap-home-namespace won't change even +if folder gets changed. + + + +Note: There will be no warning if a configuration variable +is not defined or is empty. The result will of the expansion will +then be empty. + + + + + +Self-Defined Variables + + +Mutt-ng flexibly allows users to define their own variables. To +avoid conflicts with the standard set and to prevent misleading +error messages, there's a reserved namespace for them: all +user-defined variables must be prefixed with user_ and can be +used just like any ordinary configuration or environment +variable. + -

Mutt-ng flexibly allows users to define their own variables. To - avoid conflicts with the standard set and to prevent misleading - error messages, there's a reserved namespace for them: all - user-defined variables must be prefixed with +For example, to view the manual, users can either define two +macros like the following + -

For example, to view the manual, users can either define two - macros like the following + - + macro generic <F1> "!less -r /path/to/manual" "Show manual" macro pager <F1> "!less -r /path/to/manual" "Show manual" - + + + -

for +for generic, pager and index. The alternative is to +define a custom variable like so: + - + + + set user_manualcmd = "!less -r /path/to_manual" macro generic <F1> "$user_manualcmd<enter>" "Show manual" macro pager <F1> "$user_manualcmd<enter>" "Show manual" macro index <F1> "$user_manualcmd<enter>" "Show manual" - + + + -

to re-use the command sequence as in: + +to re-use the command sequence as in: + - + + + macro index <F2> "$user_manualcmd | grep '\^[ ]\\+~. '" "Show Patterns" - + + + -

Using this feature, arbitrary sequences can be defined once and - recalled and reused where necessary. More advanced scenarios could - include to save a variable's value at the beginning of macro - sequence and restore it at end. + +Using this feature, arbitrary sequences can be defined once and +recalled and reused where necessary. More advanced scenarios could +include to save a variable's value at the beginning of macro +sequence and restore it at end. + -

When the variable is first defined, the first value it gets - assigned is also the initial value to which it can be reset using - the +When the variable is first defined, the first value it gets +assigned is also the initial value to which it can be reset using +the reset command. + -

The complete removal is done via the +The complete removal is done via the unset keyword. + -

After the following sequence: + +After the following sequence: + - + + + set user_foo = 42 set user_foo = 666 - + + + -

the variable $user_foo has a current value of 666 and an - initial of 42. The query + +the variable $user_foo has a current value of 666 and an +initial of 42. The query + - + + + set ?user_foo - + + + -

will show 666. After doing the reset via + +will show 666. After doing the reset via + - + + + reset user_foo - + + + -

a following query will give 42 as the result. After unsetting it - via + +a following query will give 42 as the result. After unsetting it +via + - + + + unset user_foo - + + + + + +any query or operation (except the noted expansion within other +statements) will lead to an error message. + + + -

any query or operation (except the noted expansion within other - statements) will lead to an error message. + +Pre-Defined Variables - Pre-Defined Variables + +In order to allow users to share one setup over a number of +different machines without having to change its contents, there's a +number of pre-defined variables. These are prefixed with +muttng_ and are read-only, i.e. they cannot be set, unset or +reset. The reference chapter lists all available variables. + -

In order to allow users to share one setup over a number of - different machines without having to change its contents, there's a - number of pre-defined variables. These are prefixed with - + Please consult the local copy of your manual for their +values as they may differ from different manual sources. Where +the manual is installed in can be queried (already using such a +variable) by running: + -

Please consult the local copy of your manual for their - values as they may differ from different manual sources. Where - the manual is installed in can be queried (already using such a - variable) by running: + - + muttng -Q muttng_docdir - + -

To extend the example for viewing the manual via self-defined - variables, it can be made more readable and more portable by - changing the real path in: + - + +To extend the example for viewing the manual via self-defined +variables, it can be made more readable and more portable by +changing the real path in: + + + + + set user_manualcmd = '!less -r /path/to_manual' - + + + -

to: + +to: + - + + + set user_manualcmd = "!less -r $muttng_docdir/manual.txt" - + + + -

which works everywhere if a manual is installed. + +which works everywhere if a manual is installed. + -

Please note that by the type of quoting, muttng determines when - to expand these values: when it finds double quotes, the value will - be expanded during reading the setup files but when it finds single - quotes, it'll expand it at runtime as needed. + +Please note that by the type of quoting, muttng determines when +to expand these values: when it finds double quotes, the value will +be expanded during reading the setup files but when it finds single +quotes, it'll expand it at runtime as needed. + -

For example, the statement + +For example, the statement + - + + + folder-hook . "set user_current_folder = $muttng_folder_name" - + + + -

will be already be translated to the following when reading the - startup files: + +will be already be translated to the following when reading the +startup files: + - + + + folder-hook . "set user_current_folder = some_folder" - + + + -

with +with some_folder being the name of the first folder muttng +opens. On the contrary, + - + + + folder-hook . 'set user_current_folder = $muttng_folder_name' - + + + -

will be executed at runtime because of the single quotes so that - +will be executed at runtime because of the single quotes so that +user_current_folder will always have the value of the currently +opened folder. + -

A more practical example is: + +A more practical example is: + - + + + folder-hook . 'source ~/.mutt/score-$muttng_folder_name' - + + + + + +which can be used to source files containing score commands +depending on the folder the user enters. + + + -

which can be used to source files containing score commands - depending on the folder the user enters. + +Type Conversions - Type Conversions + +A note about variable's types during conversion: internally +values are stored in internal types but for any dump/query or set +operation they're converted to and from string. That means that +there's no need to worry about types when referencing any variable. +As an example, the following can be used without harm (besides +makeing muttng very likely behave strange): + -

A note about variable's types during conversion: internally - values are stored in internal types but for any dump/query or set - operation they're converted to and from string. That means that - there's no need to worry about types when referencing any variable. - As an example, the following can be used without harm (besides - makeing muttng very likely behave strange): + - + set read_inc = 100 set folder = $read_inc set read_inc = $folder set user_magic_number = 42 set folder = $user_magic_number - + - + + + -Defining/Using aliases

+ -Usage: +Defining/Using aliases + +Usage: alias key address [ , address, ... ] + + + It's usually very cumbersome to remember or type out the address of someone you are communicating with. Mutt-ng allows you to create ``aliases'' which map a short string to a full address. + - +Note: if you want to create an alias for a group (by specifying more than +one address), you must separate the addresses with a comma (``,''). + + To remove an alias or aliases (``*'' means all aliases): + + + +unalias [ * | key ... ] + - - + alias muttdude me@cs.hmc.edu (Michael Elkins) alias theguys manny, moe, jack - + + + + Unlike other mailers, Mutt-ng doesn't require aliases to be defined -in a special file. The . Consequently, you can have multiple alias files, or +in a special file. The alias command can appear anywhere in +a configuration file, as long as this file is source. Consequently, you can have multiple alias files, or you can have all aliases defined in your muttrc. + -On the other hand, the -function can use only one file, the one pointed to by the variable (which is -˜/.muttrc by default). This file is not special either, + +On the other hand, the create-alias +function can use only one file, the one pointed to by the alias-file variable (which is +˜/.muttrc by default). This file is not special either, in the sense that Mutt-ng will happily append aliases to any file, but in -order for the new aliases to take effect you need to explicitly this file too. +order for the new aliases to take effect you need to explicitly source this file too. + + For example: + + + - + source /usr/local/share/Mutt-ng.aliases source ~/.mail_aliases set alias_file=~/.mail_aliases - + + + + To use aliases, you merely use the alias at any place in mutt where mutt -prompts for addresses, such as the To: or Cc: prompt. You can also enter aliases in your editor at the appropriate headers if you have the - variable set. +edit-headers variable set. + + In addition, at the various address prompts, you can use the tab character to expand a partial alias to the full alias. If there are multiple matches, mutt will bring up a menu with the matching aliases. In order to be presented with the full list of aliases, you must hit tab with out a partial alias, such as at the beginning of the prompt or after a comma denoting multiple addresses. + + In the alias menu, you can select as many aliases as you want with the -select-entry key (default: RET), and use the exit key (default: q) to return to the address prompt. + + + + + + + - + +Changing the default key bindings -Changing the default key bindings

-Usage: +Usage: bind map key function + + This command allows you to change the default key bindings (operation invoked when pressing a key). + - +map specifies in which menu the binding belongs. Multiple maps may be specified by separating them with commas (no additional whitespace is allowed). The currently defined maps are: + -

-Usage: -Usage: +Usage: charset-hook alias charset -The iconv-hook charset local-charset + + + +The charset-hook command defines an alias for a character set. This is useful to properly display messages which are tagged with a character set name not known to mutt. + -The +The iconv-hook command defines a system-specific name for a character set. This is helpful when your systems character conversion library insists on using strange, system-specific names for character sets. + + + + + - + -Setting variables based upon mailbox

-Usage: +Setting variables based upon mailbox + +Usage: folder-hook [!]regexp command + + + It is often desirable to change settings based on which mailbox you are reading. The folder-hook command provides a method by which you can execute -any configuration command. regexp is a regular expression specifying +in which mailboxes to execute command before loading. If a mailbox matches multiple folder-hook's, they are executed in the order given in the muttrc. + - at the beginning of the pattern, you must place it + +Note: if you use the ``!'' shortcut for spoolfile at the beginning of the pattern, you must place it inside of double or single quotes in order to distinguish it from the -logical not operator for the expression. + -Note that the settings are +Note that the settings are not restored when you leave the mailbox. For example, a command action to perform is to change the sorting method based upon the mailbox being read: + + + - + folder-hook mutt set sort=threads - + + + + However, the sorting method is not restored to its previous value when -reading a different mailbox. To specify a default command, use the pattern ``.'': + + + -

- + folder-hook . set sort=date-sent - + + + + + + + + + - + +Keyboard macros -Keyboard macros

-Usage: +Usage: macro menu key sequence [ description ] + + Macros are useful when you would like a single key to perform a series of -actions. When you press key in menu menu, Mutt-ng will behave as if +you had typed sequence. So if you have a common sequence of commands you type, you can create a macro to execute those commands with a single key. + - which the macro will be bound. + +menu is the maps which the macro will be bound. Multiple maps may be specified by separating multiple menu arguments by commas. Whitespace may not be used in between the menu arguments and the commas separating them. + -. There are some additions however. The -first is that control characters in +key and sequence are expanded by the same rules as the bind. There are some additions however. The +first is that control characters in sequence can also be specified +as ˆx. In order to get a caret (`ˆ'') you need to use +ˆˆ. Secondly, to specify a certain key such as up or to invoke a function directly, you can use the format -. Functions -are listed in the . +<key name> and <function name>. For a listing of key +names see the section on bind. Functions +are listed in the functions. + + The advantage with using function names directly is that the macros will work regardless of the current key bindings, so they are not dependent on the user having particular key definitions. This makes them more robust and portable, and also facilitates defining of macros in files used by more than one user (eg. the system Muttngrc). + -Optionally you can specify a descriptive text after +Optionally you can specify a descriptive text after sequence, which is shown in the help screens. + - +Note: Macro definitions (if any) listed in the help screen(s), are silently truncated at the screen width, and are not wrapped. + - + + + + + + + +Using color and mono video attributes + + +Usage: color object foreground background [ regexp ] -Using color and mono video attributes

-Usage: -Usage: -Usage: +Usage: color index foreground background pattern +Usage: uncolor index pattern [ pattern ... ] + + + + If your terminal supports color, you can spice up Mutt-ng by creating your own color scheme. To define the color of an object (type of information), you -must specify both a foreground color and a background color (it is not possible to only specify one or the other). - - -attachment -body (match bold (highlighting bold patterns in the body of messages) -error (error messages printed by Mutt-ng) -header (match hdrdefault (default color of the message header in the pager) -index (match indicator (arrow or bar used to indicate the current item in a menu) -markers (the ``+'' markers at the beginning of wrapped lines in the pager) -message (informational messages) -normal -quoted (text matching in the body of a message) -quoted1, quoted2, ..., quotedsearch (highlighting of words in the pager) -signature -status (mode lines used to display info about the mailbox or message) -tilde (the ``˜'' used to pad blank lines in the pager) -tree (thread tree drawn in the message index and attachment menu) -underline (highlighting underlined patterns in the body of messages) - - - -white -black -green -magenta -blue -cyan -yellow -red -default -color - - + + +object can be one of: + + + + + + + + +attachment + + + + + +body (match regexp in the body of messages) + + + + + +bold (highlighting bold patterns in the body of messages) + + + + + +error (error messages printed by Mutt-ng) + + + + + +header (match regexp in the message header) + + + + + +hdrdefault (default color of the message header in the pager) + + + + + +index (match pattern in the message index) + + + + + +indicator (arrow or bar used to indicate the current item in a menu) + + + + + +markers (the ``+'' markers at the beginning of wrapped lines in the pager) + + + + + +message (informational messages) + + + + + +normal + + + + + +quoted (text matching quote-regexp in the body of a message) + + + + + +quoted1, quoted2, ..., quotedN (higher levels of quoting) + + + + + +search (highlighting of words in the pager) + + + + + +signature + + + + + +status (mode lines used to display info about the mailbox or message) + + + + + +tilde (the ``˜'' used to pad blank lines in the pager) + + + + + +tree (thread tree drawn in the message index and attachment menu) + + + + + +underline (highlighting underlined patterns in the body of messages) + + + + + + + + +foreground and background can be one of the following: + + + + + + + + +white + + + + + +black + + + + + +green + + + + + +magenta + + + + + +blue + + + + + +cyan + + + + + +yellow + + + + + +red + + + + + +default + + + + + +colorx + + + + + + + + +foreground can optionally be prefixed with the keyword bright to make +the foreground color boldfaced (e.g., brightred). + + + +If your terminal supports it, the special keyword default can be +used as a transparent color. The value brightdefault is also valid. +If Mutt-ng is linked against the S-Lang library, you also need to set +the COLORFGBG environment variable to the default colors of your terminal for this to work; for example (for Bourne-like shells): + + + - + set COLORFGBG="green;black" export COLORFGBG - + - + + +Note: The S-Lang library requires you to use the lightgray +and brown keywords instead of white and yellow when setting this variable. + - +Note: The uncolor command can be applied to the index object only. It +removes entries from the list. You must specify the same pattern specified in the color command for it to be removed. The pattern ``*'' is a special token which means to clear the color index list of all entries. + -Mutt-ng also recognizes the keywords +Mutt-ng also recognizes the keywords color0, color1, …, +colorN-1 (N being the number of colors supported by your terminal). This is useful when you remap the colors for your -display (for example by changing the color associated with color2 for your xterm), since color names may then lose their normal meaning. + + If your terminal does not support color, it is still possible change the video attributes through the use of the ``mono'' command: + + + +Usage: mono <object> <attribute> [ regexp ] + +Usage: mono index attribute pattern + +Usage: unmono index pattern [ pattern ... ] + + + + +where attribute is one of the following: + + + + + + -Usage: -Usage: -Usage: + +none + + + -where +bold + + + - -none -bold -underline -reverse -standout - + +underline + + + - + +reverse + + + -Ignoring (weeding) unwanted message headers

-Usage: +standout + + + + + + + + + + + + + +Ignoring (weeding) unwanted message headers + + +Usage: [un]ignore pattern [ pattern ... ] + + + Messages often have many header fields added by automatic processing systems, or which may not seem useful to display on the screen. This command allows you to specify header fields which you don't normally want to see. + + You do not need to specify the full header field name. For example, ``ignore content-'' will ignore all header fields that begin with the pattern ``content-''. ``ignore *'' will ignore all headers. + + To remove a previously added token from the list, use the ``unignore'' command. The ``unignore'' command will make Mutt-ng display headers with the given pattern. For example, if you do ``ignore x-'' it is possible to ``unignore x-mailer''. + + ``unignore *'' will remove all tokens from the ignore list. + + For example: - + + # Sven's draconian header weeding ignore * unignore from date subject to cc unignore organization organisation x-mailer: x-newsreader: x-mailing-list: unignore posted-to: - + - + -Alternative addresses

-Usage: + + + + + + + +Alternative addresses + + +Usage: [un]alternates regexp [ regexp ... ] + + + With various functions, mutt will treat messages differently, depending on whether you sent them or whether you received them from someone else. For instance, when replying to a message that you sent to a different party, mutt will automatically suggest to send the response to the original message's recipients -- responding to -yourself won't make much sense in many cases. (See .) +yourself won't make much sense in many cases. (See reply-to.) + + Many users receive e-mail under a number of different addresses. To fully use mutt's features here, the program must be able to recognize what e-mail addresses you receive mail under. That's the -purpose of the alternates command: It takes a list of regular expressions, each of which can identify an address under which you receive e-mail. + -The +The unalternates command can be used to write exceptions to +alternates patterns. If an address matches something in an +alternates command, but you nonetheless do not think it is +from you, you can list a more precise pattern under an unalternates command. + + + +To remove a regular expression from the alternates list, use the +unalternates command with exactly the same regexp. +Likewise, if the regexp for a alternates command matches +an entry on the unalternates list, that unalternates +entry will be removed. If the regexp for unalternates +is ``*'', all entries on alternates will be removed. + + + + + + + + + +Format = Flowed + + +Introduction + + +Mutt-ng contains support for so-called format=flowed messages. +In the beginning of email, each message had a fixed line width, and +it was enough for displaying them on fixed-size terminals. But times +changed, and nowadays hardly anybody still uses fixed-size terminals: +more people nowaydays use graphical user interfaces, with dynamically +resizable windows. This led to the demand of a new email format that +makes it possible for the email client to make the email look nice +in a resizable window without breaking quoting levels and creating +an incompatible email format that can also be displayed nicely on +old fixed-size terminals. + + + +For introductory information on format=flowed messages, see +<http://www.joeclark.org/ffaq.html>. + + + + + +Receiving: Display Setup + + +When you receive emails that are marked as format=flowed +messages, and is formatted correctly, mutt-ng will try to reformat +the message to optimally fit on your terminal. If you want a fixed +margin on the right side of your terminal, you can set the +following: + + + + + + set wrapmargin = 10 + + -To remove a regular expression from the - -Format = Flowed - - Introduction - -

Mutt-ng contains support for so-called For introductory information on . - - + - Receiving: Display Setup + +The code above makes the line break 10 columns before the right +side of the terminal. + -

When you receive emails that are marked as +If your terminal is so wide that the lines are embarrassingly long, +you can also set a maximum line length: + - - set wrapmargin = 10 - + -

The code above makes the line break 10 columns before the right - side of the terminal. + + set max_line_length = 120 + + -

If your terminal is so wide that the lines are embarrassingly long, - you can also set a maximum line length: + - - set max_line_length = 120 - + +The example above will give you lines not longer than 120 +characters. + -

The example above will give you lines not longer than 120 - characters. + +When you view at format=flowed messages, you will often see +the quoting hierarchy like in the following example: + -

When you view at - + >Bill, can you please send last month's progress report to Mr. >Morgan? We also urgently need the cost estimation for the new >production server that we want to set up before our customer's >project will go live. - + + + + -

This obviously doesn't look very nice, and it makes it very - hard to differentiate between text and quoting character. The - solution is to configure mutt-ng to "stuff" the quoting: + +This obviously doesn't look very nice, and it makes it very +hard to differentiate between text and quoting character. The +solution is to configure mutt-ng to "stuff" the quoting: + - + + + set stuff_quoted - + + + + + + +This will lead to a nicer result that is easier to read: + -

This will lead to a nicer result that is easier to read: + - + > Bill, can you please send last month's progress report to Mr. > Morgan? We also urgently need the cost estimation for the new > production server that we want to set up before our customer's > project will go live. - + + + + - + - Sending + +Sending -

If you want mutt-ng to send emails with +If you want mutt-ng to send emails with format=flowed set, you +need to explicitly set it: + - + + + set text_flowed - + + + + + + +Additionally, you have to use an editor which supports writing +format=flowed-conforming emails. For vim, this is done by +adding w to the formatoptions (see :h formatoptions and +:h fo-table) when writing emails. + + + +Also note that format=flowed knows about ``space-stuffing'', +that is, when sending messages, some kinds of lines have to be +indented with a single space on the sending side. On the receiving +side, the first space (if any) is removed. As a consequence and in +addition to the above simple setting, please keep this in mind when +making manual formattings within the editor. Also note that mutt-ng +currently violates the standard (RfC 3676) as it does not +space-stuff lines starting with: + -

Additionally, you have to use an editor which supports writing - -

Also note that + - + +> This is not the quote character but a right +angle used for other reasons - + + - +From with a trailing space. - just a space for formatting reasons + + + - + +just a space for formatting reasons - Please make sure that you manually prepend a space to each of them. + + - + - Additional Notes + -

For completeness, the variable provides the mechanism - to generate a +Please make sure that you manually prepend a space to each of them. + - + - + +Additional Notes -Mailing lists

-Usage: -Usage: + For completeness, the delete-space variable provides the mechanism +to generate a DelSp=yes parameter on outgoing messages. +According to the standard, clients receiving a format=flowed +messages should delete the last space of a flowed line but still +interpret the line as flowed. Because flowed lines usually contain +only one space at the end, this parameter would make the receiving +client concatenate the last word of the previous with the first of +the current line without a space. This makes ordinary text +unreadable and is intended for languages rarely using spaces. So +please use this setting only if you're sure what you're doing. + -Mutt-ng has a few nice features for . In order to take advantage of them, you must + + + + + + + + + +Mailing lists + + +Usage: [un]lists regexp [ regexp ... ] + +Usage: [un]subscribe regexp [ regexp ... ] + + + +Mutt-ng has a few nice features for using-lists. In order to take advantage of them, you must specify which addresses belong to mailing lists, and which mailing -lists you are subscribed to. Once you have done this, the function will work for all known lists. +lists you are subscribed to. Once you have done this, the list-reply function will work for all known lists. Additionally, when you send a message to a subscribed list, mutt will add a Mail-Followup-To header to tell other users' mail user agents not to send copies of replies to your personal address. Note that the Mail-Followup-To header is a non-standard extension which is not supported by all mail user agents. Adding it is not bullet-proof against receiving personal CCs of list messages. Also note that the generation -of the Mail-Followup-To header is controlled by the configuration variable. +of the Mail-Followup-To header is controlled by the followup-to configuration variable. + + More precisely, Mutt-ng maintains lists of patterns for the addresses of known and subscribed mailing lists. Every subscribed mailing list is known. To mark a mailing list as known, use the ``lists'' command. To mark it as subscribed, use ``subscribe''. + + You can use regular expressions with both commands. To mark all messages sent to a specific bug report's address on mutt's bug tracking system as list mail, for instance, you could say -``subscribe [0-9]*@bugs.guug.de''. Often, it's sufficient to just +``subscribe [0-9]*@bugs.guug.de''. Often, it's sufficient to just give a portion of the list's e-mail address. + + Specify as much of the address as you need to to remove ambiguity. For example, if you've subscribed to the Mutt-ng mailing list, you will receive mail -addressed to mutt-users@mutt.org. So, to tell Mutt-ng that this is a mailing list, you could add ``lists mutt-users'' to your initialization file. To tell mutt that you are subscribed to it, add ``subscribe mutt-users'' to your initialization file instead. If you also happen to get mail from someone whose address is -mutt-users@example.com, you could use ``lists mutt-users@mutt\\.org'' or ``subscribe mutt-users@mutt\\.org'' to match only mail from the actual list. + + The ``unlists'' command is used to remove a token from the list of known and subscribed mailing-lists. Use ``unlists *'' to remove all tokens. + + To remove a mailing list from the list of subscribed mailing lists, but keep it on the list of known mailing lists, use ``unsubscribe''. + + + + + + + - + +Using Multiple spool mailboxes -Using Multiple spool mailboxes

-Usage: +Usage: mbox-hook [!]pattern mailbox + + This command is used to move read messages from a specified mailbox to a different mailbox automatically when you quit or change folders. -pattern is a regular expression specifying the mailbox to treat as a +``spool'' mailbox and mailbox specifies where mail should be saved when read. + -Unlike some of the other +Unlike some of the other hook commands, only the first matching pattern is used (it is not possible to save read mail in more than a single mailbox). + + + + + - + -Defining mailboxes which receive mail

-Usage: +Defining mailboxes which receive mail + +Usage: [un]mailboxes [!]filename [ filename ... ] + + + This command specifies folders which can receive mail and which will be checked for new messages. By default, the main menu status bar displays how many of these folders have new messages. -

-When changing folders, pressing + + +When changing folders, pressing space will cycle through folders with new mail. -

+ + + Pressing TAB in the directory browser will bring up a menu showing the files -specified by the mailboxes command, and indicate which contain new messages. Mutt-ng will automatically enter this mode when invoked from the -command line with the -y option. + + The ``unmailboxes'' command is used to remove a token from the list of folders which receive mail. Use ``unmailboxes *'' to remove all tokens. + -

- +Note: new mail is detected by comparing the last modification time to +the last access time. Utilities like biff or frm or any other program which accesses the mailbox might cause Mutt-ng to never detect new mail for that mailbox if they do not properly reset the access time. Backup tools are another common reason for updated access times. -

+ - (such as ``='' and ``!''), any variable -definition that affect these characters (like and ) -should be executed before the +Note: the filenames in the mailboxes command are resolved when +the command is executed, so if these names contain shortcuts (such as ``='' and ``!''), any variable +definition that affect these characters (like folder and spoolfile) +should be executed before the mailboxes command. + - + + + -User defined headers

-Usage: - - + +User defined headers + + +Usage: + +my_hdr string + +unmy_hdr field [ field ... ] + + + The ``my_hdr'' command allows you to create your own header fields which will be added to every message you send. + + For example, if you would like to add an ``Organization:'' header field to all of your outgoing messages, you can put the command + - -my_hdr Organization: A Really Big Company, Anytown, USA - + + +my_hdr Organization: A Really Big Company, Anytown, USA + + -in your +in your .muttrc. + - +Note: space characters are not allowed between the keyword and the colon (``:''). The standard for electronic mail (RFC822) says that space is illegal there, so Mutt-ng enforces the rule. + + If you would like to add a header field to a single message, you should -either set the variable, -or use the edit-headers variable, +or use the edit-headers function (default: ``E'') in the send-menu so that you can edit the header of your message along with the body. + + To remove user defined header fields, use the ``unmy_hdr'' command. You may specify an asterisk (``*'') to remove all header fields, or the fields to remove. For example, to remove all ``To'' and ``Cc'' header fields, you could use: + - -unmy_hdr to cc - + + +unmy_hdr to cc + + - + + + + + -Defining the order of headers when viewing messages

-Usage: +Defining the order of headers when viewing messages + +Usage: hdr_order header1 header2 header3 + + + With this command, you can specify an order in which mutt will attempt to present headers to you when viewing messages. + -``unhdr_order *'' will clear all previous headers from the order list, + +``unhdr_order *'' will clear all previous headers from the order list, thus removing the header order effects set by the system-wide startup file. + + + - + hdr_order From Date: From: To: Cc: Subject: - + - + -Specify default save filename

-Usage: + + + + + + +Specify default save filename + + +Usage: save-hook [!]pattern filename + + This command is used to override the default filename used when saving -messages. filename will be used as the default filename if the message is +From: an address matching regexp or if you are the author and the +message is addressed to: something matching regexp. + -See for information on the exact format of +See pattern-hook for information on the exact format of pattern. + + Examples: + - + + + save-hook me@(turing\\.)?cs\\.hmc\\.edu$ +elkins save-hook aol\\.com$ +spam - + + + + + +Also see the fcc-save-hook command. + -Also see the command. + + + + + - + +Specify default Fcc: mailbox when composing -Specify default Fcc: mailbox when composing

-Usage: +Usage: fcc-hook [!]pattern mailbox + + This command is used to save outgoing mail in a mailbox other than -. Mutt-ng searches the initial list of -message recipients for the first matching record. Mutt-ng searches the initial list of +message recipients for the first matching regexp and uses mailbox as the default Fcc: mailbox. If no match is found the message will be saved -to mailbox. +to record mailbox. + -See for information on the exact format of +See pattern-hook for information on the exact format of pattern. + -Example: +Example: fcc-hook [@.]aol\\.com$ +spammers + + The above will save a copy of all messages going to the aol.com domain to -the `+spammers' mailbox by default. Also see the command. +the `+spammers' mailbox by default. Also see the fcc-save-hook command. + + + + + + + + + +Specify default save filename and default Fcc: mailbox at once + + +Usage: fcc-save-hook [!]pattern mailbox + + + +This command is a shortcut, equivalent to doing both a fcc-hook +and a save-hook with its arguments. + - + + + + + -Specify default save filename and default Fcc: mailbox at once

-Usage: +Change settings based upon message recipients -This command is a shortcut, equivalent to doing both a -and a with its arguments. + +Usage: reply-hook [!]pattern command - +Usage: send-hook [!]pattern command -Change settings based upon message recipients

-Usage: -Usage: -Usage: send2-hook [!]pattern command + + These commands can be used to execute arbitrary configuration commands based -upon recipients of the message. pattern is a regular expression +matching the desired address. command is executed when regexp matches recipients of the message. + - +reply-hook is matched against the message you are replying +to, instead of the message you are sending. send-hook is +matched against all messages, both new and replies. Note: +reply-hooks are matched before the send-hook, regardless of the order specified in the users's configuration file. + - +send2-hook is matched every time a message is changed, either by editing it, or by using the compose menu to change its recipients -or subject. variable depending on the message's sender +or subject. send2-hook is executed after send-hook, and +can, e.g., be used to set parameters such as the sendmail variable depending on the message's sender address. + -For each type of +For each type of send-hook or reply-hook, when multiple matches occur, commands are executed in the order they are specified in the muttrc (for that type of hook). + -See for information on the exact format of +See pattern-hook for information on the exact format of pattern. + -Example: +Example: send-hook mutt "set mime_forward signature=''" + + Another typical use for this command is to change the values of the -, and +attribution, signature and locale variables in order to change the language of the attributions and signatures based upon the recipients. + - +Note: the send-hook's are only executed ONCE after getting the initial list of recipients. Adding a recipient after replying or editing the message will NOT cause any send-hook to be executed. Also note that -my_hdr commands which modify recipient headers, or the message's +my_hdr commands which modify recipient headers, or the message's subject, don't have any effect on the current message when executed from a send-hook. + + + + + - + -Change settings before formatting a message

-Usage: +Change settings before formatting a message + +Usage: message-hook [!]pattern command + + + This command can be used to execute arbitrary configuration commands before viewing or formatting a message based upon information about the message. -command is executed if the pattern matches the message to be displayed. When multiple matches occur, commands are executed in the order they are specified in the muttrc. + -See for -information on the exact format of +See pattern-hook for +information on the exact format of pattern. + + Example: - + + message-hook ~A 'set pager=builtin' message-hook '~f freshmeat-news' 'set pager="less \"+/^ subject: .*\""' - + - + + + + + -Choosing the cryptographic key of the recipient

-Usage: + +Choosing the cryptographic key of the recipient + + +Usage: crypt-hook pattern keyid + + + When encrypting messages with PGP or OpenSSL, you may want to associate a certain key with a given e-mail address automatically, either because the recipient's public key can't be deduced from the destination address, @@ -2289,879 +3944,1604 @@ or because, for some reasons, you need to override the key Mutt-ng would normally use. The crypt-hook command provides a method by which you can specify the ID of the public key to be used when encrypting messages to a certain recipient. + + The meaning of "key id" is to be taken broadly in this context: You can either put a numerical key ID here, an e-mail address, or even just a real name. + + + + + - + -Adding key sequences to the keyboard buffer

-Usage: +Adding key sequences to the keyboard buffer + +Usage: push string + + + This command adds the named string to the keyboard buffer. The string may contain control characters, key names and function names like the sequence -string in the command. You may use it to +string in the macro command. You may use it to automatically run a sequence of commands at startup, or when entering certain folders. + + + + + + + - + +Executing functions -Executing functions

-Usage: +Usage: exec function [ function ... ] + + This command can be used to execute any function. Functions are -listed in the . +listed in the functions. ``exec function'' is equivalent to ``push <function>''. + - + + + + + -Message Scoring

-Usage: -Usage: +Usage: score pattern value -

+Usage: unscore pattern [ pattern ... ] + + + In situations where you have to cope with a lot of emails, e.g. when you read many different mailing lists, and take part in discussions, it is always useful to have the important messages marked and the annoying messages or the ones that you aren't interested in deleted. For this purpose, mutt-ng features a mechanism called ``scoring''. + -

+ When you use scoring, every message has a base score of 0. You -can then use the score command to define patterns and a positive or negative value associated with it. When a pattern matches a message, the message's score will be raised or lowered by the amount of the value associated with the pattern. + + + - + score "~f nion@muttng\.org" 50 -score "~f @sco\.com" -100 +score "~f @sco\.com" -100 + -

If the pattern matches, it is also possible to set the score + + + +If the pattern matches, it is also possible to set the score value of the current message to a certain value and then stop evaluation: + + + + + +score "~f santaclaus@northpole\.int" =666 + - -score "~f santaclaus@northpole\.int" =666 + -

What is important to note is that negative score values will be + +What is important to note is that negative score values will be rounded up to 0. + -

To make scoring actually useful, the score must be applied in -some way. That's what the +To make scoring actually useful, the score must be applied in +some way. That's what the score thresholds are for. Currently, there are three score thresholds: + - + - flag threshold: when a message has a score value equal or higher - than the flag threshold, it will be flagged. + + - read threshold: when a message has a score value equal or lower - than the read threshold, it will be marked as read. + +flag threshold: when a message has a score value equal or higher +than the flag threshold, it will be flagged. - delete threshold: when a message has a score value equal or - lower than the delete threshold, it will be marked as deleted. + + + - + +read threshold: when a message has a score value equal or lower +than the read threshold, it will be marked as read. -

These three thresholds can be set via the variables , , and. By -default, and are set to - + + + + +delete threshold: when a message has a score value equal or +lower than the delete threshold, it will be marked as deleted. + + + + + + + + + +These three thresholds can be set via the variables score-threshold-flag, score-threshold-read, score-threshold-delete and. By +default, score-threshold-read and score-threshold-delete are set to +-1, which means that in the default threshold configuration no message will ever get marked as read or deleted. + + + +Scoring gets especially interesting when combined with the color command +and the ˜n pattern: + -

Scoring gets especially interesting when combined with the ˜n pattern: + - + color index black yellow "~n 10-" -color index red yellow "~n 100-" +color index red yellow "~n 100-" + -

The rules above mark all messages with a score between 10 and 99 + + + +The rules above mark all messages with a score between 10 and 99 with black and yellow, and messages with a score greater or equal 100 with red and yellow. This might be unusual to you if you're used to e.g. slrn's scoring mechanism, but it is more flexible, as it visually marks different scores. + + + + + + + - + +Spam detection -Spam detection

-Usage: -Usage: +Usage: spam pattern format +Usage: nospam pattern + + + Mutt-ng has generalized support for external spam-scoring filters. -By defining your spam patterns with the spam and nospam +commands, you can limit, search, and sort your mail based on its spam attributes, as determined by the external filter. You also can display the spam attributes in your index -display using the variable. (Tip: try %H selector in the index-format variable. (Tip: try %?H?[%H] ? to display spam tags only when they are defined for a given message.) + + Your first step is to define your external filter's spam patterns using -the spam command. pattern should be a regular expression that matches a header in a mail message. If any message in the mailbox matches this regular expression, it will receive a ``spam tag'' or -``spam attribute'' (unless it also matches a nospam pattern -- see below.) The appearance of this attribute is entirely up to you, and is -governed by the format parameter. format can be any static +text, but it also can include back-references from the pattern expression. (A regular expression ``back-reference'' refers to a -sub-expression contained within parentheses.) %1 is replaced with +the first back-reference in the regex, %2 with the second, etc. + + If you're using multiple spam filters, a message can have more than -one spam-related header. You can define spam patterns for each filter you use. If a message matches two or more of these patterns, and the $spam_separator variable is set to a string, then the -message's spam tag will consist of all the format strings joined together, with the value of $spam_separator separating them. + + For example, suppose I use DCC, SpamAssassin, and PureMessage. I might define these spam settings: - + + spam "X-DCC-.*-Metrics:.*(....)=many" "90+/DCC-%1" spam "X-Spam-Status: Yes" "90+/SA" spam "X-PerlMX-Spam: .*Probability=([0-9]+)%" "%1/PM" set spam_separator=", " - + + + + If I then received a message that DCC registered with ``many'' hits under the ``Fuz2'' checksum, and that PureMessage registered with a -97% probability of being spam, that message's spam tag would read -90+/DCC-Fuz2, 97/PM. (The four characters before ``=many'' in a +97% probability of being spam, that message's spam tag would read +90+/DCC-Fuz2, 97/PM. (The four characters before ``=many'' in a DCC report indicate the checksum used -- in this case, ``Fuz2''.) + + If the $spam_separator variable is unset, then each spam pattern match supersedes the previous one. Instead of getting -joined format strings, you'll get only the last one to match. + + The spam tag is what will be displayed in the index when you use -%H in the $index_format variable. It's also the +string that the ˜H pattern-matching expression matches against for +search and limit functions. And it's what sorting by spam attribute will use as a sort key. + + That's a pretty complicated example, and most people's actual environments will have only one spam filter. The simpler your configuration, the more effective mutt can be, especially when it comes to sorting. + -Generally, when you sort by spam tag, mutt will sort +Generally, when you sort by spam tag, mutt will sort lexically -- that is, by ordering strings alphnumerically. However, if a spam tag begins with a number, mutt will sort numerically first, and lexically only when two numbers are equal in value. (This is like UNIX's -sort -n.) A message with no spam attributes at all -- that is, one +that didn't match any of your spam patterns -- is sorted at lowest priority. Numbers are sorted next, beginning with 0 and ranging upward. Finally, non-numeric strings are sorted, with ``a'' taking lower priority than ``z''. Clearly, in general, sorting by spam tags is most effective when you can coerce your filter to give you a raw number. But in case you can't, mutt can still do something useful. + -The +The nospam command can be used to write exceptions to spam +patterns. If a header pattern matches something in a spam command, but you nonetheless do not want it to receive a spam tag, you can list a -more precise pattern under a nospam command. + -If the +If the pattern given to nospam is exactly the same as the +pattern on an existing spam list entry, the effect will be to remove the entry from the spam list, instead of adding an exception. -Likewise, if the pattern for a spam command matches an entry +on the nospam list, that nospam entry will be removed. If the +pattern for nospam is ``*'', all entries on both lists +will be removed. This might be the default action if you use spam +and nospam in conjunction with a folder-hook. + + + +You can have as many spam or nospam commands as you like. You can even do your own primitive spam detection within mutt -- for -example, if you consider all mail from MAILER-DAEMON to be spam, +you can use a spam command like this: + - + + + spam "^From: .*MAILER-DAEMON" "999" - + - + -Setting variables

-Usage: -Usage: -Usage: -Usage: + + -This command is used to set (and unset) . There are four basic types of variables: -boolean, number, string and quadoption. + + +Setting variables + + +Usage: set [no|inv]variable[=value] [ variable ... ] + +Usage: toggle variable [variable ... ] + +Usage: unset variable [variable ... ] + +Usage: reset variable [variable ... ] + + + +This command is used to set (and unset) variables. There are four basic types of variables: +boolean, number, string and quadoption. boolean variables can be +set (true) or unset (false). number variables can be assigned a positive integer value. + - +string variables consist of any number of printable characters. +strings must be enclosed in quotes if they contain spaces or tabs. You +may also use the ``C'' escape sequences \n and \t for newline and tab, respectively. + - +quadoption variables are used to control whether or not to be prompted +for certain actions, or to specify a default action. A value of yes will cause the action to be carried out automatically as if you had answered -yes to the question. Similarly, a value of no will cause the the action to be carried out as if you had answered ``no.'' A value of -ask-yes will cause a prompt with a default answer of ``yes'' and +ask-no will provide a default answer of ``no.'' + + + +Prefixing a variable with ``no'' will unset it. Example: set noaskbcc. + + + +For boolean variables, you may optionally prefix the variable name with +inv to toggle the value (on or off). This is useful when writing +macros. Example: set invsmart_wrap. + + + +The toggle command automatically prepends the inv prefix to all specified variables. + -The +The unset command automatically prepends the no prefix to all specified variables. + -Using the enter-command function in the +Using the enter-command function in the index menu, you can query the value of a variable by prefixing the name of the variable with a question mark: + + + - + set ?allow_8bit - + + + + The question mark is actually only required for boolean and quadoption variables. + -The +The reset command resets all given variables to the compile time defaults (hopefully mentioned in this manual). If you use the command -set and prefix the variable with ``&'' this has the same behavior as the reset command. + -With the +With the reset command there exists the special variable ``all'', which allows you to reset all variables to their system defaults. + - + + + -Reading initialization commands from another file

-Usage: + +Reading initialization commands from another file + + +Usage: source filename [ filename ... ] + + + This command allows the inclusion of initialization commands from other files. For example, I place all of my aliases in -˜/.mail_aliases so that I can make my -˜/.muttrc readable and keep my aliases private. +˜/.mail_aliases so that I can make my +˜/.muttrc readable and keep my aliases private. + + If the filename begins with a tilde (``˜''), it will be expanded to the path of your home directory. + -If the filename ends with a vertical bar (|), then +If the filename ends with a vertical bar (|), then filename is considered to be an executable program from which to read input (eg. -source ~/bin/myscript|). +source ˜/bin/myscript|). + + + + + + + - + +Removing hooks -Removing hooks

-Usage: +Usage: unhook [ * | hook-type ] + + This command permits you to flush hooks you have previously defined. You can either remove all hooks by giving the ``*'' character as an argument, or you can remove all hooks of a specific type by saying -something like unhook send-hook. + + + + + + + + + +Sharing Setups + + +Character Sets + + +As users may run mutt-ng on different systems, the configuration +must be maintained because it's likely that people want to use the +setup everywhere they use mutt-ng. And mutt-ng tries to help where it +can. + - + +To not produce conflicts with different character sets, mutt-ng +allows users to specify in which character set their configuration +files are encoded. Please note that while reading the configuration +files, this is only respected after the corresponding declaration +appears. It's advised to put the following at the very beginning of a +users muttngrc: + - Sharing Setups

As users may run mutt-ng on different systems, the configuration - must be maintained because it's likely that people want to use the - setup everywhere they use mutt-ng. And mutt-ng tries to help where it - can. + -

To not produce conflicts with different character sets, mutt-ng - allows users to specify in which character set their configuration - files are encoded. Please note that while reading the configuration - files, this is only respected after the corresponding declaration - appears. It's advised to put the following at the very beginning of a - users muttngrc: + +and replacing the dots with the actual character set. To avoid +problems while maintaining the setup, vim user's may want to use +modelines as show in: + - -set config_charset = "..." + -

and replacing the dots with the actual character set. To avoid - problems while maintaining the setup, vim user's may want to use - modelines as show in: + +# vim:fileencoding=...: + - -# vim:fileencoding=...: + -

while, again, replacing the dots with the appropriate name. This - tells vim as which character set to read and save the file. + +while, again, replacing the dots with the appropriate name. This +tells vim as which character set to read and save the file. + - + + + + + + + +Modularization + + +``Modularization'' means to divide the setup into several files +while sorting the options or commands by topic. Especially for +longer setups (e.g. with many hooks), this helps maintaining it +and solving trouble. + - Modularization + +When using separation, setups may be, as a whole or in +fractions, shared over different systems. + -

``Modularization'' means to divide the setup into several files - while sorting the options or commands by topic. Especially for - longer setups (e.g. with many hooks), this helps maintaining it - and solving trouble. + + + -

When using separation, setups may be, as a whole or in - fractions, shared over different systems. + - + +Conditional parts - Conditional parts + +When using a configuration on different systems, the user may not +always have influence on how mutt-ng is installed and which features +it includes. + -

When using a configuration on different systems, the user may not - always have influence on how mutt-ng is installed and which features - it includes. + +To solve this, mutt-ng contain a feature based on the ``ifdef'' +patch written for mutt. Its basic syntax is: + -

To solve this, mutt-ng contain a feature based on the ``ifdef'' - patch written for mutt. Its basic syntax is: + - + ifdef <item> <command> -ifndef <item> <command> +ifndef <item> <command> + + + + + +...whereby <item> can be one of: + + + -

...whereby + - + +a function name - a function name + + + - a variable name + +a variable name - a menu name + + + - a feature name + +a menu name - + + + -

All available functions, variables and menus are documented - elsewhere in this manual but ``features'' is specific to these two - commands. To test for one, prefix one of the following keywords with - +a feature name - + + + + + + + + +All available functions, variables and menus are documented +elsewhere in this manual but ``features'' is specific to these two +commands. To test for one, prefix one of the following keywords with +feature_: + + + + + ncurses, slang, iconv, idn, dotlock, standalone, pop, nntp, imap, ssl, gnutls, sasl, sasl2, libesmtp, compressed, color, classic_pgp, -classic_smime, gpgme, header_cache +classic_smime, gpgme, header_cache + + + -

As an example, one can use the following in - ˜/.muttngrc: + +As an example, one can use the following in +˜/.muttngrc: + - + + + ifdef feature_imap 'source ~/.mutt-ng/setup-imap' ifdef feature_pop 'source ~/.mutt-ng/setup-pop' -ifdef feature_nntp 'source ~/.mutt-ng/setup-nntp' +ifdef feature_nntp 'source ~/.mutt-ng/setup-nntp' + + + + + +...to only source ˜/.mutt-ng/setup-imap if IMAP +support is built in, only source ˜/.mutt-ng/setup-pop +if POP support is built in and only source +˜/.mutt-ng/setup-nntp if NNTP support is built in. + + + +An example for testing for variable names can be used if users +use different revisions of mutt-ng whereby the older one may not +have a certain variable. To test for the availability of imap-mail-check, +use: + -

...to only source ˜/.mutt-ng/setup-imap if IMAP - support is built in, only source ˜/.mutt-ng/setup-pop - if POP support is built in and only source - ˜/.mutt-ng/setup-nntp if NNTP support is built in. + -

An example for testing for variable names can be used if users - use different revisions of mutt-ng whereby the older one may not - have a certain variable. To test for the availability of , - use: + +ifdef imap_mail_check 'set imap_mail_check = 300' + - -ifdef imap_mail_check 'set imap_mail_check = 300' + -

Provided for completeness is the test for menu names. To set only if the pager - menu is available, use: + +Provided for completeness is the test for menu names. To set pager-index-lines only if the pager +menu is available, use: + - -ifdef pager 'set pager_index_lines = 10' + -

For completeness, too, the opposite of +ifdef pager 'set pager_index_lines = 10' + - + + + +For completeness, too, the opposite of ifdef is provided: +ifndef which only executes the command if the test fails. For +example, the following two examples are equivalent: + + + + + ifdef feature_ncurses 'source ~/.mutt-ng/setup-ncurses' -ifndef feature_ncurses 'source ~/.mutt-ng/setup-slang' +ifndef feature_ncurses 'source ~/.mutt-ng/setup-slang' + + + -

...and... + +...and... + - + + + ifdef feature_slang 'source ~/.mutt-ng/setup-slang' -ifndef feature_slang 'source ~/.mutt-ng/setup-ncurses' +ifndef feature_slang 'source ~/.mutt-ng/setup-ncurses' + + + + + + + - + + + + - + -Obsolete Variables + +Obsolete Variables -

In the process of ensuring and creating more consistency, many + +In the process of ensuring and creating more consistency, many variables have been renamed and some of the old names were already -removed. Please see +removed. Please see sect-obsolete for a complete list. + + + + + - + + + + + - + -Advanced Usage + +Advanced Usage -Regular Expressions

+ +Regular Expressions + + All string patterns in Mutt-ng including those in more complex - must be specified +patterns must be specified using regular expressions (regexp) in the ``POSIX extended'' syntax (which is more or less the syntax used by egrep and GNU awk). For your convenience, we have included below a brief description of this syntax. + + The search is case sensitive if the pattern contains at least one upper case letter, and case insensitive otherwise. Note that ``\'' must be quoted if used for a regular expression in an initialization command: ``\\''. + + A regular expression is a pattern that describes a set of strings. Regular expressions are constructed analogously to arithmetic expressions, by using various operators to combine smaller expressions. + -Note that the regular expression can be enclosed/delimited by either &dquot; + +Note that the regular expression can be enclosed/delimited by either " or ' which is useful if the regular expression includes a white-space -character. See -for more information on &dquot; and ' delimiter processing. To match a -literal &dquot; or ' you must preface it with \ (backslash). +character. See muttrc-syntax +for more information on " and ' delimiter processing. To match a +literal " or ' you must preface it with \ (backslash). + + The fundamental building blocks are the regular expressions that match a single character. Most characters, including all letters and digits, are regular expressions that match themselves. Any metacharacter with special meaning may be quoted by preceding it with a backslash. + + The period ``.'' matches any single character. The caret ``ˆ'' and -the dollar sign ``&dollar'' are metacharacters that respectively match +the dollar sign ``$'' are metacharacters that respectively match the empty string at the beginning and end of a line. + + A list of characters enclosed by ``['' and ``]'' matches any single character in that list; if the first character of the list -is a caret ``ˆ'' then it matches any character not in the +list. For example, the regular expression [0123456789] matches any single digit. A range of ASCII characters may be specified by giving the first and last characters, separated by a hyphen ``-''. Most metacharacters lose their special meaning inside lists. To include a literal ``]'' place it first in the list. Similarly, to include a literal ``ˆ'' place it anywhere but first. Finally, to include a literal hyphen ``-'' place it last. + + Certain named classes of characters are predefined. Character classes consist of ``[:'', a keyword denoting the class, and ``:]''. The following classes are defined by the POSIX standard: + + + + - - +[:alnum:] + + Alphanumeric characters. - + + +[:alpha:] + + Alphabetic characters. - + + +[:blank:] + + Space or tab characters. - + + +[:cntrl:] + + Control characters. - + + +[:digit:] + + Numeric characters. - + + +[:graph:] + + Characters that are both printable and visible. (A space is printable, but not visible, while an ``a'' is both.) - + + +[:lower:] + + Lower-case alphabetic characters. - + + +[:print:] + + Printable characters (characters that are not control characters.) - + + +[:punct:] + + Punctuation characters (characters that are not letter, digits, control characters, or space characters). - + + +[:space:] + + Space characters (such as space, tab and formfeed, to name a few). - + + +[:upper:] + + Upper-case alphabetic characters. - + + +[:xdigit:] + + Characters that are hexadecimal digits. - + + + + + A character class is only valid in a regular expression inside the brackets of a character list. Note that the brackets in these class names are part of the symbolic names, and must be included in addition to the brackets delimiting the bracket list. For -example, [[:digit:]] is equivalent to +[0-9]. + + Two additional special sequences can appear in character lists. These apply to non-ASCII character sets, which can have single symbols (called collating elements) that are represented with more than one character, as well as several characters that are equivalent for collating or sorting purposes: + - - + + + +Collating Symbols + + A collating symbol is a multi-character collating element enclosed in ``[.'' and ``.]''. For example, if ``ch'' is a collating -element, then [[.ch.]] is a regexp that matches +this collating element, while [ch] is a regexp that matches either ``c'' or ``h''. - + + +Equivalence Classes + + An equivalence class is a locale-specific name for a list of characters that are equivalent. The name is enclosed in ``[='' and ``=]''. For example, the name ``e'' might be used to represent all of ``è'' ``é'' and ``e''. In this case, -[[=e=]] is a regexp that matches any of ``è'', ``é'' and ``e''. - + + + + + A regular expression matching a single character may be followed by one of several repetition operators: + + + + - - +? + + The preceding item is optional and matched at most once. - + + +* + + The preceding item will be matched zero or more times. - + + ++ + + The preceding item will be matched one or more times. - - + + + +{n} + + +The preceding item is matched exactly n times. + + + +{n,} + + +The preceding item is matched n or more times. + + + +{,m} + + +The preceding item is matched at most m times. + + + +{n,m} + + +The preceding item is matched at least n times, but no more than +m times. + + + + + + Two regular expressions may be concatenated; the resulting regular expression matches any string formed by concatenating two substrings that respectively match the concatenated subexpressions. + -Two regular expressions may be joined by the infix operator ``|''; + +Two regular expressions may be joined by the infix operator ``|''; the resulting regular expression matches any string matching either subexpression. + + Repetition takes precedence over concatenation, which in turn takes precedence over alternation. A whole subexpression may be enclosed in parentheses to override these precedence rules. + - +Note: If you compile Mutt-ng with the GNU rx package, the following operators may also be used in regular expressions: + + + + - - +\\y + + Matches the empty string at either the beginning or the end of a word. - + + +\\B + + Matches the empty string within a word. - + + +\\< + + Matches the empty string at the beginning of a word. - + + +\\> + + Matches the empty string at the end of a word. - + + +\\w + + Matches any word-constituent character (letter, digit, or underscore). - + + +\\W + + Matches any character that is not word-constituent. - + + +\\` + + Matches the empty string at the beginning of a buffer (string). - + + +\\' + + Matches the empty string at the end of a buffer. - + + + + + Please note however that these operators are not defined by POSIX, so they may or may not be available in stock libraries on various systems. + - + + + + + -Patterns + +Patterns -

Mutt-ng's pattern language provides a simple yet effective way to + +Mutt-ng's pattern language provides a simple yet effective way to set up rules to match messages, e.g. for operations like tagging and scoring. A pattern consists of one or more sub-pattern, which can be logically grouped, ORed, and negated. For a complete listing of -these patterns, please refer to table in the Reference chapter. +these patterns, please refer to table patterns in the Reference chapter. + -

It must be noted that in this table, [MIN]/, +It must be noted that in this table, EXPR, USER, +ID and SUBJECT are regular expressions. For ranges, the +forms <[MAX], >>[MIN], [MIN]- and -[MAX] are also possible. + -Complex Patterns + +Complex Patterns -

It is possible to combine several sub-patterns to a more complex + +It is possible to combine several sub-patterns to a more complex pattern. The most simple possibility is to logically AND several patterns by stringing them together: + + + + + +~s 'SPAM' ~U + - -~s 'SPAM' ~U + -

The pattern above matches all messages that contain ``SPAM'' in + +The pattern above matches all messages that contain ``SPAM'' in the subject and are unread. + -

To logical OR patterns, simply use the +To logical OR patterns, simply use the | operator. This one especially useful when using local groups: + - + + + ~f ("nion@muttng\.org"|"ak@muttng\.org"|"pdmef@muttng\.org") (~b mutt-ng|~s Mutt-ng) -!~x '@synflood\.at' +!~x '@synflood\.at' + + + -

The first pattern matches all messages that were sent by one of + +The first pattern matches all messages that were sent by one of the mutt-ng maintainers, while the seconds pattern matches all messages that contain ``mutt-ng'' in the message body or ``Mutt-ng'' in the subject. The third pattern matches all messages that do not -contain ``@synflood\.at'' in the References: header, i.e. messages that are not an (indirect) reply to one of my messages. A -pattern can be logicall negated using the ! operator. + -Patterns and Dates + -

When using dates in patterns, the dates must be specified in a -special format, i.e. DD/MM/YYYY. If you don't specify + +Patterns and Dates + + +When using dates in patterns, the dates must be specified in a +special format, i.e. DD/MM/YYYY. If you don't specify month or year, they default to the current month or year. When using date ranges, and you specify only the minimum or the maximum, the -specified date will be excluded, e.g. 01/06/2005- matches -against all messages 01/06/2005- matches +against all messages after Juni 1st, 2005. + + + +It is also possible to use so-called ``error margins'' when +specifying date ranges. You simply specify a date, and then the +error margin. This margin needs to contain the information whether +it goes ``forth'' or ``back'' in time, by using + and -. +Then follows a number and a unit, i.e. y for years, m for +months, w for weeks and d for days. If you use the special +* sign, it means that the error margin goes to both +``directions'' in time. + + + + + +~d 01/01/2005+1y +~d 18/10/2004-2w +~d 28/12/2004*1d + + + + + +The first pattern matches all dates between January 1st, 2005 and +January 1st 2006. The second pattern matches all dates between +October 18th, 2004 and October 4th 2004 (2 weeks before 18/10/2004), +while the third pattern matches all dates 1 day around December +28th, 2004 (i.e. Dec 27th, 28th and 29th). + + + +Relative dates are also very important, as they make it possible +to specify date ranges between a fixed number of units and the +current date. How this works can be seen in the following example: + + + + + +~d >2w # messages older than two weeks +~d <3d # messages newer than 3 days +~d =1m # messages that are exactly one month old + + + + + + + + + + + + + +Format Strings + + +Introduction + + +The so called Format Strings offer great flexibility when +configuring mutt-ng. In short, they describe what items to print +out how in menus and status messages. + + + +Basically, they work as this: for different menus and bars, +there's a variable specifying the layout. For every item +available, there is a so called expando. + + + +For example, when running mutt-ng on different machines or +different versions for testing purposes, it may be interesting to +have the following information always printed on screen when one +is in the index: + + + + + + + + +the current hostname + + + + + + +the current mutt-ng version number + + + + + + + + + +The setting for the status bar of the index is controlled via the +status-format +variable. For the hostname and version string, there's an expando +for $status_format: %h expands to the +hostname and %v to the version string. When just configuring: + + + + + +set status_format = "%v on %h: ..." + + + -

It is also possible to use so-called ``error margins'' when -specifying date ranges. You simply specify a date, and then the -error margin. This margin needs to contain the information whether -it goes ``forth'' or ``back'' in time, by using +mutt-ng will replace the sequence %v with the version string +and %h with the host's name. When you are, for example, running +mutt-ng version 1.5.9i on host mailhost, you'll see the +following when you're in the index: + - -~d 01/01/2005+1y -~d 18/10/2004-2w -~d 28/12/2004*1d + -

The first pattern matches all dates between January 1st, 2005 and -January 1st 2006. The second pattern matches all dates between -October 18th, 2004 and October 4th 2004 (2 weeks before 18/10/2004), -while the third pattern matches all dates 1 day around December -28th, 2004 (i.e. Dec 27th, 28th and 29th). + +Mutt-ng 1.5.9i on mailhost: ... + -

Relative dates are also very important, as they make it possible -to specify date ranges between a fixed number of units and the -current date. How this works can be seen in the following example: + - -~d >2w # messages older than two weeks -~d <3d # messages newer than 3 days -~d =1m # messages that are exactly one month old + +In the index, there're more useful information one could want to +see: + - + - Format Strings + + - Introduction - -

The so called +which mailbox is open -

Basically, they work as this: for different menus and bars, - there's a variable specifying the layout. For every item - available, there is a so called For example, when running mutt-ng on different machines or - different versions for testing purposes, it may be interesting to - have the following information always printed on screen when one - is in the index: + + + - + +how man new, flagged or postponed messages - the current hostname + + + - the current mutt-ng version number + +... - + + -

The setting for the status bar of the index is controlled via the - - variable. For the hostname and version string, there's an expando - for $status_format: - -set status_format = "%v on %h: ..." + -

mutt-ng will replace the sequence +To include the mailbox' name is as easy as: + - -Mutt-ng 1.5.9i on mailhost: ... + -

In the index, there're more useful information one could want to - see: + +set status_format = "%v on %h: %B: ... + - + - which mailbox is open + +When the currently opened mailbox is Inbox, this will be expanded +to: + - how man new, flagged or postponed messages + - ... + +Mutt-ng 1.5.9i on mailhost: Inbox: ... + - + -

To include the mailbox' name is as easy as: + +For the number of certain types of messages, one more feature of the format +strings is extremely useful. If there aren't messages of a certain type, it +may not be desired to print just that there aren't any but instead only +print something if there are any. + - -set status_format = "%v on %h: %B: ... + + + -

When the currently opened mailbox is - -Mutt-ng 1.5.9i on mailhost: Inbox: ... - -

For the number of certain types of messages, one more feature of the format - strings is extremely useful. If there aren't messages of a certain type, it - may not be desired to print just that there aren't any but instead only - print something if there are any. + +Conditional Expansion - + +To only print the number of messages if there are new messages in +the current mailbox, further extend +$status_format to: + - Conditional Expansion - -

To only print the number of messages if there are new messages in - the current mailbox, further extend - - -set status_format = "%v on %h: %B %?n?%n new? ... + +set status_format = "%v on %h: %B %?n?%n new? ... + -

This feature is called - -%??? + +This feature is called nonzero-printing and works as this: +some expandos may be optionally printed nonzero, i.e. a portion +of the format string is only evaluated if the value of the expando +is different from zero. The basic syntax is: + -

which tells mutt-ng to only look at <string if - nonzero> if the value of the %<item%gt; - expando is different from zero. In our example, we used -

But this is not all: this feature only offers one alternative: - ``print something if not zero.'' Mutt-ng does, as you might guess, - also provide a logically complete version: ``if zero, print - something and else print something else.'' This is achieved by the - following syntax for those expandos which may be printed nonzero: + +%?<item>?<string if nonzero>? + - -%??&? + -

Using this we can make mutt-ng to do the following: + +which tells mutt-ng to only look at <string if +nonzero> if the value of the %<item%gt; +expando is different from zero. In our example, we used n as +the expando to check for and %n new as the optional nonzero +string. + - + +But this is not all: this feature only offers one alternative: +``print something if not zero.'' Mutt-ng does, as you might guess, +also provide a logically complete version: ``if zero, print +something and else print something else.'' This is achieved by the +following syntax for those expandos which may be printed nonzero: + - make it print `` - and make it print ``no new messages'' if there aren't any + +%?<item>?<string if nonzero>&<string if zero>? + - + -

The corresponding configuration is: + +Using this we can make mutt-ng to do the following: + - -set status_format = "%v on %h: %B: %?n?%n new messages&no new messages? ... + -

This doubles the use of the ``new messages'' string because it'll get - always printed. Thus, it can be shortened to: + + - -set status_format = "%v on %h: %B: %?n?%n&no? new messages ... + + make it print ``n new messages'' whereby n is the +count but only if there new ones -

As you might see from this rather simple example, one can create - very complex but fancy status messages. Please see the reference - chapter for expandos and those which may be printed nonzero. + + + - - - Modifications and Padding + + and make it print ``no new messages'' if there aren't any -

Besides the information given so far, there're even more features of - format strings: + + - + - When specifying %_<item> instead of - just %<item>, mutt-ng will convert all - characters in the expansion of <item> to - lowercase. + - When specifying %:<item> instead of just - %<item>, mutt-ng will convert all dots in the - expansion of <item> to underscores - (_). + +The corresponding configuration is: + - - -

Also, there's a feature called + + +set status_format = "%v on %h: %B: %?n?%n new messages&no new messages? ... + - + - %|X When this occurs, mutt-ng will fill the - rest of the line with the character +This doubles the use of the ``new messages'' string because it'll get +always printed. Thus, it can be shortened to: + - -set status_format = "%v on %h: %B: %?n?%n&no? new messages %|-" + - %>X Since the previous expando stops at - the end of line, there must be a way to fill the gap between - two items via the %>X expando: it puts as many - characters X in between two items so that the rest of - the line will be right-justified. For example, to not put the - version string and hostname of our example on the left but on - the right and fill the gap with spaces, one might use (note - the space after %>): + +set status_format = "%v on %h: %B: %?n?%n&no? new messages ... + - -set status_format = "%B: %?n?%n&no? new messages %> (%v on %h)" + - + +As you might see from this rather simple example, one can create +very complex but fancy status messages. Please see the reference +chapter for expandos and those which may be printed nonzero. + - + - + + + + + +Modifications and Padding + + +Besides the information given so far, there're even more features of +format strings: + + + + + + + + +When specifying %_<item> instead of +just %<item>, mutt-ng will convert all +characters in the expansion of <item> to +lowercase. + + + + + + +When specifying %:<item> instead of just +%<item>, mutt-ng will convert all dots in the +expansion of <item> to underscores +(_). + + + + + + + + + +Also, there's a feature called Padding supplied by the +following two expandos: %|X and %>X. + + + + + + +%|X + + +When this occurs, mutt-ng will fill the +rest of the line with the character X. In our example, +filling the rest of the line with dashes is done by setting: + + + + + +set status_format = "%v on %h: %B: %?n?%n&no? new messages %|-" + + + + + +%>X + + +Since the previous expando stops at +the end of line, there must be a way to fill the gap between +two items via the %>X expando: it puts as many +characters X in between two items so that the rest of +the line will be right-justified. For example, to not put the +version string and hostname of our example on the left but on +the right and fill the gap with spaces, one might use (note +the space after %>): + + + + + +set status_format = "%B: %?n?%n&no? new messages %> (%v on %h)" + + + + + + + + + + + + -Using Tags -

+ + + + + + +Using Tags + + Sometimes it is desirable to perform an operation on a group of messages all at once rather than one at a time. An example might be to save messages to a mailing list to a separate folder, or to @@ -3169,131 +5549,223 @@ delete all messages with a given subject. To tag all messages matching a pattern, use the tag-pattern function, which is bound to ``shift-T'' by default. Or you can select individual messages by hand using the ``tag-message'' function, which is bound to ``t'' by -default. See for Mutt-ng's pattern +default. See patterns for Mutt-ng's pattern matching syntax. + + Once you have tagged the desired messages, you can use the ``tag-prefix'' operator, which is the ``;'' (semicolon) key by default. -When the ``tag-prefix'' operator is used, the next operation will be applied to all tagged messages if that operation can be used in that -manner. If the +manner. If the auto-tag variable is set, the next operation applies to the tagged messages automatically, without requiring the ``tag-prefix''. + -In or commands, + +In macro or push commands, you can use the ``tag-prefix-cond'' operator. If there are no tagged messages, mutt will "eat" the rest of the macro to abort it's execution. Mutt-ng will stop "eating" the macro when it encounters the ``end-cond'' operator; after this operator the rest of the macro will be executed as normal. + + + + + + + - + +Using Hooks -Using Hooks

-A +A hook is a concept borrowed from the EMACS editor which allows you to execute arbitrary commands before performing some operation. For example, you may wish to tailor your configuration based upon which mailbox you are -reading, or to whom you are sending mail. In the Mutt-ng world, a or - along with a +reading, or to whom you are sending mail. In the Mutt-ng world, a hook +consists of a regexp or +patterns along with a configuration option/command. See - - - - - - - - - -for specific details on each type of + + + +folder-hook + + + + + +send-hook + + + + + +message-hook + + + + + +save-hook + + + + + +mbox-hook + + + + + +fcc-hook + + + + + +fcc-save-hook + + + + + +for specific details on each type of hook available. + + + +Note: if a hook changes configuration settings, these changes remain effective until the end of the current mutt session. As this is generally not desired, a default hook needs to be added before all other hooks to restore configuration defaults. Here is an example with send-hook and the -my_hdr directive: +my_hdr directive: + + + - + send-hook . 'unmy_hdr From:' send-hook ~C'^b@b\.b$' my_hdr from: c@c.c - + -Message Matching in Hooks

-Hooks that act upon messages ( is + + + +Message Matching in Hooks + + +Hooks that act upon messages (send-hook, save-hook, fcc-hook, +message-hook) are evaluated in a slightly different manner. For the other +types of hooks, a regexp is sufficient. But in dealing with messages a finer grain of control is needed for matching since for different purposes you want to match different criteria. + -Mutt-ng allows the use of the + +Mutt-ng allows the use of the patterns language for matching messages in hook commands. This works in -exactly the same way as it would when limiting or +searching the mailbox, except that you are restricted to those operators which match information mutt extracts from the header of the message (i.e. from, to, cc, date, subject, etc.). + + For example, if you wanted to set your return address based upon sending mail to a specific address, you could do something like: - -send-hook '~t ^me@cs\.hmc\.edu$' 'my_hdr From: Mutt-ng User ' - + + +send-hook '~t ^me@cs\.hmc\.edu$' 'my_hdr From: Mutt-ng User <user@host>' + + which would execute the given command when sending mail to -me@cs.hmc.edu. + + However, it is not required that you write the pattern to match using the -full searching language. You can still specify a simple regular +expression like the other hooks, in which case Mutt-ng will translate your pattern into the full language, using the translation specified by the - variable. The +default-hook variable. The pattern is translated at the time the hook is declared, so the value of - that is in effect +default-hook that is in effect at that time will be used. + - + + + + + + + + + +Using the sidebar -Using the sidebar

+ The sidebar, a feature specific to Mutt-ng, allows you to use a mailbox listing which looks very similar to the ones you probably know from GUI mail clients. The sidebar lists all specified mailboxes, shows the number in each and highlights the ones with new email Use the following configuration commands: - + + set sidebar_visible="yes" set sidebar_width=25 - + + + + If you want to specify the mailboxes you can do so with: - + + set mbox='=INBOX' mailboxes INBOX \ MBOX1 \ MBOX2 \ ... - + + + + You can also specify the colors for mailboxes with new mails by using: - + + color sidebar_new red black color sidebar white black - + + + + The available functions are: - + + sidebar-scroll-up Scrolls the mailbox list up 1 page sidebar-scroll-down Scrolls the mailbox list down 1 page sidebar-next Highlights the next mailbox sidebar-next-new Highlights the next mailbox with new mail sidebar-previous Highlights the previous mailbox sidebar-open Opens the currently highlighted mailbox - + + + + Reasonable key bindings look e.g. like this: - + + bind index \Cp sidebar-prev bind index \Cn sidebar-next bind index \Cb sidebar-open @@ -3303,39 +5775,60 @@ bind pager \Cb sidebar-open macro index B ':toggle sidebar_visible^M' macro pager B ':toggle sidebar_visible^M' - + + + + You can then go up and down by pressing Ctrl-P and Ctrl-N, and switch on and off the sidebar simply by pressing 'B'. + + + + + - + -External Address Queries

+ +External Address Queries + + Mutt-ng supports connecting to external directory databases such as LDAP, ph/qi, bbdb, or NIS through a wrapper script which connects to mutt -using a simple interface. Using the variable, you specify the wrapper +using a simple interface. Using the query-command variable, you specify the wrapper command to use. For example: + + + - + set query_command = "mutt_ldap_query.pl '%s'" - + + + + The wrapper script should accept the query on the command-line. It should return a one line message, then each matching response on a single line, each line containing a tab separated address then name then some other optional information. On error, or if there are no matching addresses, return a non-zero exit code and a one line error message. + + An example multiple response output: - + + Searching database ... 20 entries ... 3 matching: me@cs.hmc.edu Michael Elkins mutt dude blong@fiction.net Brandon Long mutt and more roessler@guug.de Thomas Roessler mutt pgp - + + + + There are two mechanisms for accessing the query function of mutt. One is to do a query from the index menu using the query function (default: Q). This will prompt for a query, then bring up the query menu which will @@ -3343,353 +5836,568 @@ list the matching responses. From the query menu, you can select addresses to create aliases, or to mail. You can tag multiple addresses to mail, start a new query, or have a new query appended to the current responses. + + The other mechanism for accessing the query function is for address completion, similar to the alias completion. In any prompt for address -entry, you can use the complete-query function (default: ^T) to run a +entry, you can use the complete-query function (default: ˆT) to run a query based on the current address you have typed. Like aliases, mutt will look for what you have typed back to the last space or comma. If there is a single response for that query, mutt will expand the address in place. If there are multiple responses, mutt will activate the query menu. At the query menu, you can select one or more addresses to be added to the prompt. + + + + + + + - + +Mailbox Formats -Mailbox Formats -

+ Mutt-ng supports reading and writing of four different mailbox formats: mbox, MMDF, MH and Maildir. The mailbox type is autodetected, so there is no need to use a flag for different mailbox types. When creating new -mailboxes, Mutt-ng uses the default specified with the variable. +mailboxes, Mutt-ng uses the default specified with the mbox-type variable. + - +mbox. This is the most widely used mailbox format for UNIX. All messages are stored in a single file. Each message has a line of the form: + - + + + From me@cs.hmc.edu Fri, 11 Apr 1997 11:44:56 PST - + + + + to denote the start of a new message (this is often referred to as the ``From_'' line). + - +MMDF. This is a variant of the mbox format. Each message is +surrounded by lines containing ``ˆAˆAˆAˆA'' (four control-A's). + - +MH. A radical departure from mbox and MMDF, a mailbox consists of a directory and each message is stored in a separate file. The filename indicates the message number (however, this is may not correspond to the message number Mutt-ng displays). Deleted messages are -renamed with a comma (,) prepended to the filename. Note: Mutt +detects this type of mailbox by looking for either .mh_sequences +or .xmhcache (needed to distinguish normal directories from MH mailboxes). + - +Maildir. The newest of the mailbox formats, used by the Qmail MTA (a +replacement for sendmail). Similar to MH, except that it adds three +subdirectories of the mailbox: tmp, new and cur. Filenames for the messages are chosen in such a way they are unique, even when two programs are writing the mailbox over NFS, which means that no file locking is needed. + + + + + - + -Mailbox Shortcuts

+ +Mailbox Shortcuts + + There are a number of built in shortcuts which refer to specific mailboxes. These shortcuts can be used anywhere you are prompted for a file or mailbox path. + + + + + + + + +! -- refers to your spoolfile (incoming) mailbox + + + + + +> -- refers to your mbox file + + + + + +< -- refers to your record file + + + + + +ˆ -- refers to the current mailbox + + + + + +- or !! -- refers to the file you've last visited + + + + + +˜ -- refers to your home directory + + + + + += or + -- refers to your folder directory + + + + + +@alias -- refers to the save-hook as determined by the address of the alias + + + + + + + + + + - -! -- refers to your (incoming) mailbox -> -- refers to your file -< -- refers to your file -^ -- refers to the current mailbox -- or !! -- refers to the file you've last visited -˜ -- refers to your home directory -= or + -- refers to your directory -@ as determined by the address of the alias - - - + -Handling Mailing Lists

+ +Handling Mailing Lists + Mutt-ng has a few configuration options that make dealing with large amounts of mail easier. The first thing you must do is to let Mutt know what addresses you consider to be mailing lists (technically this does not have to be a mailing list, but that is what it is most often used for), and what lists you are subscribed to. This is -accomplished through the use of the commands in your muttrc. +accomplished through the use of the lists commands in your muttrc. + + Now that Mutt-ng knows what your mailing lists are, it can do several things, the first of which is the ability to show the name of a list through which you received a message (i.e., of a subscribed list) in -the variable, the escape ``%L'' +the index menu display. This is useful to distinguish between +personal and list mail in the same mailbox. In the index-format variable, the escape ``%L'' will return the string ``To <list>'' when ``list'' appears in the ``To'' field, and ``Cc <list>'' when it appears in the ``Cc'' field (otherwise it returns the name of the author). + + Often times the ``To'' and ``Cc'' fields in mailing list messages tend to get quite large. Most people do not bother to remove the author of the message they are reply to from the list, resulting in two or more copies being sent to that person. The ``list-reply'' -function, which by default is bound to ``L'' in the index menu +and pager, helps reduce the clutter by only replying to the known mailing list addresses instead of all recipients (except as -specified by Mail-Followup-To, see below). + -Mutt-ng also supports the +Mutt-ng also supports the Mail-Followup-To header. When you send a message to a list of recipients which includes one or several -subscribed mailing lists, and if the option is set, mutt will generate +subscribed mailing lists, and if the followup-to option is set, mutt will generate a Mail-Followup-To header which contains all the recipients to whom you send this message, but not your address. This indicates that group-replies or list-replies (also known as ``followups'') to this message should only be sent to the original recipients of the message, and not separately to you - you'll receive your copy through one of the mailing lists you are subscribed to. + + Conversely, when group-replying or list-replying to a message which -has a configuration +has a Mail-Followup-To header, mutt will respect this header if +the honor-followup-to configuration variable is set. Using list-reply will in this case also make sure that the reply goes to the mailing list, even if it's not specified -in the list of recipients in the Mail-Followup-To. + + Note that, when header editing is enabled, you can create a -Mail-Followup-To header manually. Mutt-ng will only auto-generate this header if it doesn't exist when you send the message. + - + The other method some mailing list admins use is to generate a ``Reply-To'' field which points back to the mailing list address rather than the author of the message. This can create problems when trying to reply directly to the author in private, since most mail clients will automatically reply to the address given in the ``Reply-To'' -field. Mutt-ng uses the -variable to help decide which address to use. If set to reply-to +variable to help decide which address to use. If set to ask-yes or +ask-no, you will be prompted as to whether or not you would like to use the address given in the ``Reply-To'' field, or reply directly to the address given in the -``From'' field. When set to yes, the ``Reply-To'' field will be used when present. + + The ``X-Label:'' header field can be used to further identify mailing lists or list subject matter (or just to annotate messages -individually). The variable's ``%y'' and +individually). The index-format variable's ``%y'' and ``%Y'' escapes can be used to expand ``X-Label:'' fields in the index, and Mutt-ng's pattern-matcher can match regular expressions to ``X-Label:'' fields with the ``˜y'' selector. ``X-Label:'' is not a standard message header field, but it can easily be inserted by procmail and other mail filtering agents. + -Lastly, Mutt-ng has the ability to the mailbox into -. A thread is a group of messages which all relate to the same + +Lastly, Mutt-ng has the ability to sort the mailbox into +threads. A thread is a group of messages which all relate to the same subject. This is usually organized into a tree-like structure where a message and all of its replies are represented graphically. If you've ever used a threaded news client, this is the same concept. It makes dealing with large volume mailing lists easier because you can easily delete uninteresting threads and quickly find topics of value. + - + + + + + -Editing threads -

+ +Editing threads + + Mutt-ng has the ability to dynamically restructure threads that are broken either by misconfigured software or bad behavior from some correspondents. This allows to clean your mailboxes formats) from these annoyances which make it hard to follow a discussion. + -Linking threads -

+ +Linking threads + Some mailers tend to "forget" to correctly set the "In-Reply-To:" and "References:" headers when replying to a message. This results in broken discussions because Mutt-ng has not enough information to guess the correct threading. You can fix this by tagging the reply, then moving to the parent message -and using the ``link-threads'' function (bound to & by default). The +and using the ``link-threads'' function (bound to & by default). The reply will then be connected to this "parent" message. + + You can also connect multiple children at once, tagging them and using the -tag-prefix command (';') or the auto_tag option. +tag-prefix command (';') or the auto_tag option. + + + -Breaking threads -

+ +Breaking threads + On mailing lists, some people are in the bad habit of starting a new discussion by hitting "reply" to any message from the list and changing the subject to a totally unrelated one. You can fix such threads by using the ``break-thread'' function (bound -by default to #), which will turn the subthread starting from the +by default to #), which will turn the subthread starting from the current message into a whole different thread. + - + + + + + -Delivery Status Notification (DSN) Support

+ + +Delivery Status Notification (DSN) Support + + RFC1894 defines a set of MIME content types for relaying information about the status of electronic mail messages. These can be thought of as ``return receipts.'' + + Users can make use of it in one of the following two ways: + + + - - Berkeley sendmail 8.8.x currently has some command line options - in which the mail client can make requests as to what type of status - messages should be returned. - The SMTP support via libESMTP supports it, too. - + + + +Berkeley sendmail 8.8.x currently has some command line options +in which the mail client can make requests as to what type of status +messages should be returned. + + + + + +The SMTP support via libESMTP supports it, too. + + + + + + + + To support this, there are two variables: + + + + + + + + +dsn-notify is used +to request receipts for different results (such as failed message, +message delivered, etc.). + + + + - + +dsn-return requests +how much of your message should be returned with the receipt +(headers or full message). - is used - to request receipts for different results (such as failed message, - message delivered, etc.). + + - requests - how much of your message should be returned with the receipt - (headers or full message). + - + + Please see the reference chapter for possible values. + - + + + + + -POP3 Support (OPTIONAL) -

+ +POP3 Support (OPTIONAL) -If Mutt-ng was compiled with POP3 support (by running the +If Mutt-ng was compiled with POP3 support (by running the configure +script with the --enable-pop flag), it has the ability to work with mailboxes located on a remote POP3 server and fetch mail for local browsing. + + You can access the remote POP3 mailbox by selecting the folder -pop://popserver/. +pop://popserver/. + + You can select an alternative port by specifying it with the server, i.e.: -pop://popserver:port/. +pop://popserver:port/. + + You can also specify different username for each folder, i.e.: -pop://username@popserver[:port]/. +pop://username@popserver[:port]/. + + Polling for new mail is more expensive over POP3 than locally. For this reason the frequency at which Mutt-ng will check for mail remotely can be controlled by the - +pop-mail-check variable, which defaults to every 60 seconds. + -If Mutt-ng was compiled with SSL support (by running the +If Mutt-ng was compiled with SSL support (by running the configure +script with the --with-ssl flag), connections to POP3 servers can be encrypted. This naturally requires that the server supports SSL encrypted connections. To access a folder with POP3/SSL, you should use pops: prefix, ie: -pops://[username@]popserver[:port]/. +pops://[username@]popserver[:port]/. + -Another way to access your POP3 mail is the , fetch all your new mail and place it in the -local . After this + +Another way to access your POP3 mail is the fetch-mail function +(default: G). It allows to connect to pop-host, fetch all your new mail and place it in the +local spoolfile. After this point, Mutt-ng runs exactly as if the mail had always been local. + - + +Note: If you only need to fetch all messages to local mailbox +you should consider using a specialized program, such as fetchmail + + + + + - + -IMAP Support (OPTIONAL) -

+ +IMAP Support (OPTIONAL) -If Mutt-ng was compiled with IMAP support (by running the +If Mutt-ng was compiled with IMAP support (by running the configure +script with the --enable-imap flag), it has the ability to work with folders located on a remote IMAP server. + + You can access the remote inbox by selecting the folder -imap://imapserver/INBOX, where imap://imapserver/INBOX, where imapserver is the name of the +IMAP server and INBOX is the special name for your spool mailbox on the IMAP server. If you want to access another mail folder at the IMAP -server, you should use imap://imapserver/path/to/folder where -path/to/folder is the path of the folder you want to access. +server, you should use imap://imapserver/path/to/folder where +path/to/folder is the path of the folder you want to access. + + You can select an alternative port by specifying it with the server, i.e.: -imap://imapserver:port/INBOX. +imap://imapserver:port/INBOX. + + You can also specify different username for each folder, i.e.: -imap://username@imapserver[:port]/INBOX. +imap://username@imapserver[:port]/INBOX. + -If Mutt-ng was compiled with SSL support (by running the +If Mutt-ng was compiled with SSL support (by running the configure +script with the --with-ssl flag), connections to IMAP servers can be encrypted. This naturally requires that the server supports SSL encrypted connections. To access a folder with IMAP/SSL, you should -use imaps://[username@]imapserver[:port]/path/to/folder as your +use imaps://[username@]imapserver[:port]/path/to/folder as your folder path. + + Pine-compatible notation is also supported, i.e. -{[username@]imapserver[:port][/ssl]}path/to/folder +{[username@]imapserver[:port][/ssl]}path/to/folder + + Note that not all servers use / as the hierarchy separator. Mutt-ng should correctly notice which separator is being used by the server and convert paths accordingly. + + When browsing folders on an IMAP server, you can toggle whether to look at only the folders you are subscribed to, or all folders with the - variable. +toggle-subscribed command. See also the +imap-list-subscribed variable. + + Polling for new mail on an IMAP server can cause noticeable delays. So, you'll want to carefully tune the - +imap-mail-check and - +timeout variables. + + Note that if you are using mbox as the mail store on UW servers prior to v12.250, the server has been reported to disconnect a client if another client selects the same folder. + -The Folder Browser -

+ +The Folder Browser + As of version 1.2, mutt supports browsing mailboxes on an IMAP server. This is mostly the same as the local file browser, with the following differences: - -Instead of file permissions, mutt displays the string "IMAP", - possibly followed by the symbol "+", indicating - that the entry contains both messages and subfolders. On - Cyrus-like servers folders will often contain both messages and - subfolders. -For the case where an entry can contain both messages and - subfolders, the selection key (bound to enter by default) - will choose to descend into the subfolder view. If you wish to view - the messages in that folder, you must use view-file instead - (bound to space by default). -You can create, delete and rename mailboxes with the - create-mailbox, delete-mailbox, and - rename-mailbox commands (default bindings: C, - d and r, respectively). You may also - subscribe and unsubscribe to mailboxes (normally - these are bound to s and u, respectively). - - -Authentication -

+ + + + +Instead of file permissions, mutt displays the string "IMAP", +possibly followed by the symbol "+", indicating +that the entry contains both messages and subfolders. On +Cyrus-like servers folders will often contain both messages and +subfolders. + + + + + +For the case where an entry can contain both messages and +subfolders, the selection key (bound to enter by default) +will choose to descend into the subfolder view. If you wish to view +the messages in that folder, you must use view-file instead +(bound to space by default). + + + + + +You can create, delete and rename mailboxes with the +create-mailbox, delete-mailbox, and +rename-mailbox commands (default bindings: C, +d and r, respectively). You may also +subscribe and unsubscribe to mailboxes (normally +these are bound to s and u, respectively). + + + + + + + + + + +Authentication + + Mutt-ng supports four authentication methods with IMAP servers: SASL, GSSAPI, CRAM-MD5, and LOGIN (there is a patch by Grant Edwards to add NTLM authentication for you poor exchange users out there, but it has @@ -3697,384 +6405,609 @@ yet to be integrated into the main tree). There is also support for the pseudo-protocol ANONYMOUS, which allows you to log in to a public IMAP server without having an account. To use ANONYMOUS, simply make your username blank or "anonymous". -

+ + + SASL is a special super-authenticator, which selects among several protocols (including GSSAPI, CRAM-MD5, ANONYMOUS, and DIGEST-MD5) the most secure method available on your host and the server. Using some of these methods (including DIGEST-MD5 and possibly GSSAPI), your entire session will be encrypted and invisible to those teeming network snoops. It is the best option if you have it. To use it, you must have the Cyrus SASL library -installed on your system and compile mutt with the +installed on your system and compile mutt with the --with-sasl flag. + + + Mutt-ng will try whichever methods are compiled in and available on the server, in the following order: SASL, ANONYMOUS, GSSAPI, CRAM-MD5, LOGIN. + + There are a few variables which control authentication: - - - controls - the username under which you request authentication on the IMAP server, - for all authenticators. This is overridden by an explicit username in - the mailbox path (i.e. by using a mailbox name of the form - - a - password which you may preset, used by all authentication methods where - a password is needed. - - a colon-delimited list of IMAP - authentication methods to try, in the order you wish to try them. If - specified, this overrides mutt's default (attempt everything, in the order - listed above). - - - - -NNTP Support (OPTIONAL)

If compiled with ``--enable-nntp'' option, Mutt-ng can read news from + + + + + +imap-user - controls +the username under which you request authentication on the IMAP server, +for all authenticators. This is overridden by an explicit username in +the mailbox path (i.e. by using a mailbox name of the form +{user@host}). + + + + + +imap-pass - a +password which you may preset, used by all authentication methods where +a password is needed. + + + + + +imap-authenticators - a colon-delimited list of IMAP +authentication methods to try, in the order you wish to try them. If +specified, this overrides mutt's default (attempt everything, in the order +listed above). + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +NNTP Support (OPTIONAL) + + +If compiled with ``--enable-nntp'' option, Mutt-ng can read news from a newsserver via NNTP. You can open a newsgroup with the ``change-newsgroup'' function from the index/pager which is by default -bound to i. + -

The Default newsserver can be obtained from the - +The Default newsserver can be obtained from the +$NNTPSERVER environment variable. Like other news readers, info about subscribed newsgroups is saved in a file as specified by the - variable. +nntp-newsrc variable. Article headers are cached and can be loaded from a file when a newsgroup is entered instead loading from newsserver; currently, this caching mechanism still is different from the header caching for maildir/IMAP. + -Again: Scoring + +Again: Scoring -

Especially for Usenet, people often ask for advanced filtering - and scoring functionality. Of course, mutt-ng has scoring and - allows a killfile, too. How to use a killfile has been discussed - in . + +Especially for Usenet, people often ask for advanced filtering +and scoring functionality. Of course, mutt-ng has scoring and +allows a killfile, too. How to use a killfile has been discussed +in score-command. + -

What has not been discusses in detail is mutt-ng's built-in - realname filter. For may newsreaders including those for - ``advanced users'' like +What has not been discusses in detail is mutt-ng's built-in +realname filter. For may newsreaders including those for +``advanced users'' like slrn or tin, there are frequent +request for such functionality. The solutions offered often are +complicated regular expressions. + -

In mutt-ng this is as easy as + +In mutt-ng this is as easy as + - + + + score ~* =42 - + + + + + + +This tells mutt-ng to apply a score of 42 to all messages whose +sender specified a valid realname and a valid email address. Using + -

This tells mutt-ng to apply a score of 42 to all messages whose - sender specified a valid realname and a valid email address. Using + - + score !~* =42 - + + + + + + +on the contrary applies a score of 42 to all messages not +matching those criteria which are very strict: + + + + + + + + +Email addresses must be valid according to RFC 2822, see +<ftp://ftp.rfc-editor.org/in-notes/rfc2822.txt> + + + + + + +the name must consist of at least 2 fields whereby a field +must not end in a dot. This means that ``Joe User'' and ``Joe A. +User'' are valid while ``J. User'' and ``J. A. User'' aren't. -

on the contrary applies a score of 42 to all messages + + - + +it's assumed that users are interested in reading their +own mail and mail from people who they have defined an alias for +so that those 2 groups of messages are excluded from the strict +rules. - Email addresses must be valid according to RFC 2822, see - + + - the name must consist of at least 2 fields whereby a field - must not end in a dot. This means that ``Joe User'' and ``Joe A. - User'' are valid while ``J. User'' and ``J. A. User'' aren't. + - it's assumed that users are interested in reading their - own mail and mail from people who they have defined an alias for - so that those 2 groups of messages are excluded from the strict - rules. + - + + + + + + + - + - + -SMTP Support (OPTIONAL) + +SMTP Support (OPTIONAL) -

Mutt-ng can be built using a library called ``libESMTP'' which -provides SMTP functionality. When muttng -v contains -+USE_LIBESMTP, this will be or is the case already. The SMTP -support includes support for Delivery Status Notification (see section) as well as -handling the . + +Mutt-ng can be built using a library called ``libESMTP'' which +provides SMTP functionality. When configure was called with +--with-libesmtp or the output muttng -v contains ++USE_LIBESMTP, this will be or is the case already. The SMTP +support includes support for Delivery Status Notification (see dsn section) as well as +handling the 8BITMIME flag controlled via use-8bitmime. + -

To enable sending mail directly via SMTP without an MTA such as -Postfix or SSMTP and the like, simply set the variable pointing to your SMTP server. + +To enable sending mail directly via SMTP without an MTA such as +Postfix or SSMTP and the like, simply set the smtp-host variable pointing to your SMTP server. + -

Authentication mechanisms are available via the and variables. + +Authentication mechanisms are available via the smtp-user and smtp-pass variables. + -

Transport Encryption via the StartTLS command is also available. For + +Transport Encryption via the StartTLS command is also available. For this to work, first of all Mutt-ng must be built with SSL or GNUTLS. -Secondly, the variable must be either set +Secondly, the smtp-use-tls variable must be either set to ``enabled'' or ``required.'' In both cases, StartTLS will be used if the server supports it: for the second case, the connection will fail if it doesn't while switching back to unencrypted communication for the first one. + -

Some mail providers require user's to set a particular envelope + +Some mail providers require user's to set a particular envelope sender, i.e. they allow for only one value which may not be what the -user wants to send as the may be used -to set the envelope different from the From: header. In this case, the variable +smtp-envelope may be used +to set the envelope different from the From: header. + - + -Managing multiple IMAP/POP/NNTP accounts (OPTIONAL)

+ +Managing multiple IMAP/POP/NNTP accounts (OPTIONAL) + If you happen to have accounts on multiple IMAP and/or POP servers, you may find managing all the authentication settings inconvenient and error-prone. The account-hook command may help. This hook works like folder-hook but is invoked whenever you access a remote mailbox (including inside the folder browser), not just when you open the mailbox. -

+ + + Some examples: + - + + + account-hook . 'unset imap_user; unset imap_pass; unset tunnel' account-hook imap://host1/ 'set imap_user=me1 imap_pass=foo' account-hook imap://host2/ 'set tunnel="ssh host2 /usr/libexec/imapd"' - + + + + + + + - + -Start a WWW Browser on URLs (EXTERNAL)

-If a message contains URLs (http://www.mutt.org/), it is efficient to get + +Start a WWW Browser on URLs (EXTERNAL) + + +If a message contains URLs (unified resource locator = address in the +WWW space like http://www.mutt.org/), it is efficient to get a menu with all the URLs and start a WWW browser on one of them. This functionality is provided by the external urlview program which can be -retrieved at and the configuration commands: - +retrieved at ftp://ftp.mutt.org/mutt/contrib/ and the configuration commands: + + macro index \cb |urlview\n macro pager \cb |urlview\n - + + + + + + + - + -Compressed folders Support (OPTIONAL) -

+ +Compressed folders Support (OPTIONAL) + If Mutt-ng was compiled with compressed folders support (by running the -configure script with the --enable-compressed flag), Mutt can open folders stored in an arbitrary format, provided that the user has a script to convert from/to this format to one of the accepted. + + The most common use is to open compressed archived folders e.g. with gzip. + + In addition, the user can provide a script that gets a folder in an accepted format and appends its context to the folder in the user-defined format, which may be faster than converting the entire folder to the accepted format, appending to it and converting back to the user-defined format. + -There are three hooks defined (, - and ) which define commands to uncompress and compress + +There are three hooks defined (open-hook, +close-hook and append-hook) which define commands to uncompress and compress a folder and to append messages to an existing compressed folder respectively. + + For example: + + + + + +open-hook \\.gz$ "gzip -cd %f > %t" +close-hook \\.gz$ "gzip -c %t > %f" +append-hook \\.gz$ "gzip -c %t >> %f" + + + - -open-hook \\.gz$ "gzip -cd %f > %t" -close-hook \\.gz$ "gzip -c %t > %f" -append-hook \\.gz$ "gzip -c %t >> %f" - - -You do not have to specify all of the commands. If you omit , the folder will be open and -closed again each time you will add to it. If you omit (or give empty command) , the -folder will be open in the mode. If you specify though you'll be able to append + +You do not have to specify all of the commands. If you omit append-hook, the folder will be open and +closed again each time you will add to it. If you omit close-hook (or give empty command) , the +folder will be open in the mode. If you specify append-hook though you'll be able to append to the folder. + + Note that Mutt-ng will only try to use hooks if the file is not in one of the accepted formats. In particular, if the file is empty, mutt supposes it is not compressed. This is important because it allows the use of programs that do not have well defined extensions. Just use -&dquot;.&dquot; as a regexp. But this may be surprising if your -compressing script produces empty files. In this situation, unset , so that the compressed file +"." as a regexp. But this may be surprising if your +compressing script produces empty files. In this situation, unset save-empty, so that the compressed file will be removed if you delete all of the messages. + -Open a compressed mailbox for reading

-Usage: +Open a compressed mailbox for reading -The +Usage: open-hook regexp "command" + -The +The command is the command that can be used for opening the +folders whose names match regexp. + + + +The command string is the printf-like format string, and it should accept two parameters: %f, which is replaced with the (compressed) folder name, and %t which is replaced with the name of the temporary folder to which to write. + + %f and %t can be repeated any number of times in the command string, and all of the entries are replaced with the appropriate folder name. In addition, %% is replaced by %, as in printf, and any other %anything is left as is. + -The +The command should not remove the original compressed file. +The command should return non-zero exit status if it fails, so mutt knows something's wrong. + + Example: + + + - -open-hook \\.gz$ "gzip -cd %f > %t" - + +open-hook \\.gz$ "gzip -cd %f > %t" + -If the + + +If the command is empty, this operation is disabled for this file type. + + + -Write a compressed mailbox

-Usage: +Write a compressed mailbox -This is used to close the folder that was open with the command after some changes were made to it. + +Usage: close-hook regexp "command" + -The command. Temporary folder -in this case is the folder previously produced by the < command. + +This is used to close the folder that was open with the open-hook command after some changes were made to it. + -The +The command string is the command that can be used for closing the +folders whose names match regexp. It has the same format as in +the open-hook command. Temporary folder +in this case is the folder previously produced by the <open-hook command. + + + +The command should not remove the decompressed file. The +command should return non-zero exit status if it fails, so mutt knows something's wrong. + + Example: + + + - -close-hook \\.gz$ "gzip -c %t > %f" - + +close-hook \\.gz$ "gzip -c %t > %f" + -If the + + +If the command is empty, this operation is disabled for this file type, and the file can only be open in the readonly mode. + - is not called when you exit + +close-hook is not called when you exit from the folder if the folder was not changed. + + + -Append a message to a compressed mailbox

-Usage: +Append a message to a compressed mailbox + +Usage: append-hook regexp "command" + + + This command is used for saving to an existing compressed folder. -The command. +The command is the command that can be used for appending to the +folders whose names match regexp. It has the same format as in +the open-hook command. The temporary folder in this case contains the messages that are being appended. + -The +The command should not remove the decompressed file. The +command should return non-zero exit status if it fails, so mutt knows something's wrong. + + Example: + + + - -append-hook \\.gz$ "gzip -c %t >> %f" - + +append-hook \\.gz$ "gzip -c %t >> %f" + -When is used, the folder is + + + +When append-hook is used, the folder is not opened, which saves time, but this means that we can not find out -what the folder type is. Thus the default () type is always supposed (i.e. +what the folder type is. Thus the default (mbox-type) type is always supposed (i.e. this is the format used for the temporary folder). + -If the file does not exist when you save to it, is called, and not . is only + +If the file does not exist when you save to it, close-hook is called, and not append-hook. append-hook is only for appending to existing folders. + -If the +If the command is empty, this operation is disabled for this file type. In this case, the folder will be open and closed again (using - and respectively) each time you will add to it. +open-hook and close-hookrespectively) each time you will add to it. + + + -Encrypted folders -

+ +Encrypted folders + + The compressed folders support can also be used to handle encrypted folders. If you want to encrypt a folder with PGP, you may want to use the following hooks: + + + - -open-hook \\.pgp$ "pgp -f < %f > %t" -close-hook \\.pgp$ "pgp -fe YourPgpUserIdOrKeyId < %t > %f" - + +open-hook \\.pgp$ "pgp -f < %f > %t" +close-hook \\.pgp$ "pgp -fe YourPgpUserIdOrKeyId < %t > %f" + + + + Please note, that PGP does not support appending to an encrypted folder, so there is no append-hook defined. + - +Note: the folder is temporary stored decrypted in the /tmp directory, where it can be read by your system administrator. So think about the security aspects of this. + + + + + + + + + + + - + - + -Mutt-ng's MIME Support -

+ +Mutt-ng's MIME Support + + Quite a bit of effort has been made to make Mutt-ng the premier text-mode MIME MUA. Every effort has been made to provide the functionality that the discerning MIME user requires, and the conformance to the standards wherever possible. When configuring Mutt-ng for MIME, there are two extra types of configuration files which Mutt-ng uses. One is the -mime.types file, which contains the mapping of file extensions to +IANA MIME types. The other is the mailcap file, which specifies the external commands to use for handling specific MIME types. + + + +Using MIME in Mutt -Using MIME in Mutt -

+ There are three areas/menus in Mutt-ng which deal with MIME, they are the pager (while viewing a message), the attachment menu and the compose menu. + -Viewing MIME messages in the pager -

+ +Viewing MIME messages in the pager + + When you select a message from the index and view it in the pager, Mutt decodes the message to a text representation. Mutt-ng internally supports -a number of MIME types, including text/plain, text/enriched, -message/rfc822, and message/news. In addition, the export +a number of MIME types, including text/plain, text/enriched, +message/rfc822, and message/news. In addition, the export controlled version of Mutt-ng recognizes a variety of PGP MIME types, including PGP/MIME and application/pgp. + + Mutt-ng will denote attachments with a couple lines describing them. These lines are of the form: - + + [-- Attachment #1: Description --] [-- Type: text/plain, Encoding: 7bit, Size: 10000 --] - -Where the 7bit/8bit/quoted-printable/base64/binary. + +Where the Description is the description or filename given for the +attachment, and the Encoding is one of +7bit/8bit/quoted-printable/base64/binary. + + + If Mutt-ng cannot deal with a MIME type, it will display a message like: - + + [-- image/gif is unsupported (use 'v' to view this part) --] - + + + + + -The Attachment Menu

-The default binding for +The Attachment Menu + + +The default binding for view-attachments is `v', which displays the attachment menu for a message. The attachment menu displays a list of the attachments in a message. From the attachment menu, you can save, print, pipe, delete, and view attachments. You can apply these @@ -4083,15 +7016,24 @@ and by using the ``tag-prefix'' operator. You can also reply to the current message from this menu, and only the current attachment (or the attachments tagged) will be quoted in your reply. You can view attachments as text, or view them using the mailcap viewer definition. + + Finally, you can apply the usual message-related functions (like -, and the reply -and forward functions) to attachments of type message/rfc822. +resend-message, and the reply +and forward functions) to attachments of type message/rfc822. + + See the help on the attachment menu for more information. + + + -The Compose Menu

+ +The Compose Menu + + The compose menu is the menu you see before you send a message. It allows you to edit the recipient list, the subject, and other aspects of your message. It also contains a list of the attachments of your @@ -4099,52 +7041,73 @@ message, including the main body. From this menu, you can print, copy, filter, pipe, edit, compose, review, and rename an attachment or a list of tagged attachments. You can also modifying the attachment information, notably the type, encoding and description. + + Attachments appear as follows: - -- 1 [text/plain, 7bit, 1K] /tmp/mutt-euler-8082-0 - 2 [applica/x-gunzip, base64, 422K] ~/src/mutt-0.85.tar.gz - + +- 1 [text/plain, 7bit, 1K] /tmp/mutt-euler-8082-0 <no description> + 2 [applica/x-gunzip, base64, 422K] ~/src/mutt-0.85.tar.gz <no description> + + + + + The '-' denotes that Mutt-ng will delete the file after sending (or postponing, or canceling) the message. It can be toggled with the -toggle-unlink command (default: u). The next field is the MIME +content-type, and can be changed with the edit-type command +(default: ˆT). The next field is the encoding for the attachment, which allows a binary message to be encoded for transmission on 7bit -links. It can be changed with the edit-encoding command +(default: ˆE). The next field is the size of the attachment, rounded to kilobytes or megabytes. The next field is the filename, -which can be changed with the rename-file command (default: R). The final field is the description of the attachment, and can be -changed with the edit-description command (default: d). + + + + + + + - + -MIME Type configuration with -

+ +MIME Type configuration with <literal>mime.types</literal> + + When you add an attachment to your mail message, Mutt-ng searches your -personal mime.types file at ${HOME}/.mime.types, and then -the system mime.types file at /usr/local/share/mutt/mime.types or -/etc/mime.types +personal mime.types file at ${HOME}/.mime.types, and then +the system mime.types file at /usr/local/share/mutt/mime.types or +/etc/mime.types + + The mime.types file consist of lines containing a MIME type and a space separated list of extensions. For example: - + + application/postscript ps eps application/pgp pgp audio/x-aiff aif aifc aiff - -A sample + +A sample mime.types file comes with the Mutt-ng distribution, and should contain most of the MIME types you are likely to use. + + If Mutt-ng can not determine the mime type by the extension of the file you attach, it will look at the file. If the file is free of binary information, Mutt-ng will assume that the file is plain text, and mark it -as text/plain. If the file contains binary information, then Mutt-ng will -mark it as application/octet-stream. You can change the MIME -type that Mutt-ng assigns to an attachment by using the text/plain. If the file contains binary information, then Mutt-ng will +mark it as application/octet-stream. You can change the MIME +type that Mutt-ng assigns to an attachment by using the edit-type +command from the compose menu (default: ˆT). The MIME type is actually a major mime type followed by the sub-type, separated by a '/'. 6 major types: application, text, image, video, audio, and model have been approved after various internet discussions. Mutt-ng recognises all of these if the @@ -4153,53 +7116,79 @@ major mime types, such as the chemical type that is widely used in the molecular modelling community to pass molecular data in various forms to various molecular viewers. Non-recognised mime types should only be used if the recipient of the message is likely to be expecting such attachments. + + + + + + + - + +MIME Viewer configuration with <literal>mailcap</literal> -MIME Viewer configuration with -

+ Mutt-ng supports RFC 1524 MIME Configuration, in particular the Unix specific format specified in Appendix A of RFC 1524. This file format is commonly referred to as the mailcap format. Many MIME compliant programs utilize the mailcap format, allowing you to specify handling for all MIME types in one place for all programs. Programs known to use this format include Netscape, XMosaic, lynx and metamail. + + In order to handle various MIME types that Mutt-ng can not handle internally, Mutt-ng parses a series of external configuration files to find an external handler. The default search string for these files is a colon delimited list set to - + + ${HOME}/.mailcap:/usr/local/share/mutt/mailcap:/etc/mailcap:/etc/mailcap:/usr/etc/mailcap:/usr/local/etc/mailcap - -where + +where $HOME is your home directory. + + In particular, the metamail distribution will install a mailcap file, -usually as /usr/local/etc/mailcap, which contains some baseline +usually as /usr/local/etc/mailcap, which contains some baseline entries. + -The Basics of the mailcap file -

+ +The Basics of the mailcap file + + A mailcap file consists of a series of lines which are comments, blank, or definitions. + + A comment line consists of a # character followed by anything you want. + + A blank line is blank. + + A definition line consists of a content type, a view command, and any number of optional fields. Each field of a definition line is divided by a semicolon ';' character. + + The content type is specified in the MIME standard type/subtype method. For example, -text/plain, text/html, image/gif, +text/plain, text/html, image/gif, etc. In addition, the mailcap format includes two formats for wildcards, one using the special '*' subtype, the other is the implicit -wild, where you only include the major type. For example, image/*, or -video, will match all image types and video types, +wild, where you only include the major type. For example, image/*, or +video, will match all image types and video types, respectively. + + The view command is a Unix command for viewing the type specified. There are two different types of commands supported. The default is to send the body of the MIME message to the command on stdin. You can change @@ -4209,237 +7198,371 @@ file, and then call the view command with the %s replaced by the name of the temporary file. In both cases, Mutt-ng will turn over the terminal to the view program until the program quits, at which time Mutt will remove the temporary file if it exists. + + So, in the simplest form, you can send a text/plain message to the external pager more on stdin: - + + text/plain; more - + + Or, you could send the message as a file: - + + text/plain; more %s - + + Perhaps you would like to use lynx to interactively view a text/html message: - + + text/html; lynx %s - + + In this case, lynx does not support viewing a file from stdin, so you must use the %s syntax. -Some older versions of lynx contain a bug where they +Note: Some older versions of lynx contain a bug where they will check the mailcap file for a viewer for text/html. They will find the line which calls lynx, and run it. This causes lynx to continuously -spawn itself to view the object. +spawn itself to view the object. + + On the other hand, maybe you don't want to use lynx interactively, you just want to have it convert the text/html to text/plain, then you can use: - + + text/html; lynx -dump %s | more - + + + + Perhaps you wish to use lynx to view text/html files, and a pager on all other text formats, then you would use the following: - + + text/html; lynx %s text/*; more - + + This is the simplest form of a mailcap file. + + + -Secure use of mailcap -

+ +Secure use of mailcap + + The interpretation of shell meta-characters embedded in MIME parameters can lead to security problems in general. Mutt-ng tries to quote parameters -in expansion of %s syntaxes properly, and avoids risky characters by -substituting them, see the variable. +in expansion of %s syntaxes properly, and avoids risky characters by +substituting them, see the mailcap-sanitize variable. + + Although mutt's procedures to invoke programs with mailcap seem to be safe, there are other applications parsing mailcap, maybe taking less care of it. Therefore you should pay attention to the following rules: + - +Keep the %-expandos away from shell quoting. Don't quote them with single or double quotes. Mutt-ng does this for you, the right way, as should any other program which interprets mailcap. Don't put them into backtick expansions. Be highly careful with eval statements, and avoid them if possible at all. Trying to fix broken behaviour with quotes introduces new leaks - there is no alternative to correct quoting in the first place. + -If you have to use the %-expandos' values in context where you need + +If you have to use the %-expandos' values in context where you need quoting or backtick expansions, put that value into a shell variable and reference the shell variable where necessary, as in the following -example (using $charset inside the backtick expansion is safe, since it is not itself subject to any further expansion): + + + - + text/test-mailcap-bug; cat %s; copiousoutput; test=charset=%{charset} \ - && test "`echo $charset | tr '[A-Z]' '[a-z]'`" != iso-8859-1 - + && test "`echo $charset | tr '[A-Z]' '[a-z]'`" != iso-8859-1 + + + + + -Advanced mailcap Usage -

+ +Advanced mailcap Usage -Optional Fields -

+ +Optional Fields + + In addition to the required content-type and view command fields, you can add semi-colon ';' separated fields to set flags and other options. Mutt-ng recognizes the following optional fields: - - + + +copiousoutput + + This flag tells Mutt-ng that the command passes possibly large amounts of text on stdout. This causes Mutt-ng to invoke a pager (either the internal pager or the external pager defined by the pager variable) on the output of the view command. Without this flag, Mutt-ng assumes that the command -is interactive. One could use this to replace the pipe to more -in the lynx -dump example in the Basic section: - +is interactive. One could use this to replace the pipe to more +in the lynx -dump example in the Basic section: + + text/html; lynx -dump %s ; copiousoutput - + + This will cause lynx to format the text/html output as text/plain and Mutt-ng will use your standard pager to display the results. -, in order to decide whether it should honor the setting -of the variable or + + + +needsterminal + + +Mutt-ng uses this flag when viewing attachments with auto-view, in order to decide whether it should honor the setting +of the wait-key variable or not. When an attachment is viewed using an interactive program, and the -corresponding mailcap entry has a and the exit status +corresponding mailcap entry has a needsterminal flag, Mutt-ng will use +wait-key and the exit status of the program to decide if it will ask you to press a key after the external program has exited. In all other situations it will not prompt you for a key. -compose=<command> + + + +compose=<command> + + This flag specifies the command to use to create a new attachment of a specific MIME type. Mutt-ng supports this from the compose menu. -composetyped=<command> + + + +composetyped=<command> + + This flag specifies the command to use to create a new attachment of a specific MIME type. This command differs from the compose command in that mutt will expect standard MIME headers on the data. This can be used to specify parameters, filename, description, etc. for a new attachment. Mutt-ng supports this from the compose menu. -print=<command> + + + +print=<command> + + This flag specifies the command to use to print a specific MIME type. Mutt-ng supports this from the attachment and compose menus. -edit=<command> + + + +edit=<command> + + This flag specifies the command to use to edit a specific MIME type. Mutt-ng supports this from the compose menu, and also uses it to compose new attachments. Mutt-ng will default to the defined editor for text attachments. -nametemplate=<template> + + + +nametemplate=<template> + + This field specifies the format for the file denoted by %s in the command fields. Certain programs will require a certain file extension, for instance, to correctly view a file. For instance, lynx will only -interpret a file as text/html if the file ends in text/html viewer with a line in +interpret a file as text/html if the file ends in .html. +So, you would specify lynx as a text/html viewer with a line in the mailcap file like: - + + text/html; lynx %s; nametemplate=%s.html - -test=<command> + + + + + +test=<command> + + This field specifies a command to run to test whether this mailcap entry should be used. The command is defined with the command expansion rules defined in the next section. If the command returns 0, then the test passed, and Mutt-ng uses this entry. If the command returns non-zero, then the test failed, and Mutt-ng continues searching for the right entry. -the content-type must match before Mutt-ng performs the test. +Note: the content-type must match before Mutt-ng performs the test. For example: - + + text/html; netscape -remote 'openURL(%s)' ; test=RunningX text/html; lynx %s - + + In this example, Mutt-ng will run the program RunningX which will return 0 if the X Window manager is running, and non-zero if it isn't. If RunningX returns 0, then Mutt-ng will call netscape to display the text/html object. If RunningX doesn't return 0, then Mutt-ng will go on to the next entry and use lynx to display the text/html object. - + + + + + + -Search Order -

+ +Search Order + + When searching for an entry in the mailcap file, Mutt-ng will search for the most useful entry for its purpose. For instance, if you are -attempting to print an image/gif, and you have the following +attempting to print an image/gif, and you have the following entries in your mailcap file, Mutt-ng will search for an entry with the print command: - + + image/*; xv %s image/gif; ; print= anytopnm %s | pnmtops | lpr; \ nametemplate=%s.gif - -Mutt-ng will skip the image/* entry and use the image/gif + + +Mutt-ng will skip the image/* entry and use the image/gif entry with the print command. + -In addition, you can use this with + +In addition, you can use this with auto-view to denote two commands for viewing an attachment, one to be viewed automatically, the other to be viewed interactively from the attachment menu. In addition, you can then use the test feature to determine which viewer to use interactively depending on your environment. - + + text/html; netscape -remote 'openURL(%s)' ; test=RunningX text/html; lynx %s; nametemplate=%s.html text/html; lynx -dump %s; nametemplate=%s.html; copiousoutput - -For , Mutt-ng will choose the third + + +For auto-view, Mutt-ng will choose the third entry because of the copiousoutput tag. For interactive viewing, Mutt will run the program RunningX to determine if it should use the first entry. If the program returns non-zero, Mutt-ng will use the second entry for interactive viewing. + + + -Command Expansion -

+ +Command Expansion + + The various commands defined in the mailcap files are passed to the -/bin/sh shell using the system() function. Before the -command is passed to /bin/sh -c, it is parsed to expand +/bin/sh shell using the system() function. Before the +command is passed to /bin/sh -c, it is parsed to expand various special parameters with information from Mutt-ng. The keywords Mutt-ng expands are: - - + + +%s + + As seen in the basic mailcap section, this variable is expanded to a filename specified by the calling program. This file contains the body of the message to view/print/edit or where the composing program should place the results of composition. In addition, the use of this keyword causes Mutt-ng to not pass the body of the message to the view/print/edit program on stdin. - + + +%t + + Mutt-ng will expand %t to the text representation of the content type of the message in the same form as the first parameter of the -mailcap definition line, ie text/html or -image/gif. -%{<parameter>} +mailcap definition line, ie text/html or +image/gif. + + + +%{<parameter>} + + Mutt-ng will expand this to the value of the specified parameter from the Content-Type: line of the mail message. For instance, if Your mail message contains: - + + Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 - -then Mutt-ng will expand %{charset} to iso-8859-1. The default metamail + + +then Mutt-ng will expand %{charset} to iso-8859-1. The default metamail mailcap file uses this feature to test the charset to spawn an xterm using the right charset to view the message. -\% + + + +\% + + This will be replaced by a % - + + + Mutt-ng does not currently support the %F and %n keywords specified in RFC 1524. The main purpose of these parameters is for multipart messages, which is handled internally by Mutt-ng. + + + + + -Example mailcap files -

+ +Example mailcap files + + This mailcap file is fairly simple and standard: - + +> # I'm always running X :) -video/*; xanim %s > /dev/null -image/*; xv %s > /dev/null +video/*; xanim %s > /dev/null +image/*; xv %s > /dev/null # I'm always running netscape (if my computer had more memory, maybe) text/html; netscape -remote 'openURL(%s)' - + + + + This mailcap file shows quite a number of examples: + + + - + # Use xanim to view all videos Xanim produces a header on startup, # send that to /dev/null so I don't see it -video/*; xanim %s > /dev/null +video/*; xanim %s > /dev/null # Send html to a running netscape by remote text/html; netscape -remote 'openURL(%s)'; test=RunningNetscape @@ -4468,73 +7591,117 @@ image/*;xv %s; test=RunningX; \ # Convert images to text using the netpbm tools image/*; (anytopnm %s | pnmscale -xysize 80 46 | ppmtopgm | pgmtopbm | -pbmtoascii -1x2 ) 2>&1 ; copiousoutput +pbmtoascii -1x2 ) 2>&1 ; copiousoutput # Send excel spreadsheets to my NT box application/ms-excel; open.pl %s - + + + + + + + + + - + -MIME Autoview

+ +MIME Autoview + + In addition to explicitly telling Mutt-ng to view an attachment with the MIME viewer defined in the mailcap file, Mutt-ng has support for automatically viewing MIME attachments while in the pager. + + To work, you must define a viewer in the mailcap file which uses the -copiousoutput option to denote that it is non-interactive. Usually, you also use the entry to convert the attachment to a text representation which you can view in the pager. + -You then use the +You then use the auto_view muttrc command to list the content-types that you wish to view automatically. + + For instance, if you set auto_view to: - + + auto_view text/html application/x-gunzip application/postscript image/gif application/x-tar-gz - + + + + Mutt-ng could use the following mailcap entries to automatically view attachments of these types. - + + text/html; lynx -dump %s; copiousoutput; nametemplate=%s.html image/*; anytopnm %s | pnmscale -xsize 80 -ysize 50 | ppmtopgm | pgmtopbm | pbmtoascii ; copiousoutput application/x-gunzip; gzcat; copiousoutput application/x-tar-gz; gunzip -c %s | tar -tf - ; copiousoutput application/postscript; ps2ascii %s; copiousoutput - + -``unauto_view'' can be used to remove previous entries from the autoview list. + + + +``unauto_view'' can be used to remove previous entries from the autoview list. This can be used with message-hook to autoview messages based on size, etc. -``unauto_view *'' will remove all previous entries. +``unauto_view *'' will remove all previous entries. + + + + + + + - + +MIME Multipart/Alternative -MIME Multipart/Alternative

+ Mutt-ng has some heuristics for determining which attachment of a multipart/alternative type to display. First, mutt will check the alternative_order list to determine if one of the available types is preferred. The alternative_order list consists of a number of MIME types in order, including support for implicit and explicit wildcards, for example: - + + alternative_order text/enriched text/plain text application/postscript image/* - + + + + Next, mutt will check if any of the types have a defined -, and use that. Failing +auto-view, and use that. Failing that, Mutt-ng will look for any text type. As a last attempt, mutt will look for any type it knows how to handle. + + + +To remove a MIME type from the alternative_order list, use the +unalternative_order command. + + + + + -To remove a MIME type from the - + +MIME Lookup -MIME Lookup

+ Mutt-ng's mime_lookup list specifies a list of mime-types that should not be treated according to their mailcap entry. This option is designed to deal with binary types such as application/octet-stream. When an attachment's @@ -4543,185 +7710,285 @@ be compared to the list of extensions in the mime.types file. The mime-type associated with this extension will then be used to process the attachment according to the rules in the mailcap file and according to any other configuration options (such as auto_view) specified. Common usage would be: - + + mime_lookup application/octet-stream application/X-Lotus-Manuscript - + + + + In addition, the unmime_lookup command may be used to disable this feature for any particular mime-type if it had been set, for example, in a global muttrc. + - - - - -Security Considerations - -

First of all, mutt-ng contains no security holes included by - intention but may contain unknown security holes. As a consequence, - please run mutt-ng only with as few permissions as possible. - -

Please do not run mutt-ng as the super user. - -

When configuring mutt-ng, there're some points to note about secure - setups. - -

In practice, mutt-ng can be easily made as vulnerable as even the - most insecure mail user agents (in their default configuration) just - by changing mutt-ng's configuration files: it then can execute - arbitrary programs and scripts attached to messages, send out private - data on its own, etc. Although this is not believed to the common type - of setup, please read this chapter carefully. - - Passwords - -

Although mutt-ng can be told the various passwords for accounts, - please never store passwords in configuration files. Besides the - fact that the system's operator can always read them, you could - forget to replace the actual password with asterisks when reporting - a bug or asking for help via, for example, a mailing list so that - your mail including your password could be archived by internet - search engines, etc. Please never store passwords on disk. - - - - Temporary Files - -

Mutt-ng uses many temporary files for viewing messages, verifying - digital signatures, etc. The - variable can be used to change the default permissions of these - files. Please only change it if you really know what you are doing. - Also, a different location for these files may be desired which can - be changed via the variable. - - - - Information Leaks - - Message-ID: headers - -

In the default configuration, mutt-ng will leak some information - to the outside world when sending messages: the generation of - variable. Please make sure that - you really know how local parts of these + + + - mailto:-style links + + + + + + + + + +Security Considerations + + +First of all, mutt-ng contains no security holes included by +intention but may contain unknown security holes. As a consequence, +please run mutt-ng only with as few permissions as possible. + + + +Please do not run mutt-ng as the super user. + + + +When configuring mutt-ng, there're some points to note about secure +setups. + + + +In practice, mutt-ng can be easily made as vulnerable as even the +most insecure mail user agents (in their default configuration) just +by changing mutt-ng's configuration files: it then can execute +arbitrary programs and scripts attached to messages, send out private +data on its own, etc. Although this is not believed to the common type +of setup, please read this chapter carefully. + + + +Passwords + + +Although mutt-ng can be told the various passwords for accounts, +please never store passwords in configuration files. Besides the +fact that the system's operator can always read them, you could +forget to replace the actual password with asterisks when reporting +a bug or asking for help via, for example, a mailing list so that +your mail including your password could be archived by internet +search engines, etc. Please never store passwords on disk. + + + + + +Temporary Files -

As mutt-ng be can be set up to be the mail client to handle - variable is +Mutt-ng uses many temporary files for viewing messages, verifying +digital signatures, etc. The umask +variable can be used to change the default permissions of these +files. Please only change it if you really know what you are doing. +Also, a different location for these files may be desired which can +be changed via the tmpdir variable. + + + + + +Information Leaks + + +Message-ID: headers + + +In the default configuration, mutt-ng will leak some information +to the outside world when sending messages: the generation of +Message-ID: headers includes a step counter which is increased +(and rotated) with every message sent. If you'd like to hide this +information probably telling others how many mail you sent in which +time, you at least need to remove the %P expando from the +default setting of the msgid-format variable. Please make sure that +you really know how local parts of these Message-ID: headers +are composed. + + + + + +mailto:-style links + + +As mutt-ng be can be set up to be the mail client to handle +mailto: style links in websites, there're security +considerations, too. To keep the old behavior by default, mutt-ng +will be strict in interpreting them which means that arbitrary +header fields can be embedded in these links which could override +existing header fields or attach arbitrary files. This may be +problematic if the edit-headers variable is unset, i.e. the +user doesn't want to see header fields while editing the message. + + + +For example, following a link like + + + + + +mailto:joe@host?Attach=~/.gnupg/secring.gpg + + + + + +will send out the user's private gnupg keyring to joe@host if +the user doesn't follow the information on screen carefully +enough. + + + +When unsetting the strict-mailto variable, mutt-ng will + + + + + + + + +be less strict when interpreting these links by +prepending a X-Mailto- string to all header fields +embedded in such a link and + + + + + + +turn on the edit-headers variable by +force to let the user see all the headers +(because they still may leak information.) + + + + + -

For example, following a link like + - -mailto:joe@host?Attach=~/.gnupg/secring.gpg + - will send out the user's private gnupg keyring to -

When variable, mutt-ng will + +External applications - + +Mutt-ng in many places has to rely on external applications or +for convenience supports mechanisms involving external +applications. + - be less strict when interpreting these links by - prepending a +mailcap - turn on the variable by - force to let the user see all the headers - (because they still may leak information.) + +One of these is the mailcap mechanism as defined by RfC +1524. Mutt-ng can be set up to automatically execute any +given utility as listed in one of the mailcap files (see the +mailcap-path +variable for details.) + - + +These utilities may have a variety of security vulnerabilities, +including overwriting of arbitrary files, information leaks or +other exploitable bugs. These vulnerabilities may go unnoticed by +the user, especially when they are called automatically (and +without interactive prompting) from the mailcap file(s). When +using mutt-ng's autoview mechanism in combination with mailcap +files, please be sure to... + - + - + + - External applications + +manually select trustworth applications with a reasonable +calling sequence -

Mutt-ng in many places has to rely on external applications or - for convenience supports mechanisms involving external - applications. + + + - mailcap + +periodically check the contents of mailcap files, +especially after software installations or upgrades -

One of these is the - variable for details.) + + + - These utilities may have a variety of security vulnerabilities, - including overwriting of arbitrary files, information leaks or - other exploitable bugs. These vulnerabilities may go unnoticed by - the user, especially when they are called automatically (and - without interactive prompting) from the mailcap file(s). When - using mutt-ng's autoview mechanism in combination with mailcap - files, please be sure to... + +keep the software packages referenced in the mailcap file up to date - + + + - manually select trustworth applications with a reasonable - calling sequence + +leave the mailcap-sanitize variable in its default +state to restrict mailcap expandos to a safe set of characters - periodically check the contents of mailcap files, - especially after software installations or upgrades + + - keep the software packages referenced in the mailcap file up to date + - leave the variable in its default - state to restrict mailcap expandos to a safe set of characters + - + - + +Other - Other + +Besides the mailcap mechanism, mutt-ng uses a number of other +external utilities for operation. + -

Besides the mailcap mechanism, mutt-ng uses a number of other - external utilities for operation. + +The same security considerations apply for these as for tools +involved via mailcap (for example, mutt-ng is vulnerable to Denial +of Service Attacks with compressed folders support if the +uncompressed mailbox is too large for the disk it is saved to.) + -

The same security considerations apply for these as for tools - involved via mailcap (for example, mutt-ng is vulnerable to Denial - of Service Attacks with compressed folders support if the - uncompressed mailbox is too large for the disk it is saved to.) + +As already noted, most of these problems are not built in but +caused by wrong configuration, so please check your configuration. + -

As already noted, most of these problems are not built in but - caused by wrong configuration, so please check your configuration. + - + - + - + +Reference -Reference + +Command line options -Command line options

-Running +Running mutt with no arguments will make Mutt-ng attempt to read your spool mailbox. However, it is possible to read other mailboxes and to send messages from the command line as well. + - + + + -A expand an alias -a attach a file to a message -b specify a blind carbon-copy (BCC) address @@ -4745,32 +8012,54 @@ to send messages from the command line as well. -y show a menu containing the files specified by the mailboxes command -z exit immediately if there are no messages in the mailbox -Z open the first folder with new message,exit immediately if none - + + + + To read messages in a mailbox + - +mutt [ -nz ] [ -F muttrc ] [ -m type ] [ -f mailbox ] + + To compose a new message + - +mutt [ -n ] [ -F muttrc ] [ -a file ] [ -c address ] [ -i filename ] [ -s subject ] address [ address ... ] + + Mutt-ng also supports a ``batch'' mode to send prepared messages. Simply redirect input from the file you wish to send. For example, + -mutt -s &dquot;data set for run #2&dquot; professor@bigschool.edu -< ˜/run2.dat + +mutt -s "data set for run #2" professor@bigschool.edu +< ˜/run2.dat + + This command will send a message to ``professor@bigschool.edu'' with a subject of ``data set for run #2''. In the body of the message will be the contents of the file ``˜/run2.dat''. + - + + + + + -Patterns

- + + + ~A all messages ~b EXPR messages which contain EXPR in the message body ~B EXPR messages which contain EXPR in the whole message @@ -4817,146 +8106,387 @@ of the file ``˜/run2.dat''. ~* ``From'' contains realname and (syntactically) valid address (excluded are addresses matching against alternates or any alias) - + + + + Where EXPR, USER, ID, and SUBJECT are -. Special attention has to be +regexp. Special attention has to be made when using regular expressions inside of patterns. Specifically, Mutt-ng's parser for these patterns will strip one level of backslash (\), which is normally used for quoting. If it is your intention to use a backslash in the regular expression, you will need to use two backslashes instead (\\). + -*) The forms +*) The forms <[MAX], >[MIN], +[MIN]- and -[MAX] are allowed, too. + - + + + -Configuration Commands

-The following are the commands understood by mutt. + - - - - - [ * | - - [ * | - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [no|inv] - - - - - - - - - -Configuration variables

The following list contains all variables which, in the process of + +Configuration Commands + + +The following are the commands understood by mutt. + + + + + + + + +account-hook pattern command + + + + + +alias key address [ , address, ... ] + + + + + +alias [ * | key ... ] + + + + + +alternates regexp [ regexp ... ] + + + + + +alternates [ * | regexp ... ] + + + + + +alternative-order mimetype [ mimetype ... ] + + + + + +alternative-order mimetype [ mimetype ... ] + + + + + +append-hook regexp command + + + + + +auto-view mimetype [ mimetype ... ] + + + + + +auto-view mimetype [ mimetype ... ] + + + + + +bind map key function + + + + + +charset-hook alias charset + + + + + +close-hook regexp command + + + + + +color object foreground background [ regexp ] + + + + + +color index pattern [ pattern ... ] + + + + + +exec function [ function ... ] + + + + + +fcc-hook pattern mailbox + + + + + +fcc-save-hook pattern mailbox + + + + + +folder-hook pattern command + + + + + +hdr-order header [ header ... ] + + + + + +hdr-order header [ header ... ] + + + + + +charset-hook charset local-charset + + + + + +ignore pattern [ pattern ... ] + + + + + +ignore pattern [ pattern ... ] + + + + + +lists regexp [ regexp ... ] + + + + + +lists regexp [ regexp ... ] + + + + + +macro menu key sequence [ description ] + + + + + +mailboxes filename [ filename ... ] + + + + + +mbox-hook pattern mailbox + + + + + +message-hook pattern command + + + + + +mime-lookup mimetype [ mimetype ... ] + + + + + +mime-lookup mimetype [ mimetype ... ] + + + + + +color object attribute [ regexp ] + + + + + +color index pattern [ pattern ... ] + + + + + +my-hdr string + + + + + +my-hdr field [ field ... ] + + + + + +open-hook regexp command + + + + + +crypt-hook pattern key-id + + + + + +push string + + + + + +set variable [variable ... ] + + + + + +save-hook regexp filename + + + + + +score-command pattern value + + + + + +score-command pattern [ pattern ... ] + + + + + +send-hook regexp command + + + + + +reply-hook regexp command + + + + + +set [no|inv]variable[=value] [ variable ... ] + + + + + +set variable [variable ... ] + + + + + +source filename + + + + + +spam pattern format + + + + + +spam pattern + + + + + +lists regexp [ regexp ... ] + + + + + +lists regexp [ regexp ... ] + + + + + +set variable [variable ... ] + + + + + +unhook hook-type + + + + + + + + + + +Configuration variables + + +The following list contains all variables which, in the process of providing more consistency, have been renamed and are partially even removed already. The left column contains the old synonym variables, the right column the full/new name: + -

+ +The contrib subdirectory contains a script named +update-config.pl which eases migration. + + +A complete list of current variables follows. + diff --git a/doc/manual.sgml.tail b/doc/manual.sgml.tail index a3ab1b4..553f03b 100644 --- a/doc/manual.sgml.tail +++ b/doc/manual.sgml.tail @@ -1,22 +1,29 @@ - -Functions

+ + + +Functions + + The following is the list of available functions listed by the mapping in which they are available. The default key setting is given, and an explanation of what the function does. The key bindings of these -functions can be changed with the +functions can be changed with the bind command. + -generic -

+ +generic -The +The generic menu is not a real menu, but specifies common functions +(such as movement) available in all menus except for pager and +editor. Changing settings for this menu will affect the default bindings for all menus (except as noted). + - + + + bottom-page L move to the bottom of the page current-bottom not bound move current entry to bottom of page current-middle not bound move current entry to middle of page @@ -31,10 +38,10 @@ jump number jump to an index number last-entry * move to the last entry middle-page M move to the middle of the page next-entry j move to the next entry -next-line > scroll down one line +next-line > scroll down one line next-page z move to the next page previous-entry k move to the previous entry -previous-line < scroll up one line +previous-line < scroll up one line previous-page Z move to the previous page refresh ^L clear and redraw the screen search / search for a regular expression @@ -48,10 +55,18 @@ tag-prefix ; apply next command to tagged entries tag-prefix-cond not bound apply next function ONLY to tagged messages top-page H move to the top of the page what-key not bound display the keycode for a key press - -index -

- + + + + + + + +index + + + + bounce-message b remail a message to another user change-folder c open a different folder change-folder-readonly ESC c open a different folder in read only mode @@ -119,10 +134,18 @@ undelete-subthread ESC u undelete all messages in subthread undelete-thread ^U undelete all messages in thread untag-pattern ^T untag messages matching a pattern view-attachments v show MIME attachments - -pager -

- + + + + + + + +pager + + + + bottom not bound jump to the bottom of the message bounce-message b remail a message to another user change-folder c open a different folder @@ -195,17 +218,33 @@ undelete-message u undelete the current entry undelete-subthread ESC u undelete all messages in subthread undelete-thread ^U undelete all messages in thread view-attachments v show MIME attachments - -alias -

- + + + + + + + +alias + + + + search / search for a regular expression search-next n search for next match search-reverse ESC / search backwards for a regular expression - -query -

- + + + + + + + +query + + + + create-alias a create an alias from a message sender mail m compose a new mail message query Q query external program for addresses @@ -214,10 +253,18 @@ search / search for a regular expression search-next n search for next match search-opposite not bound search for next match in opposite direction search-reverse ESC / search backwards for a regular expression - -attach -

- + + + + + + + +attach + + + + bounce-message b remail a message to another user collapse-parts v toggle display of subparts delete-entry d delete the current entry @@ -236,10 +283,18 @@ undelete-entry u undelete the current entry view-attach RET view attachment using mailcap entry if necessary view-mailcap m force viewing of attachment using mailcap view-text T view attachment as text - -compose -

- + + + + + + + +compose + + + + attach-file a attach a file(s) to this message attach-message A attach message(s) to this message attach-key ESC k attach a PGP public key @@ -273,16 +328,32 @@ send-message y send the message toggle-unlink u toggle whether to delete file after sending it view-attach RET view attachment using mailcap entry if necessary write-fcc w write the message to a folder - -postpone -

- + + + + + + + +postpone + + + + delete-entry d delete the current entry undelete-entry u undelete the current entry - -browser -

- + + + + + + + +browser + + + + change-dir c change directories check-new TAB check mailboxes for new mail enter-mask m enter a file mask @@ -297,16 +368,32 @@ view-file SPACE view file subscribe s subscribe to current mailbox (IMAP Only) unsubscribe u unsubscribe to current mailbox (IMAP Only) toggle-subscribed T toggle view all/subscribed mailboxes (IMAP Only) - -pgp -

- + + + + + + + +pgp + + + + view-name % view the key's user id verify-key c verify a PGP public key - -editor -

- + + + + + + + +editor + + + + backspace BackSpace delete the char in front of the cursor backward-char ^B move the cursor one character to the left backward-word ESC b move the cursor to the previous word @@ -329,78 +416,190 @@ kill-word ^W delete the word in front of the cursor quote-char ^V quote the next typed key transpose-chars not bound transpose character under cursor with previous upcase-word ESC u uppercase all characters in current word - - -Miscellany -

- -Acknowledgments -

-Kari Hurtta - -co-developed the original MIME parsing code back in the ELM-ME days. - -The following people have been very helpful to the development of Mutt: - -Vikas Agnihotri , -Francois Berjon , -Aric Blumer , -John Capo , -David Champion , -Brendan Cully , -Liviu Daia , -Thomas E. Dickey , -David DeSimone , -Nickolay N. Dudorov , -Ruslan Ermilov , -Edmund Grimley Evans , -Michael Finken , -Sven Guckes , -Lars Hecking , -Mark Holloman , -Andreas Holzmann , -Marco d'Itri , -Björn Jacke , -Byrial Jensen , -David Jeske , -Christophe Kalt , -Tommi Komulainen , -Felix von Leitner (a.k.a ``Fefe'') , -Brandon Long , -Jimmy Mäkelä , -Lars Marowsky-Bree , -Thomas ``Mike'' Michlmayr , -Andrew W. Nosenko , -David O'Brien , -Clint Olsen , -Park Myeong Seok , -Thomas Parmelan , -Ollivier Robert , -Thomas Roessler , -Roland Rosenfeld , -TAKIZAWA Takashi , -Allain Thivillon , -Gero Treuner , -Vsevolod Volkov , -Ken Weinert + + + + + + + + + + +Miscellany + + +Acknowledgments + + Kari Hurtta <kari.hurtta@fmi.fi> co-developed the original MIME +>parsing code back in the ELM-ME days. + + + The following people have been very helpful to the development of +Mutt: + + Vikas Agnihotri <vikasa@writeme.com>, + +Francois Berjon <Francois.Berjon@aar.alcatel-alsthom.fr>, + +Aric Blumer <aric@fore.com>, + +John Capo <jc@irbs.com>, + +David Champion <dgc@uchicago.edu, + +Brendan Cully <brendan@kublai.com>, + +Liviu Daia <daia@stoilow.imar.ro>, + +Thomas E. Dickey <dickey@herndon4.his.com>, + +David DeSimone <fox@convex.hp.com>, + +Nickolay N. Dudorov <nnd@wint.itfs.nsk.su>, + +Ruslan Ermilov <ru@freebsd.org>, + +Edmund Grimley Evans <edmundo@rano.org, + +Michael Finken <finken@conware.de>, + +Sven Guckes <guckes@math.fu-berlin.de>, + +Lars Hecking <lhecking@nmrc.ie>, + +Mark Holloman <holloman@nando.net>, + +Andreas Holzmann <holzmann@fmi.uni-passau.de>, + +Marco d'Itri <md@linux.it>, + +Björn Jacke <bjacke@suse.com>, + +Byrial Jensen <byrial@image.dk>, + +David Jeske <jeske@igcom.net>, + +Christophe Kalt <kalt@hugo.int-evry.fr>, + +Tommi Komulainen <Tommi.Komulainen@iki.fi>, + +Felix von Leitner (a.k.a ``Fefe'') <leitner@math.fu-berlin.de>, + +Brandon Long <blong@fiction.net>, + +Jimmy Mäkelä <jmy@flashback.net>, + +Lars Marowsky-Bree <lmb@pointer.in-minden.de>, + +Thomas ``Mike'' Michlmayr <mike@cosy.sbg.ac.at>, + +Andrew W. Nosenko <awn@bcs.zp.ua>, + +David O'Brien <obrien@Nuxi.cs.ucdavis.edu>, + +Clint Olsen <olsenc@ichips.intel.com>, + +Park Myeong Seok <pms@romance.kaist.ac.kr>, + +Thomas Parmelan <tom@ankh.fr.eu.org>, + +Ollivier Robert <roberto@keltia.freenix.fr>, + +Thomas Roessler <roessler@does-not-exist.org>, + +Roland Rosenfeld <roland@spinnaker.de>, + +TAKIZAWA Takashi <taki@luna.email.ne.jp>, + +Allain Thivillon <Allain.Thivillon@alma.fr> + +Gero Treuner <gero@faveve.uni-stuttgart.de>, + +Vsevolod Volkov <vvv@lucky.net>, + +Ken Weinert <kenw@ihs.com> + + + + Mutt-ng is developed by the following people: + + + Andreas Krennmair <ak@synflood.at>, + +Nico Golde <nico@ngolde.de>, + +Rocco Rutte <pdmef@cs.tu-berlin.de> + + + The following people have been very helpful to the development of +Mutt-ng: + + Christian Gall <cg@cgall.de>, + +Iain Lea <iain@bricbrac.de>, + +Andreas Kneib <akneib@gmx.net>, -Andreas Krennmair -Nico Golde -Rocco Rutte +Carsten Schoelzki <cjs@weisshuhn.de>, -The following people have been very helpful to the development of Mutt-ng: +Elimar Riesebieter <riesebie@lxtec.de> + -Christian Gall -Iain Lea -Andreas Kneib -Carsten Schoelzki -Elimar Riesebieter + -About this document -

-This document was written in SGML, and then rendered using the - package. + diff --git a/doc/manual.txt b/doc/manual.txt index 9e59608..39aee79 100644 --- a/doc/manual.txt +++ b/doc/manual.txt @@ -1,10422 +1,7021 @@ - TThhee MMuutttt NNeexxtt GGeenneerraattiioonn EE--MMaaiill CClliieenntt +The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client + +by Andreas Krennmair and others originally based on mutt by Michael Elkins and others + + version devel-r473 + + Abstract + + Michael Elinks on mutt, circa 1995: ``All mail clients suck. This one just sucks less.'' - Sven Guckes on mutt, ca. 2003: ``But it still sucks!'' + _________________________________________________________________ + + Table of Contents + + 1. Introduction + + 1. Overview + 2. Mutt-ng Home Page + 3. Mailing Lists + 4. Software Distribution Sites + 5. IRC + 6. Weblog + 7. Copyright + + 2. Getting Started + + 1. Basic Concepts + + 1.1. Screens and Menus + 1.2. Configuration + 1.3. Functions + 1.4. Interaction + 1.5. Modularization + 1.6. Patterns + + 2. Screens and Menus + + 2.1. Index + 2.2. Pager + 2.3. File Browser + 2.4. Sidebar + 2.5. Help + 2.6. Compose Menu + 2.7. Alias Menu + 2.8. Attachment Menu + 2.9. Key Menu + + 3. Moving Around in Menus + 4. Editing Input Fields + 5. Reading Mail - The Index and Pager + + 5.1. The Message Index + 5.2. The Pager + 5.3. Threaded Mode + 5.4. Miscellaneous Functions + + 6. Sending Mail + + 6.1. Composing new messages + 6.2. Replying + 6.3. Editing the message header + 6.4. Using Mutt-ng with PGP + 6.5. Sending anonymous messages via mixmaster + + 7. Forwarding and Bouncing Mail + 8. Postponing Mail + + 3. Configuration + + 1. Locations of Configuration Files + 2. Basic Syntax of Initialization Files + 3. Expansion within variables + + 3.1. Commands' Output + 3.2. Environment Variables + 3.3. Configuration Variables + 3.4. Self-Defined Variables + 3.5. Pre-Defined Variables + 3.6. Type Conversions - by Andreas Krennmair and others - originally based on _m_u_t_t by Michael Elkins and others + 4. Defining/Using aliases + 5. Changing the default key bindings + 6. Defining aliases for character sets + 7. Setting variables based upon mailbox + 8. Keyboard macros + 9. Using color and mono video attributes + 10. Ignoring (weeding) unwanted message headers + 11. Alternative addresses + 12. Format = Flowed + + 12.1. Introduction + 12.2. Receiving: Display Setup + 12.3. Sending + 12.4. Additional Notes - version devel-r471 + 13. Mailing lists + 14. Using Multiple spool mailboxes + 15. Defining mailboxes which receive mail + 16. User defined headers + 17. Defining the order of headers when viewing messages + 18. Specify default save filename + 19. Specify default Fcc: mailbox when composing + 20. Specify default save filename and default Fcc: mailbox at once + 21. Change settings based upon message recipients + 22. Change settings before formatting a message + 23. Choosing the cryptographic key of the recipient + 24. Adding key sequences to the keyboard buffer + 25. Executing functions + 26. Message Scoring + 27. Spam detection + 28. Setting variables + 29. Reading initialization commands from another file + 30. Removing hooks + 31. Sharing Setups + + 31.1. Character Sets + 31.2. Modularization + 31.3. Conditional parts + + 32. Obsolete Variables + + 4. Advanced Usage + + 1. Regular Expressions + 2. Patterns + + 2.1. Complex Patterns + 2.2. Patterns and Dates + + 3. Format Strings + + 3.1. Introduction + 3.2. Conditional Expansion + 3.3. Modifications and Padding + + 4. Using Tags + 5. Using Hooks + + 5.1. Message Matching in Hooks + + 6. Using the sidebar + 7. External Address Queries + 8. Mailbox Formats + 9. Mailbox Shortcuts + 10. Handling Mailing Lists + 11. Editing threads - AAbbssttrraacctt + 11.1. Linking threads + 11.2. Breaking threads - Michael Elinks on mutt, circa 1995: ``All mail clients suck. This one just - sucks less.'' - Sven Guckes on mutt, ca. 2003: ``But it still sucks!'' + 12. Delivery Status Notification (DSN) Support + 13. POP3 Support (OPTIONAL) + 14. IMAP Support (OPTIONAL) - _1_. _I_n_t_r_o_d_u_c_t_i_o_n + 14.1. The Folder Browser + 14.2. Authentication - _1_._1 _O_v_e_r_v_i_e_w + 15. NNTP Support (OPTIONAL) - MMuutttt--nngg is a small but very powerful text-based MIME mail client. Mutt-ng is - highly configurable, and is well suited to the mail power user with advanced - features like key bindings, keyboard macros, mail threading, regular expression - searches and a powerful pattern matching language for selecting groups of mes- - sages. + 15.1. Again: Scoring - This documentation additionally contains documentation to MMuutttt--NNGG, a fork from - Mutt with the goal to fix all the little annoyances of Mutt, to integrate all - the Mutt patches that are floating around in the web, and to add other new fea- - tures. Features specific to Mutt-ng will be discussed in an extra section. - Don't be confused when most of the documentation talk about Mutt and not Mutt- - ng, Mutt-ng contains all Mutt features, plus many more. + 16. SMTP Support (OPTIONAL) + 17. Managing multiple IMAP/POP/NNTP accounts (OPTIONAL) + 18. Start a WWW Browser on URLs (EXTERNAL) + 19. Compressed folders Support (OPTIONAL) - _1_._2 _M_u_t_t_-_n_g _H_o_m_e _P_a_g_e + 19.1. Open a compressed mailbox for reading + 19.2. Write a compressed mailbox + 19.3. Append a message to a compressed mailbox + 19.4. Encrypted folders - http://www.muttng.org + 5. Mutt-ng's MIME Support - _1_._3 _M_a_i_l_i_n_g _L_i_s_t_s + 1. Using MIME in Mutt - +o mutt-ng-users@lists.berlios.de -- This is where the mutt-ng user support - happens. + 1.1. Viewing MIME messages in the pager + 1.2. The Attachment Menu + 1.3. The Compose Menu - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 1 + 2. MIME Type configuration with mime.types + 3. MIME Viewer configuration with mailcap - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 2 + 3.1. The Basics of the mailcap file + 3.2. Secure use of mailcap + 3.3. Advanced mailcap Usage + 3.4. Example mailcap files - +o mutt-ng-devel@lists.berlios.de -- The development mailing list for mutt-ng + 4. MIME Autoview + 5. MIME Multipart/Alternative + 6. MIME Lookup - _1_._4 _S_o_f_t_w_a_r_e _D_i_s_t_r_i_b_u_t_i_o_n _S_i_t_e_s + 6. Security Considerations - So far, there are no official releases of Mutt-ng, but you can download daily - snapshots from http://mutt-ng.berlios.de/snapshots/ + 1. Passwords + 2. Temporary Files + 3. Information Leaks - _1_._5 _I_R_C + 3.1. Message-ID: headers + 3.2. mailto:-style links - Visit channel _#_m_u_t_t_n_g on irc.freenode.net (www.freenode.net) to chat with other - people interested in Mutt-ng. + 4. External applications - _1_._6 _W_e_b_l_o_g + 4.1. mailcap + 4.2. Other - If you want to read fresh news about the latest development in Mutt-ng, and get - informed about stuff like interesting, Mutt-ng-related articles and packages - for your favorite distribution, you can read and/or subscribe to our Mutt-ng - development weblog. + 7. Reference - _1_._7 _C_o_p_y_r_i_g_h_t + 1. Command line options + 2. Patterns + 3. Configuration Commands + 4. Configuration variables + 5. Functions - Mutt is Copyright (C) 1996-2000 Michael R. Elkins and others + 5.1. generic + 5.2. index + 5.3. pager + 5.4. alias + 5.5. query + 5.6. attach + 5.7. compose + 5.8. postpone + 5.9. browser + 5.10. pgp + 5.11. editor - This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under - the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software - Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later ver- - sion. + 8. Miscellany - This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY - WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A - PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. + 1. Acknowledgments - You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with - this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple - Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111, USA. +Chapter 1. Introduction - _2_. _G_e_t_t_i_n_g _S_t_a_r_t_e_d + Table of Contents - _2_._1 _B_a_s_i_c _C_o_n_c_e_p_t_s + 1. Overview + 2. Mutt-ng Home Page + 3. Mailing Lists + 4. Software Distribution Sites + 5. IRC + 6. Weblog + 7. Copyright - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 3 +1. Overview - _2_._1_._1 _S_c_r_e_e_n_s _a_n_d _M_e_n_u_s + Mutt-ng is a small but very powerful text-based MIME mail client. Mutt-ng is highly configurable, and is well suited to the mail power user with advanced features like key bindings, keyboard macros, mail threading, regular expression searches and a powerful pattern matching language for selecting groups of messages. - mutt-ng offers different screens of which every has its special purpose: + This documentation additionally contains documentation to Mutt-NG, a fork from Mutt with the goal to fix all the little annoyances of Mutt, to integrate all the Mutt patches that are floating around in the web, and to add other new features. Features specific to Mutt-ng will be discussed in an extra section. Don't be confused when most of the documentation talk about Mutt and not Mutt-ng, Mutt-ng contains all Mutt features, plus many more. - +o The _i_n_d_e_x displays the contents of the currently opened mailbox. +2. Mutt-ng Home Page - +o The _p_a_g_e_r is responsible for displaying messages, that is, the header, the - body and all attached parts. + http://www.muttng.org - +o The _f_i_l_e _b_r_o_w_s_e_r offers operations on and displays information of all - folders mutt-ng should watch for mail. +3. Mailing Lists - +o The _s_i_d_e_b_a_r offers a permanent view of which mailboxes contain how many - total, new and/or flagged mails. + * mutt-ng-users@lists.berlios.de -- This is where the mutt-ng user support happens. + * mutt-ng-devel@lists.berlios.de -- The development mailing list for mutt-ng - +o The _h_e_l_p _s_c_r_e_e_n lists for all currently available commands how to invoke - them as well as a short description. +4. Software Distribution Sites - +o The _c_o_m_p_o_s_e menu is a comfortable interface take last actions before send- - ing mail: change subjects, attach files, remove attachements, etc. + So far, there are no official releases of Mutt-ng, but you can download daily snapshots from http://mutt-ng.berlios.de/snapshots/ - +o The _a_t_t_a_c_h_e_m_e_n_t menu gives a summary and the tree structure of the - attachements of the current message. +5. IRC - +o The _a_l_i_a_s menu lists all or a fraction of the aliases a user has defined. + Visit channel #muttng on irc.freenode.net (www.freenode.net) to chat with other people interested in Mutt-ng. - +o The _k_e_y menu used in connection with encryption lets users choose the - right key to encrypt with. +6. Weblog - When mutt-ng is started without any further options, it'll open the users - default mailbox and display the index. + If you want to read fresh news about the latest development in Mutt-ng, and get informed about stuff like interesting, Mutt-ng-related articles and packages for your favorite distribution, you can read and/or subscribe to our Mutt-ng development weblog. - _2_._1_._2 _C_o_n_f_i_g_u_r_a_t_i_o_n +7. Copyright - Mutt-ng does _n_o_t feature an internal configuration interface or menu due to the - simple fact that this would be too complex to handle (currently there are sev- - eral _h_u_n_d_r_e_d variables which fine-tune the behaviour.) + Mutt is Copyright (C) 1996-2000 Michael R. Elkins and others - Mutt-ng is configured using configuration files which allow users to add com- - ments or manage them via version control systems to ease maintenance. + This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. - Also, mutt-ng comes with a shell script named grml-muttng kindly contributed by - users which really helps and eases the creation of a user's configuration file. - When downloading the source code via a snapshot or via subversion, it can be - found in the contrib directory. + This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. - _2_._1_._3 _F_u_n_c_t_i_o_n_s + You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111, USA. - Mutt-ng offers great flexibility due to the use of functions: internally, every - action a user can make mutt-ng perform is named ``function.'' Those functions +Chapter 2. Getting Started - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 4 + Table of Contents - are assigned to keys (or even key sequences) and may be completely adjusted to - user's needs. The basic idea is that the impatient users get a very intuitive - interface to start off with and advanced users virtually get no limits to - adjustments. + 1. Basic Concepts - _2_._1_._4 _I_n_t_e_r_a_c_t_i_o_n + 1.1. Screens and Menus + 1.2. Configuration + 1.3. Functions + 1.4. Interaction + 1.5. Modularization + 1.6. Patterns - Mutt-ng has two basic concepts of user interaction: + 2. Screens and Menus - 1. There is one dedicated line on the screen used to query the user for - input, issue any command, query variables and display error and informa- - tional messages. As for every type of user input, this requires manual - action leading to the need of input. + 2.1. Index + 2.2. Pager + 2.3. File Browser + 2.4. Sidebar + 2.5. Help + 2.6. Compose Menu + 2.7. Alias Menu + 2.8. Attachment Menu + 2.9. Key Menu - 2. The automatized interface for interaction are the so called _h_o_o_k_s. Hooks - specify actions the user wants to be performed at well-defined situa- - tions: what to do when entering which folder, what to do when displaying - or replying to what kind of message, etc. These are optional, i.e. a user - doesn't need to specify them but can do so. + 3. Moving Around in Menus + 4. Editing Input Fields + 5. Reading Mail - The Index and Pager - _2_._1_._5 _M_o_d_u_l_a_r_i_z_a_t_i_o_n + 5.1. The Message Index + 5.2. The Pager + 5.3. Threaded Mode + 5.4. Miscellaneous Functions - Although mutt-ng has many functionality built-in, many features can be dele- - gated to external tools to increase flexibility: users can define programs to - filter a message through before displaying, users can use any program they want - for displaying a message, message types (such as PDF or PostScript) for which - mutt-ng doesn't have a built-in filter can be rendered by arbitrary tools and - so forth. Although mutt-ng has an alias mechanism built-in, it features using - external tools to query for nearly every type of addresses from sources like - LDAP, databases or just the list of locally known users. + 6. Sending Mail - _2_._1_._6 _P_a_t_t_e_r_n_s + 6.1. Composing new messages + 6.2. Replying + 6.3. Editing the message header + 6.4. Using Mutt-ng with PGP + 6.5. Sending anonymous messages via mixmaster - Mutt-ng has a built-in pattern matching ``language'' which is as widely used as - possible to present a consistent interface to users. The same ``pattern terms'' - can be used for searching, scoring, message selection and much more. + 7. Forwarding and Bouncing Mail + 8. Postponing Mail - _2_._2 _S_c_r_e_e_n_s _a_n_d _M_e_n_u_s +1. Basic Concepts - _2_._2_._1 _I_n_d_e_x +1.1. Screens and Menus - The index is the screen that you usually see first when you start mutt-ng. It - gives an overview over your emails in the currently opened mailbox. By default, - this is your system mailbox. The information you see in the index is a list of + mutt-ng offers different screens of which every has its special purpose: + * The index displays the contents of the currently opened mailbox. + * The pager is responsible for displaying messages, that is, the header, the body and all attached parts. + * The file browser offers operations on and displays information of all folders mutt-ng should watch for mail. + * The sidebar offers a permanent view of which mailboxes contain how many total, new and/or flagged mails. + * The help screen lists for all currently available commands how to invoke them as well as a short description. + * The compose menu is a comfortable interface take last actions before sending mail: change subjects, attach files, remove attachements, etc. + * The attachement menu gives a summary and the tree structure of the attachements of the current message. + * The alias menu lists all or a fraction of the aliases a user has defined. + * The key menu used in connection with encryption lets users choose the right key to encrypt with. - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 5 + When mutt-ng is started without any further options, it'll open the users default mailbox and display the index. - emails, each with its number on the left, its flags (new email, important - email, email that has been forwarded or replied to, tagged email, ...), the - date when email was sent, its sender, the email size, and the subject. Addi- - tionally, the index also shows thread hierarchies: when you reply to an email, - and the other person replies back, you can see the other's person email in a - "sub-tree" below. This is especially useful for personal email between a group - of people or when you've subscribed to mailing lists. +1.2. Configuration - _2_._2_._2 _P_a_g_e_r + Mutt-ng does not feature an internal configuration interface or menu due to the simple fact that this would be too complex to handle (currently there are several hundred variables which fine-tune the behaviour.) - The pager is responsible for showing the email content. On the top of the pager - you have an overview over the most important email headers like the sender, the - recipient, the subject, and much more information. How much information you - actually see depends on your configuration, which we'll describe below. + Mutt-ng is configured using configuration files which allow users to add comments or manage them via version control systems to ease maintenance. - Below the headers, you see the email body which usually contains the message. - If the email contains any attachments, you will see more information about them - below the email body, or, if the attachments are text files, you can view them - directly in the pager. + Also, mutt-ng comes with a shell script named grml-muttng kindly contributed by users which really helps and eases the creation of a user's configuration file. When downloading the source code via a snapshot or via subversion, it can be found in the contrib directory. - To give the user a good overview, it is possible to configure mutt-ng to show - different things in the pager with different colors. Virtually everything that - can be described with a regular expression can be colored, e.g. URLs, email - addresses or smileys. +1.3. Functions - _2_._2_._3 _F_i_l_e _B_r_o_w_s_e_r + Mutt-ng offers great flexibility due to the use of functions: internally, every action a user can make mutt-ng perform is named ``function.'' Those functions are assigned to keys (or even key sequences) and may be completely adjusted to user's needs. The basic idea is that the impatient users get a very intuitive interface to start off with and advanced users virtually get no limits to adjustments. - The file browser is the interface to the local or remote file system. When - selecting a mailbox to open, the browser allows custom sorting of items, limit- - ing the items shown by a regular expression and a freely adjustable format of - what to display in which way. It also allows for easy navigation through the - file system when selecting file(s) to attach to a message, select multiple - files to attach and many more. - - _2_._2_._4 _S_i_d_e_b_a_r - - The sidebar comes in handy to manage mails which are spread over different - folders. All folders users setup mutt-ng to watch for new mail will be listed. - The listing includes not only the name but also the number of total messages, - the number of new and flagged messages. Items with new mail may be colored dif- - ferent from those with flagged mail, items may be shortened or compress if - they're they to long to be printed in full form so that by abbreviated names, - user still now what the name stands for. +1.4. Interaction - _2_._2_._5 _H_e_l_p + Mutt-ng has two basic concepts of user interaction: + 1. There is one dedicated line on the screen used to query the user for input, issue any command, query variables and display error and informational messages. As for every type of user input, this requires manual action leading to the need of input. + 2. The automatized interface for interaction are the so called hooks. Hooks specify actions the user wants to be performed at well-defined situations: what to do when entering which folder, what to do when displaying or replying to what kind of message, etc. These are optional, i.e. a user doesn't need to specify them but can do so. - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 6 +1.5. Modularization - The help screen is meant to offer a quick help to the user. It lists the cur- - rent configuration of key bindings and their associated commands including a - short description, and currently unbound functions that still need to be asso- - ciated with a key binding (or alternatively, they can be called via the mutt-ng - command prompt). - - _2_._2_._6 _C_o_m_p_o_s_e _M_e_n_u - - The compose menu features a split screen containing the information which - really matter before actually sending a message by mail or posting an article - to a newsgroup: who gets the message as what (recipient, newsgroup, who gets - what kind of copy). Additionally, users may set security options like deciding - whether to sign, encrypt or sign and encrypt a message with/for what keys. - - Also, it's used to attach messages, news articles or files to a message, to re- - edit any attachment including the message itself. - - _2_._2_._7 _A_l_i_a_s _M_e_n_u - - The alias menu is used to help users finding the recipients of messages. For - users who need to contact many people, there's no need to remember addresses or - names completely because it allows for searching, too. The alias mechanism and - thus the alias menu also features grouping several addresses by a shorter nick- - name, the actual alias, so that users don't have to select each single recipi- - ent manually. - - _2_._2_._8 _A_t_t_a_c_h_m_e_n_t _M_e_n_u - - As will be later discussed in detail, mutt-ng features a good and stable MIME - implementation, that is, is greatly supports sending and receiving messages of - arbitrary type. The attachment menu displays a message's structure in detail: - what content parts are attached to which parent part (which gives a true tree - structure), which type is of what type and what size. Single parts may saved, - deleted or modified to offer great and easy access to message's internals. - - _2_._2_._9 _K_e_y _M_e_n_u - - FIXME - - _2_._3 _M_o_v_i_n_g _A_r_o_u_n_d _i_n _M_e_n_u_s - - Information is presented in menus, very similar to ELM. Here is a table - - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 7 - - showing the common keys used to navigate menus in Mutt-ng. - - j or Down next-entry move to the next entry - k or Up previous-entry move to the previous entry - z or PageDn page-down go to the next page - Z or PageUp page-up go to the previous page - = or Home first-entry jump to the first entry - * or End last-entry jump to the last entry - q quit exit the current menu - ? help list all key bindings for the current menu - - _2_._4 _E_d_i_t_i_n_g _I_n_p_u_t _F_i_e_l_d_s - - Mutt-ng has a builtin line editor which is used as the primary way to input - textual data such as email addresses or filenames. The keys used to move - around while editing are very similar to those of Emacs. - - ^A or bol move to the start of the line - ^B or backward-char move back one char - Esc B backward-word move back one word - ^D or delete-char delete the char under the cursor - ^E or eol move to the end of the line - ^F or forward-char move forward one char - Esc F forward-word move forward one word - complete complete filename or alias - ^T complete-query complete address with query - ^K kill-eol delete to the end of the line - ESC d kill-eow delete to the end of the word - ^W kill-word kill the word in front of the cursor - ^U kill-line delete entire line - ^V quote-char quote the next typed key - history-up recall previous string from history - history-down recall next string from history - backspace kill the char in front of the cursor - Esc u upcase-word convert word to upper case - Esc l downcase-word convert word to lower case - Esc c capitalize-word capitalize the word - ^G n/a abort - n/a finish editing - - You can remap the _e_d_i_t_o_r functions using the _b_i_n_d (section 3.5 , page 27) com- - mand. For example, to make the _D_e_l_e_t_e key delete the character in front of the - cursor rather than under, you could use - - bind editor backspace - - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 8 + Although mutt-ng has many functionality built-in, many features can be delegated to external tools to increase flexibility: users can define programs to filter a message through before displaying, users can use any program they want for displaying a message, message types (such as PDF or PostScript) for which mutt-ng doesn't have a built-in filter can be rendered by arbitrary tools and so forth. Although mutt-ng has an alias mechanism built-in, it features using external tools to query for nearly every type of addresses from sources like LDAP, databases or just the list of locally known users. - _2_._5 _R_e_a_d_i_n_g _M_a_i_l _- _T_h_e _I_n_d_e_x _a_n_d _P_a_g_e_r +1.6. Patterns - Similar to many other mail clients, there are two modes in which mail is read - in Mutt-ng. The first is the index of messages in the mailbox, which is called - the ``index'' in Mutt-ng. The second mode is the display of the message con- - tents. This is called the ``pager.'' + Mutt-ng has a built-in pattern matching ``language'' which is as widely used as possible to present a consistent interface to users. The same ``pattern terms'' can be used for searching, scoring, message selection and much more. - The next few sections describe the functions provided in each of these modes. +2. Screens and Menus - _2_._5_._1 _T_h_e _M_e_s_s_a_g_e _I_n_d_e_x +2.1. Index - c change to a different mailbox - ESC c change to a folder in read-only mode - C copy the current message to another mailbox - ESC C decode a message and copy it to a folder - ESC s decode a message and save it to a folder - D delete messages matching a pattern - d delete the current message - F mark as important - l show messages matching a pattern - N mark message as new - o change the current sort method - O reverse sort the mailbox - q save changes and exit - s save-message - T tag messages matching a pattern - t toggle the tag on a message - ESC t toggle tag on entire message thread - U undelete messages matching a pattern - u undelete-message - v view-attachments - x abort changes and exit - display-message - jump to the next new message - @ show the author's full e-mail address - $ save changes to mailbox - / search - ESC / search-reverse - ^L clear and redraw the screen - ^T untag messages matching a pattern - - _2_._5_._1_._1 _S_t_a_t_u_s _F_l_a_g_s - - In addition to who sent the message and the subject, a short summary of the - disposition of each message is printed beside the message number. Zero or more - of the following ``flags'' may appear, which mean: - - D - message is deleted (is marked for deletion) - - d - message have attachments marked for deletion - - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 9 - - K - contains a PGP public key - - N - message is new - - O - message is old - - P - message is PGP encrypted - - r - message has been replied to - - S - message is signed, and the signature is succesfully verified - - s - message is signed - - ! - message is flagged - - * - message is tagged - - Some of the status flags can be turned on or off using - - +o sseett--ffllaagg (default: w) - - +o cclleeaarr--ffllaagg (default: W) - - Furthermore, the following flags reflect who the message is addressed to. They - can be customized with the _$_t_o___c_h_a_r_s (section 7.4.339 , page 172) variable. - - + - message is to you and you only - - T - message is to you, but also to or cc'ed to others - - C - message is cc'ed to you - - F - message is from you - - L - message is sent to a subscribed mailing list - - _2_._5_._2 _T_h_e _P_a_g_e_r - - By default, Mutt-ng uses its builtin pager to display the body of messages. - - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 10 - - The pager is very similar to the Unix program _l_e_s_s though not nearly as fea- - tureful. - - go down one line - display the next page (or next message if at the end of a message) - - go back to the previous page - n search for next match - S skip beyond quoted text - T toggle display of quoted text - ? show key bindings - / search for a regular expression (pattern) - ESC / search backwards for a regular expression - \ toggle search pattern coloring - ^ jump to the top of the message - - In addition, many of the functions from the _i_n_d_e_x are available in the pager, - such as _d_e_l_e_t_e_-_m_e_s_s_a_g_e or _c_o_p_y_-_m_e_s_s_a_g_e (this is one advantage over using an - external pager to view messages). + The index is the screen that you usually see first when you start mutt-ng. It gives an overview over your emails in the currently opened mailbox. By default, this is your system mailbox. The information you see in the index is a list of emails, each with its number on the left, its flags (new email, important email, email that has been forwarded or replied to, tagged email, ...), the date when email was sent, its sender, the email size, and the subject. Additionally, the index also shows thread hierarchies: when you reply to an email, and the other person replies back, you can see the other's person email in a "sub-tree" below. This is especially useful for personal email between a group of people or when you've subscribed to mailing lists. - Also, the internal pager supports a couple other advanced features. For one, it - will accept and translate the ``standard'' nroff sequences for bold and under- - line. These sequences are a series of either the letter, backspace (^H), the - letter again for bold or the letter, backspace, ``_'' for denoting underline. - Mutt-ng will attempt to display these in bold and underline respectively if - your terminal supports them. If not, you can use the bold and underline _c_o_l_o_r - (section 3.9 , page 31) objects to specify a color or mono attribute for them. +2.2. Pager - Additionally, the internal pager supports the ANSI escape sequences for charac- - ter attributes. Mutt-ng translates them into the correct color and character - settings. The sequences Mutt-ng supports are: + The pager is responsible for showing the email content. On the top of the pager you have an overview over the most important email headers like the sender, the recipient, the subject, and much more information. How much information you actually see depends on your configuration, which we'll describe below. - ESC [ Ps;Ps;Ps;...;Ps m - where Ps = - 0 All Attributes Off - 1 Bold on - 4 Underline on - 5 Blink on - 7 Reverse video on - 3x Foreground color is x - 4x Background color is x + Below the headers, you see the email body which usually contains the message. If the email contains any attachments, you will see more information about them below the email body, or, if the attachments are text files, you can view them directly in the pager. - Colors are - 0 black - 1 red - 2 green - 3 yellow - 4 blue - 5 magenta - 6 cyan - 7 white + To give the user a good overview, it is possible to configure mutt-ng to show different things in the pager with different colors. Virtually everything that can be described with a regular expression can be colored, e.g. URLs, email addresses or smileys. - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 11 +2.3. File Browser - Mutt-ng uses these attributes for handling text/enriched messages, and they can - also be used by an external _a_u_t_o_v_i_e_w (section 5.4 , page 79) script for high- - lighting purposes. NNoottee:: If you change the colors for your display, for exam- - ple by changing the color associated with color2 for your xterm, then that - color will be used instead of green. + The file browser is the interface to the local or remote file system. When selecting a mailbox to open, the browser allows custom sorting of items, limiting the items shown by a regular expression and a freely adjustable format of what to display in which way. It also allows for easy navigation through the file system when selecting file(s) to attach to a message, select multiple files to attach and many more. - _2_._5_._3 _T_h_r_e_a_d_e_d _M_o_d_e +2.4. Sidebar - When the mailbox is _s_o_r_t_e_d (section 7.4.307 , page 163) by _t_h_r_e_a_d_s, there are - a few additional functions available in the _i_n_d_e_x and _p_a_g_e_r modes. + The sidebar comes in handy to manage mails which are spread over different folders. All folders users setup mutt-ng to watch for new mail will be listed. The listing includes not only the name but also the number of total messages, the number of new and flagged messages. Items with new mail may be colored different from those with flagged mail, items may be shortened or compress if they're they to long to be printed in full form so that by abbreviated names, user still now what the name stands for. - ^D delete-thread delete all messages in the current thread - ^U undelete-thread undelete all messages in the current thread - ^N next-thread jump to the start of the next thread - ^P previous-thread jump to the start of the previous thread - ^R read-thread mark the current thread as read - ESC d delete-subthread delete all messages in the current subthread - ESC u undelete-subthread undelete all messages in the current subthread - ESC n next-subthread jump to the start of the next subthread - ESC p previous-subthread jump to the start of the previous subthread - ESC r read-subthread mark the current subthread as read - ESC t tag-thread toggle the tag on the current thread - ESC v collapse-thread toggle collapse for the current thread - ESC V collapse-all toggle collapse for all threads - P parent-message jump to parent message in thread - - NNoottee:: Collapsing a thread displays only the first message in the thread and - hides the others. This is useful when threads contain so many messages that you - can only see a handful of threads on the screen. See %M in _$_i_n_d_e_x___f_o_r_m_a_t (sec- - tion 7.4.116 , page 116). For example, you could use "%?M?(#%03M)&(%4l)?" in - _$_i_n_d_e_x___f_o_r_m_a_t (section 7.4.116 , page 116) to optionally display the number of - hidden messages if the thread is collapsed. - - See also: _$_s_t_r_i_c_t___t_h_r_e_a_d_s (section 7.4.328 , page 170). - - _2_._5_._4 _M_i_s_c_e_l_l_a_n_e_o_u_s _F_u_n_c_t_i_o_n_s - - ccrreeaattee--aalliiaass - (default: a) - - Creates a new alias based upon the current message (or prompts for a new one). - Once editing is complete, an _a_l_i_a_s (section 3.4 , page 26) command is added to - the file specified by the _$_a_l_i_a_s___f_i_l_e (section 7.4.5 , page 90) variable for - future use. NNoottee:: Specifying an _$_a_l_i_a_s___f_i_l_e (section 7.4.5 , page 90) does not - add the aliases specified there-in, you must also _s_o_u_r_c_e (section 3.29 , page - 46) the file. - - cchheecckk--ttrraaddiittiioonnaall--ppggpp - (default: ESC P) - - This function will search the current message for content signed or encrypted - with PGP the "traditional" way, that is, without proper MIME tagging. - - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 12 - - Technically, this function will temporarily change the MIME content types of - the body parts containing PGP data; this is similar to the _e_d_i_t_-_t_y_p_e (section - 2.5.4 , page 12) function's effect. - - ddiissppllaayy--ttooggggllee--wweeeedd - (default: h) - - Toggles the weeding of message header fields specified by _i_g_n_o_r_e (section - 3.10 , page 33) commands. - - eeddiitt - (default: e) - - This command (available in the ``index'' and ``pager'') allows you to edit the - raw current message as it's present in the mail folder. After you have fin- - ished editing, the changed message will be appended to the current folder, and - the original message will be marked for deletion. - - eeddiitt--ttyyppee - - (default: ^E on the attachment menu, and in the pager and index menus; ^T on - the compose menu) - - This command is used to temporarily edit an attachment's content type to fix, - for instance, bogus character set parameters. When invoked from the index or - from the pager, you'll have the opportunity to edit the top-level attachment's - content type. On the _a_t_t_a_c_h_m_e_n_t _m_e_n_u (section 5.1.2 , page 71), you can - change any attachment's content type. These changes are not persistent, and get - lost upon changing folders. - - Note that this command is also available on the _c_o_m_p_o_s_e _m_e_n_u (section 5.1.3 , - page 72). There, it's used to fine-tune the properties of attachments you are - going to send. +2.5. Help - eenntteerr--ccoommmmaanndd - (default: ``:'') + The help screen is meant to offer a quick help to the user. It lists the current configuration of key bindings and their associated commands including a short description, and currently unbound functions that still need to be associated with a key binding (or alternatively, they can be called via the mutt-ng command prompt). - This command is used to execute any command you would normally put in a config- - uration file. A common use is to check the settings of variables, or in con- - junction with _m_a_c_r_o_s (section 3.8 , page 30) to change settings on the fly. +2.6. Compose Menu - eexxttrraacctt--kkeeyyss - (default: ^K) + The compose menu features a split screen containing the information which really matter before actually sending a message by mail or posting an article to a newsgroup: who gets the message as what (recipient, newsgroup, who gets what kind of copy). Additionally, users may set security options like deciding whether to sign, encrypt or sign and encrypt a message with/for what keys. - This command extracts PGP public keys from the current or tagged message(s) and - adds them to your PGP public key ring. + Also, it's used to attach messages, news articles or files to a message, to re-edit any attachment including the message itself. - ffoorrggeett--ppaasssspphhrraassee - (default: ^F) +2.7. Alias Menu - This command wipes the passphrase(s) from memory. It is useful, if you mis- - spelled the passphrase. + The alias menu is used to help users finding the recipients of messages. For users who need to contact many people, there's no need to remember addresses or names completely because it allows for searching, too. The alias mechanism and thus the alias menu also features grouping several addresses by a shorter nickname, the actual alias, so that users don't have to select each single recipient manually. - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 13 +2.8. Attachment Menu - lliisstt--rreeppllyy - (default: L) + As will be later discussed in detail, mutt-ng features a good and stable MIME implementation, that is, is greatly supports sending and receiving messages of arbitrary type. The attachment menu displays a message's structure in detail: what content parts are attached to which parent part (which gives a true tree structure), which type is of what type and what size. Single parts may saved, deleted or modified to offer great and easy access to message's internals. - Reply to the current or tagged message(s) by extracting any addresses which - match the regular expressions given by the _l_i_s_t_s _o_r _s_u_b_s_c_r_i_b_e (section 3.13 , - page 36) commands, but also honor any Mail-Followup-To header(s) if the - _$_h_o_n_o_r___f_o_l_l_o_w_u_p___t_o (section 7.4.94 , page 111) configuration variable is set. - Using this when replying to messages posted to mailing lists helps avoid dupli- - cate copies being sent to the author of the message you are replying to. +2.9. Key Menu - ppiippee--mmeessssaaggee - (default: |) + FIXME - Asks for an external Unix command and pipes the current or tagged message(s) to - it. The variables _$_p_i_p_e___d_e_c_o_d_e (section 7.4.216 , page 142), _$_p_i_p_e___s_p_l_i_t - (section 7.4.218 , page 142), _$_p_i_p_e___s_e_p (section 7.4.217 , page 142) and - _$_w_a_i_t___k_e_y (section 7.4.350 , page 174) control the exact behavior of this - function. +3. Moving Around in Menus - rreesseenndd--mmeessssaaggee - (default: ESC e) + Information is presented in menus, very similar to ELM. Here is a table showing the common keys used to navigate menus in Mutt-ng. +j or Down next-entry move to the next entry +k or Up previous-entry move to the previous entry +z or PageDn page-down go to the next page +Z or PageUp page-up go to the previous page += or Home first-entry jump to the first entry +* or End last-entry jump to the last entry +q quit exit the current menu +? help list all key bindings for the current menu - With resend-message, mutt takes the current message as a template for a new - message. This function is best described as "recall from arbitrary folders". - It can conveniently be used to forward MIME messages while preserving the orig- - inal mail structure. Note that the amount of headers included here depends on - the value of the _$_w_e_e_d (section 7.4.351 , page 175) variable. +4. Editing Input Fields - This function is also available from the attachment menu. You can use this to - easily resend a message which was included with a bounce message as a mes- - sage/rfc822 body part. + Mutt-ng has a builtin line editor which is used as the primary way to input textual data such as email addresses or filenames. The keys used to move around while editing are very similar to those of Emacs. +^A or bol move to the start of the line +^B or backward-char move back one char +Esc B backward-word move back one word +^D or delete-char delete the char under the cursor +^E or eol move to the end of the line +^F or forward-char move forward one char +Esc F forward-word move forward one word + complete complete filename or alias +^T complete-query complete address with query +^K kill-eol delete to the end of the line +ESC d kill-eow delete to the end of the word +^W kill-word kill the word in front of the cursor +^U kill-line delete entire line +^V quote-char quote the next typed key + history-up recall previous string from history + history-down recall next string from history + backspace kill the char in front of the cursor +Esc u upcase-word convert word to upper case +Esc l downcase-word convert word to lower case +Esc c capitalize-word capitalize the word +^G n/a abort + n/a finish editing - sshheellll--eessccaappee - (default: !) + You can remap the editor functions using the bind command. For example, to make the Delete key delete the character in front of the cursor rather than under, you could use - Asks for an external Unix command and executes it. The _$_w_a_i_t___k_e_y (section - 7.4.350 , page 174) can be used to control whether Mutt-ng will wait for a key - to be pressed when the command returns (presumably to let the user read the - output of the command), based on the return status of the named command. + bind editor backspace - ttooggggllee--qquuootteedd - (default: T) +5. Reading Mail - The Index and Pager - The _p_a_g_e_r uses the _$_q_u_o_t_e___r_e_g_e_x_p (section 7.4.241 , page 147) variable to - detect quoted text when displaying the body of the message. This function tog- - gles the display of the quoted material in the message. It is particularly - useful when are interested in just the response and there is a large amount of - quoted text in the way. - - sskkiipp--qquuootteedd - (default: S) - - This function will go to the next line of non-quoted text which come after a - line of quoted text in the internal pager. - - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 14 - - _2_._6 _S_e_n_d_i_n_g _M_a_i_l - - The following bindings are available in the _i_n_d_e_x for sending messages. - - m compose compose a new message - r reply reply to sender - g group-reply reply to all recipients - L list-reply reply to mailing list address - f forward forward message - b bounce bounce (remail) message - ESC k mail-key mail a PGP public key to someone - - Bouncing a message sends the message as is to the recipient you specify. For- - warding a message allows you to add comments or modify the message you are for- - warding. These items are discussed in greater detail in the next chapter - _`_`_F_o_r_w_a_r_d_i_n_g _a_n_d _B_o_u_n_c_i_n_g _M_a_i_l_'_' (section 2.7 , page 20). - - _2_._6_._1 _C_o_m_p_o_s_i_n_g _n_e_w _m_e_s_s_a_g_e_s - - When you want to send an email using mutt-ng, simply press m on your keyboard. - Then, mutt-ng asks for the recipient via a prompt in the last line: - - To: - - After you've finished entering the recipient(s), press return. If you want to - send an email to more than one recipient, separate the email addresses using - the comma ",". Mutt-ng then asks you for the email subject. Again, press return - after you've entered it. After that, mutt-ng got the most important information - from you, and starts up an editor where you can then enter your email. - - The editor that is called is selected in the following way: you can e.g. set it - in the mutt-ng configuration: - - set editor = "vim +/^$/ -c ':set tw=72'" - set editor = "nano" - set editor = "emacs" - - If you don't set your preferred editor in your configuration, mutt-ng first - looks whether the environment variable $VISUAL is set, and if so, it takes its - value as editor command. Otherwise, it has a look at $EDITOR and takes its - value if it is set. If no editor command can be found, mutt-ng simply assumes - vi to be the default editor, since it's the most widespread editor in the Unix - world and it's pretty safe to assume that it is installed and available. - - When you've finished entering your message, save it and quit your editor. Mutt- - ng will then present you with a summary screen, the compose menu. On the top, - you see a summary of the most important available key commands. Below that, - you see the sender, the recipient(s), Cc and/or Bcc recipient(s), the subject, - - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 15 - - the reply-to address, and optionally information where the sent email will be - stored and whether it should be digitally signed and/or encrypted. - - Below that, you see a list of "attachments". The mail you've just entered - before is also an attachment, but due to its special type (it's plain text), it - will be displayed as the normal message on the receiver's side. - - At this point, you can add more attachments, pressing a, you can edit the - recipient addresses, pressing t for the "To:" field, c for the "Cc:" field, and - b for the "Bcc: field. You can also edit the subject the subject by simply - pressing s or the email message that you've entered before by pressing e. You - will then again return to the editor. You can even edit the sender, by pressing - f, but this shall only be used with caution. + Similar to many other mail clients, there are two modes in which mail is read in Mutt-ng. The first is the index of messages in the mailbox, which is called the ``index'' in Mutt-ng. The second mode is the display of the message contents. This is called the ``pager.'' - Alternatively, you can configure mutt-ng in a way that most of the above set- - tings can be edited using the editor. Therefore, you only need to add the fol- - lowing to your configuration: + The next few sections describe the functions provided in each of these modes. - set edit_headers +5.1. The Message Index - Once you have finished editing the body of your mail message, you are returned - to the _c_o_m_p_o_s_e menu. The following options are available: - - a attach-file attach a file - A attach-message attach message(s) to the message - ESC k attach-key attach a PGP public key - d edit-description edit description on attachment - D detach-file detach a file - t edit-to edit the To field - ESC f edit-from edit the From field - r edit-reply-to edit the Reply-To field - c edit-cc edit the Cc field - b edit-bcc edit the Bcc field - y send-message send the message - s edit-subject edit the Subject - S smime-menu select S/MIME options - f edit-fcc specify an ``Fcc'' mailbox - p pgp-menu select PGP options - P postpone-message postpone this message until later - q quit quit (abort) sending the message - w write-fcc write the message to a folder - i ispell check spelling (if available on your system) - ^F forget-passphrase wipe passphrase(s) from memory +c change to a different mailbox +ESC c change to a folder in read-only mode +C copy the current message to another mailbox +ESC C decode a message and copy it to a folder +ESC s decode a message and save it to a folder +D delete messages matching a pattern +d delete the current message +F mark as important +l show messages matching a pattern +N mark message as new +o change the current sort method +O reverse sort the mailbox +q save changes and exit +s save-message +T tag messages matching a pattern +t toggle the tag on a message +ESC t toggle tag on entire message thread +U undelete messages matching a pattern +u undelete-message +v view-attachments +x abort changes and exit + display-message + jump to the next new message +@ show the author's full e-mail address +$ save changes to mailbox +/ search +ESC / search-reverse +^L clear and redraw the screen +^T untag messages matching a pattern + +5.1.1. Status Flags + + In addition to who sent the message and the subject, a short summary of the disposition of each message is printed beside the message number. Zero or more of the following ``flags'' may appear, which mean: + + D + message is deleted (is marked for deletion) + + d + message have attachments marked for deletion + + K + contains a PGP public key + + N + message is new + + O + message is old + + P + message is PGP encrypted + + r + message has been replied to + + S + message is signed, and the signature is succesfully verified + + s + message is signed + + ! + message is flagged + + * + message is tagged + + Some of the status flags can be turned on or off using + * set-flag (default: w) + * clear-flag (default: W) + + Furthermore, the following flags reflect who the message is addressed to. They can be customized with the $to_chars variable. + + + + message is to you and you only - NNoottee:: The attach-message function will prompt you for a folder to attach mes- - sages from. You can now tag messages in that folder and they will be attached - to the message you are sending. Note that certain operations like composing a - new mail, replying, forwarding, etc. are not permitted when you are in that - folder. The %r in _$_s_t_a_t_u_s___f_o_r_m_a_t (section 7.4.324 , page 167) will change to a - 'A' to indicate that you are in attach-message mode. + T + message is to you, but also to or cc'ed to others - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 16 + C + message is cc'ed to you - _2_._6_._2 _R_e_p_l_y_i_n_g + F + message is from you - _2_._6_._2_._1 _S_i_m_p_l_e _R_e_p_l_i_e_s + L + message is sent to a subscribed mailing list - When you want to reply to an email message, select it in the index menu and - then press r. Mutt-ng's behaviour is then similar to the behaviour when you - compose a message: first, you will be asked for the recipient, then for the - subject, and then, mutt-ng will start the editor with the quote attribution and - the quoted message. This can e.g. look like the example below. +5.2. The Pager - On Mon, Mar 07, 2005 at 05:02:12PM +0100, Michael Svensson wrote: - > Bill, can you please send last month's progress report to Mr. - > Morgan? We also urgently need the cost estimation for the new - > production server that we want to set up before our customer's - > project will go live. + By default, Mutt-ng uses its builtin pager to display the body of messages. The pager is very similar to the Unix program less though not nearly as featureful. + go down one line + display the next page (or next message if at the end of a message) +- go back to the previous page +n search for next match +S skip beyond quoted text +T toggle display of quoted text +? show key bindings +/ search for a regular expression (pattern) +ESC / search backwards for a regular expression +\ toggle search pattern coloring +^ jump to the top of the message - You can start editing the email message. It is strongly recommended to put your - answer _b_e_l_o_w the quoted text and to only quote what is really necessary and - that you refer to. Putting your answer on top of the quoted message, is, - although very widespread, very often not considered to be a polite way to - answer emails. + In addition, many of the functions from the index are available in the pager, such as delete-message or copy-message (this is one advantage over using an external pager to view messages). - The quote attribution is configurable, by default it is set to + Also, the internal pager supports a couple other advanced features. For one, it will accept and translate the ``standard'' nroff sequences for bold and underline. These sequences are a series of either the letter, backspace (^H), the letter again for bold or the letter, backspace, ``_'' for denoting underline. Mutt-ng will attempt to display these in bold and underline respectively if your terminal supports them. If not, you can use the bold and underline color objects to specify a color or mono attribute for them. - set attribution = "On %d, %n wrote:" + Additionally, the internal pager supports the ANSI escape sequences for character attributes. Mutt-ng translates them into the correct color and character settings. The sequences Mutt-ng supports are: +ESC [ Ps;Ps;Ps;...;Ps m +where Ps = +0 All Attributes Off +1 Bold on +4 Underline on +5 Blink on +7 Reverse video on +3x Foreground color is x +4x Background color is x - It can also be set to something more compact, e.g. +Colors are +0 black +1 red +2 green +3 yellow +4 blue +5 magenta +6 cyan +7 white - set attribution = "attribution="* %n <%a> [%(%y-%m-%d %H:%M)]:" + Mutt-ng uses these attributes for handling text/enriched messages, and they can also be used by an external autoview script for highlighting purposes. Note: If you change the colors for your display, for example by changing the color associated with color2 for your xterm, then that color will be used instead of green. - The example above results in the following attribution: +5.3. Threaded Mode - * Michael Svensson [05-03-06 17:02]: - > Bill, can you please send last month's progress report to Mr. - > Morgan? We also urgently need the cost estimation for the new - > production server that we want to set up before our customer's - > project will go live. + When the mailbox is sorted by threads, there are a few additional functions available in the index and pager modes. +^D delete-thread delete all messages in the current thread +^U undelete-thread undelete all messages in the current thread +^N next-thread jump to the start of the next thread +^P previous-thread jump to the start of the previous thread +^R read-thread mark the current thread as read +ESC d delete-subthread delete all messages in the current subthread +ESC u undelete-subthread undelete all messages in the current subthread +ESC n next-subthread jump to the start of the next subthread +ESC p previous-subthread jump to the start of the previous subthread +ESC r read-subthread mark the current subthread as read +ESC t tag-thread toggle the tag on the current thread +ESC v collapse-thread toggle collapse for the current thread +ESC V collapse-all toggle collapse for all threads +P parent-message jump to parent message in thread - Generally, try to keep your attribution short yet information-rich. It is _n_o_t - the right place for witty quotes, long "attribution" novels or anything like - that: the right place for such things is - if at all - the email signature at - the very bottom of the message. + Note: Collapsing a thread displays only the first message in the thread and hides the others. This is useful when threads contain so many messages that you can only see a handful of threads on the screen. See %M in index-format. For example, you could use "%?M?(#%03M)&(%4l)?" in index-format to optionally display the number of hidden messages if the thread is collapsed. - When you're done with writing your message, save and quit the editor. As - before, you will return to the compose menu, which is used in the same way as + See also: strict-threads. - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 17 +5.4. Miscellaneous Functions - before. + create-alias (default: a) - _2_._6_._2_._2 _G_r_o_u_p _R_e_p_l_i_e_s + Creates a new alias based upon the current message (or prompts for a new one). Once editing is complete, an alias command is added to the file specified by the alias-file variable for future use. Note: Specifying an alias-file does not add the aliases specified there-in, you must also source the file. - In the situation where a group of people uses email as a discussion, most of - the emails will have one or more recipients, and probably several "Cc:" recipi- - ents. The group reply functionality ensures that when you press g instead of r - to do a reply, each and every recipient that is contained in the original mes- - sage will receive a copy of the message, either as normal recipient or as "Cc:" - recipient. + check-traditional-pgp (default: ESC P) - _2_._6_._2_._3 _L_i_s_t _R_e_p_l_i_e_s + This function will search the current message for content signed or encrypted with PGP the "traditional" way, that is, without proper MIME tagging. Technically, this function will temporarily change the MIME content types of the body parts containing PGP data; this is similar to the edit-type function's effect. - When you use mailing lists, it's generally better to send your reply to a mes- - sage only to the list instead of the list and the original author. To make this - easy to use, mutt-ng features list replies. + display-toggle-weed (default: h) - To do a list reply, simply press L. If the email contains a Mail-Followup-To: - header, its value will be used as reply address. Otherwise, mutt-ng searches - through all mail addresses in the original message and tries to match them a - list of regular expressions which can be specified using the lists command. If - any of the regular expression matches, a mailing list address has been found, - and it will be used as reply address. + Toggles the weeding of message header fields specified by ignore commands. - lists linuxevent@luga\.at vuln-dev@ mutt-ng-users@ + edit (default: e) - Nowadays, most mailing list software like GNU Mailman adds a Mail-Followup-To: - header to their emails anyway, so setting lists is hardly ever necessary in - practice. + This command (available in the ``index'' and ``pager'') allows you to edit the raw current message as it's present in the mail folder. After you have finished editing, the changed message will be appended to the current folder, and the original message will be marked for deletion. - _2_._6_._3 _E_d_i_t_i_n_g _t_h_e _m_e_s_s_a_g_e _h_e_a_d_e_r + edit-type (default: ^E on the attachment menu, and in the pager and index menus; ^T on the compose menu) - When editing the header of your outgoing message, there are a couple of special - features available. + This command is used to temporarily edit an attachment's content type to fix, for instance, bogus character set parameters. When invoked from the index or from the pager, you'll have the opportunity to edit the top-level attachment's content type. On the attach-menu, you can change any attachment's content type. These changes are not persistent, and get lost upon changing folders. - If you specify + Note that this command is also available on the compose-menu. There, it's used to fine-tune the properties of attachments you are going to send. - Fcc: _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e + enter-command (default: ``:'') - Mutt-ng will pick up _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e just as if you had used the _e_d_i_t_-_f_c_c function in - the _c_o_m_p_o_s_e menu. + This command is used to execute any command you would normally put in a configuration file. A common use is to check the settings of variables, or in conjunction with macro to change settings on the fly. - You can also attach files to your message by specifying + extract-keys (default: ^K) - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 18 + This command extracts PGP public keys from the current or tagged message(s) and adds them to your PGP public key ring. - Attach: _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e [ _d_e_s_c_r_i_p_t_i_o_n ] + forget-passphrase (default: ^F) - where _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e is the file to attach and _d_e_s_c_r_i_p_t_i_o_n is an optional string to - use as the description of the attached file. + This command wipes the passphrase(s) from memory. It is useful, if you misspelled the passphrase. - When replying to messages, if you remove the _I_n_-_R_e_p_l_y_-_T_o_: field from the header - field, Mutt-ng will not generate a _R_e_f_e_r_e_n_c_e_s_: field, which allows you to cre- - ate a new message thread. + list-reply (default: L) - Also see _e_d_i_t___h_e_a_d_e_r_s (section 7.4.59 , page 103). + Reply to the current or tagged message(s) by extracting any addresses which match the regular expressions given by the lists commands, but also honor any Mail-Followup-To header(s) if the honor-followup-to configuration variable is set. Using this when replying to messages posted to mailing lists helps avoid duplicate copies being sent to the author of the message you are replying to. - _2_._6_._4 _U_s_i_n_g _M_u_t_t_-_n_g _w_i_t_h _P_G_P + pipe-message (default: |) - If you want to use PGP, you can specify + Asks for an external Unix command and pipes the current or tagged message(s) to it. The variables pipe-decode, pipe-split, pipe-sep and wait-key control the exact behavior of this function. - Pgp: [ E | S | S_<_i_d_> ] + resend-message (default: ESC e) - ``E'' encrypts, ``S'' signs and ``S'' signs with the given key, setting - _$_p_g_p___s_i_g_n___a_s (section 7.4.208 , page 140) permanently. + With resend-message, mutt takes the current message as a template for a new message. This function is best described as "recall from arbitrary folders". It can conveniently be used to forward MIME messages while preserving the original mail structure. Note that the amount of headers included here depends on the value of the weed variable. - If you have told mutt to PGP encrypt a message, it will guide you through a key - selection process when you try to send the message. Mutt-ng will not ask you - any questions about keys which have a certified user ID matching one of the - message recipients' mail addresses. However, there may be situations in which - there are several keys, weakly certified user ID fields, or where no matching - keys can be found. + This function is also available from the attachment menu. You can use this to easily resend a message which was included with a bounce message as a message/rfc822 body part. - In these cases, you are dropped into a menu with a list of keys from which you - can select one. When you quit this menu, or mutt can't find any matching keys, - you are prompted for a user ID. You can, as usually, abort this prompt using - ^G. When you do so, mutt will return to the compose screen. + shell-escape (default: !) - Once you have successfully finished the key selection, the message will be - encrypted using the selected public keys, and sent out. + Asks for an external Unix command and executes it. The wait-key can be used to control whether Mutt-ng will wait for a key to be pressed when the command returns (presumably to let the user read the output of the command), based on the return status of the named command. - Most fields of the entries in the key selection menu (see also _$_p_g_p___e_n_t_r_y___f_o_r_- - _m_a_t (section 7.4.195 , page 137)) have obvious meanings. But some explana- - tions on the capabilities, flags, and validity fields are in order. + toggle-quoted (default: T) - The flags sequence (%f) will expand to one of the following flags: + The pager uses the quote-regexp variable to detect quoted text when displaying the body of the message. This function toggles the display of the quoted material in the message. It is particularly useful when are interested in just the response and there is a large amount of quoted text in the way. - R The key has been revoked and can't be used. - X The key is expired and can't be used. - d You have marked the key as disabled. - c There are unknown critical self-signature - packets. + skip-quoted (default: S) - The capabilities field (%c) expands to a two-character sequence representing a - key's capabilities. The first character gives the key's encryption capabili- - ties: A minus sign (--) means that the key cannot be used for encryption. A dot - (..) means that it's marked as a signature key in one of the user IDs, but may + This function will go to the next line of non-quoted text which come after a line of quoted text in the internal pager. - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 19 +6. Sending Mail - also be used for encryption. The letter ee indicates that this key can be used - for encryption. + The following bindings are available in the index for sending messages. +m compose compose a new message +r reply reply to sender +g group-reply reply to all recipients +L list-reply reply to mailing list address +f forward forward message +b bounce bounce (remail) message +ESC k mail-key mail a PGP public key to someone - The second character indicates the key's signing capabilities. Once again, a - ``--'' implies ``not for signing'', ``..'' implies that the key is marked as an - encryption key in one of the user-ids, and ``ss'' denotes a key which can be - used for signing. + Bouncing a message sends the message as is to the recipient you specify. Forwarding a message allows you to add comments or modify the message you are forwarding. These items are discussed in greater detail in the next chapter forwarding-mail. - Finally, the validity field (%t) indicates how well-certified a user-id is. A - question mark (??) indicates undefined validity, a minus character (--) marks an - untrusted association, a space character means a partially trusted association, - and a plus character (++) indicates complete validity. +6.1. Composing new messages - _2_._6_._5 _S_e_n_d_i_n_g _a_n_o_n_y_m_o_u_s _m_e_s_s_a_g_e_s _v_i_a _m_i_x_m_a_s_t_e_r + When you want to send an email using mutt-ng, simply press m on your keyboard. Then, mutt-ng asks for the recipient via a prompt in the last line: +To: - You may also have configured mutt to co-operate with Mixmaster, an anonymous - remailer. Mixmaster permits you to send your messages anonymously using a - chain of remailers. Mixmaster support in mutt is for mixmaster version 2.04 - (beta 45 appears to be the latest) and 2.03. It does not support earlier ver- - sions or the later so-called version 3 betas, of which the latest appears to be - called 2.9b23. + After you've finished entering the recipient(s), press return. If you want to send an email to more than one recipient, separate the email addresses using the comma ",". Mutt-ng then asks you for the email subject. Again, press return after you've entered it. After that, mutt-ng got the most important information from you, and starts up an editor where you can then enter your email. - To use it, you'll have to obey certain restrictions. Most important, you can- - not use the Cc and Bcc headers. To tell Mutt-ng to use mixmaster, you have to - select a remailer chain, using the mix function on the compose menu. + The editor that is called is selected in the following way: you can e.g. set it in the mutt-ng configuration: +set editor = "vim +/^$/ -c ':set tw=72'" +set editor = "nano" +set editor = "emacs" - The chain selection screen is divided into two parts. In the (larger) upper - part, you get a list of remailers you may use. In the lower part, you see the - currently selected chain of remailers. + If you don't set your preferred editor in your configuration, mutt-ng first looks whether the environment variable $VISUAL is set, and if so, it takes its value as editor command. Otherwise, it has a look at $EDITOR and takes its value if it is set. If no editor command can be found, mutt-ng simply assumes vi to be the default editor, since it's the most widespread editor in the Unix world and it's pretty safe to assume that it is installed and available. - You can navigate in the chain using the chain-prev and chain-next functions, - which are by default bound to the left and right arrows and to the h and l keys - (think vi keyboard bindings). To insert a remailer at the current chain posi- - tion, use the insert function. To append a remailer behind the current chain - position, use select-entry or append. You can also delete entries from the - chain, using the corresponding function. Finally, to abandon your changes, - leave the menu, or accept them pressing (by default) the Return key. + When you've finished entering your message, save it and quit your editor. Mutt-ng will then present you with a summary screen, the compose menu. On the top, you see a summary of the most important available key commands. Below that, you see the sender, the recipient(s), Cc and/or Bcc recipient(s), the subject, the reply-to address, and optionally information where the sent email will be stored and whether it should be digitally signed and/or encrypted. - Note that different remailers do have different capabilities, indicated in the - %c entry of the remailer menu lines (see _$_m_i_x___e_n_t_r_y___f_o_r_m_a_t (section 7.4.146 , - page 125)). Most important is the ``middleman'' capability, indicated by a - capital ``M'': This means that the remailer in question cannot be used as the - final element of a chain, but will only forward messages to other mixmaster - remailers. For details on the other capabilities, please have a look at the - mixmaster documentation. + Below that, you see a list of "attachments". The mail you've just entered before is also an attachment, but due to its special type (it's plain text), it will be displayed as the normal message on the receiver's side. - _2_._7 _F_o_r_w_a_r_d_i_n_g _a_n_d _B_o_u_n_c_i_n_g _M_a_i_l + At this point, you can add more attachments, pressing a, you can edit the recipient addresses, pressing t for the "To:" field, c for the "Cc:" field, and b for the "Bcc: field. You can also edit the subject the subject by simply pressing s or the email message that you've entered before by pressing e. You will then again return to the editor. You can even edit the sender, by pressing f, but this shall only be used with caution. - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 20 + Alternatively, you can configure mutt-ng in a way that most of the above settings can be edited using the editor. Therefore, you only need to add the following to your configuration: +set edit_headers - Often, it is necessary to forward mails to other people. Therefore, mutt-ng - supports forwarding messages in two different ways. + Once you have finished editing the body of your mail message, you are returned to the compose menu. The following options are available: +a attach-file attach a file +A attach-message attach message(s) to the message +ESC k attach-key attach a PGP public key +d edit-description edit description on attachment +D detach-file detach a file +t edit-to edit the To field +ESC f edit-from edit the From field +r edit-reply-to edit the Reply-To field +c edit-cc edit the Cc field +b edit-bcc edit the Bcc field +y send-message send the message +s edit-subject edit the Subject +S smime-menu select S/MIME options +f edit-fcc specify an ``Fcc'' mailbox +p pgp-menu select PGP options +P postpone-message postpone this message until later +q quit quit (abort) sending the message +w write-fcc write the message to a folder +i ispell check spelling (if available on your system) +^F forget-passphrase wipe passphrase(s) from memory - The first one is regular forwarding, as you probably know it from other mail - clients. You simply press f, enter the recipient email address, the subject of - the forwarded email, and then you can edit the message to be forwarded in the - editor. The forwarded message is separated from the rest of the message via the - two following markers: + Note: The attach-message function will prompt you for a folder to attach messages from. You can now tag messages in that folder and they will be attached to the message you are sending. Note that certain operations like composing a new mail, replying, forwarding, etc. are not permitted when you are in that folder. The %r in status-format will change to a 'A' to indicate that you are in attach-message mode. - ----- Forwarded message from Lucas User ----- +6.2. Replying - From: Lucas User - Date: Thu, 02 Dec 2004 03:08:34 +0100 - To: Michael Random - Subject: Re: blackmail +6.2.1. Simple Replies - Pay me EUR 50,000.- cash or your favorite stuffed animal will die - a horrible death. + When you want to reply to an email message, select it in the index menu and then press r. Mutt-ng's behaviour is then similar to the behaviour when you compose a message: first, you will be asked for the recipient, then for the subject, and then, mutt-ng will start the editor with the quote attribution and the quoted message. This can e.g. look like the example below. +On Mon, Mar 07, 2005 at 05:02:12PM +0100, Michael Svensson wrote: +> Bill, can you please send last month's progress report to Mr. +> Morgan? We also urgently need the cost estimation for the new +> production server that we want to set up before our customer's +> project will go live. - ----- End forwarded message ----- + You can start editing the email message. It is strongly recommended to put your answer below the quoted text and to only quote what is really necessary and that you refer to. Putting your answer on top of the quoted message, is, although very widespread, very often not considered to be a polite way to answer emails. - When you're done with editing the mail, save and quit the editor, and you will - return to the compose menu, the same menu you also encounter when composing or - replying to mails. + The quote attribution is configurable, by default it is set to +set attribution = "On %d, %n wrote:" - The second mode of forwarding emails with mutt-ng is the so-called _b_o_u_n_c_i_n_g: - when you bounce an email to another address, it will be sent in practically the - same format you send it (except for headers that are created during transport- - ing the message). To bounce a message, press b and enter the recipient email - address. By default, you are then asked whether you really want to bounce the - message to the specified recipient. If you answer with yes, the message will - then be bounced. + It can also be set to something more compact, e.g. +set attribution = "attribution="* %n <%a> [%(%y-%m-%d %H:%M)]:" - To the recipient, the bounced email will look as if he got it like a regular - email where he was Bcc: recipient. The only possibility to find out whether it - was a bounced email is to carefully study the email headers and to find out - which host really sent the email. + The example above results in the following attribution: +* Michael Svensson [05-03-06 17:02]: +> Bill, can you please send last month's progress report to Mr. +> Morgan? We also urgently need the cost estimation for the new +> production server that we want to set up before our customer's +> project will go live. - _2_._8 _P_o_s_t_p_o_n_i_n_g _M_a_i_l + Generally, try to keep your attribution short yet information-rich. It is not the right place for witty quotes, long "attribution" novels or anything like that: the right place for such things is - if at all - the email signature at the very bottom of the message. - At times it is desirable to delay sending a message that you have already begun - to compose. When the _p_o_s_t_p_o_n_e_-_m_e_s_s_a_g_e function is used in the _c_o_m_p_o_s_e menu, - the body of your message and attachments are stored in the mailbox specified by - the _$_p_o_s_t_p_o_n_e_d (section 7.4.230 , page 145) variable. This means that you can - recall the message even if you exit Mutt-ng and then restart it at a later - time. + When you're done with writing your message, save and quit the editor. As before, you will return to the compose menu, which is used in the same way as before. - Once a message is postponed, there are several ways to resume it. From the - command line you can use the ``-p'' option, or if you _c_o_m_p_o_s_e a new message +6.2.2. Group Replies - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 21 + In the situation where a group of people uses email as a discussion, most of the emails will have one or more recipients, and probably several "Cc:" recipients. The group reply functionality ensures that when you press g instead of r to do a reply, each and every recipient that is contained in the original message will receive a copy of the message, either as normal recipient or as "Cc:" recipient. - from the _i_n_d_e_x or _p_a_g_e_r you will be prompted if postponed messages exist. If - multiple messages are currently postponed, the _p_o_s_t_p_o_n_e_d menu will pop up and - you can select which message you would like to resume. +6.2.3. List Replies - NNoottee:: If you postpone a reply to a message, the reply setting of the message is - only updated when you actually finish the message and send it. Also, you must - be in the same folder with the message you replied to for the status of the - message to be updated. + When you use mailing lists, it's generally better to send your reply to a message only to the list instead of the list and the original author. To make this easy to use, mutt-ng features list replies. - See also the _$_p_o_s_t_p_o_n_e (section 7.4.229 , page 145) quad-option. + To do a list reply, simply press L. If the email contains a Mail-Followup-To: header, its value will be used as reply address. Otherwise, mutt-ng searches through all mail addresses in the original message and tries to match them a list of regular expressions which can be specified using the lists command. If any of the regular expression matches, a mailing list address has been found, and it will be used as reply address. +lists linuxevent@luga\.at vuln-dev@ mutt-ng-users@ - _3_. _C_o_n_f_i_g_u_r_a_t_i_o_n + Nowadays, most mailing list software like GNU Mailman adds a Mail-Followup-To: header to their emails anyway, so setting lists is hardly ever necessary in practice. - _3_._1 _L_o_c_a_t_i_o_n_s _o_f _C_o_n_f_i_g_u_r_a_t_i_o_n _F_i_l_e_s +6.3. Editing the message header - While the default configuration (or ``preferences'') make Mutt-ng usable right - out of the box, it is often desirable to tailor Mutt-ng to suit your own - tastes. When Mutt-ng is first invoked, it will attempt to read the ``system'' - configuration file (defaults set by your local system administrator), unless - the ``-n'' _c_o_m_m_a_n_d _l_i_n_e (section 7.1 , page 83) option is specified. This - file is typically /usr/local/share/muttng/Muttngrc or /etc/Muttngrc, Mutt-ng - users will find this file in /usr/local/share/muttng/Muttrc or /etc/Muttngrc. - Mutt will next look for a file named .muttrc in your home directory, Mutt-ng - will look for .muttngrc. If this file does not exist and your home directory - has a subdirectory named .mutt, mutt try to load a file named .muttng/muttngrc. + When editing the header of your outgoing message, there are a couple of special features available. - .muttrc (or .muttngrc for Mutt-ng) is the file where you will usually place - your _c_o_m_m_a_n_d_s (section 7.3 , page 86) to configure Mutt-ng. + If you specify Fcc: filename Mutt-ng will pick up filename just as if you had used the edit-fcc function in the compose menu. - _3_._2 _B_a_s_i_c _S_y_n_t_a_x _o_f _I_n_i_t_i_a_l_i_z_a_t_i_o_n _F_i_l_e_s + You can also attach files to your message by specifying Attach: filename [ description ] where filename is the file to attach and description is an optional string to use as the description of the attached file. - An initialization file consists of a series of _c_o_m_m_a_n_d_s (section 7.3 , page - 86). Each line of the file may contain one or more commands. When multiple - commands are used, they must be separated by a semicolon (;). + When replying to messages, if you remove the In-Reply-To: field from the header field, Mutt-ng will not generate a References: field, which allows you to create a new message thread. - set realname='Mutt-ng user' ; ignore x- + Also see edit-headers. - The hash mark, or pound sign (``#''), is used as a ``comment'' character. You - can use it to annotate your initialization file. All text after the comment - character to the end of the line is ignored. For example, +6.4. Using Mutt-ng with PGP - my_hdr X-Disclaimer: Why are you listening to me? # This is a comment + If you want to use PGP, you can specify - Single quotes (') and double quotes (') can be used to quote strings which + Pgp: [ E | S | S ] - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 22 + ``E'' encrypts, ``S'' signs and ``S'' signs with the given key, setting pgp-sign-as permanently. - contain spaces or other special characters. The difference between the two - types of quotes is similar to that of many popular shell programs, namely that - a single quote is used to specify a literal string (one that is not interpreted - for shell variables or quoting with a backslash [see next paragraph]), while - double quotes indicate a string for which should be evaluated. For example, - backtics are evaluated inside of double quotes, but nnoott for single quotes. + If you have told mutt to PGP encrypt a message, it will guide you through a key selection process when you try to send the message. Mutt-ng will not ask you any questions about keys which have a certified user ID matching one of the message recipients' mail addresses. However, there may be situations in which there are several keys, weakly certified user ID fields, or where no matching keys can be found. - \ quotes the next character, just as in shells such as bash and zsh. For exam- - ple, if want to put quotes ``''' inside of a string, you can use ``\'' to force - the next character to be a literal instead of interpreted character. + In these cases, you are dropped into a menu with a list of keys from which you can select one. When you quit this menu, or mutt can't find any matching keys, you are prompted for a user ID. You can, as usually, abort this prompt using ^G. When you do so, mutt will return to the compose screen. - set realname="Michael \"MuttDude\" Elkins" + Once you have successfully finished the key selection, the message will be encrypted using the selected public keys, and sent out. - ``\\'' means to insert a literal ``\'' into the line. ``\n'' and ``\r'' have - their usual C meanings of linefeed and carriage-return, respectively. + Most fields of the entries in the key selection menu (see also pgp-entry-format) have obvious meanings. But some explanations on the capabilities, flags, and validity fields are in order. - A \ at the end of a line can be used to split commands over multiple lines, - provided that the split points don't appear in the middle of command names. + The flags sequence (%f) will expand to one of the following flags: +R The key has been revoked and can't be used. +X The key is expired and can't be used. +d You have marked the key as disabled. +c There are unknown critical self-signature + packets. - Please note that, unlike the various shells, mutt-ng interprets a ``\'' at the - end of a line also in comments. This allows you to disable a command split over - multiple lines with only one ``#''. + The capabilities field (%c) expands to a two-character sequence representing a key's capabilities. The first character gives the key's encryption capabilities: A minus sign (-) means that the key cannot be used for encryption. A dot (.) means that it's marked as a signature key in one of the user IDs, but may also be used for encryption. The letter e indicates that this key can be used for encryption. - # folder-hook . \ - set realname="Michael \"MuttDude\" Elkins" + The second character indicates the key's signing capabilities. Once again, a ``-'' implies ``not for signing'', ``.'' implies that the key is marked as an encryption key in one of the user-ids, and ``s'' denotes a key which can be used for signing. - When testing your config files, beware the following caveat. The backslash at - the end of the commented line extends the current line with the next line - - then referred to as a ``continuation line''. As the first line is commented - with a hash (#) all following continuation lines are also part of a comment and - therefore are ignored, too. So take care of comments when continuation lines - are involved within your setup files! + Finally, the validity field (%t) indicates how well-certified a user-id is. A question mark (?) indicates undefined validity, a minus character (-) marks an untrusted association, a space character means a partially trusted association, and a plus character (+) indicates complete validity. - Abstract example: +6.5. Sending anonymous messages via mixmaster - line1\ - line2a # line2b\ - line3\ - line4 - line5 + You may also have configured mutt to co-operate with Mixmaster, an anonymous remailer. Mixmaster permits you to send your messages anonymously using a chain of remailers. Mixmaster support in mutt is for mixmaster version 2.04 (beta 45 appears to be the latest) and 2.03. It does not support earlier versions or the later so-called version 3 betas, of which the latest appears to be called 2.9b23. - line1 ``continues'' until line4. however, the part after the # is a comment - which includes line3 and line4. line5 is a new line of its own and thus is - interpreted again. + To use it, you'll have to obey certain restrictions. Most important, you cannot use the Cc and Bcc headers. To tell Mutt-ng to use mixmaster, you have to select a remailer chain, using the mix function on the compose menu. - The commands understood by mutt are explained in the next paragraphs. For a - complete list, see the _c_o_m_m_a_n_d _r_e_f_e_r_e_n_c_e (section 7.3 , page 86). + The chain selection screen is divided into two parts. In the (larger) upper part, you get a list of remailers you may use. In the lower part, you see the currently selected chain of remailers. - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 23 + You can navigate in the chain using the chain-prev and chain-next functions, which are by default bound to the left and right arrows and to the h and l keys (think vi keyboard bindings). To insert a remailer at the current chain position, use the insert function. To append a remailer behind the current chain position, use select-entry or append. You can also delete entries from the chain, using the corresponding function. Finally, to abandon your changes, leave the menu, or accept them pressing (by default) the Return key. - _3_._3 _E_x_p_a_n_s_i_o_n _w_i_t_h_i_n _v_a_r_i_a_b_l_e_s + Note that different remailers do have different capabilities, indicated in the %c entry of the remailer menu lines (see mix-entry-format). Most important is the ``middleman'' capability, indicated by a capital ``M'': This means that the remailer in question cannot be used as the final element of a chain, but will only forward messages to other mixmaster remailers. For details on the other capabilities, please have a look at the mixmaster documentation. - Besides just assign static content to variables, there's plenty of ways of - adding external and more or less dynamic content. +7. Forwarding and Bouncing Mail - _3_._3_._1 _C_o_m_m_a_n_d_s_' _O_u_t_p_u_t + Often, it is necessary to forward mails to other people. Therefore, mutt-ng supports forwarding messages in two different ways. - It is possible to substitute the output of a Unix command in an initialization - file. This is accomplished by enclosing the command in backquotes (``) as in, - for example: + The first one is regular forwarding, as you probably know it from other mail clients. You simply press f, enter the recipient email address, the subject of the forwarded email, and then you can edit the message to be forwarded in the editor. The forwarded message is separated from the rest of the message via the two following markers: +----- Forwarded message from Lucas User ----- - my_hdr X-Operating-System: `uname -a` +From: Lucas User +Date: Thu, 02 Dec 2004 03:08:34 +0100 +To: Michael Random +Subject: Re: blackmail - The output of the Unix command ``uname -a'' will be substituted before the line - is parsed. Note that since initialization files are line oriented, only the - first line of output from the Unix command will be substituted. +Pay me EUR 50,000.- cash or your favorite stuffed animal will die +a horrible death. - _3_._3_._2 _E_n_v_i_r_o_n_m_e_n_t _V_a_r_i_a_b_l_e_s - UNIX environments can be accessed like the way it is done in shells like sh and - bash: Prepend the name of the environment by a ``$'' sign. For example, +----- End forwarded message ----- - set record=+sent_on_$HOSTNAME + When you're done with editing the mail, save and quit the editor, and you will return to the compose menu, the same menu you also encounter when composing or replying to mails. - sets the _$_r_e_c_o_r_d (section 7.4.246 , page 148) variable to the string _+_s_e_n_t___o_n__ - and appends the value of the evironment variable $HOSTNAME. + The second mode of forwarding emails with mutt-ng is the so-called bouncing: when you bounce an email to another address, it will be sent in practically the same format you send it (except for headers that are created during transporting the message). To bounce a message, press b and enter the recipient email address. By default, you are then asked whether you really want to bounce the message to the specified recipient. If you answer with yes, the message will then be bounced. - NNoottee:: There will be no warning if an environment variable is not defined. The - result will of the expansion will then be empty. + To the recipient, the bounced email will look as if he got it like a regular email where he was Bcc: recipient. The only possibility to find out whether it was a bounced email is to carefully study the email headers and to find out which host really sent the email. - _3_._3_._3 _C_o_n_f_i_g_u_r_a_t_i_o_n _V_a_r_i_a_b_l_e_s +8. Postponing Mail - As for environment variables, the values of all configuration variables as - string can be used in the same way, too. For example, + At times it is desirable to delay sending a message that you have already begun to compose. When the postpone-message function is used in the compose menu, the body of your message and attachments are stored in the mailbox specified by the postponed variable. This means that you can recall the message even if you exit Mutt-ng and then restart it at a later time. - set imap_home_namespace = $folder + Once a message is postponed, there are several ways to resume it. From the command line you can use the ``-p'' option, or if you compose a new message from the index or pager you will be prompted if postponed messages exist. If multiple messages are currently postponed, the postponed menu will pop up and you can select which message you would like to resume. - would set the value of _$_i_m_a_p___h_o_m_e___n_a_m_e_s_p_a_c_e (section 7.4.101 , page 113) to - the value to which _$_f_o_l_d_e_r (section 7.4.70 , page 105) is _c_u_r_r_e_n_t_l_y set to. + Note: If you postpone a reply to a message, the reply setting of the message is only updated when you actually finish the message and send it. Also, you must be in the same folder with the message you replied to for the status of the message to be updated. - NNoottee:: There're no logical links established in such cases so that the the value - for _$_i_m_a_p___h_o_m_e___n_a_m_e_s_p_a_c_e (section 7.4.101 , page 113) won't change even if - _$_f_o_l_d_e_r (section 7.4.70 , page 105) gets changed. + See also the postpone quad-option. - NNoottee:: There will be no warning if a configuration variable is not defined or is - empty. The result will of the expansion will then be empty. +Chapter 3. Configuration - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 24 + Table of Contents - _3_._3_._4 _S_e_l_f_-_D_e_f_i_n_e_d _V_a_r_i_a_b_l_e_s + 1. Locations of Configuration Files + 2. Basic Syntax of Initialization Files + 3. Expansion within variables - Mutt-ng flexibly allows users to define their own variables. To avoid conflicts - with the standard set and to prevent misleading error messages, there's a - reserved namespace for them: all user-defined variables must be prefixed with - user_ and can be used just like any ordinary configuration or environment vari- - able. + 3.1. Commands' Output + 3.2. Environment Variables + 3.3. Configuration Variables + 3.4. Self-Defined Variables + 3.5. Pre-Defined Variables + 3.6. Type Conversions - For example, to view the manual, users can either define two macros like the - following + 4. Defining/Using aliases + 5. Changing the default key bindings + 6. Defining aliases for character sets + 7. Setting variables based upon mailbox + 8. Keyboard macros + 9. Using color and mono video attributes + 10. Ignoring (weeding) unwanted message headers + 11. Alternative addresses + 12. Format = Flowed - macro generic "!less -r /path/to/manual" "Show manual" - macro pager "!less -r /path/to/manual" "Show manual" + 12.1. Introduction + 12.2. Receiving: Display Setup + 12.3. Sending + 12.4. Additional Notes - for generic, pager and index. The alternative is to define a custom variable - like so: + 13. Mailing lists + 14. Using Multiple spool mailboxes + 15. Defining mailboxes which receive mail + 16. User defined headers + 17. Defining the order of headers when viewing messages + 18. Specify default save filename + 19. Specify default Fcc: mailbox when composing + 20. Specify default save filename and default Fcc: mailbox at once + 21. Change settings based upon message recipients + 22. Change settings before formatting a message + 23. Choosing the cryptographic key of the recipient + 24. Adding key sequences to the keyboard buffer + 25. Executing functions + 26. Message Scoring + 27. Spam detection + 28. Setting variables + 29. Reading initialization commands from another file + 30. Removing hooks + 31. Sharing Setups - set user_manualcmd = "!less -r /path/to_manual" - macro generic "$user_manualcmd" "Show manual" - macro pager "$user_manualcmd" "Show manual" - macro index "$user_manualcmd" "Show manual" + 31.1. Character Sets + 31.2. Modularization + 31.3. Conditional parts - to re-use the command sequence as in: + 32. Obsolete Variables - macro index "$user_manualcmd | grep '\^[ ]\\+~. '" "Show Patterns" +1. Locations of Configuration Files - Using this feature, arbitrary sequences can be defined once and recalled and - reused where necessary. More advanced scenarios could include to save a vari- - able's value at the beginning of macro sequence and restore it at end. + While the default configuration (or ``preferences'') make Mutt-ng usable right out of the box, it is often desirable to tailor Mutt-ng to suit your own tastes. When Mutt-ng is first invoked, it will attempt to read the ``system'' configuration file (defaults set by your local system administrator), unless the ``-n'' commandline option is specified. This file is typically /usr/local/share/muttng/Muttngrc or /etc/Muttngrc, Mutt-ng users will find this file in /usr/local/share/muttng/Muttrc or /etc/Muttngrc. Mutt will next look for a file named .muttrc in your home directory, Mutt-ng will look for .muttngrc. If this file does not exist and your home directory has a subdirectory named .mutt, mutt try to load a file named .muttng/muttngrc. - When the variable is first defined, the first value it gets assigned is also - the initial value to which it can be reset using the reset command. + .muttrc (or .muttngrc for Mutt-ng) is the file where you will usually place your commands to configure Mutt-ng. - The complete removal is done via the unset keyword. +2. Basic Syntax of Initialization Files - After the following sequence: + An initialization file consists of a series of commands. Each line of the file may contain one or more commands. When multiple commands are used, they must be separated by a semicolon (;). +set realname='Mutt-ng user' ; ignore x- - set user_foo = 42 - set user_foo = 666 + The hash mark, or pound sign (``#''), is used as a ``comment'' character. You can use it to annotate your initialization file. All text after the comment character to the end of the line is ignored. For example, +my_hdr X-Disclaimer: Why are you listening to me? # This is a comment - the variable $user_foo has a current value of 666 and an initial of 42. The - query + Single quotes (') and double quotes (") can be used to quote strings which contain spaces or other special characters. The difference between the two types of quotes is similar to that of many popular shell programs, namely that a single quote is used to specify a literal string (one that is not interpreted for shell variables or quoting with a backslash [see next paragraph]), while double quotes indicate a string for which should be evaluated. For example, backtics are evaluated inside of double quotes, but not for single quotes. - set ?user_foo + \ quotes the next character, just as in shells such as bash and zsh. For example, if want to put quotes ``"'' inside of a string, you can use ``\'' to force the next character to be a literal instead of interpreted character. +set realname="Michael \"MuttDude\" Elkins" - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 25 + ``\\'' means to insert a literal ``\'' into the line. ``\n'' and ``\r'' have their usual C meanings of linefeed and carriage-return, respectively. - will show 666. After doing the reset via + A \ at the end of a line can be used to split commands over multiple lines, provided that the split points don't appear in the middle of command names. - reset user_foo + Please note that, unlike the various shells, mutt-ng interprets a ``\'' at the end of a line also in comments. This allows you to disable a command split over multiple lines with only one ``#''. +# folder-hook . \ + set realname="Michael \"MuttDude\" Elkins" - a following query will give 42 as the result. After unsetting it via + When testing your config files, beware the following caveat. The backslash at the end of the commented line extends the current line with the next line - then referred to as a ``continuation line''. As the first line is commented with a hash (#) all following continuation lines are also part of a comment and therefore are ignored, too. So take care of comments when continuation lines are involved within your setup files! - unset user_foo + Abstract example: +line1\ +line2a # line2b\ +line3\ +line4 +line5 - any query or operation (except the noted expansion within other statements) - will lead to an error message. + line1 ``continues'' until line4. however, the part after the # is a comment which includes line3 and line4. line5 is a new line of its own and thus is interpreted again. - _3_._3_._5 _P_r_e_-_D_e_f_i_n_e_d _V_a_r_i_a_b_l_e_s + The commands understood by mutt are explained in the next paragraphs. For a complete list, see the commands. - In order to allow users to share one setup over a number of different machines - without having to change its contents, there's a number of pre-defined vari- - ables. These are prefixed with muttng_ and are read-only, i.e. they cannot be - set, unset or reset. The reference chapter lists all available variables. +3. Expansion within variables - _P_l_e_a_s_e _c_o_n_s_u_l_t _t_h_e _l_o_c_a_l _c_o_p_y _o_f _y_o_u_r _m_a_n_u_a_l _f_o_r _t_h_e_i_r _v_a_l_u_e_s _a_s _t_h_e_y _m_a_y _d_i_f_- - _f_e_r _f_r_o_m _d_i_f_f_e_r_e_n_t _m_a_n_u_a_l _s_o_u_r_c_e_s_. Where the manual is installed in can be - queried (already using such a variable) by running: + Besides just assign static content to variables, there's plenty of ways of adding external and more or less dynamic content. - muttng -Q muttng_docdir +3.1. Commands' Output - To extend the example for viewing the manual via self-defined variables, it can - be made more readable and more portable by changing the real path in: + It is possible to substitute the output of a Unix command in an initialization file. This is accomplished by enclosing the command in backquotes (``) as in, for example: +my_hdr X-Operating-System: `uname -a` - set user_manualcmd = '!less -r /path/to_manual' + The output of the Unix command ``uname -a'' will be substituted before the line is parsed. Note that since initialization files are line oriented, only the first line of output from the Unix command will be substituted. - to: +3.2. Environment Variables - set user_manualcmd = "!less -r $muttng_docdir/manual.txt" + UNIX environments can be accessed like the way it is done in shells like sh and bash: Prepend the name of the environment by a ``$'' sign. For example, +set record=+sent_on_$HOSTNAME - which works everywhere if a manual is installed. + sets the record variable to the string +sent_on_ and appends the value of the evironment variable $HOSTNAME. - Please note that by the type of quoting, muttng determines when to expand these - values: when it finds double quotes, the value will be expanded during reading - the setup files but when it finds single quotes, it'll expand it at runtime as - needed. + Note: There will be no warning if an environment variable is not defined. The result will of the expansion will then be empty. - For example, the statement +3.3. Configuration Variables - folder-hook . "set user_current_folder = $muttng_folder_name" + As for environment variables, the values of all configuration variables as string can be used in the same way, too. For example, +set imap_home_namespace = $folder - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 26 + would set the value of imap-home-namespace to the value to which folder is currently set to. - will be already be translated to the following when reading the startup files: + Note: There're no logical links established in such cases so that the the value for imap-home-namespace won't change even if folder gets changed. - folder-hook . "set user_current_folder = some_folder" + Note: There will be no warning if a configuration variable is not defined or is empty. The result will of the expansion will then be empty. - with some_folder being the name of the first folder muttng opens. On the con- - trary, +3.4. Self-Defined Variables - folder-hook . 'set user_current_folder = $muttng_folder_name' + Mutt-ng flexibly allows users to define their own variables. To avoid conflicts with the standard set and to prevent misleading error messages, there's a reserved namespace for them: all user-defined variables must be prefixed with user_ and can be used just like any ordinary configuration or environment variable. - will be executed at runtime because of the single quotes so that user_cur- - rent_folder will always have the value of the currently opened folder. + For example, to view the manual, users can either define two macros like the following +macro generic "!less -r /path/to/manual" "Show manual" +macro pager "!less -r /path/to/manual" "Show manual" - A more practical example is: + for generic, pager and index. The alternative is to define a custom variable like so: +set user_manualcmd = "!less -r /path/to_manual" +macro generic "$user_manualcmd" "Show manual" +macro pager "$user_manualcmd" "Show manual" +macro index "$user_manualcmd" "Show manual" - folder-hook . 'source ~/.mutt/score-$muttng_folder_name' + to re-use the command sequence as in: +macro index "$user_manualcmd | grep '\^[ ]\\+~. '" "Show Patterns" - which can be used to source files containing score commands depending on the - folder the user enters. + Using this feature, arbitrary sequences can be defined once and recalled and reused where necessary. More advanced scenarios could include to save a variable's value at the beginning of macro sequence and restore it at end. - _3_._3_._6 _T_y_p_e _C_o_n_v_e_r_s_i_o_n_s + When the variable is first defined, the first value it gets assigned is also the initial value to which it can be reset using the reset command. - A note about variable's types during conversion: internally values are stored - in internal types but for any dump/query or set operation they're converted to - and from string. That means that there's no need to worry about types when ref- - erencing any variable. As an example, the following can be used without harm - (besides makeing muttng very likely behave strange): + The complete removal is done via the unset keyword. - set read_inc = 100 - set folder = $read_inc - set read_inc = $folder - set user_magic_number = 42 - set folder = $user_magic_number + After the following sequence: +set user_foo = 42 +set user_foo = 666 - _3_._4 _D_e_f_i_n_i_n_g_/_U_s_i_n_g _a_l_i_a_s_e_s + the variable $user_foo has a current value of 666 and an initial of 42. The query +set ?user_foo - Usage: alias _k_e_y _a_d_d_r_e_s_s [ , _a_d_d_r_e_s_s, ... ] + will show 666. After doing the reset via +reset user_foo - It's usually very cumbersome to remember or type out the address of someone you - are communicating with. Mutt-ng allows you to create ``aliases'' which map a - short string to a full address. + a following query will give 42 as the result. After unsetting it via +unset user_foo - NNoottee:: if you want to create an alias for a group (by specifying more than one - address), you mmuusstt separate the addresses with a comma (``,''). + any query or operation (except the noted expansion within other statements) will lead to an error message. - To remove an alias or aliases (``*'' means all aliases): +3.5. Pre-Defined Variables - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 27 + In order to allow users to share one setup over a number of different machines without having to change its contents, there's a number of pre-defined variables. These are prefixed with muttng_ and are read-only, i.e. they cannot be set, unset or reset. The reference chapter lists all available variables. - unalias [ * | _k_e_y _._._. ] + Please consult the local copy of your manual for their values as they may differ from different manual sources. Where the manual is installed in can be queried (already using such a variable) by running: +muttng -Q muttng_docdir - alias muttdude me@cs.hmc.edu (Michael Elkins) - alias theguys manny, moe, jack + To extend the example for viewing the manual via self-defined variables, it can be made more readable and more portable by changing the real path in: +set user_manualcmd = '!less -r /path/to_manual' - Unlike other mailers, Mutt-ng doesn't require aliases to be defined in a spe- - cial file. The alias command can appear anywhere in a configuration file, as - long as this file is _s_o_u_r_c_e_d (section 3.29 , page 46). Consequently, you can - have multiple alias files, or you can have all aliases defined in your muttrc. + to: +set user_manualcmd = "!less -r $muttng_docdir/manual.txt" - On the other hand, the _c_r_e_a_t_e_-_a_l_i_a_s (section 2.5.4 , page 11) function can use - only one file, the one pointed to by the _$_a_l_i_a_s___f_i_l_e (section 7.4.5 , page 90) - variable (which is ~/.muttrc by default). This file is not special either, in - the sense that Mutt-ng will happily append aliases to any file, but in order - for the new aliases to take effect you need to explicitly _s_o_u_r_c_e (section - 3.29 , page 46) this file too. + which works everywhere if a manual is installed. - For example: + Please note that by the type of quoting, muttng determines when to expand these values: when it finds double quotes, the value will be expanded during reading the setup files but when it finds single quotes, it'll expand it at runtime as needed. - source /usr/local/share/Mutt-ng.aliases - source ~/.mail_aliases - set alias_file=~/.mail_aliases + For example, the statement +folder-hook . "set user_current_folder = $muttng_folder_name" - To use aliases, you merely use the alias at any place in mutt where mutt - prompts for addresses, such as the _T_o_: or _C_c_: prompt. You can also enter - aliases in your editor at the appropriate headers if you have the _$_e_d_i_t___h_e_a_d_e_r_s - (section 7.4.59 , page 103) variable set. + will be already be translated to the following when reading the startup files: +folder-hook . "set user_current_folder = some_folder" - In addition, at the various address prompts, you can use the tab character to - expand a partial alias to the full alias. If there are multiple matches, mutt - will bring up a menu with the matching aliases. In order to be presented with - the full list of aliases, you must hit tab with out a partial alias, such as at - the beginning of the prompt or after a comma denoting multiple addresses. + with some_folder being the name of the first folder muttng opens. On the contrary, +folder-hook . 'set user_current_folder = $muttng_folder_name' - In the alias menu, you can select as many aliases as you want with the _s_e_l_e_c_t_- - _e_n_t_r_y key (default: RET), and use the _e_x_i_t key (default: q) to return to the - address prompt. + will be executed at runtime because of the single quotes so that user_current_folder will always have the value of the currently opened folder. - _3_._5 _C_h_a_n_g_i_n_g _t_h_e _d_e_f_a_u_l_t _k_e_y _b_i_n_d_i_n_g_s + A more practical example is: +folder-hook . 'source ~/.mutt/score-$muttng_folder_name' - Usage: bind _m_a_p _k_e_y _f_u_n_c_t_i_o_n + which can be used to source files containing score commands depending on the folder the user enters. - This command allows you to change the default key bindings (operation invoked - when pressing a key). +3.6. Type Conversions - _m_a_p specifies in which menu the binding belongs. Multiple maps may be speci- - fied by separating them with commas (no additional whitespace is allowed). The - currently defined maps are: + A note about variable's types during conversion: internally values are stored in internal types but for any dump/query or set operation they're converted to and from string. That means that there's no need to worry about types when referencing any variable. As an example, the following can be used without harm (besides makeing muttng very likely behave strange): +set read_inc = 100 +set folder = $read_inc +set read_inc = $folder +set user_magic_number = 42 +set folder = $user_magic_number - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 28 +4. Defining/Using aliases - generic - This is not a real menu, but is used as a fallback for all of the - other menus except for the pager and editor modes. If a key is not - defined in another menu, Mutt-ng will look for a binding to use in - this menu. This allows you to bind a key to a certain function in - multiple menus instead of having multiple bind statements to accom- - plish the same task. + Usage: alias key address [ , address, ... ] - alias - The alias menu is the list of your personal aliases as defined in - your muttrc. It is the mapping from a short alias name to the full - email address(es) of the recipient(s). + It's usually very cumbersome to remember or type out the address of someone you are communicating with. Mutt-ng allows you to create ``aliases'' which map a short string to a full address. - attach - The attachment menu is used to access the attachments on received - messages. + Note: if you want to create an alias for a group (by specifying more than one address), you must separate the addresses with a comma (``,''). - browser - The browser is used for both browsing the local directory struc- - ture, and for listing all of your incoming mailboxes. + To remove an alias or aliases (``*'' means all aliases): - editor - The editor is the line-based editor the user enters text data. + unalias [ * | key ... ] +alias muttdude me@cs.hmc.edu (Michael Elkins) +alias theguys manny, moe, jack - index - The index is the list of messages contained in a mailbox. + Unlike other mailers, Mutt-ng doesn't require aliases to be defined in a special file. The alias command can appear anywhere in a configuration file, as long as this file is source. Consequently, you can have multiple alias files, or you can have all aliases defined in your muttrc. - compose - The compose menu is the screen used when sending a new message. + On the other hand, the create-alias function can use only one file, the one pointed to by the alias-file variable (which is ˜/.muttrc by default). This file is not special either, in the sense that Mutt-ng will happily append aliases to any file, but in order for the new aliases to take effect you need to explicitly source this file too. - pager - The pager is the mode used to display message/attachment data, and - help listings. + For example: +source /usr/local/share/Mutt-ng.aliases +source ~/.mail_aliases +set alias_file=~/.mail_aliases - pgp - The pgp menu is used to select the OpenPGP keys used for encrypting - outgoing messages. + To use aliases, you merely use the alias at any place in mutt where mutt prompts for addresses, such as the To: or Cc: prompt. You can also enter aliases in your editor at the appropriate headers if you have the edit-headers variable set. - postpone - The postpone menu is similar to the index menu, except is used when - recalling a message the user was composing, but saved until later. + In addition, at the various address prompts, you can use the tab character to expand a partial alias to the full alias. If there are multiple matches, mutt will bring up a menu with the matching aliases. In order to be presented with the full list of aliases, you must hit tab with out a partial alias, such as at the beginning of the prompt or after a comma denoting multiple addresses. - _k_e_y is the key (or key sequence) you wish to bind. To specify a control char- - acter, use the sequence _\_C_x, where _x is the letter of the control character - (for example, to specify control-A use ``\Ca''). Note that the case of _x as - well as _\_C is ignored, so that _\_C_A, _\_C_a, _\_c_A and _\_c_a are all equivalent. An - alternative form is to specify the key as a three digit octal number prefixed - with a ``\'' (for example _\_1_7_7 is equivalent to _\_c_?). + In the alias menu, you can select as many aliases as you want with the select-entry key (default: RET), and use the exit key (default: q) to return to the address prompt. - In addition, _k_e_y may consist of: +5. Changing the default key bindings - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 29 - - \t tab - tab - backtab / shift-tab - \r carriage return - \n newline - \e escape - escape - up arrow - down arrow - left arrow - right arrow - Page Up - Page Down - Backspace - Delete - Insert - Enter - Return - Home - End - Space bar - function key 1 - function key 10 + Usage: bind map key function - _k_e_y does not need to be enclosed in quotes unless it contains a space (`` ''). + This command allows you to change the default key bindings (operation invoked when pressing a key). - _f_u_n_c_t_i_o_n specifies which action to take when _k_e_y is pressed. For a complete - list of functions, see the _r_e_f_e_r_e_n_c_e (section 7.5 , page 177). The special - function noop unbinds the specified key sequence. + map specifies in which menu the binding belongs. Multiple maps may be specified by separating them with commas (no additional whitespace is allowed). The currently defined maps are: - _3_._6 _D_e_f_i_n_i_n_g _a_l_i_a_s_e_s _f_o_r _c_h_a_r_a_c_t_e_r _s_e_t_s + generic + This is not a real menu, but is used as a fallback for all of the other menus except for the pager and editor modes. If a key is not defined in another menu, Mutt-ng will look for a binding to use in this menu. This allows you to bind a key to a certain function in multiple menus instead of having multiple bind statements to accomplish the same task. - Usage: charset-hook _a_l_i_a_s _c_h_a_r_s_e_t + alias + The alias menu is the list of your personal aliases as defined in your muttrc. It is the mapping from a short alias name to the full email address(es) of the recipient(s). - Usage: iconv-hook _c_h_a_r_s_e_t _l_o_c_a_l_-_c_h_a_r_s_e_t + attach + The attachment menu is used to access the attachments on received messages. - The charset-hook command defines an alias for a character set. This is useful - to properly display messages which are tagged with a character set name not - known to mutt. + browser + The browser is used for both browsing the local directory structure, and for listing all of your incoming mailboxes. - The iconv-hook command defines a system-specific name for a character set. - This is helpful when your systems character conversion library insists on using - strange, system-specific names for character sets. + editor + The editor is the line-based editor the user enters text data. - _3_._7 _S_e_t_t_i_n_g _v_a_r_i_a_b_l_e_s _b_a_s_e_d _u_p_o_n _m_a_i_l_b_o_x + index + The index is the list of messages contained in a mailbox. - Usage: folder-hook [!]_r_e_g_e_x_p _c_o_m_m_a_n_d + compose + The compose menu is the screen used when sending a new message. - It is often desirable to change settings based on which mailbox you are + pager + The pager is the mode used to display message/attachment data, and help listings. - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 30 + pgp + The pgp menu is used to select the OpenPGP keys used for encrypting outgoing messages. - reading. The folder-hook command provides a method by which you can execute - any configuration command. _r_e_g_e_x_p is a regular expression specifying in which - mailboxes to execute _c_o_m_m_a_n_d before loading. If a mailbox matches multiple - folder-hook's, they are executed in the order given in the muttrc. + postpone + The postpone menu is similar to the index menu, except is used when recalling a message the user was composing, but saved until later. - NNoottee:: if you use the ``!'' shortcut for _$_s_p_o_o_l_f_i_l_e (section 7.4.313 , page - 165) at the beginning of the pattern, you must place it inside of double or - single quotes in order to distinguish it from the logical _n_o_t operator for the - expression. + key is the key (or key sequence) you wish to bind. To specify a control character, use the sequence \Cx, where x is the letter of the control character (for example, to specify control-A use ``\Ca''). Note that the case of x as well as \C is ignored, so that \CA, \Ca, \cA and \ca are all equivalent. An alternative form is to specify the key as a three digit octal number prefixed with a ``\'' (for example \177 is equivalent to \c?). - Note that the settings are _n_o_t restored when you leave the mailbox. For exam- - ple, a command action to perform is to change the sorting method based upon the - mailbox being read: + In addition, key may consist of: +\t tab + tab + backtab / shift-tab +\r carriage return +\n newline +\e escape + escape + up arrow + down arrow + left arrow + right arrow + Page Up + Page Down + Backspace + Delete + Insert + Enter + Return + Home + End + Space bar + function key 1 + function key 10 - folder-hook mutt set sort=threads + key does not need to be enclosed in quotes unless it contains a space (`` ''). - However, the sorting method is not restored to its previous value when reading - a different mailbox. To specify a _d_e_f_a_u_l_t command, use the pattern ``.'': + function specifies which action to take when key is pressed. For a complete list of functions, see the functions. The special function noop unbinds the specified key sequence. - folder-hook . set sort=date-sent +6. Defining aliases for character sets - _3_._8 _K_e_y_b_o_a_r_d _m_a_c_r_o_s + Usage: charset-hook alias charset Usage: iconv-hook charset local-charset - Usage: macro _m_e_n_u _k_e_y _s_e_q_u_e_n_c_e [ _d_e_s_c_r_i_p_t_i_o_n ] + The charset-hook command defines an alias for a character set. This is useful to properly display messages which are tagged with a character set name not known to mutt. - Macros are useful when you would like a single key to perform a series of - actions. When you press _k_e_y in menu _m_e_n_u, Mutt-ng will behave as if you had - typed _s_e_q_u_e_n_c_e. So if you have a common sequence of commands you type, you can - create a macro to execute those commands with a single key. + The iconv-hook command defines a system-specific name for a character set. This is helpful when your systems character conversion library insists on using strange, system-specific names for character sets. - _m_e_n_u is the _m_a_p (section 3.5 , page 28) which the macro will be bound. Multi- - ple maps may be specified by separating multiple menu arguments by commas. - Whitespace may not be used in between the menu arguments and the commas sepa- - rating them. +7. Setting variables based upon mailbox - _k_e_y and _s_e_q_u_e_n_c_e are expanded by the same rules as the _k_e_y _b_i_n_d_i_n_g_s (section - 3.5 , page 27). There are some additions however. The first is that control - characters in _s_e_q_u_e_n_c_e can also be specified as _^_x. In order to get a caret - (`^'') you need to use _^_^. Secondly, to specify a certain key such as _u_p or to - invoke a function directly, you can use the format _<_k_e_y _n_a_m_e_> and _<_f_u_n_c_t_i_o_n - _n_a_m_e_>. For a listing of key names see the section on _k_e_y _b_i_n_d_i_n_g_s (section - 3.5 , page 27). Functions are listed in the _f_u_n_c_t_i_o_n _r_e_f_e_r_e_n_c_e (section - 7.5 , page 177). + Usage: folder-hook [!]regexp command - The advantage with using function names directly is that the macros will work - regardless of the current key bindings, so they are not dependent on the user - having particular key definitions. This makes them more robust and portable, - and also facilitates defining of macros in files used by more than one user + It is often desirable to change settings based on which mailbox you are reading. The folder-hook command provides a method by which you can execute any configuration command. regexp is a regular expression specifying in which mailboxes to execute command before loading. If a mailbox matches multiple folder-hook's, they are executed in the order given in the muttrc. - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 31 + Note: if you use the ``!'' shortcut for spoolfile at the beginning of the pattern, you must place it inside of double or single quotes in order to distinguish it from the logical not operator for the expression. - (eg. the system Muttngrc). + Note that the settings are not restored when you leave the mailbox. For example, a command action to perform is to change the sorting method based upon the mailbox being read: +folder-hook mutt set sort=threads - Optionally you can specify a descriptive text after _s_e_q_u_e_n_c_e, which is shown in - the help screens. + However, the sorting method is not restored to its previous value when reading a different mailbox. To specify a default command, use the pattern ``.'': +folder-hook . set sort=date-sent - NNoottee:: Macro definitions (if any) listed in the help screen(s), are silently - truncated at the screen width, and are not wrapped. +8. Keyboard macros - _3_._9 _U_s_i_n_g _c_o_l_o_r _a_n_d _m_o_n_o _v_i_d_e_o _a_t_t_r_i_b_u_t_e_s + Usage: macro menu key sequence [ description ] - Usage: color _o_b_j_e_c_t _f_o_r_e_g_r_o_u_n_d _b_a_c_k_g_r_o_u_n_d [ _r_e_g_e_x_p ] + Macros are useful when you would like a single key to perform a series of actions. When you press key in menu menu, Mutt-ng will behave as if you had typed sequence. So if you have a common sequence of commands you type, you can create a macro to execute those commands with a single key. - Usage: color index _f_o_r_e_g_r_o_u_n_d _b_a_c_k_g_r_o_u_n_d _p_a_t_t_e_r_n + menu is the maps which the macro will be bound. Multiple maps may be specified by separating multiple menu arguments by commas. Whitespace may not be used in between the menu arguments and the commas separating them. - Usage: uncolor index _p_a_t_t_e_r_n [ _p_a_t_t_e_r_n ... ] + key and sequence are expanded by the same rules as the bind. There are some additions however. The first is that control characters in sequence can also be specified as ^x. In order to get a caret (`^'') you need to use ^^. Secondly, to specify a certain key such as up or to invoke a function directly, you can use the format and . For a listing of key names see the section on bind. Functions are listed in the functions. - If your terminal supports color, you can spice up Mutt-ng by creating your own - color scheme. To define the color of an object (type of information), you must - specify both a foreground color aanndd a background color (it is not possible to - only specify one or the other). + The advantage with using function names directly is that the macros will work regardless of the current key bindings, so they are not dependent on the user having particular key definitions. This makes them more robust and portable, and also facilitates defining of macros in files used by more than one user (eg. the system Muttngrc). - _o_b_j_e_c_t can be one of: + Optionally you can specify a descriptive text after sequence, which is shown in the help screens. - +o attachment + Note: Macro definitions (if any) listed in the help screen(s), are silently truncated at the screen width, and are not wrapped. - +o body (match _r_e_g_e_x_p in the body of messages) +9. Using color and mono video attributes - +o bold (highlighting bold patterns in the body of messages) + Usage: color object foreground background [ regexp ] Usage: color index foreground background pattern Usage: uncolor index pattern [ pattern ... ] - +o error (error messages printed by Mutt-ng) + If your terminal supports color, you can spice up Mutt-ng by creating your own color scheme. To define the color of an object (type of information), you must specify both a foreground color and a background color (it is not possible to only specify one or the other). - +o header (match _r_e_g_e_x_p in the message header) + object can be one of: + * attachment + * body (match regexp in the body of messages) + * bold (highlighting bold patterns in the body of messages) + * error (error messages printed by Mutt-ng) + * header (match regexp in the message header) + * hdrdefault (default color of the message header in the pager) + * index (match pattern in the message index) + * indicator (arrow or bar used to indicate the current item in a menu) + * markers (the ``+'' markers at the beginning of wrapped lines in the pager) + * message (informational messages) + * normal + * quoted (text matching quote-regexp in the body of a message) + * quoted1, quoted2, ..., quotedN (higher levels of quoting) + * search (highlighting of words in the pager) + * signature + * status (mode lines used to display info about the mailbox or message) + * tilde (the ``˜'' used to pad blank lines in the pager) + * tree (thread tree drawn in the message index and attachment menu) + * underline (highlighting underlined patterns in the body of messages) - +o hdrdefault (default color of the message header in the pager) + foreground and background can be one of the following: + * white + * black + * green + * magenta + * blue + * cyan + * yellow + * red + * default + * colorx - +o index (match _p_a_t_t_e_r_n in the message index) + foreground can optionally be prefixed with the keyword bright to make the foreground color boldfaced (e.g., brightred). - +o indicator (arrow or bar used to indicate the current item in a menu) + If your terminal supports it, the special keyword default can be used as a transparent color. The value brightdefault is also valid. If Mutt-ng is linked against the S-Lang library, you also need to set the COLORFGBG environment variable to the default colors of your terminal for this to work; for example (for Bourne-like shells): +set COLORFGBG="green;black" +export COLORFGBG - +o markers (the ``+'' markers at the beginning of wrapped lines in the pager) + Note: The S-Lang library requires you to use the lightgray and brown keywords instead of white and yellow when setting this variable. - +o message (informational messages) + Note: The uncolor command can be applied to the index object only. It removes entries from the list. You must specify the same pattern specified in the color command for it to be removed. The pattern ``*'' is a special token which means to clear the color index list of all entries. - +o normal + Mutt-ng also recognizes the keywords color0, color1, …, colorN-1 (N being the number of colors supported by your terminal). This is useful when you remap the colors for your display (for example by changing the color associated with color2 for your xterm), since color names may then lose their normal meaning. - +o quoted (text matching _$_q_u_o_t_e___r_e_g_e_x_p (section 7.4.241 , page 147) in the - body of a message) + If your terminal does not support color, it is still possible change the video attributes through the use of the ``mono'' command: - +o quoted1, quoted2, ..., quotedNN (higher levels of quoting) + Usage: mono [ regexp ] Usage: mono index attribute pattern Usage: unmono index pattern [ pattern ... ] - +o search (highlighting of words in the pager) + where attribute is one of the following: + * none + * bold + * underline + * reverse + * standout - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 32 +10. Ignoring (weeding) unwanted message headers - +o signature + Usage: [un]ignore pattern [ pattern ... ] - +o status (mode lines used to display info about the mailbox or message) + Messages often have many header fields added by automatic processing systems, or which may not seem useful to display on the screen. This command allows you to specify header fields which you don't normally want to see. - +o tilde (the ``~'' used to pad blank lines in the pager) + You do not need to specify the full header field name. For example, ``ignore content-'' will ignore all header fields that begin with the pattern ``content-''. ``ignore *'' will ignore all headers. - +o tree (thread tree drawn in the message index and attachment menu) + To remove a previously added token from the list, use the ``unignore'' command. The ``unignore'' command will make Mutt-ng display headers with the given pattern. For example, if you do ``ignore x-'' it is possible to ``unignore x-mailer''. - +o underline (highlighting underlined patterns in the body of messages) + ``unignore *'' will remove all tokens from the ignore list. - _f_o_r_e_g_r_o_u_n_d and _b_a_c_k_g_r_o_u_n_d can be one of the following: + For example: +# Sven's draconian header weeding +ignore * +unignore from date subject to cc +unignore organization organisation x-mailer: x-newsreader: x-mailing-list: +unignore posted-to: - +o white +11. Alternative addresses - +o black + Usage: [un]alternates regexp [ regexp ... ] - +o green + With various functions, mutt will treat messages differently, depending on whether you sent them or whether you received them from someone else. For instance, when replying to a message that you sent to a different party, mutt will automatically suggest to send the response to the original message's recipients -- responding to yourself won't make much sense in many cases. (See reply-to.) - +o magenta + Many users receive e-mail under a number of different addresses. To fully use mutt's features here, the program must be able to recognize what e-mail addresses you receive mail under. That's the purpose of the alternates command: It takes a list of regular expressions, each of which can identify an address under which you receive e-mail. - +o blue + The unalternates command can be used to write exceptions to alternates patterns. If an address matches something in an alternates command, but you nonetheless do not think it is from you, you can list a more precise pattern under an unalternates command. - +o cyan + To remove a regular expression from the alternates list, use the unalternates command with exactly the same regexp. Likewise, if the regexp for a alternates command matches an entry on the unalternates list, that unalternates entry will be removed. If the regexp for unalternates is ``*'', all entries on alternates will be removed. - +o yellow +12. Format = Flowed - +o red +12.1. Introduction - +o default + Mutt-ng contains support for so-called format=flowed messages. In the beginning of email, each message had a fixed line width, and it was enough for displaying them on fixed-size terminals. But times changed, and nowadays hardly anybody still uses fixed-size terminals: more people nowaydays use graphical user interfaces, with dynamically resizable windows. This led to the demand of a new email format that makes it possible for the email client to make the email look nice in a resizable window without breaking quoting levels and creating an incompatible email format that can also be displayed nicely on old fixed-size terminals. - +o color_x + For introductory information on format=flowed messages, see . - _f_o_r_e_g_r_o_u_n_d can optionally be prefixed with the keyword bright to make the fore- - ground color boldfaced (e.g., brightred). +12.2. Receiving: Display Setup - If your terminal supports it, the special keyword _d_e_f_a_u_l_t can be used as a - transparent color. The value _b_r_i_g_h_t_d_e_f_a_u_l_t is also valid. If Mutt-ng is - linked against the _S_-_L_a_n_g library, you also need to set the _C_O_L_O_R_F_G_B_G environ- - ment variable to the default colors of your terminal for this to work; for - example (for Bourne-like shells): + When you receive emails that are marked as format=flowed messages, and is formatted correctly, mutt-ng will try to reformat the message to optimally fit on your terminal. If you want a fixed margin on the right side of your terminal, you can set the following: + set wrapmargin = 10 - set COLORFGBG="green;black" - export COLORFGBG + The code above makes the line break 10 columns before the right side of the terminal. - NNoottee:: The _S_-_L_a_n_g library requires you to use the _l_i_g_h_t_g_r_a_y and _b_r_o_w_n keywords - instead of _w_h_i_t_e and _y_e_l_l_o_w when setting this variable. + If your terminal is so wide that the lines are embarrassingly long, you can also set a maximum line length: + set max_line_length = 120 - NNoottee:: The uncolor command can be applied to the index object only. It removes - entries from the list. You mmuusstt specify the same pattern specified in the color - command for it to be removed. The pattern ``*'' is a special token which means - to clear the color index list of all entries. + The example above will give you lines not longer than 120 characters. - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 33 + When you view at format=flowed messages, you will often see the quoting hierarchy like in the following example: + >Bill, can you please send last month's progress report to Mr. + >Morgan? We also urgently need the cost estimation for the new + >production server that we want to set up before our customer's + >project will go live. - Mutt-ng also recognizes the keywords _c_o_l_o_r_0, _c_o_l_o_r_1, ..., _c_o_l_o_rNN--11 (NN being the - number of colors supported by your terminal). This is useful when you remap - the colors for your display (for example by changing the color associated with - _c_o_l_o_r_2 for your xterm), since color names may then lose their normal meaning. + This obviously doesn't look very nice, and it makes it very hard to differentiate between text and quoting character. The solution is to configure mutt-ng to "stuff" the quoting: + set stuff_quoted - If your terminal does not support color, it is still possible change the video - attributes through the use of the ``mono'' command: + This will lead to a nicer result that is easier to read: + > Bill, can you please send last month's progress report to Mr. + > Morgan? We also urgently need the cost estimation for the new + > production server that we want to set up before our customer's + > project will go live. - Usage: mono _<_o_b_j_e_c_t_> _<_a_t_t_r_i_b_u_t_e_> [ _r_e_g_e_x_p ] +12.3. Sending - Usage: mono index _a_t_t_r_i_b_u_t_e _p_a_t_t_e_r_n + If you want mutt-ng to send emails with format=flowed set, you need to explicitly set it: + set text_flowed - Usage: unmono index _p_a_t_t_e_r_n [ _p_a_t_t_e_r_n ... ] + Additionally, you have to use an editor which supports writing format=flowed-conforming emails. For vim, this is done by adding w to the formatoptions (see :h formatoptions and :h fo-table) when writing emails. - where _a_t_t_r_i_b_u_t_e is one of the following: + Also note that format=flowed knows about ``space-stuffing'', that is, when sending messages, some kinds of lines have to be indented with a single space on the sending side. On the receiving side, the first space (if any) is removed. As a consequence and in addition to the above simple setting, please keep this in mind when making manual formattings within the editor. Also note that mutt-ng currently violates the standard (RfC 3676) as it does not space-stuff lines starting with: + * > This is not the quote character but a right angle used for other reasons + * From with a trailing space. + * just a space for formatting reasons - +o none + Please make sure that you manually prepend a space to each of them. - +o bold +12.4. Additional Notes - +o underline + For completeness, the delete-space variable provides the mechanism to generate a DelSp=yes parameter on outgoing messages. According to the standard, clients receiving a format=flowed messages should delete the last space of a flowed line but still interpret the line as flowed. Because flowed lines usually contain only one space at the end, this parameter would make the receiving client concatenate the last word of the previous with the first of the current line without a space. This makes ordinary text unreadable and is intended for languages rarely using spaces. So please use this setting only if you're sure what you're doing. - +o reverse +13. Mailing lists - +o standout + Usage: [un]lists regexp [ regexp ... ] Usage: [un]subscribe regexp [ regexp ... ] - _3_._1_0 _I_g_n_o_r_i_n_g _(_w_e_e_d_i_n_g_) _u_n_w_a_n_t_e_d _m_e_s_s_a_g_e _h_e_a_d_e_r_s + Mutt-ng has a few nice features for using-lists. In order to take advantage of them, you must specify which addresses belong to mailing lists, and which mailing lists you are subscribed to. Once you have done this, the list-reply function will work for all known lists. Additionally, when you send a message to a subscribed list, mutt will add a Mail-Followup-To header to tell other users' mail user agents not to send copies of replies to your personal address. Note that the Mail-Followup-To header is a non-standard extension which is not supported by all mail user agents. Adding it is not bullet-proof against receiving personal CCs of list messages. Also note that the generation of the Mail-Followup-To header is controlled by the followup-to configuration variable. - Usage: [un]ignore _p_a_t_t_e_r_n [ _p_a_t_t_e_r_n ... ] + More precisely, Mutt-ng maintains lists of patterns for the addresses of known and subscribed mailing lists. Every subscribed mailing list is known. To mark a mailing list as known, use the ``lists'' command. To mark it as subscribed, use ``subscribe''. - Messages often have many header fields added by automatic processing systems, - or which may not seem useful to display on the screen. This command allows you - to specify header fields which you don't normally want to see. + You can use regular expressions with both commands. To mark all messages sent to a specific bug report's address on mutt's bug tracking system as list mail, for instance, you could say ``subscribe [0-9]*@bugs.guug.de''. Often, it's sufficient to just give a portion of the list's e-mail address. - You do not need to specify the full header field name. For example, ``ignore - content-'' will ignore all header fields that begin with the pattern ``con- - tent-''. ``ignore *'' will ignore all headers. + Specify as much of the address as you need to to remove ambiguity. For example, if you've subscribed to the Mutt-ng mailing list, you will receive mail addressed to mutt-users@mutt.org. So, to tell Mutt-ng that this is a mailing list, you could add ``lists mutt-users'' to your initialization file. To tell mutt that you are subscribed to it, add ``subscribe mutt-users'' to your initialization file instead. If you also happen to get mail from someone whose address is mutt-users@example.com, you could use ``lists mutt-users@mutt\\.org'' or ``subscribe mutt-users@mutt\\.org'' to match only mail from the actual list. - To remove a previously added token from the list, use the ``unignore'' command. - The ``unignore'' command will make Mutt-ng display headers with the given pat- - tern. For example, if you do ``ignore x-'' it is possible to ``unignore x- - mailer''. + The ``unlists'' command is used to remove a token from the list of known and subscribed mailing-lists. Use ``unlists *'' to remove all tokens. - ``unignore *'' will remove all tokens from the ignore list. + To remove a mailing list from the list of subscribed mailing lists, but keep it on the list of known mailing lists, use ``unsubscribe''. - For example: +14. Using Multiple spool mailboxes - # Sven's draconian header weeding - ignore * - unignore from date subject to cc - unignore organization organisation x-mailer: x-newsreader: x-mailing-list: - unignore posted-to: + Usage: mbox-hook [!]pattern mailbox - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 34 + This command is used to move read messages from a specified mailbox to a different mailbox automatically when you quit or change folders. pattern is a regular expression specifying the mailbox to treat as a ``spool'' mailbox and mailbox specifies where mail should be saved when read. - _3_._1_1 _A_l_t_e_r_n_a_t_i_v_e _a_d_d_r_e_s_s_e_s + Unlike some of the other hook commands, only the first matching pattern is used (it is not possible to save read mail in more than a single mailbox). - Usage: [un]alternates _r_e_g_e_x_p [ _r_e_g_e_x_p ... ] +15. Defining mailboxes which receive mail - With various functions, mutt will treat messages differently, depending on - whether you sent them or whether you received them from someone else. For - instance, when replying to a message that you sent to a different party, mutt - will automatically suggest to send the response to the original message's - recipients -- responding to yourself won't make much sense in many cases. (See - _$_r_e_p_l_y___t_o (section 7.4.249 , page 149).) + Usage: [un]mailboxes [!]filename [ filename ... ] - Many users receive e-mail under a number of different addresses. To fully use - mutt's features here, the program must be able to recognize what e-mail - addresses you receive mail under. That's the purpose of the alternates command: - It takes a list of regular expressions, each of which can identify an address - under which you receive e-mail. + This command specifies folders which can receive mail and which will be checked for new messages. By default, the main menu status bar displays how many of these folders have new messages. - The unalternates command can be used to write exceptions to alternates pat- - terns. If an address matches something in an alternates command, but you none- - theless do not think it is from you, you can list a more precise pattern under - an unalternates command. + When changing folders, pressing space will cycle through folders with new mail. - To remove a regular expression from the alternates list, use the unalternates - command with exactly the same _r_e_g_e_x_p. Likewise, if the _r_e_g_e_x_p for a alternates - command matches an entry on the unalternates list, that unalternates entry will - be removed. If the _r_e_g_e_x_p for unalternates is ``*'', _a_l_l _e_n_t_r_i_e_s on alternates - will be removed. + Pressing TAB in the directory browser will bring up a menu showing the files specified by the mailboxes command, and indicate which contain new messages. Mutt-ng will automatically enter this mode when invoked from the command line with the -y option. - _3_._1_2 _F_o_r_m_a_t _= _F_l_o_w_e_d + The ``unmailboxes'' command is used to remove a token from the list of folders which receive mail. Use ``unmailboxes *'' to remove all tokens. - _3_._1_2_._1 _I_n_t_r_o_d_u_c_t_i_o_n + Note: new mail is detected by comparing the last modification time to the last access time. Utilities like biff or frm or any other program which accesses the mailbox might cause Mutt-ng to never detect new mail for that mailbox if they do not properly reset the access time. Backup tools are another common reason for updated access times. - Mutt-ng contains support for so-called format=flowed messages. In the begin- - ning of email, each message had a fixed line width, and it was enough for dis- - playing them on fixed-size terminals. But times changed, and nowadays hardly - anybody still uses fixed-size terminals: more people nowaydays use graphical - user interfaces, with dynamically resizable windows. This led to the demand of - a new email format that makes it possible for the email client to make the - email look nice in a resizable window without breaking quoting levels and cre- - ating an incompatible email format that can also be displayed nicely on old - fixed-size terminals. + Note: the filenames in the mailboxes command are resolved when the command is executed, so if these names contain shortcuts (such as ``='' and ``!''), any variable definition that affect these characters (like folder and spoolfile) should be executed before the mailboxes command. - For introductory information on format=flowed messages, see - . +16. User defined headers - _3_._1_2_._2 _R_e_c_e_i_v_i_n_g_: _D_i_s_p_l_a_y _S_e_t_u_p + Usage: my_hdr string unmy_hdr field [ field ... ] - When you receive emails that are marked as format=flowed messages, and is for- - matted correctly, mutt-ng will try to reformat the message to optimally fit on - your terminal. If you want a fixed margin on the right side of your terminal, - you can set the following: + The ``my_hdr'' command allows you to create your own header fields which will be added to every message you send. - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 35 + For example, if you would like to add an ``Organization:'' header field to all of your outgoing messages, you can put the command +my_hdr Organization: A Really Big Company, Anytown, USA - set wrapmargin = 10 + in your .muttrc. - The code above makes the line break 10 columns before the right side of the - terminal. + Note: space characters are not allowed between the keyword and the colon (``:''). The standard for electronic mail (RFC822) says that space is illegal there, so Mutt-ng enforces the rule. - If your terminal is so wide that the lines are embarrassingly long, you can - also set a maximum line length: + If you would like to add a header field to a single message, you should either set the edit-headers variable, or use the edit-headers function (default: ``E'') in the send-menu so that you can edit the header of your message along with the body. - set max_line_length = 120 + To remove user defined header fields, use the ``unmy_hdr'' command. You may specify an asterisk (``*'') to remove all header fields, or the fields to remove. For example, to remove all ``To'' and ``Cc'' header fields, you could use: +unmy_hdr to cc - The example above will give you lines not longer than 120 characters. +17. Defining the order of headers when viewing messages - When you view at format=flowed messages, you will often see the quoting hierar- - chy like in the following example: + Usage: hdr_order header1 header2 header3 - >Bill, can you please send last month's progress report to Mr. - >Morgan? We also urgently need the cost estimation for the new - >production server that we want to set up before our customer's - >project will go live. + With this command, you can specify an order in which mutt will attempt to present headers to you when viewing messages. - This obviously doesn't look very nice, and it makes it very hard to differenti- - ate between text and quoting character. The solution is to configure mutt-ng to - "stuff" the quoting: + ``unhdr_order *'' will clear all previous headers from the order list, thus removing the header order effects set by the system-wide startup file. +hdr_order From Date: From: To: Cc: Subject: - set stuff_quoted +18. Specify default save filename - This will lead to a nicer result that is easier to read: + Usage: save-hook [!]pattern filename - > Bill, can you please send last month's progress report to Mr. - > Morgan? We also urgently need the cost estimation for the new - > production server that we want to set up before our customer's - > project will go live. + This command is used to override the default filename used when saving messages. filename will be used as the default filename if the message is From: an address matching regexp or if you are the author and the message is addressed to: something matching regexp. - _3_._1_2_._3 _S_e_n_d_i_n_g + See pattern-hook for information on the exact format of pattern. - If you want mutt-ng to send emails with format=flowed set, you need to explic- - itly set it: + Examples: +save-hook me@(turing\\.)?cs\\.hmc\\.edu$ +elkins +save-hook aol\\.com$ +spam - set text_flowed + Also see the fcc-save-hook command. - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 36 +19. Specify default Fcc: mailbox when composing - Additionally, you have to use an editor which supports writing format=flowed- - conforming emails. For vim, this is done by adding w to the formatoptions (see - :h formatoptions and :h fo-table) when writing emails. + Usage: fcc-hook [!]pattern mailbox - Also note that _f_o_r_m_a_t_=_f_l_o_w_e_d knows about ``space-stuffing'', that is, when - sending messages, some kinds of lines have to be indented with a single space - on the sending side. On the receiving side, the first space (if any) is - removed. As a consequence and in addition to the above simple setting, please - keep this in mind when making manual formattings within the editor. Also note - that mutt-ng currently violates the standard (RfC 3676) as it does not space- - stuff lines starting with: + This command is used to save outgoing mail in a mailbox other than record. Mutt-ng searches the initial list of message recipients for the first matching regexp and uses mailbox as the default Fcc: mailbox. If no match is found the message will be saved to record mailbox. - +o > This is _n_o_t the quote character but a right angle used for other reasons + See pattern-hook for information on the exact format of pattern. - +o From with a trailing space. + Example: fcc-hook [@.]aol\\.com$ +spammers - +o just a space for formatting reasons + The above will save a copy of all messages going to the aol.com domain to the `+spammers' mailbox by default. Also see the fcc-save-hook command. - Please make sure that you manually prepend a space to each of them. +20. Specify default save filename and default Fcc: mailbox at once - _3_._1_2_._4 _A_d_d_i_t_i_o_n_a_l _N_o_t_e_s + Usage: fcc-save-hook [!]pattern mailbox - " + This command is a shortcut, equivalent to doing both a fcc-hook and a save-hook with its arguments. - For completeness, the _$_d_e_l_e_t_e___s_p_a_c_e (section 7.4.51 , page 101) variable pro- - vides the mechanism to generate a DelSp=yes parameter on _o_u_t_g_o_i_n_g messages. - According to the standard, clients receiving a format=flowed messages should - delete the last space of a flowed line but still interpret the line as flowed. - Because flowed lines usually contain only one space at the end, this parameter - would make the receiving client concatenate the last word of the previous with - the first of the current line _w_i_t_h_o_u_t a space. This makes ordinary text unread- - able and is intended for languages rarely using spaces. So please use this set- - ting only if you're sure what you're doing. +21. Change settings based upon message recipients - _3_._1_3 _M_a_i_l_i_n_g _l_i_s_t_s + Usage: reply-hook [!]pattern command Usage: send-hook [!]pattern command Usage: send2-hook [!]pattern command - Usage: [un]lists _r_e_g_e_x_p [ _r_e_g_e_x_p ... ] + These commands can be used to execute arbitrary configuration commands based upon recipients of the message. pattern is a regular expression matching the desired address. command is executed when regexp matches recipients of the message. - Usage: [un]subscribe _r_e_g_e_x_p [ _r_e_g_e_x_p ... ] + reply-hook is matched against the message you are replying to, instead of the message you are sending. send-hook is matched against all messages, both new and replies. Note: reply-hooks are matched before the send-hook, regardless of the order specified in the users's configuration file. - Mutt-ng has a few nice features for _h_a_n_d_l_i_n_g _m_a_i_l_i_n_g _l_i_s_t_s (section 4.10 , - page 61). In order to take advantage of them, you must specify which addresses - belong to mailing lists, and which mailing lists you are subscribed to. Once - you have done this, the _l_i_s_t_-_r_e_p_l_y (section 2.5.4 , page 12) function will - work for all known lists. Additionally, when you send a message to a sub- - scribed list, mutt will add a Mail-Followup-To header to tell other users' mail - user agents not to send copies of replies to your personal address. Note that - the Mail-Followup-To header is a non-standard extension which is not supported - by all mail user agents. Adding it is not bullet-proof against receiving per- - sonal CCs of list messages. Also note that the generation of the Mail-Fol- - lowup-To header is controlled by the _$_f_o_l_l_o_w_u_p___t_o (section 7.4.72 , page 106) - configuration variable. + send2-hook is matched every time a message is changed, either by editing it, or by using the compose menu to change its recipients or subject. send2-hook is executed after send-hook, and can, e.g., be used to set parameters such as the sendmail variable depending on the message's sender address. - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 37 + For each type of send-hook or reply-hook, when multiple matches occur, commands are executed in the order they are specified in the muttrc (for that type of hook). - More precisely, Mutt-ng maintains lists of patterns for the addresses of known - and subscribed mailing lists. Every subscribed mailing list is known. To mark - a mailing list as known, use the ``lists'' command. To mark it as subscribed, - use ``subscribe''. + See pattern-hook for information on the exact format of pattern. - You can use regular expressions with both commands. To mark all messages sent - to a specific bug report's address on mutt's bug tracking system as list mail, - for instance, you could say ``subscribe [0-9]*@bugs.guug.de''. Often, it's - sufficient to just give a portion of the list's e-mail address. + Example: send-hook mutt "set mime_forward signature=''" - Specify as much of the address as you need to to remove ambiguity. For exam- - ple, if you've subscribed to the Mutt-ng mailing list, you will receive mail - addressed to _m_u_t_t_-_u_s_e_r_s_@_m_u_t_t_._o_r_g. So, to tell Mutt-ng that this is a mailing - list, you could add ``lists mutt-users'' to your initialization file. To tell - mutt that you are subscribed to it, add ``subscribe mutt-users'' to your ini- - tialization file instead. If you also happen to get mail from someone whose - address is _m_u_t_t_-_u_s_e_r_s_@_e_x_a_m_p_l_e_._c_o_m, you could use ``lists mutt- - users@mutt\\.org'' or ``subscribe mutt-users@mutt\\.org'' to match only mail - from the actual list. + Another typical use for this command is to change the values of the attribution, signature and locale variables in order to change the language of the attributions and signatures based upon the recipients. - The ``unlists'' command is used to remove a token from the list of known and - subscribed mailing-lists. Use ``unlists *'' to remove all tokens. + Note: the send-hook's are only executed ONCE after getting the initial list of recipients. Adding a recipient after replying or editing the message will NOT cause any send-hook to be executed. Also note that my_hdr commands which modify recipient headers, or the message's subject, don't have any effect on the current message when executed from a send-hook. - To remove a mailing list from the list of subscribed mailing lists, but keep it - on the list of known mailing lists, use ``unsubscribe''. +22. Change settings before formatting a message - _3_._1_4 _U_s_i_n_g _M_u_l_t_i_p_l_e _s_p_o_o_l _m_a_i_l_b_o_x_e_s + Usage: message-hook [!]pattern command - Usage: mbox-hook [!]_p_a_t_t_e_r_n _m_a_i_l_b_o_x + This command can be used to execute arbitrary configuration commands before viewing or formatting a message based upon information about the message. command is executed if the pattern matches the message to be displayed. When multiple matches occur, commands are executed in the order they are specified in the muttrc. - This command is used to move read messages from a specified mailbox to a dif- - ferent mailbox automatically when you quit or change folders. _p_a_t_t_e_r_n is a - regular expression specifying the mailbox to treat as a ``spool'' mailbox and - _m_a_i_l_b_o_x specifies where mail should be saved when read. + See pattern-hook for information on the exact format of pattern. - Unlike some of the other _h_o_o_k commands, only the _f_i_r_s_t matching pattern is used - (it is not possible to save read mail in more than a single mailbox). + Example: +message-hook ~A 'set pager=builtin' +message-hook '~f freshmeat-news' 'set pager="less \"+/^ subject: .*\""' - _3_._1_5 _D_e_f_i_n_i_n_g _m_a_i_l_b_o_x_e_s _w_h_i_c_h _r_e_c_e_i_v_e _m_a_i_l +23. Choosing the cryptographic key of the recipient - Usage: [un]mailboxes [!]_f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e [ _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e ... ] + Usage: crypt-hook pattern keyid - This command specifies folders which can receive mail and which will be checked - for new messages. By default, the main menu status bar displays how many of - these folders have new messages. + When encrypting messages with PGP or OpenSSL, you may want to associate a certain key with a given e-mail address automatically, either because the recipient's public key can't be deduced from the destination address, or because, for some reasons, you need to override the key Mutt-ng would normally use. The crypt-hook command provides a method by which you can specify the ID of the public key to be used when encrypting messages to a certain recipient. - When changing folders, pressing _s_p_a_c_e will cycle through folders with new mail. + The meaning of "key id" is to be taken broadly in this context: You can either put a numerical key ID here, an e-mail address, or even just a real name. - Pressing TAB in the directory browser will bring up a menu showing the files - specified by the mailboxes command, and indicate which contain new messages. +24. Adding key sequences to the keyboard buffer - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 38 + Usage: push string - Mutt-ng will automatically enter this mode when invoked from the command line - with the -y option. + This command adds the named string to the keyboard buffer. The string may contain control characters, key names and function names like the sequence string in the macro command. You may use it to automatically run a sequence of commands at startup, or when entering certain folders. - The ``unmailboxes'' command is used to remove a token from the list of folders - which receive mail. Use ``unmailboxes *'' to remove all tokens. +25. Executing functions - NNoottee:: new mail is detected by comparing the last modification time to the last - access time. Utilities like biff or frm or any other program which accesses - the mailbox might cause Mutt-ng to never detect new mail for that mailbox if - they do not properly reset the access time. Backup tools are another common - reason for updated access times. + Usage: exec function [ function ... ] - NNoottee:: the filenames in the mailboxes command are resolved when the command is - executed, so if these names contain _s_h_o_r_t_c_u_t _c_h_a_r_a_c_t_e_r_s (section 4.9 , page - 61) (such as ``='' and ``!''), any variable definition that affect these char- - acters (like _$_f_o_l_d_e_r (section 7.4.70 , page 105) and _$_s_p_o_o_l_f_i_l_e (section - 7.4.313 , page 165)) should be executed before the mailboxes command. + This command can be used to execute any function. Functions are listed in the functions. ``exec function'' is equivalent to ``push ''. - _3_._1_6 _U_s_e_r _d_e_f_i_n_e_d _h_e_a_d_e_r_s +26. Message Scoring - Usage: + Usage: score pattern value Usage: unscore pattern [ pattern ... ] - my_hdr _s_t_r_i_n_g + In situations where you have to cope with a lot of emails, e.g. when you read many different mailing lists, and take part in discussions, it is always useful to have the important messages marked and the annoying messages or the ones that you aren't interested in deleted. For this purpose, mutt-ng features a mechanism called ``scoring''. - unmy_hdr _f_i_e_l_d [ _f_i_e_l_d ... ] + When you use scoring, every message has a base score of 0. You can then use the score command to define patterns and a positive or negative value associated with it. When a pattern matches a message, the message's score will be raised or lowered by the amount of the value associated with the pattern. +score "~f nion@muttng\.org" 50 +score "~f @sco\.com" -100 - The ``my_hdr'' command allows you to create your own header fields which will - be added to every message you send. + If the pattern matches, it is also possible to set the score value of the current message to a certain value and then stop evaluation: +score "~f santaclaus@northpole\.int" =666 - For example, if you would like to add an ``Organization:'' header field to all - of your outgoing messages, you can put the command + What is important to note is that negative score values will be rounded up to 0. - my_hdr Organization: A Really Big Company, Anytown, USA + To make scoring actually useful, the score must be applied in some way. That's what the score thresholds are for. Currently, there are three score thresholds: + * flag threshold: when a message has a score value equal or higher than the flag threshold, it will be flagged. + * read threshold: when a message has a score value equal or lower than the read threshold, it will be marked as read. + * delete threshold: when a message has a score value equal or lower than the delete threshold, it will be marked as deleted. - in your .muttrc. + These three thresholds can be set via the variables score-threshold-flag, score-threshold-read, score-threshold-delete and. By default, score-threshold-read and score-threshold-delete are set to -1, which means that in the default threshold configuration no message will ever get marked as read or deleted. - NNoottee:: space characters are _n_o_t allowed between the keyword and the colon - (``:''). The standard for electronic mail (RFC822) says that space is illegal - there, so Mutt-ng enforces the rule. + Scoring gets especially interesting when combined with the color command and the ˜n pattern: +color index black yellow "~n 10-" +color index red yellow "~n 100-" - If you would like to add a header field to a single message, you should either - set the _e_d_i_t___h_e_a_d_e_r_s (section 7.4.59 , page 103) variable, or use the _e_d_i_t_- - _h_e_a_d_e_r_s function (default: ``E'') in the send-menu so that you can edit the - header of your message along with the body. + The rules above mark all messages with a score between 10 and 99 with black and yellow, and messages with a score greater or equal 100 with red and yellow. This might be unusual to you if you're used to e.g. slrn's scoring mechanism, but it is more flexible, as it visually marks different scores. - To remove user defined header fields, use the ``unmy_hdr'' command. You may - specify an asterisk (``*'') to remove all header fields, or the fields to - remove. For example, to remove all ``To'' and ``Cc'' header fields, you could - use: +27. Spam detection - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 39 + Usage: spam pattern format Usage: nospam pattern - unmy_hdr to cc + Mutt-ng has generalized support for external spam-scoring filters. By defining your spam patterns with the spam and nospam commands, you can limit, search, and sort your mail based on its spam attributes, as determined by the external filter. You also can display the spam attributes in your index display using the %H selector in the index-format variable. (Tip: try %?H?[%H] ? to display spam tags only when they are defined for a given message.) - _3_._1_7 _D_e_f_i_n_i_n_g _t_h_e _o_r_d_e_r _o_f _h_e_a_d_e_r_s _w_h_e_n _v_i_e_w_i_n_g _m_e_s_s_a_g_e_s + Your first step is to define your external filter's spam patterns using the spam command. pattern should be a regular expression that matches a header in a mail message. If any message in the mailbox matches this regular expression, it will receive a ``spam tag'' or ``spam attribute'' (unless it also matches a nospam pattern -- see below.) The appearance of this attribute is entirely up to you, and is governed by the format parameter. format can be any static text, but it also can include back-references from the pattern expression. (A regular expression ``back-reference'' refers to a sub-expression contained within parentheses.) %1 is replaced with the first back-reference in the regex, %2 with the second, etc. - Usage: hdr_order _h_e_a_d_e_r_1 _h_e_a_d_e_r_2 _h_e_a_d_e_r_3 + If you're using multiple spam filters, a message can have more than one spam-related header. You can define spam patterns for each filter you use. If a message matches two or more of these patterns, and the $spam_separator variable is set to a string, then the message's spam tag will consist of all the format strings joined together, with the value of $spam_separator separating them. - With this command, you can specify an order in which mutt will attempt to - present headers to you when viewing messages. + For example, suppose I use DCC, SpamAssassin, and PureMessage. I might define these spam settings: +spam "X-DCC-.*-Metrics:.*(....)=many" "90+/DCC-%1" +spam "X-Spam-Status: Yes" "90+/SA" +spam "X-PerlMX-Spam: .*Probability=([0-9]+)%" "%1/PM" +set spam_separator=", " - ``unhdr_order *'' will clear all previous headers from the order list, thus - removing the header order effects set by the system-wide startup file. + If I then received a message that DCC registered with ``many'' hits under the ``Fuz2'' checksum, and that PureMessage registered with a 97% probability of being spam, that message's spam tag would read 90+/DCC-Fuz2, 97/PM. (The four characters before ``=many'' in a DCC report indicate the checksum used -- in this case, ``Fuz2''.) - hdr_order From Date: From: To: Cc: Subject: + If the $spam_separator variable is unset, then each spam pattern match supersedes the previous one. Instead of getting joined format strings, you'll get only the last one to match. - _3_._1_8 _S_p_e_c_i_f_y _d_e_f_a_u_l_t _s_a_v_e _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e + The spam tag is what will be displayed in the index when you use %H in the $index_format variable. It's also the string that the ˜H pattern-matching expression matches against for search and limit functions. And it's what sorting by spam attribute will use as a sort key. - Usage: save-hook [!]_p_a_t_t_e_r_n _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e + That's a pretty complicated example, and most people's actual environments will have only one spam filter. The simpler your configuration, the more effective mutt can be, especially when it comes to sorting. - This command is used to override the default filename used when saving mes- - sages. _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e will be used as the default filename if the message is _F_r_o_m_: - an address matching _r_e_g_e_x_p or if you are the author and the message is - addressed _t_o_: something matching _r_e_g_e_x_p. + Generally, when you sort by spam tag, mutt will sort lexically -- that is, by ordering strings alphnumerically. However, if a spam tag begins with a number, mutt will sort numerically first, and lexically only when two numbers are equal in value. (This is like UNIX's sort -n.) A message with no spam attributes at all -- that is, one that didn't match any of your spam patterns -- is sorted at lowest priority. Numbers are sorted next, beginning with 0 and ranging upward. Finally, non-numeric strings are sorted, with ``a'' taking lower priority than ``z''. Clearly, in general, sorting by spam tags is most effective when you can coerce your filter to give you a raw number. But in case you can't, mutt can still do something useful. - See _M_e_s_s_a_g_e _M_a_t_c_h_i_n_g _i_n _H_o_o_k_s (section 4.5.1 , page 58) for information on the - exact format of _p_a_t_t_e_r_n. + The nospam command can be used to write exceptions to spam patterns. If a header pattern matches something in a spam command, but you nonetheless do not want it to receive a spam tag, you can list a more precise pattern under a nospam command. - Examples: + If the pattern given to nospam is exactly the same as the pattern on an existing spam list entry, the effect will be to remove the entry from the spam list, instead of adding an exception. Likewise, if the pattern for a spam command matches an entry on the nospam list, that nospam entry will be removed. If the pattern for nospam is ``*'', all entries on both lists will be removed. This might be the default action if you use spam and nospam in conjunction with a folder-hook. - save-hook me@(turing\\.)?cs\\.hmc\\.edu$ +elkins - save-hook aol\\.com$ +spam + You can have as many spam or nospam commands as you like. You can even do your own primitive spam detection within mutt -- for example, if you consider all mail from MAILER-DAEMON to be spam, you can use a spam command like this: +spam "^From: .*MAILER-DAEMON" "999" - Also see the _f_c_c_-_s_a_v_e_-_h_o_o_k (section 3.20 , page 40) command. +28. Setting variables - _3_._1_9 _S_p_e_c_i_f_y _d_e_f_a_u_l_t _F_c_c_: _m_a_i_l_b_o_x _w_h_e_n _c_o_m_p_o_s_i_n_g + Usage: set [no|inv]variable[=value] [ variable ... ] Usage: toggle variable [variable ... ] Usage: unset variable [variable ... ] Usage: reset variable [variable ... ] - Usage: fcc-hook [!]_p_a_t_t_e_r_n _m_a_i_l_b_o_x + This command is used to set (and unset) variables. There are four basic types of variables: boolean, number, string and quadoption. boolean variables can be set (true) or unset (false). number variables can be assigned a positive integer value. - This command is used to save outgoing mail in a mailbox other than _$_r_e_c_o_r_d - (section 7.4.246 , page 148). Mutt-ng searches the initial list of message - recipients for the first matching _r_e_g_e_x_p and uses _m_a_i_l_b_o_x as the default Fcc: - mailbox. If no match is found the message will be saved to _$_r_e_c_o_r_d (section - 7.4.246 , page 148) mailbox. + string variables consist of any number of printable characters. strings must be enclosed in quotes if they contain spaces or tabs. You may also use the ``C'' escape sequences \n and \t for newline and tab, respectively. - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 40 + quadoption variables are used to control whether or not to be prompted for certain actions, or to specify a default action. A value of yes will cause the action to be carried out automatically as if you had answered yes to the question. Similarly, a value of no will cause the the action to be carried out as if you had answered ``no.'' A value of ask-yes will cause a prompt with a default answer of ``yes'' and ask-no will provide a default answer of ``no.'' - See _M_e_s_s_a_g_e _M_a_t_c_h_i_n_g _i_n _H_o_o_k_s (section 4.5.1 , page 58) for information on the - exact format of _p_a_t_t_e_r_n. + Prefixing a variable with ``no'' will unset it. Example: set noaskbcc. - Example: fcc-hook [@.]aol\\.com$ +spammers + For boolean variables, you may optionally prefix the variable name with inv to toggle the value (on or off). This is useful when writing macros. Example: set invsmart_wrap. - The above will save a copy of all messages going to the aol.com domain to the - `+spammers' mailbox by default. Also see the _f_c_c_-_s_a_v_e_-_h_o_o_k (section 3.20 , - page 40) command. + The toggle command automatically prepends the inv prefix to all specified variables. - _3_._2_0 _S_p_e_c_i_f_y _d_e_f_a_u_l_t _s_a_v_e _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e _a_n_d _d_e_f_a_u_l_t _F_c_c_: _m_a_i_l_b_o_x _a_t _o_n_c_e + The unset command automatically prepends the no prefix to all specified variables. - Usage: fcc-save-hook [!]_p_a_t_t_e_r_n _m_a_i_l_b_o_x + Using the enter-command function in the index menu, you can query the value of a variable by prefixing the name of the variable with a question mark: +set ?allow_8bit - This command is a shortcut, equivalent to doing both a _f_c_c_-_h_o_o_k (section - 3.19 , page 39) and a _s_a_v_e_-_h_o_o_k (section 3.18 , page 39) with its arguments. + The question mark is actually only required for boolean and quadoption variables. - _3_._2_1 _C_h_a_n_g_e _s_e_t_t_i_n_g_s _b_a_s_e_d _u_p_o_n _m_e_s_s_a_g_e _r_e_c_i_p_i_e_n_t_s + The reset command resets all given variables to the compile time defaults (hopefully mentioned in this manual). If you use the command set and prefix the variable with ``&'' this has the same behavior as the reset command. - Usage: reply-hook [!]_p_a_t_t_e_r_n _c_o_m_m_a_n_d + With the reset command there exists the special variable ``all'', which allows you to reset all variables to their system defaults. - Usage: send-hook [!]_p_a_t_t_e_r_n _c_o_m_m_a_n_d +29. Reading initialization commands from another file - Usage: send2-hook [!]_p_a_t_t_e_r_n _c_o_m_m_a_n_d + Usage: source filename [ filename ... ] - These commands can be used to execute arbitrary configuration commands based - upon recipients of the message. _p_a_t_t_e_r_n is a regular expression matching the - desired address. _c_o_m_m_a_n_d is executed when _r_e_g_e_x_p matches recipients of the - message. + This command allows the inclusion of initialization commands from other files. For example, I place all of my aliases in ˜/.mail_aliases so that I can make my ˜/.muttrc readable and keep my aliases private. - reply-hook is matched against the message you are _r_e_p_l_y_i_n_g ttoo, instead of the - message you are _s_e_n_d_i_n_g. send-hook is matched against all messages, both _n_e_w - and _r_e_p_l_i_e_s. NNoottee:: reply-hooks are matched bbeeffoorree the send-hook, rreeggaarrddlleessss of - the order specified in the users's configuration file. + If the filename begins with a tilde (``˜''), it will be expanded to the path of your home directory. - send2-hook is matched every time a message is changed, either by editing it, or - by using the compose menu to change its recipients or subject. send2-hook is - executed after send-hook, and can, e.g., be used to set parameters such as the - _$_s_e_n_d_m_a_i_l (section 7.4.263 , page 152) variable depending on the message's - sender address. + If the filename ends with a vertical bar (|), then filename is considered to be an executable program from which to read input (eg. source ˜/bin/myscript|). - For each type of send-hook or reply-hook, when multiple matches occur, commands - are executed in the order they are specified in the muttrc (for that type of - hook). +30. Removing hooks - See _M_e_s_s_a_g_e _M_a_t_c_h_i_n_g _i_n _H_o_o_k_s (section 4.5.1 , page 58) for information on the - exact format of _p_a_t_t_e_r_n. + Usage: unhook [ * | hook-type ] - Example: send-hook mutt 'set mime_forward signature=''' + This command permits you to flush hooks you have previously defined. You can either remove all hooks by giving the ``*'' character as an argument, or you can remove all hooks of a specific type by saying something like unhook send-hook. - Another typical use for this command is to change the values of the +31. Sharing Setups - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 41 +31.1. Character Sets - _$_a_t_t_r_i_b_u_t_i_o_n (section 7.4.18 , page 94), _$_s_i_g_n_a_t_u_r_e (section 7.4.275 , page - 155) and _$_l_o_c_a_l_e (section 7.4.120 , page 120) variables in order to change the - language of the attributions and signatures based upon the recipients. + As users may run mutt-ng on different systems, the configuration must be maintained because it's likely that people want to use the setup everywhere they use mutt-ng. And mutt-ng tries to help where it can. - NNoottee:: the send-hook's are only executed ONCE after getting the initial list of - recipients. Adding a recipient after replying or editing the message will NOT - cause any send-hook to be executed. Also note that my_hdr commands which mod- - ify recipient headers, or the message's subject, don't have any effect on the - current message when executed from a send-hook. + To not produce conflicts with different character sets, mutt-ng allows users to specify in which character set their configuration files are encoded. Please note that while reading the configuration files, this is only respected after the corresponding declaration appears. It's advised to put the following at the very beginning of a users muttngrc: +set config_charset = "..." - _3_._2_2 _C_h_a_n_g_e _s_e_t_t_i_n_g_s _b_e_f_o_r_e _f_o_r_m_a_t_t_i_n_g _a _m_e_s_s_a_g_e + and replacing the dots with the actual character set. To avoid problems while maintaining the setup, vim user's may want to use modelines as show in: +# vim:fileencoding=...: - Usage: message-hook [!]_p_a_t_t_e_r_n _c_o_m_m_a_n_d + while, again, replacing the dots with the appropriate name. This tells vim as which character set to read and save the file. - This command can be used to execute arbitrary configuration commands before - viewing or formatting a message based upon information about the message. _c_o_m_- - _m_a_n_d is executed if the _p_a_t_t_e_r_n matches the message to be displayed. When mul- - tiple matches occur, commands are executed in the order they are specified in - the muttrc. +31.2. Modularization - See _M_e_s_s_a_g_e _M_a_t_c_h_i_n_g _i_n _H_o_o_k_s (section 4.5.1 , page 58) for information on the - exact format of _p_a_t_t_e_r_n. + ``Modularization'' means to divide the setup into several files while sorting the options or commands by topic. Especially for longer setups (e.g. with many hooks), this helps maintaining it and solving trouble. - Example: + When using separation, setups may be, as a whole or in fractions, shared over different systems. - message-hook ~A 'set pager=builtin' - message-hook '~f freshmeat-news' 'set pager="less \"+/^ subject: .*\""' +31.3. Conditional parts - _3_._2_3 _C_h_o_o_s_i_n_g _t_h_e _c_r_y_p_t_o_g_r_a_p_h_i_c _k_e_y _o_f _t_h_e _r_e_c_i_p_i_e_n_t + When using a configuration on different systems, the user may not always have influence on how mutt-ng is installed and which features it includes. - Usage: crypt-hook _p_a_t_t_e_r_n _k_e_y_i_d + To solve this, mutt-ng contain a feature based on the ``ifdef'' patch written for mutt. Its basic syntax is: +ifdef +ifndef - When encrypting messages with PGP or OpenSSL, you may want to associate a cer- - tain key with a given e-mail address automatically, either because the recipi- - ent's public key can't be deduced from the destination address, or because, for - some reasons, you need to override the key Mutt-ng would normally use. The - crypt-hook command provides a method by which you can specify the ID of the - public key to be used when encrypting messages to a certain recipient. + ...whereby can be one of: + * a function name + * a variable name + * a menu name + * a feature name - The meaning of "key id" is to be taken broadly in this context: You can either - put a numerical key ID here, an e-mail address, or even just a real name. + All available functions, variables and menus are documented elsewhere in this manual but ``features'' is specific to these two commands. To test for one, prefix one of the following keywords with feature_: +ncurses, slang, iconv, idn, dotlock, standalone, pop, nntp, imap, ssl, +gnutls, sasl, sasl2, libesmtp, compressed, color, classic_pgp, +classic_smime, gpgme, header_cache - _3_._2_4 _A_d_d_i_n_g _k_e_y _s_e_q_u_e_n_c_e_s _t_o _t_h_e _k_e_y_b_o_a_r_d _b_u_f_f_e_r + As an example, one can use the following in ˜/.muttngrc: +ifdef feature_imap 'source ~/.mutt-ng/setup-imap' +ifdef feature_pop 'source ~/.mutt-ng/setup-pop' +ifdef feature_nntp 'source ~/.mutt-ng/setup-nntp' - Usage: push _s_t_r_i_n_g + ...to only source ˜/.mutt-ng/setup-imap if IMAP support is built in, only source ˜/.mutt-ng/setup-pop if POP support is built in and only source ˜/.mutt-ng/setup-nntp if NNTP support is built in. - This command adds the named string to the keyboard buffer. The string may + An example for testing for variable names can be used if users use different revisions of mutt-ng whereby the older one may not have a certain variable. To test for the availability of imap-mail-check, use: +ifdef imap_mail_check 'set imap_mail_check = 300' - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 42 + Provided for completeness is the test for menu names. To set pager-index-lines only if the pager menu is available, use: +ifdef pager 'set pager_index_lines = 10' - contain control characters, key names and function names like the sequence - string in the _m_a_c_r_o (section 3.8 , page 30) command. You may use it to auto- - matically run a sequence of commands at startup, or when entering certain fold- - ers. + For completeness, too, the opposite of ifdef is provided: ifndef which only executes the command if the test fails. For example, the following two examples are equivalent: +ifdef feature_ncurses 'source ~/.mutt-ng/setup-ncurses' +ifndef feature_ncurses 'source ~/.mutt-ng/setup-slang' - _3_._2_5 _E_x_e_c_u_t_i_n_g _f_u_n_c_t_i_o_n_s + ...and... +ifdef feature_slang 'source ~/.mutt-ng/setup-slang' +ifndef feature_slang 'source ~/.mutt-ng/setup-ncurses' - Usage: exec _f_u_n_c_t_i_o_n [ _f_u_n_c_t_i_o_n ... ] +32. Obsolete Variables - This command can be used to execute any function. Functions are listed in the - _f_u_n_c_t_i_o_n _r_e_f_e_r_e_n_c_e (section 7.5 , page 177). ``exec function'' is equivalent - to ``push ''. + In the process of ensuring and creating more consistency, many variables have been renamed and some of the old names were already removed. Please see sect-obsolete for a complete list. - _3_._2_6 _M_e_s_s_a_g_e _S_c_o_r_i_n_g +Chapter 4. Advanced Usage - Usage: score _p_a_t_t_e_r_n _v_a_l_u_e + Table of Contents - Usage: unscore _p_a_t_t_e_r_n [ _p_a_t_t_e_r_n ... ] + 1. Regular Expressions + 2. Patterns - In situations where you have to cope with a lot of emails, e.g. when you read - many different mailing lists, and take part in discussions, it is always useful - to have the important messages marked and the annoying messages or the ones - that you aren't interested in deleted. For this purpose, mutt-ng features a - mechanism called ``scoring''. + 2.1. Complex Patterns + 2.2. Patterns and Dates - When you use scoring, every message has a base score of 0. You can then use the - score command to define patterns and a positive or negative value associated - with it. When a pattern matches a message, the message's score will be raised - or lowered by the amount of the value associated with the pattern. + 3. Format Strings - score "~f nion@muttng\.org" 50 - score "~f @sco\.com" -100 + 3.1. Introduction + 3.2. Conditional Expansion + 3.3. Modifications and Padding - If the pattern matches, it is also possible to set the score value of the cur- - rent message to a certain value and then stop evaluation: + 4. Using Tags + 5. Using Hooks - score "~f santaclaus@northpole\.int" =666 + 5.1. Message Matching in Hooks - What is important to note is that negative score values will be rounded up to - 0. + 6. Using the sidebar + 7. External Address Queries + 8. Mailbox Formats + 9. Mailbox Shortcuts + 10. Handling Mailing Lists + 11. Editing threads - To make scoring actually useful, the score must be applied in some way. That's - what the _s_c_o_r_e _t_h_r_e_s_h_o_l_d_s are for. Currently, there are three score thresholds: + 11.1. Linking threads + 11.2. Breaking threads - +o flag threshold: when a message has a score value equal or higher than the - flag threshold, it will be flagged. + 12. Delivery Status Notification (DSN) Support + 13. POP3 Support (OPTIONAL) + 14. IMAP Support (OPTIONAL) - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 43 + 14.1. The Folder Browser + 14.2. Authentication - +o read threshold: when a message has a score value equal or lower than the - read threshold, it will be marked as read. + 15. NNTP Support (OPTIONAL) - +o delete threshold: when a message has a score value equal or lower than the - delete threshold, it will be marked as deleted. + 15.1. Again: Scoring - These three thresholds can be set via the variables _$_s_c_o_r_e___t_h_r_e_s_h_o_l_d___f_l_a_g (sec- - tion 7.4.260 , page 152), _$_s_c_o_r_e___t_h_r_e_s_h_o_l_d___r_e_a_d (section 7.4.261 , page 152), - _$_s_c_o_r_e___t_h_r_e_s_h_o_l_d___d_e_l_e_t_e (section 7.4.259 , page 152) and. By default, - _$_s_c_o_r_e___t_h_r_e_s_h_o_l_d___r_e_a_d (section 7.4.261 , page 152) and _$_s_c_o_r_e___t_h_r_e_s_h_o_l_d___d_e_l_e_t_e - (section 7.4.259 , page 152) are set to -1, which means that in the default - threshold configuration no message will ever get marked as read or deleted. + 16. SMTP Support (OPTIONAL) + 17. Managing multiple IMAP/POP/NNTP accounts (OPTIONAL) + 18. Start a WWW Browser on URLs (EXTERNAL) + 19. Compressed folders Support (OPTIONAL) - Scoring gets especially interesting when combined with the color command and - the ~n pattern: + 19.1. Open a compressed mailbox for reading + 19.2. Write a compressed mailbox + 19.3. Append a message to a compressed mailbox + 19.4. Encrypted folders - color index black yellow "~n 10-" - color index red yellow "~n 100-" +1. Regular Expressions - The rules above mark all messages with a score between 10 and 99 with black and - yellow, and messages with a score greater or equal 100 with red and yellow. - This might be unusual to you if you're used to e.g. slrn's scoring mechanism, - but it is more flexible, as it visually marks different scores. + All string patterns in Mutt-ng including those in more complex patterns must be specified using regular expressions (regexp) in the ``POSIX extended'' syntax (which is more or less the syntax used by egrep and GNU awk). For your convenience, we have included below a brief description of this syntax. - _3_._2_7 _S_p_a_m _d_e_t_e_c_t_i_o_n + The search is case sensitive if the pattern contains at least one upper case letter, and case insensitive otherwise. Note that ``\'' must be quoted if used for a regular expression in an initialization command: ``\\''. - Usage: spam _p_a_t_t_e_r_n _f_o_r_m_a_t + A regular expression is a pattern that describes a set of strings. Regular expressions are constructed analogously to arithmetic expressions, by using various operators to combine smaller expressions. - Usage: nospam _p_a_t_t_e_r_n + Note that the regular expression can be enclosed/delimited by either " or ' which is useful if the regular expression includes a white-space character. See muttrc-syntax for more information on " and ' delimiter processing. To match a literal " or ' you must preface it with \ (backslash). - Mutt-ng has generalized support for external spam-scoring filters. By defining - your spam patterns with the spam and nospam commands, you can _l_i_m_i_t, _s_e_a_r_c_h, - and _s_o_r_t your mail based on its spam attributes, as determined by the external - filter. You also can display the spam attributes in your index display using - the %H selector in the _$_i_n_d_e_x___f_o_r_m_a_t (section 7.4.116 , page 116) variable. - (Tip: try %?H?[%H] ? to display spam tags only when they are defined for a - given message.) + The fundamental building blocks are the regular expressions that match a single character. Most characters, including all letters and digits, are regular expressions that match themselves. Any metacharacter with special meaning may be quoted by preceding it with a backslash. - Your first step is to define your external filter's spam patterns using the - spam command. _p_a_t_t_e_r_n should be a regular expression that matches a header in a - mail message. If any message in the mailbox matches this regular expression, it - will receive a ``spam tag'' or ``spam attribute'' (unless it also matches a - nospam pattern -- see below.) The appearance of this attribute is entirely up - to you, and is governed by the _f_o_r_m_a_t parameter. _f_o_r_m_a_t can be any static text, - but it also can include back-references from the _p_a_t_t_e_r_n expression. (A regular - expression ``back-reference'' refers to a sub-expression contained within - parentheses.) %1 is replaced with the first back-reference in the regex, %2 - with the second, etc. + The period ``.'' matches any single character. The caret ``^'' and the dollar sign ``$'' are metacharacters that respectively match the empty string at the beginning and end of a line. - If you're using multiple spam filters, a message can have more than one spam- + A list of characters enclosed by ``['' and ``]'' matches any single character in that list; if the first character of the list is a caret ``^'' then it matches any character not in the list. For example, the regular expression [0123456789] matches any single digit. A range of ASCII characters may be specified by giving the first and last characters, separated by a hyphen ``-''. Most metacharacters lose their special meaning inside lists. To include a literal ``]'' place it first in the list. Similarly, to include a literal ``^'' place it anywhere but first. Finally, to include a literal hyphen ``-'' place it last. - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 44 + Certain named classes of characters are predefined. Character classes consist of ``[:'', a keyword denoting the class, and ``:]''. The following classes are defined by the POSIX standard: - related header. You can define spam patterns for each filter you use. If a mes- - sage matches two or more of these patterns, and the $spam_separator variable is - set to a string, then the message's spam tag will consist of all the _f_o_r_m_a_t - strings joined together, with the value of $spam_separator separating them. + [:alnum:] + Alphanumeric characters. - For example, suppose I use DCC, SpamAssassin, and PureMessage. I might define - these spam settings: + [:alpha:] + Alphabetic characters. - spam "X-DCC-.*-Metrics:.*(....)=many" "90+/DCC-%1" - spam "X-Spam-Status: Yes" "90+/SA" - spam "X-PerlMX-Spam: .*Probability=([0-9]+)%" "%1/PM" - set spam_separator=", " + [:blank:] + Space or tab characters. - If I then received a message that DCC registered with ``many'' hits under the - ``Fuz2'' checksum, and that PureMessage registered with a 97% probability of - being spam, that message's spam tag would read 90+/DCC-Fuz2, 97/PM. (The four - characters before ``=many'' in a DCC report indicate the checksum used -- in - this case, ``Fuz2''.) + [:cntrl:] + Control characters. - If the $spam_separator variable is unset, then each spam pattern match super- - sedes the previous one. Instead of getting joined _f_o_r_m_a_t strings, you'll get - only the last one to match. + [:digit:] + Numeric characters. - The spam tag is what will be displayed in the index when you use %H in the - $index_format variable. It's also the string that the ~H pattern-matching - expression matches against for _s_e_a_r_c_h and _l_i_m_i_t functions. And it's what sort- - ing by spam attribute will use as a sort key. + [:graph:] + Characters that are both printable and visible. (A space is printable, but not visible, while an ``a'' is both.) - That's a pretty complicated example, and most people's actual environments will - have only one spam filter. The simpler your configuration, the more effective - mutt can be, especially when it comes to sorting. + [:lower:] + Lower-case alphabetic characters. - Generally, when you sort by spam tag, mutt will sort _l_e_x_i_c_a_l_l_y -- that is, by - ordering strings alphnumerically. However, if a spam tag begins with a number, - mutt will sort numerically first, and lexically only when two numbers are equal - in value. (This is like UNIX's sort -n.) A message with no spam attributes at - all -- that is, one that didn't match _a_n_y of your spam patterns -- is sorted at - lowest priority. Numbers are sorted next, beginning with 0 and ranging upward. - Finally, non-numeric strings are sorted, with ``a'' taking lower priority than - ``z''. Clearly, in general, sorting by spam tags is most effective when you can - coerce your filter to give you a raw number. But in case you can't, mutt can - still do something useful. + [:print:] + Printable characters (characters that are not control characters.) - The nospam command can be used to write exceptions to spam patterns. If a - header pattern matches something in a spam command, but you nonetheless do not - want it to receive a spam tag, you can list a more precise pattern under a - nospam command. + [:punct:] + Punctuation characters (characters that are not letter, digits, control characters, or space characters). - If the _p_a_t_t_e_r_n given to nospam is exactly the same as the _p_a_t_t_e_r_n on an exist- - ing spam list entry, the effect will be to remove the entry from the spam list, - instead of adding an exception. Likewise, if the _p_a_t_t_e_r_n for a spam command - matches an entry on the nospam list, that nospam entry will be removed. If the - _p_a_t_t_e_r_n for nospam is ``*'', _a_l_l _e_n_t_r_i_e_s _o_n _b_o_t_h _l_i_s_t_s will be removed. This + [:space:] + Space characters (such as space, tab and formfeed, to name a few). - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 45 + [:upper:] + Upper-case alphabetic characters. - might be the default action if you use spam and nospam in conjunction with a - folder-hook. + [:xdigit:] + Characters that are hexadecimal digits. - You can have as many spam or nospam commands as you like. You can even do your - own primitive spam detection within mutt -- for example, if you consider all - mail from MAILER-DAEMON to be spam, you can use a spam command like this: + A character class is only valid in a regular expression inside the brackets of a character list. Note that the brackets in these class names are part of the symbolic names, and must be included in addition to the brackets delimiting the bracket list. For example, [[:digit:]] is equivalent to [0-9]. - spam "^From: .*MAILER-DAEMON" "999" + Two additional special sequences can appear in character lists. These apply to non-ASCII character sets, which can have single symbols (called collating elements) that are represented with more than one character, as well as several characters that are equivalent for collating or sorting purposes: - _3_._2_8 _S_e_t_t_i_n_g _v_a_r_i_a_b_l_e_s + Collating Symbols + A collating symbol is a multi-character collating element enclosed in ``[.'' and ``.]''. For example, if ``ch'' is a collating element, then [[.ch.]] is a regexp that matches this collating element, while [ch] is a regexp that matches either ``c'' or ``h''. - Usage: set [no|inv]_v_a_r_i_a_b_l_e[=_v_a_l_u_e] [ _v_a_r_i_a_b_l_e ... ] + Equivalence Classes + An equivalence class is a locale-specific name for a list of characters that are equivalent. The name is enclosed in ``[='' and ``=]''. For example, the name ``e'' might be used to represent all of ``è'' ``é'' and ``e''. In this case, [[=e=]] is a regexp that matches any of ``è'', ``é'' and ``e''. - Usage: toggle _v_a_r_i_a_b_l_e [_v_a_r_i_a_b_l_e ... ] + A regular expression matching a single character may be followed by one of several repetition operators: - Usage: unset _v_a_r_i_a_b_l_e [_v_a_r_i_a_b_l_e ... ] + ? + The preceding item is optional and matched at most once. - Usage: reset _v_a_r_i_a_b_l_e [_v_a_r_i_a_b_l_e ... ] + * + The preceding item will be matched zero or more times. - This command is used to set (and unset) _c_o_n_f_i_g_u_r_a_t_i_o_n _v_a_r_i_a_b_l_e_s (section 7.4 , - page 88). There are four basic types of variables: boolean, number, string and - quadoption. _b_o_o_l_e_a_n variables can be _s_e_t (true) or _u_n_s_e_t (false). _n_u_m_b_e_r - variables can be assigned a positive integer value. + + + The preceding item will be matched one or more times. - _s_t_r_i_n_g variables consist of any number of printable characters. _s_t_r_i_n_g_s must - be enclosed in quotes if they contain spaces or tabs. You may also use the - ``C'' escape sequences \\nn and \\tt for newline and tab, respectively. + {n} + The preceding item is matched exactly n times. - _q_u_a_d_o_p_t_i_o_n variables are used to control whether or not to be prompted for cer- - tain actions, or to specify a default action. A value of _y_e_s will cause the - action to be carried out automatically as if you had answered yes to the ques- - tion. Similarly, a value of _n_o will cause the the action to be carried out as - if you had answered ``no.'' A value of _a_s_k_-_y_e_s will cause a prompt with a - default answer of ``yes'' and _a_s_k_-_n_o will provide a default answer of ``no.'' + {n,} + The preceding item is matched n or more times. - Prefixing a variable with ``no'' will unset it. Example: set noaskbcc. + {,m} + The preceding item is matched at most m times. - For _b_o_o_l_e_a_n variables, you may optionally prefix the variable name with inv to - toggle the value (on or off). This is useful when writing macros. Example: - set invsmart_wrap. + {n,m} + The preceding item is matched at least n times, but no more than m times. - The toggle command automatically prepends the inv prefix to all specified vari- - ables. + Two regular expressions may be concatenated; the resulting regular expression matches any string formed by concatenating two substrings that respectively match the concatenated subexpressions. - The unset command automatically prepends the no prefix to all specified vari- - ables. + Two regular expressions may be joined by the infix operator ``|''; the resulting regular expression matches any string matching either subexpression. - Using the enter-command function in the _i_n_d_e_x menu, you can query the value of - a variable by prefixing the name of the variable with a question mark: + Repetition takes precedence over concatenation, which in turn takes precedence over alternation. A whole subexpression may be enclosed in parentheses to override these precedence rules. - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 46 + Note: If you compile Mutt-ng with the GNU rx package, the following operators may also be used in regular expressions: - set ?allow_8bit + \\y + Matches the empty string at either the beginning or the end of a word. - The question mark is actually only required for boolean and quadoption vari- - ables. + \\B + Matches the empty string within a word. - The reset command resets all given variables to the compile time defaults - (hopefully mentioned in this manual). If you use the command set and prefix the - variable with ``&'' this has the same behavior as the reset command. + \\< + Matches the empty string at the beginning of a word. - With the reset command there exists the special variable ``all'', which allows - you to reset all variables to their system defaults. + \\> + Matches the empty string at the end of a word. - _3_._2_9 _R_e_a_d_i_n_g _i_n_i_t_i_a_l_i_z_a_t_i_o_n _c_o_m_m_a_n_d_s _f_r_o_m _a_n_o_t_h_e_r _f_i_l_e + \\w + Matches any word-constituent character (letter, digit, or underscore). - Usage: source _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e [ _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e ... ] + \\W + Matches any character that is not word-constituent. - This command allows the inclusion of initialization commands from other files. - For example, I place all of my aliases in ~/.mail_aliases so that I can make my - ~/.muttrc readable and keep my aliases private. + \\` + Matches the empty string at the beginning of a buffer (string). - If the filename begins with a tilde (``~''), it will be expanded to the path of - your home directory. + \\' + Matches the empty string at the end of a buffer. - If the filename ends with a vertical bar (|), then _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e is considered to be - an executable program from which to read input (eg. source ~/bin/myscript|). + Please note however that these operators are not defined by POSIX, so they may or may not be available in stock libraries on various systems. - _3_._3_0 _R_e_m_o_v_i_n_g _h_o_o_k_s +2. Patterns - Usage: unhook [ * | _h_o_o_k_-_t_y_p_e ] + Mutt-ng's pattern language provides a simple yet effective way to set up rules to match messages, e.g. for operations like tagging and scoring. A pattern consists of one or more sub-pattern, which can be logically grouped, ORed, and negated. For a complete listing of these patterns, please refer to table patterns in the Reference chapter. - This command permits you to flush hooks you have previously defined. You can - either remove all hooks by giving the ``*'' character as an argument, or you - can remove all hooks of a specific type by saying something like unhook send- - hook. + It must be noted that in this table, EXPR, USER, ID and SUBJECT are regular expressions. For ranges, the forms <[MAX], >>[MIN], [MIN]- and -[MAX] are also possible. - _3_._3_1 _S_h_a_r_i_n_g _S_e_t_u_p_s +2.1. Complex Patterns - _3_._3_1_._1 _C_h_a_r_a_c_t_e_r _S_e_t_s + It is possible to combine several sub-patterns to a more complex pattern. The most simple possibility is to logically AND several patterns by stringing them together: +~s 'SPAM' ~U - As users may run mutt-ng on different systems, the configuration must be main- - tained because it's likely that people want to use the setup everywhere they - use mutt-ng. And mutt-ng tries to help where it can. + The pattern above matches all messages that contain ``SPAM'' in the subject and are unread. - To not produce conflicts with different character sets, mutt-ng allows users to - specify in which character set their configuration files are encoded. Please - note that while reading the configuration files, this is only respected after - the corresponding declaration appears. It's advised to put the following at the + To logical OR patterns, simply use the | operator. This one especially useful when using local groups: +~f ("nion@muttng\.org"|"ak@muttng\.org"|"pdmef@muttng\.org") +(~b mutt-ng|~s Mutt-ng) +!~x '@synflood\.at' - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 47 + The first pattern matches all messages that were sent by one of the mutt-ng maintainers, while the seconds pattern matches all messages that contain ``mutt-ng'' in the message body or ``Mutt-ng'' in the subject. The third pattern matches all messages that do not contain ``@synflood\.at'' in the References: header, i.e. messages that are not an (indirect) reply to one of my messages. A pattern can be logicall negated using the ! operator. - very beginning of a users muttngrc: +2.2. Patterns and Dates - set config_charset = "..." + When using dates in patterns, the dates must be specified in a special format, i.e. DD/MM/YYYY. If you don't specify month or year, they default to the current month or year. When using date ranges, and you specify only the minimum or the maximum, the specified date will be excluded, e.g. 01/06/2005- matches against all messages after Juni 1st, 2005. - and replacing the dots with the actual character set. To avoid problems while - maintaining the setup, vim user's may want to use modelines as show in: + It is also possible to use so-called ``error margins'' when specifying date ranges. You simply specify a date, and then the error margin. This margin needs to contain the information whether it goes ``forth'' or ``back'' in time, by using + and -. Then follows a number and a unit, i.e. y for years, m for months, w for weeks and d for days. If you use the special * sign, it means that the error margin goes to both ``directions'' in time. +~d 01/01/2005+1y +~d 18/10/2004-2w +~d 28/12/2004*1d - # vim:fileencoding=...: + The first pattern matches all dates between January 1st, 2005 and January 1st 2006. The second pattern matches all dates between October 18th, 2004 and October 4th 2004 (2 weeks before 18/10/2004), while the third pattern matches all dates 1 day around December 28th, 2004 (i.e. Dec 27th, 28th and 29th). - while, again, replacing the dots with the appropriate name. This tells vim as - which character set to read and save the file. + Relative dates are also very important, as they make it possible to specify date ranges between a fixed number of units and the current date. How this works can be seen in the following example: +~d >2w # messages older than two weeks +~d <3d # messages newer than 3 days +~d =1m # messages that are exactly one month old - _3_._3_1_._2 _M_o_d_u_l_a_r_i_z_a_t_i_o_n +3. Format Strings - ``Modularization'' means to divide the setup into several files while sorting - the options or commands by topic. Especially for longer setups (e.g. with many - hooks), this helps maintaining it and solving trouble. +3.1. Introduction - When using separation, setups may be, as a whole or in fractions, shared over - different systems. + The so called Format Strings offer great flexibility when configuring mutt-ng. In short, they describe what items to print out how in menus and status messages. - _3_._3_1_._3 _C_o_n_d_i_t_i_o_n_a_l _p_a_r_t_s + Basically, they work as this: for different menus and bars, there's a variable specifying the layout. For every item available, there is a so called expando. - When using a configuration on different systems, the user may not always have - influence on how mutt-ng is installed and which features it includes. + For example, when running mutt-ng on different machines or different versions for testing purposes, it may be interesting to have the following information always printed on screen when one is in the index: + * the current hostname + * the current mutt-ng version number - To solve this, mutt-ng contain a feature based on the ``ifdef'' patch written - for mutt. Its basic syntax is: + The setting for the status bar of the index is controlled via the status-format variable. For the hostname and version string, there's an expando for $status_format: %h expands to the hostname and %v to the version string. When just configuring: +set status_format = "%v on %h: ..." - ifdef - ifndef + mutt-ng will replace the sequence %v with the version string and %h with the host's name. When you are, for example, running mutt-ng version 1.5.9i on host mailhost, you'll see the following when you're in the index: +Mutt-ng 1.5.9i on mailhost: ... - ...whereby can be one of: + In the index, there're more useful information one could want to see: + * which mailbox is open + * how man new, flagged or postponed messages + * ... - +o a function name + To include the mailbox' name is as easy as: +set status_format = "%v on %h: %B: ... - +o a variable name + When the currently opened mailbox is Inbox, this will be expanded to: +Mutt-ng 1.5.9i on mailhost: Inbox: ... - +o a menu name + For the number of certain types of messages, one more feature of the format strings is extremely useful. If there aren't messages of a certain type, it may not be desired to print just that there aren't any but instead only print something if there are any. - +o a feature name +3.2. Conditional Expansion - All available functions, variables and menus are documented elsewhere in this - manual but ``features'' is specific to these two commands. To test for one, + To only print the number of messages if there are new messages in the current mailbox, further extend $status_format to: +set status_format = "%v on %h: %B %?n?%n new? ... - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 48 + This feature is called nonzero-printing and works as this: some expandos may be optionally printed nonzero, i.e. a portion of the format string is only evaluated if the value of the expando is different from zero. The basic syntax is: +%??? - prefix one of the following keywords with feature_: + which tells mutt-ng to only look at if the value of the %?&? - As an example, one can use the following in ~/.muttngrc: + Using this we can make mutt-ng to do the following: + * make it print ``n new messages'' whereby n is the count but only if there new ones + * and make it print ``no new messages'' if there aren't any - ifdef feature_imap 'source ~/.mutt-ng/setup-imap' - ifdef feature_pop 'source ~/.mutt-ng/setup-pop' - ifdef feature_nntp 'source ~/.mutt-ng/setup-nntp' + The corresponding configuration is: +set status_format = "%v on %h: %B: %?n?%n new messages&no new messages? ... - ...to only source ~/.mutt-ng/setup-imap if IMAP support is built in, only - source ~/.mutt-ng/setup-pop if POP support is built in and only source ~/.mutt- - ng/setup-nntp if NNTP support is built in. + This doubles the use of the ``new messages'' string because it'll get always printed. Thus, it can be shortened to: +set status_format = "%v on %h: %B: %?n?%n&no? new messages ... - An example for testing for variable names can be used if users use different - revisions of mutt-ng whereby the older one may not have a certain variable. To - test for the availability of _$_i_m_a_p___m_a_i_l___c_h_e_c_k (section 7.4.105 , page 114), - use: + As you might see from this rather simple example, one can create very complex but fancy status messages. Please see the reference chapter for expandos and those which may be printed nonzero. - ifdef imap_mail_check 'set imap_mail_check = 300' +3.3. Modifications and Padding - Provided for completeness is the test for menu names. To set _$_p_a_g_e_r___i_n_d_e_x___l_i_n_e_s - (section 7.4.185 , page 134) only if the pager menu is available, use: + Besides the information given so far, there're even more features of format strings: + * When specifying %_ instead of just %, mutt-ng will convert all characters in the expansion of to lowercase. + * When specifying %: instead of just %, mutt-ng will convert all dots in the expansion of to underscores (_). - ifdef pager 'set pager_index_lines = 10' + Also, there's a feature called Padding supplied by the following two expandos: %|X and %>X. - For completeness, too, the opposite of ifdef is provided: ifndef which only - executes the command if the test fails. For example, the following two examples - are equivalent: + %|X + When this occurs, mutt-ng will fill the rest of the line with the character X. In our example, filling the rest of the line with dashes is done by setting: - ifdef feature_ncurses 'source ~/.mutt-ng/setup-ncurses' - ifndef feature_ncurses 'source ~/.mutt-ng/setup-slang' +set status_format = "%v on %h: %B: %?n?%n&no? new messages %|-" - ...and... + %>X + Since the previous expando stops at the end of line, there must be a way to fill the gap between two items via the %>X expando: it puts as many characters X in between two items so that the rest of the line will be right-justified. For example, to not put the version string and hostname of our example on the left but on the right and fill the gap with spaces, one might use (note the space after %>): - ifdef feature_slang 'source ~/.mutt-ng/setup-slang' - ifndef feature_slang 'source ~/.mutt-ng/setup-ncurses' +set status_format = "%B: %?n?%n&no? new messages %> (%v on %h)" - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 49 +4. Using Tags - _3_._3_2 _O_b_s_o_l_e_t_e _V_a_r_i_a_b_l_e_s + Sometimes it is desirable to perform an operation on a group of messages all at once rather than one at a time. An example might be to save messages to a mailing list to a separate folder, or to delete all messages with a given subject. To tag all messages matching a pattern, use the tag-pattern function, which is bound to ``shift-T'' by default. Or you can select individual messages by hand using the ``tag-message'' function, which is bound to ``t'' by default. See patterns for Mutt-ng's pattern matching syntax. - In the process of ensuring and creating more consistency, many variables have - been renamed and some of the old names were already removed. Please see _O_b_s_o_- - _l_e_t_e _V_a_r_i_a_b_l_e_s (section 7.4 , page 88) for a complete list. + Once you have tagged the desired messages, you can use the ``tag-prefix'' operator, which is the ``;'' (semicolon) key by default. When the ``tag-prefix'' operator is used, the next operation will be applied to all tagged messages if that operation can be used in that manner. If the auto-tag variable is set, the next operation applies to the tagged messages automatically, without requiring the ``tag-prefix''. - _4_. _A_d_v_a_n_c_e_d _U_s_a_g_e + In macro or push commands, you can use the ``tag-prefix-cond'' operator. If there are no tagged messages, mutt will "eat" the rest of the macro to abort it's execution. Mutt-ng will stop "eating" the macro when it encounters the ``end-cond'' operator; after this operator the rest of the macro will be executed as normal. - _4_._1 _R_e_g_u_l_a_r _E_x_p_r_e_s_s_i_o_n_s +5. Using Hooks - All string patterns in Mutt-ng including those in more complex _p_a_t_t_e_r_n_s (sec- - tion 7.2 , page 84) must be specified using regular expressions (regexp) in - the ``POSIX extended'' syntax (which is more or less the syntax used by egrep - and GNU awk). For your convenience, we have included below a brief description - of this syntax. + A hook is a concept borrowed from the EMACS editor which allows you to execute arbitrary commands before performing some operation. For example, you may wish to tailor your configuration based upon which mailbox you are reading, or to whom you are sending mail. In the Mutt-ng world, a hook consists of a regexp or patterns along with a configuration option/command. See + * folder-hook + * send-hook + * message-hook + * save-hook + * mbox-hook + * fcc-hook + * fcc-save-hook - The search is case sensitive if the pattern contains at least one upper case - letter, and case insensitive otherwise. Note that ``\'' must be quoted if used - for a regular expression in an initialization command: ``\\''. + for specific details on each type of hook available. - A regular expression is a pattern that describes a set of strings. Regular - expressions are constructed analogously to arithmetic expressions, by using - various operators to combine smaller expressions. + Note: if a hook changes configuration settings, these changes remain effective until the end of the current mutt session. As this is generally not desired, a default hook needs to be added before all other hooks to restore configuration defaults. Here is an example with send-hook and the my_hdr directive: +send-hook . 'unmy_hdr From:' +send-hook ~C'^b@b\.b$' my_hdr from: c@c.c - Note that the regular expression can be enclosed/delimited by either ' or ' - which is useful if the regular expression includes a white-space character. - See _S_y_n_t_a_x _o_f _I_n_i_t_i_a_l_i_z_a_t_i_o_n _F_i_l_e_s (section 3.2 , page 21) for more informa- - tion on ' and ' delimiter processing. To match a literal ' or ' you must pref- - ace it with \ (backslash). +5.1. Message Matching in Hooks - The fundamental building blocks are the regular expressions that match a single - character. Most characters, including all letters and digits, are regular - expressions that match themselves. Any metacharacter with special meaning may - be quoted by preceding it with a backslash. + Hooks that act upon messages (send-hook, save-hook, fcc-hook, message-hook) are evaluated in a slightly different manner. For the other types of hooks, a regexp is sufficient. But in dealing with messages a finer grain of control is needed for matching since for different purposes you want to match different criteria. - The period ``.'' matches any single character. The caret ``^'' and the dollar - sign ``$'' are metacharacters that respectively match the empty string at the - beginning and end of a line. + Mutt-ng allows the use of the patterns language for matching messages in hook commands. This works in exactly the same way as it would when limiting or searching the mailbox, except that you are restricted to those operators which match information mutt extracts from the header of the message (i.e. from, to, cc, date, subject, etc.). - A list of characters enclosed by ``['' and ``]'' matches any single character - in that list; if the first character of the list is a caret ``^'' then it - matches any character nnoott in the list. For example, the regular expression - [[00112233445566778899]] matches any single digit. A range of ASCII characters may be - specified by giving the first and last characters, separated by a hyphen ``-''. - Most metacharacters lose their special meaning inside lists. To include a lit- - eral ``]'' place it first in the list. Similarly, to include a literal ``^'' - place it anywhere but first. Finally, to include a literal hyphen ``-'' place - it last. + For example, if you wanted to set your return address based upon sending mail to a specific address, you could do something like: +send-hook '~t ^me@cs\.hmc\.edu$' 'my_hdr From: Mutt-ng User ' - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 50 + which would execute the given command when sending mail to me@cs.hmc.edu. - Certain named classes of characters are predefined. Character classes consist - of ``[:'', a keyword denoting the class, and ``:]''. The following classes are - defined by the POSIX standard: + However, it is not required that you write the pattern to match using the full searching language. You can still specify a simple regular expression like the other hooks, in which case Mutt-ng will translate your pattern into the full language, using the translation specified by the default-hook variable. The pattern is translated at the time the hook is declared, so the value of default-hook that is in effect at that time will be used. - [:alnum:] - Alphanumeric characters. +6. Using the sidebar - [:alpha:] - Alphabetic characters. + The sidebar, a feature specific to Mutt-ng, allows you to use a mailbox listing which looks very similar to the ones you probably know from GUI mail clients. The sidebar lists all specified mailboxes, shows the number in each and highlights the ones with new email Use the following configuration commands: +set sidebar_visible="yes" +set sidebar_width=25 - [:blank:] - Space or tab characters. + If you want to specify the mailboxes you can do so with: +set mbox='=INBOX' +mailboxes INBOX \ + MBOX1 \ + MBOX2 \ + ... - [:cntrl:] - Control characters. + You can also specify the colors for mailboxes with new mails by using: +color sidebar_new red black +color sidebar white black - [:digit:] - Numeric characters. + The available functions are: +sidebar-scroll-up Scrolls the mailbox list up 1 page +sidebar-scroll-down Scrolls the mailbox list down 1 page +sidebar-next Highlights the next mailbox +sidebar-next-new Highlights the next mailbox with new mail +sidebar-previous Highlights the previous mailbox +sidebar-open Opens the currently highlighted mailbox - [:graph:] - Characters that are both printable and visible. (A space is print- - able, but not visible, while an ``a'' is both.) + Reasonable key bindings look e.g. like this: +bind index \Cp sidebar-prev +bind index \Cn sidebar-next +bind index \Cb sidebar-open +bind pager \Cp sidebar-prev +bind pager \Cn sidebar-next +bind pager \Cb sidebar-open - [:lower:] - Lower-case alphabetic characters. +macro index B ':toggle sidebar_visible^M' +macro pager B ':toggle sidebar_visible^M' - [:print:] - Printable characters (characters that are not control characters.) + You can then go up and down by pressing Ctrl-P and Ctrl-N, and switch on and off the sidebar simply by pressing 'B'. - [:punct:] - Punctuation characters (characters that are not letter, digits, - control characters, or space characters). +7. External Address Queries - [:space:] - Space characters (such as space, tab and formfeed, to name a few). + Mutt-ng supports connecting to external directory databases such as LDAP, ph/qi, bbdb, or NIS through a wrapper script which connects to mutt using a simple interface. Using the query-command variable, you specify the wrapper command to use. For example: +set query_command = "mutt_ldap_query.pl '%s'" - [:upper:] - Upper-case alphabetic characters. + The wrapper script should accept the query on the command-line. It should return a one line message, then each matching response on a single line, each line containing a tab separated address then name then some other optional information. On error, or if there are no matching addresses, return a non-zero exit code and a one line error message. - [:xdigit:] - Characters that are hexadecimal digits. + An example multiple response output: +Searching database ... 20 entries ... 3 matching: +me@cs.hmc.edu Michael Elkins mutt dude +blong@fiction.net Brandon Long mutt and more +roessler@guug.de Thomas Roessler mutt pgp - A character class is only valid in a regular expression inside the brackets of - a character list. Note that the brackets in these class names are part of the - symbolic names, and must be included in addition to the brackets delimiting the - bracket list. For example, [[[[::ddiiggiitt::]]]] is equivalent to [[00--99]]. + There are two mechanisms for accessing the query function of mutt. One is to do a query from the index menu using the query function (default: Q). This will prompt for a query, then bring up the query menu which will list the matching responses. From the query menu, you can select addresses to create aliases, or to mail. You can tag multiple addresses to mail, start a new query, or have a new query appended to the current responses. - Two additional special sequences can appear in character lists. These apply to - non-ASCII character sets, which can have single symbols (called collating ele- - ments) that are represented with more than one character, as well as several - characters that are equivalent for collating or sorting purposes: + The other mechanism for accessing the query function is for address completion, similar to the alias completion. In any prompt for address entry, you can use the complete-query function (default: ^T) to run a query based on the current address you have typed. Like aliases, mutt will look for what you have typed back to the last space or comma. If there is a single response for that query, mutt will expand the address in place. If there are multiple responses, mutt will activate the query menu. At the query menu, you can select one or more addresses to be added to the prompt. - Collating Symbols - A collating symbol is a multi-character collating element enclosed +8. Mailbox Formats - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 51 + Mutt-ng supports reading and writing of four different mailbox formats: mbox, MMDF, MH and Maildir. The mailbox type is autodetected, so there is no need to use a flag for different mailbox types. When creating new mailboxes, Mutt-ng uses the default specified with the mbox-type variable. - in ``[.'' and ``.]''. For example, if ``ch'' is a collating ele- - ment, then [[[[..cchh..]]]] is a regexp that matches this collating ele- - ment, while [[cchh]] is a regexp that matches either ``c'' or ``h''. + mbox. This is the most widely used mailbox format for UNIX. All messages are stored in a single file. Each message has a line of the form: +From me@cs.hmc.edu Fri, 11 Apr 1997 11:44:56 PST - Equivalence Classes - An equivalence class is a locale-specific name for a list of char- - acters that are equivalent. The name is enclosed in ``[='' and - ``=]''. For example, the name ``e'' might be used to represent all - of ``'' ``'' and ``e''. In this case, [[[[==ee==]]]] is a regexp that - matches any of ``'', ``'' and ``e''. + to denote the start of a new message (this is often referred to as the ``From_'' line). - A regular expression matching a single character may be followed by one of sev- - eral repetition operators: + MMDF. This is a variant of the mbox format. Each message is surrounded by lines containing ``^A^A^A^A'' (four control-A's). - ? - The preceding item is optional and matched at most once. + MH. A radical departure from mbox and MMDF, a mailbox consists of a directory and each message is stored in a separate file. The filename indicates the message number (however, this is may not correspond to the message number Mutt-ng displays). Deleted messages are renamed with a comma (,) prepended to the filename. Note: Mutt detects this type of mailbox by looking for either .mh_sequences or .xmhcache (needed to distinguish normal directories from MH mailboxes). - * - The preceding item will be matched zero or more times. + Maildir. The newest of the mailbox formats, used by the Qmail MTA (a replacement for sendmail). Similar to MH, except that it adds three subdirectories of the mailbox: tmp, new and cur. Filenames for the messages are chosen in such a way they are unique, even when two programs are writing the mailbox over NFS, which means that no file locking is needed. - + - The preceding item will be matched one or more times. +9. Mailbox Shortcuts - {n} - The preceding item is matched exactly _n times. + There are a number of built in shortcuts which refer to specific mailboxes. These shortcuts can be used anywhere you are prompted for a file or mailbox path. + * ! -- refers to your spoolfile (incoming) mailbox + * > -- refers to your mbox file + * < -- refers to your record file + * ^ -- refers to the current mailbox + * - or !! -- refers to the file you've last visited + * ˜ -- refers to your home directory + * = or + -- refers to your folder directory + * @alias -- refers to the save-hook as determined by the address of the alias - {n,} - The preceding item is matched _n or more times. +10. Handling Mailing Lists - {,m} - The preceding item is matched at most _m times. + Mutt-ng has a few configuration options that make dealing with large amounts of mail easier. The first thing you must do is to let Mutt know what addresses you consider to be mailing lists (technically this does not have to be a mailing list, but that is what it is most often used for), and what lists you are subscribed to. This is accomplished through the use of the lists commands in your muttrc. - {n,m} - The preceding item is matched at least _n times, but no more than _m - times. + Now that Mutt-ng knows what your mailing lists are, it can do several things, the first of which is the ability to show the name of a list through which you received a message (i.e., of a subscribed list) in the index menu display. This is useful to distinguish between personal and list mail in the same mailbox. In the index-format variable, the escape ``%L'' will return the string ``To '' when ``list'' appears in the ``To'' field, and ``Cc '' when it appears in the ``Cc'' field (otherwise it returns the name of the author). - Two regular expressions may be concatenated; the resulting regular expression - matches any string formed by concatenating two substrings that respectively - match the concatenated subexpressions. + Often times the ``To'' and ``Cc'' fields in mailing list messages tend to get quite large. Most people do not bother to remove the author of the message they are reply to from the list, resulting in two or more copies being sent to that person. The ``list-reply'' function, which by default is bound to ``L'' in the index menu and pager, helps reduce the clutter by only replying to the known mailing list addresses instead of all recipients (except as specified by Mail-Followup-To, see below). - Two regular expressions may be joined by the infix operator ``|''; the result- - ing regular expression matches any string matching either subexpression. + Mutt-ng also supports the Mail-Followup-To header. When you send a message to a list of recipients which includes one or several subscribed mailing lists, and if the followup-to option is set, mutt will generate a Mail-Followup-To header which contains all the recipients to whom you send this message, but not your address. This indicates that group-replies or list-replies (also known as ``followups'') to this message should only be sent to the original recipients of the message, and not separately to you - you'll receive your copy through one of the mailing lists you are subscribed to. - Repetition takes precedence over concatenation, which in turn takes precedence - over alternation. A whole subexpression may be enclosed in parentheses to - override these precedence rules. + Conversely, when group-replying or list-replying to a message which has a Mail-Followup-To header, mutt will respect this header if the honor-followup-to configuration variable is set. Using list-reply will in this case also make sure that the reply goes to the mailing list, even if it's not specified in the list of recipients in the Mail-Followup-To. - NNoottee:: If you compile Mutt-ng with the GNU _r_x package, the following operators - may also be used in regular expressions: + Note that, when header editing is enabled, you can create a Mail-Followup-To header manually. Mutt-ng will only auto-generate this header if it doesn't exist when you send the message. - \\y - Matches the empty string at either the beginning or the end of a - word. + The other method some mailing list admins use is to generate a ``Reply-To'' field which points back to the mailing list address rather than the author of the message. This can create problems when trying to reply directly to the author in private, since most mail clients will automatically reply to the address given in the ``Reply-To'' field. Mutt-ng uses the reply-to variable to help decide which address to use. If set to ask-yes or ask-no, you will be prompted as to whether or not you would like to use the address given in the ``Reply-To'' field, or reply directly to the address given in the ``From'' field. When set to yes, the ``Reply-To'' field will be used when present. - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 52 + The ``X-Label:'' header field can be used to further identify mailing lists or list subject matter (or just to annotate messages individually). The index-format variable's ``%y'' and ``%Y'' escapes can be used to expand ``X-Label:'' fields in the index, and Mutt-ng's pattern-matcher can match regular expressions to ``X-Label:'' fields with the ``˜y'' selector. ``X-Label:'' is not a standard message header field, but it can easily be inserted by procmail and other mail filtering agents. - \\B - Matches the empty string within a word. + Lastly, Mutt-ng has the ability to sort the mailbox into threads. A thread is a group of messages which all relate to the same subject. This is usually organized into a tree-like structure where a message and all of its replies are represented graphically. If you've ever used a threaded news client, this is the same concept. It makes dealing with large volume mailing lists easier because you can easily delete uninteresting threads and quickly find topics of value. - \\< - Matches the empty string at the beginning of a word. +11. Editing threads - \\> - Matches the empty string at the end of a word. + Mutt-ng has the ability to dynamically restructure threads that are broken either by misconfigured software or bad behavior from some correspondents. This allows to clean your mailboxes formats) from these annoyances which make it hard to follow a discussion. - \\w - Matches any word-constituent character (letter, digit, or under- - score). +11.1. Linking threads - \\W - Matches any character that is not word-constituent. + Some mailers tend to "forget" to correctly set the "In-Reply-To:" and "References:" headers when replying to a message. This results in broken discussions because Mutt-ng has not enough information to guess the correct threading. You can fix this by tagging the reply, then moving to the parent message and using the ``link-threads'' function (bound to & by default). The reply will then be connected to this "parent" message. - \\` - Matches the empty string at the beginning of a buffer (string). + You can also connect multiple children at once, tagging them and using the tag-prefix command (';') or the auto_tag option. - \\' - Matches the empty string at the end of a buffer. +11.2. Breaking threads - Please note however that these operators are not defined by POSIX, so they may - or may not be available in stock libraries on various systems. + On mailing lists, some people are in the bad habit of starting a new discussion by hitting "reply" to any message from the list and changing the subject to a totally unrelated one. You can fix such threads by using the ``break-thread'' function (bound by default to #), which will turn the subthread starting from the current message into a whole different thread. - _4_._2 _P_a_t_t_e_r_n_s +12. Delivery Status Notification (DSN) Support - Mutt-ng's pattern language provides a simple yet effective way to set up rules - to match messages, e.g. for operations like tagging and scoring. A pattern con- - sists of one or more sub-pattern, which can be logically grouped, ORed, and - negated. For a complete listing of these patterns, please refer to table _P_a_t_- - _t_e_r_n_s (section 7.2 , page 84) in the Reference chapter. + RFC1894 defines a set of MIME content types for relaying information about the status of electronic mail messages. These can be thought of as ``return receipts.'' - It must be noted that in this table, EXPR, USER, ID and SUBJECT are regular - expressions. For ranges, the forms <[MAX], >>[MIN], [MIN]- and -[MAX] are also - possible. + Users can make use of it in one of the following two ways: + * Berkeley sendmail 8.8.x currently has some command line options in which the mail client can make requests as to what type of status messages should be returned. + * The SMTP support via libESMTP supports it, too. - _4_._2_._1 _C_o_m_p_l_e_x _P_a_t_t_e_r_n_s + To support this, there are two variables: + * dsn-notify is used to request receipts for different results (such as failed message, message delivered, etc.). + * dsn-return requests how much of your message should be returned with the receipt (headers or full message). - It is possible to combine several sub-patterns to a more complex pattern. The - most simple possibility is to logically AND several patterns by stringing them - together: + Please see the reference chapter for possible values. - ~s 'SPAM' ~U +13. POP3 Support (OPTIONAL) - The pattern above matches all messages that contain ``SPAM'' in the subject and - are unread. + If Mutt-ng was compiled with POP3 support (by running the configure script with the --enable-pop flag), it has the ability to work with mailboxes located on a remote POP3 server and fetch mail for local browsing. - To logical OR patterns, simply use the | operator. This one especially useful - when using local groups: + You can access the remote POP3 mailbox by selecting the folder pop://popserver/. - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 53 + You can select an alternative port by specifying it with the server, i.e.: pop://popserver:port/. - ~f ("nion@muttng\.org"|"ak@muttng\.org"|"pdmef@muttng\.org") - (~b mutt-ng|~s Mutt-ng) - !~x '@synflood\.at' + You can also specify different username for each folder, i.e.: pop://username@popserver[:port]/. - The first pattern matches all messages that were sent by one of the mutt-ng - maintainers, while the seconds pattern matches all messages that contain - ``mutt-ng'' in the message body or ``Mutt-ng'' in the subject. The third pat- - tern matches all messages that do not contain ``@synflood\.at'' in the Refer- - ences: header, i.e. messages that are not an (indirect) reply to one of my - messages. A pattern can be logicall negated using the ! operator. + Polling for new mail is more expensive over POP3 than locally. For this reason the frequency at which Mutt-ng will check for mail remotely can be controlled by the pop-mail-check variable, which defaults to every 60 seconds. - _4_._2_._2 _P_a_t_t_e_r_n_s _a_n_d _D_a_t_e_s + If Mutt-ng was compiled with SSL support (by running the configure script with the --with-ssl flag), connections to POP3 servers can be encrypted. This naturally requires that the server supports SSL encrypted connections. To access a folder with POP3/SSL, you should use pops: prefix, ie: pops://[username@]popserver[:port]/. - When using dates in patterns, the dates must be specified in a special format, - i.e. DD/MM/YYYY. If you don't specify month or year, they default to the cur- - rent month or year. When using date ranges, and you specify only the minimum or - the maximum, the specified date will be excluded, e.g. 01/06/2005- matches - against all messages _a_f_t_e_r Juni 1st, 2005. + Another way to access your POP3 mail is the fetch-mail function (default: G). It allows to connect to pop-host, fetch all your new mail and place it in the local spoolfile. After this point, Mutt-ng runs exactly as if the mail had always been local. - It is also possible to use so-called ``error margins'' when specifying date - ranges. You simply specify a date, and then the error margin. This margin - needs to contain the information whether it goes ``forth'' or ``back'' in time, - by using + and -. Then follows a number and a unit, i.e. y for years, m for - months, w for weeks and d for days. If you use the special * sign, it means - that the error margin goes to both ``directions'' in time. + Note: If you only need to fetch all messages to local mailbox you should consider using a specialized program, such as fetchmail - ~d 01/01/2005+1y - ~d 18/10/2004-2w - ~d 28/12/2004*1d +14. IMAP Support (OPTIONAL) - The first pattern matches all dates between January 1st, 2005 and January 1st - 2006. The second pattern matches all dates between October 18th, 2004 and - October 4th 2004 (2 weeks before 18/10/2004), while the third pattern matches - all dates 1 day around December 28th, 2004 (i.e. Dec 27th, 28th and 29th). + If Mutt-ng was compiled with IMAP support (by running the configure script with the --enable-imap flag), it has the ability to work with folders located on a remote IMAP server. - Relative dates are also very important, as they make it possible to specify - date ranges between a fixed number of units and the current date. How this - works can be seen in the following example: + You can access the remote inbox by selecting the folder imap://imapserver/INBOX, where imapserver is the name of the IMAP server and INBOX is the special name for your spool mailbox on the IMAP server. If you want to access another mail folder at the IMAP server, you should use imap://imapserver/path/to/folder where path/to/folder is the path of the folder you want to access. - ~d >2w # messages older than two weeks - ~d <3d # messages newer than 3 days - ~d =1m # messages that are exactly one month old + You can select an alternative port by specifying it with the server, i.e.: imap://imapserver:port/INBOX. - _4_._3 _F_o_r_m_a_t _S_t_r_i_n_g_s + You can also specify different username for each folder, i.e.: imap://username@imapserver[:port]/INBOX. - _4_._3_._1 _I_n_t_r_o_d_u_c_t_i_o_n + If Mutt-ng was compiled with SSL support (by running the configure script with the --with-ssl flag), connections to IMAP servers can be encrypted. This naturally requires that the server supports SSL encrypted connections. To access a folder with IMAP/SSL, you should use imaps://[username@]imapserver[:port]/path/to/folder as your folder path. - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 54 + Pine-compatible notation is also supported, i.e. {[username@]imapserver[:port][/ssl]}path/to/folder - The so called _F_o_r_m_a_t _S_t_r_i_n_g_s offer great flexibility when configuring mutt-ng. - In short, they describe what items to print out how in menus and status mes- - sages. + Note that not all servers use / as the hierarchy separator. Mutt-ng should correctly notice which separator is being used by the server and convert paths accordingly. - Basically, they work as this: for different menus and bars, there's a variable - specifying the layout. For every item available, there is a so called _e_x_p_a_n_d_o. + When browsing folders on an IMAP server, you can toggle whether to look at only the folders you are subscribed to, or all folders with the toggle-subscribed command. See also the imap-list-subscribed variable. - For example, when running mutt-ng on different machines or different versions - for testing purposes, it may be interesting to have the following information - always printed on screen when one is in the index: + Polling for new mail on an IMAP server can cause noticeable delays. So, you'll want to carefully tune the imap-mail-check and timeout variables. - +o the current hostname + Note that if you are using mbox as the mail store on UW servers prior to v12.250, the server has been reported to disconnect a client if another client selects the same folder. - +o the current mutt-ng version number +14.1. The Folder Browser - The setting for the status bar of the index is controlled via the _$_s_t_a_t_u_s___f_o_r_- - _m_a_t (section 7.4.324 , page 167) variable. For the hostname and version - string, there's an expando for $status_format: %h expands to the hostname and - %v to the version string. When just configuring: + As of version 1.2, mutt supports browsing mailboxes on an IMAP server. This is mostly the same as the local file browser, with the following differences: + * Instead of file permissions, mutt displays the string "IMAP", possibly followed by the symbol "+", indicating that the entry contains both messages and subfolders. On Cyrus-like servers folders will often contain both messages and subfolders. + * For the case where an entry can contain both messages and subfolders, the selection key (bound to enter by default) will choose to descend into the subfolder view. If you wish to view the messages in that folder, you must use view-file instead (bound to space by default). + * You can create, delete and rename mailboxes with the create-mailbox, delete-mailbox, and rename-mailbox commands (default bindings: C, d and r, respectively). You may also subscribe and unsubscribe to mailboxes (normally these are bound to s and u, respectively). - set status_format = "%v on %h: ..." +14.2. Authentication - mutt-ng will replace the sequence %v with the version string and %h with the - host's name. When you are, for example, running mutt-ng version 1.5.9i on host - mailhost, you'll see the following when you're in the index: + Mutt-ng supports four authentication methods with IMAP servers: SASL, GSSAPI, CRAM-MD5, and LOGIN (there is a patch by Grant Edwards to add NTLM authentication for you poor exchange users out there, but it has yet to be integrated into the main tree). There is also support for the pseudo-protocol ANONYMOUS, which allows you to log in to a public IMAP server without having an account. To use ANONYMOUS, simply make your username blank or "anonymous". - Mutt-ng 1.5.9i on mailhost: ... + SASL is a special super-authenticator, which selects among several protocols (including GSSAPI, CRAM-MD5, ANONYMOUS, and DIGEST-MD5) the most secure method available on your host and the server. Using some of these methods (including DIGEST-MD5 and possibly GSSAPI), your entire session will be encrypted and invisible to those teeming network snoops. It is the best option if you have it. To use it, you must have the Cyrus SASL library installed on your system and compile mutt with the --with-sasl flag. - In the index, there're more useful information one could want to see: + Mutt-ng will try whichever methods are compiled in and available on the server, in the following order: SASL, ANONYMOUS, GSSAPI, CRAM-MD5, LOGIN. - +o which mailbox is open + There are a few variables which control authentication: + * imap-user - controls the username under which you request authentication on the IMAP server, for all authenticators. This is overridden by an explicit username in the mailbox path (i.e. by using a mailbox name of the form {user@host}). + * imap-pass - a password which you may preset, used by all authentication methods where a password is needed. + * imap-authenticators - a colon-delimited list of IMAP authentication methods to try, in the order you wish to try them. If specified, this overrides mutt's default (attempt everything, in the order listed above). - +o how man new, flagged or postponed messages +15. NNTP Support (OPTIONAL) - +o ... + If compiled with ``--enable-nntp'' option, Mutt-ng can read news from a newsserver via NNTP. You can open a newsgroup with the ``change-newsgroup'' function from the index/pager which is by default bound to i. - To include the mailbox' name is as easy as: + The Default newsserver can be obtained from the $NNTPSERVER environment variable. Like other news readers, info about subscribed newsgroups is saved in a file as specified by the nntp-newsrc variable. Article headers are cached and can be loaded from a file when a newsgroup is entered instead loading from newsserver; currently, this caching mechanism still is different from the header caching for maildir/IMAP. - set status_format = "%v on %h: %B: ... +15.1. Again: Scoring - When the currently opened mailbox is Inbox, this will be expanded to: + Especially for Usenet, people often ask for advanced filtering and scoring functionality. Of course, mutt-ng has scoring and allows a killfile, too. How to use a killfile has been discussed in score-command. - Mutt-ng 1.5.9i on mailhost: Inbox: ... + What has not been discusses in detail is mutt-ng's built-in realname filter. For may newsreaders including those for ``advanced users'' like slrn or tin, there are frequent request for such functionality. The solutions offered often are complicated regular expressions. - For the number of certain types of messages, one more feature of the format - strings is extremely useful. If there aren't messages of a certain type, it may + In mutt-ng this is as easy as +score ~* =42 - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 55 + This tells mutt-ng to apply a score of 42 to all messages whose sender specified a valid realname and a valid email address. Using +score !~* =42 - not be desired to print just that there aren't any but instead only print some- - thing if there are any. + on the contrary applies a score of 42 to all messages not matching those criteria which are very strict: + * Email addresses must be valid according to RFC 2822, see + * the name must consist of at least 2 fields whereby a field must not end in a dot. This means that ``Joe User'' and ``Joe A. User'' are valid while ``J. User'' and ``J. A. User'' aren't. + * it's assumed that users are interested in reading their own mail and mail from people who they have defined an alias for so that those 2 groups of messages are excluded from the strict rules. - _4_._3_._2 _C_o_n_d_i_t_i_o_n_a_l _E_x_p_a_n_s_i_o_n +16. SMTP Support (OPTIONAL) - To only print the number of messages if there are new messages in the current - mailbox, further extend $status_format to: + Mutt-ng can be built using a library called ``libESMTP'' which provides SMTP functionality. When configure was called with --with-libesmtp or the output muttng -v contains +USE_LIBESMTP, this will be or is the case already. The SMTP support includes support for Delivery Status Notification (see dsn section) as well as handling the 8BITMIME flag controlled via use-8bitmime. - set status_format = "%v on %h: %B %?n?%n new? ... + To enable sending mail directly via SMTP without an MTA such as Postfix or SSMTP and the like, simply set the smtp-host variable pointing to your SMTP server. - This feature is called _n_o_n_z_e_r_o_-_p_r_i_n_t_i_n_g and works as this: some expandos may be - optionally printed nonzero, i.e. a portion of the format string is only evalu- - ated if the value of the expando is different from zero. The basic syntax is: + Authentication mechanisms are available via the smtp-user and smtp-pass variables. - %??? + Transport Encryption via the StartTLS command is also available. For this to work, first of all Mutt-ng must be built with SSL or GNUTLS. Secondly, the smtp-use-tls variable must be either set to ``enabled'' or ``required.'' In both cases, StartTLS will be used if the server supports it: for the second case, the connection will fail if it doesn't while switching back to unencrypted communication for the first one. - which tells mutt-ng to only look at if the value of the - %?&? + If you happen to have accounts on multiple IMAP and/or POP servers, you may find managing all the authentication settings inconvenient and error-prone. The account-hook command may help. This hook works like folder-hook but is invoked whenever you access a remote mailbox (including inside the folder browser), not just when you open the mailbox. - Using this we can make mutt-ng to do the following: + Some examples: +account-hook . 'unset imap_user; unset imap_pass; unset tunnel' +account-hook imap://host1/ 'set imap_user=me1 imap_pass=foo' +account-hook imap://host2/ 'set tunnel="ssh host2 /usr/libexec/imapd"' - +o make it print ``_n new messages'' whereby _n is the count but only if there - new ones +18. Start a WWW Browser on URLs (EXTERNAL) - +o and make it print ``no new messages'' if there aren't any + If a message contains URLs (unified resource locator = address in the WWW space like http://www.mutt.org/), it is efficient to get a menu with all the URLs and start a WWW browser on one of them. This functionality is provided by the external urlview program which can be retrieved at ftp://ftp.mutt.org/mutt/contrib/ and the configuration commands: +macro index \cb |urlview\n +macro pager \cb |urlview\n - The corresponding configuration is: +19. Compressed folders Support (OPTIONAL) - set status_format = "%v on %h: %B: %?n?%n new messages&no new messages? ... + If Mutt-ng was compiled with compressed folders support (by running the configure script with the --enable-compressed flag), Mutt can open folders stored in an arbitrary format, provided that the user has a script to convert from/to this format to one of the accepted. - This doubles the use of the ``new messages'' string because it'll get always - printed. Thus, it can be shortened to: + The most common use is to open compressed archived folders e.g. with gzip. - set status_format = "%v on %h: %B: %?n?%n&no? new messages ... + In addition, the user can provide a script that gets a folder in an accepted format and appends its context to the folder in the user-defined format, which may be faster than converting the entire folder to the accepted format, appending to it and converting back to the user-defined format. - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 56 + There are three hooks defined (open-hook, close-hook and append-hook) which define commands to uncompress and compress a folder and to append messages to an existing compressed folder respectively. - As you might see from this rather simple example, one can create very complex - but fancy status messages. Please see the reference chapter for expandos and - those which may be printed nonzero. + For example: +open-hook \\.gz$ "gzip -cd %f > %t" +close-hook \\.gz$ "gzip -c %t > %f" +append-hook \\.gz$ "gzip -c %t >> %f" - _4_._3_._3 _M_o_d_i_f_i_c_a_t_i_o_n_s _a_n_d _P_a_d_d_i_n_g + You do not have to specify all of the commands. If you omit append-hook, the folder will be open and closed again each time you will add to it. If you omit close-hook (or give empty command) , the folder will be open in the mode. If you specify append-hook though you'll be able to append to the folder. - Besides the information given so far, there're even more features of format - strings: + Note that Mutt-ng will only try to use hooks if the file is not in one of the accepted formats. In particular, if the file is empty, mutt supposes it is not compressed. This is important because it allows the use of programs that do not have well defined extensions. Just use "." as a regexp. But this may be surprising if your compressing script produces empty files. In this situation, unset save-empty, so that the compressed file will be removed if you delete all of the messages. - +o When specifying %_ instead of just %, mutt-ng will convert all - characters in the expansion of to lowercase. +19.1. Open a compressed mailbox for reading - +o When specifying %: instead of just %, mutt-ng will convert all - dots in the expansion of to underscores (_). + Usage: open-hook regexp "command" - Also, there's a feature called _P_a_d_d_i_n_g supplied by the following two expandos: - %|X and %>X. + The command is the command that can be used for opening the folders whose names match regexp. - %|X - When this occurs, mutt-ng will fill the rest of the line with the - character X. In our example, filling the rest of the line with - dashes is done by setting: + The command string is the printf-like format string, and it should accept two parameters: %f, which is replaced with the (compressed) folder name, and %t which is replaced with the name of the temporary folder to which to write. - set status_format = "%v on %h: %B: %?n?%n&no? new messages %|-" + %f and %t can be repeated any number of times in the command string, and all of the entries are replaced with the appropriate folder name. In addition, %% is replaced by %, as in printf, and any other %anything is left as is. - %>X - Since the previous expando stops at the end of line, there must be - a way to fill the gap between two items via the %>X expando: it - puts as many characters X in between two items so that the rest of - the line will be right-justified. For example, to not put the ver- - sion string and hostname of our example on the left but on the - right and fill the gap with spaces, one might use (note the space - after %>): + The command should not remove the original compressed file. The command should return non-zero exit status if it fails, so mutt knows something's wrong. - set status_format = "%B: %?n?%n&no? new messages %> (%v on %h)" + Example: +open-hook \\.gz$ "gzip -cd %f > %t" - _4_._4 _U_s_i_n_g _T_a_g_s + If the command is empty, this operation is disabled for this file type. - Sometimes it is desirable to perform an operation on a group of messages all at - once rather than one at a time. An example might be to save messages to a - mailing list to a separate folder, or to delete all messages with a given sub- - ject. To tag all messages matching a pattern, use the tag-pattern function, - which is bound to ``shift-T'' by default. Or you can select individual mes- - sages by hand using the ``tag-message'' function, which is bound to ``t'' by +19.2. Write a compressed mailbox - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 57 + Usage: close-hook regexp "command" - default. See _p_a_t_t_e_r_n_s (section 7.2 , page 84) for Mutt-ng's pattern matching - syntax. + This is used to close the folder that was open with the open-hook command after some changes were made to it. - Once you have tagged the desired messages, you can use the ``tag-prefix'' oper- - ator, which is the ``;'' (semicolon) key by default. When the ``tag-prefix'' - operator is used, the nneexxtt operation will be applied to all tagged messages if - that operation can be used in that manner. If the _$_a_u_t_o___t_a_g (section 7.4.19 , - page 94) variable is set, the next operation applies to the tagged messages - automatically, without requiring the ``tag-prefix''. + The command string is the command that can be used for closing the folders whose names match regexp. It has the same format as in the open-hook command. Temporary folder in this case is the folder previously produced by the %f" - A _h_o_o_k is a concept borrowed from the EMACS editor which allows you to execute - arbitrary commands before performing some operation. For example, you may wish - to tailor your configuration based upon which mailbox you are reading, or to - whom you are sending mail. In the Mutt-ng world, a _h_o_o_k consists of a _r_e_g_u_l_a_r - _e_x_p_r_e_s_s_i_o_n (section 4.1 , page 49) or _p_a_t_t_e_r_n (section 7.2 , page 84) along - with a configuration option/command. See + If the command is empty, this operation is disabled for this file type, and the file can only be open in the readonly mode. - +o _f_o_l_d_e_r_-_h_o_o_k (section 3.7 , page 29) + close-hook is not called when you exit from the folder if the folder was not changed. - +o _s_e_n_d_-_h_o_o_k (section 3.21 , page 40) +19.3. Append a message to a compressed mailbox - +o _m_e_s_s_a_g_e_-_h_o_o_k (section 3.22 , page 41) + Usage: append-hook regexp "command" - +o _s_a_v_e_-_h_o_o_k (section 3.18 , page 39) + This command is used for saving to an existing compressed folder. The command is the command that can be used for appending to the folders whose names match regexp. It has the same format as in the open-hook command. The temporary folder in this case contains the messages that are being appended. - +o _m_b_o_x_-_h_o_o_k (section 3.14 , page 37) + The command should not remove the decompressed file. The command should return non-zero exit status if it fails, so mutt knows something's wrong. - +o _f_c_c_-_h_o_o_k (section 3.19 , page 39) + Example: +append-hook \\.gz$ "gzip -c %t >> %f" - +o _f_c_c_-_s_a_v_e_-_h_o_o_k (section 3.20 , page 40) + When append-hook is used, the folder is not opened, which saves time, but this means that we can not find out what the folder type is. Thus the default (mbox-type) type is always supposed (i.e. this is the format used for the temporary folder). - for specific details on each type of _h_o_o_k available. + If the file does not exist when you save to it, close-hook is called, and not append-hook. append-hook is only for appending to existing folders. - NNoottee:: if a hook changes configuration settings, these changes remain effective - until the end of the current mutt session. As this is generally not desired, a - default hook needs to be added before all other hooks to restore configuration - defaults. Here is an example with send-hook and the my_hdr directive: + If the command is empty, this operation is disabled for this file type. In this case, the folder will be open and closed again (using open-hook and close-hookrespectively) each time you will add to it. - send-hook . 'unmy_hdr From:' - send-hook ~C'^b@b\.b$' my_hdr from: c@c.c +19.4. Encrypted folders - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 58 + The compressed folders support can also be used to handle encrypted folders. If you want to encrypt a folder with PGP, you may want to use the following hooks: +open-hook \\.pgp$ "pgp -f < %f > %t" +close-hook \\.pgp$ "pgp -fe YourPgpUserIdOrKeyId < %t > %f" - _4_._5_._1 _M_e_s_s_a_g_e _M_a_t_c_h_i_n_g _i_n _H_o_o_k_s + Please note, that PGP does not support appending to an encrypted folder, so there is no append-hook defined. - Hooks that act upon messages (send-hook, save-hook, fcc-hook, message-hook) are - evaluated in a slightly different manner. For the other types of hooks, a _r_e_g_- - _u_l_a_r _e_x_p_r_e_s_s_i_o_n (section 4.1 , page 49) is sufficient. But in dealing with - messages a finer grain of control is needed for matching since for different - purposes you want to match different criteria. + Note: the folder is temporary stored decrypted in the /tmp directory, where it can be read by your system administrator. So think about the security aspects of this. - Mutt-ng allows the use of the _s_e_a_r_c_h _p_a_t_t_e_r_n (section 7.2 , page 84) language - for matching messages in hook commands. This works in exactly the same way as - it would when _l_i_m_i_t_i_n_g or _s_e_a_r_c_h_i_n_g the mailbox, except that you are restricted - to those operators which match information mutt extracts from the header of the - message (i.e. from, to, cc, date, subject, etc.). +Chapter 5. Mutt-ng's MIME Support - For example, if you wanted to set your return address based upon sending mail - to a specific address, you could do something like: + Table of Contents - send-hook '~t ^me@cs\.hmc\.edu$' 'my_hdr From: Mutt-ng User ' + 1. Using MIME in Mutt - which would execute the given command when sending mail to _m_e_@_c_s_._h_m_c_._e_d_u. + 1.1. Viewing MIME messages in the pager + 1.2. The Attachment Menu + 1.3. The Compose Menu - However, it is not required that you write the pattern to match using the full - searching language. You can still specify a simple _r_e_g_u_l_a_r _e_x_p_r_e_s_s_i_o_n like the - other hooks, in which case Mutt-ng will translate your pattern into the full - language, using the translation specified by the _$_d_e_f_a_u_l_t___h_o_o_k (section - 7.4.49 , page 101) variable. The pattern is translated at the time the hook - is declared, so the value of _$_d_e_f_a_u_l_t___h_o_o_k (section 7.4.49 , page 101) that is - in effect at that time will be used. + 2. MIME Type configuration with mime.types + 3. MIME Viewer configuration with mailcap - _4_._6 _U_s_i_n_g _t_h_e _s_i_d_e_b_a_r + 3.1. The Basics of the mailcap file + 3.2. Secure use of mailcap + 3.3. Advanced mailcap Usage + 3.4. Example mailcap files - The sidebar, a feature specific to Mutt-ng, allows you to use a mailbox listing - which looks very similar to the ones you probably know from GUI mail clients. - The sidebar lists all specified mailboxes, shows the number in each and high- - lights the ones with new email Use the following configuration commands: + 4. MIME Autoview + 5. MIME Multipart/Alternative + 6. MIME Lookup - set sidebar_visible="yes" - set sidebar_width=25 + Quite a bit of effort has been made to make Mutt-ng the premier text-mode MIME MUA. Every effort has been made to provide the functionality that the discerning MIME user requires, and the conformance to the standards wherever possible. When configuring Mutt-ng for MIME, there are two extra types of configuration files which Mutt-ng uses. One is the mime.types file, which contains the mapping of file extensions to IANA MIME types. The other is the mailcap file, which specifies the external commands to use for handling specific MIME types. - If you want to specify the mailboxes you can do so with: +1. Using MIME in Mutt - set mbox='=INBOX' - mailboxes INBOX \ - MBOX1 \ - MBOX2 \ - ... + There are three areas/menus in Mutt-ng which deal with MIME, they are the pager (while viewing a message), the attachment menu and the compose menu. - You can also specify the colors for mailboxes with new mails by using: +1.1. Viewing MIME messages in the pager - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 59 + When you select a message from the index and view it in the pager, Mutt decodes the message to a text representation. Mutt-ng internally supports a number of MIME types, including text/plain, text/enriched, message/rfc822, and message/news. In addition, the export controlled version of Mutt-ng recognizes a variety of PGP MIME types, including PGP/MIME and application/pgp. - color sidebar_new red black - color sidebar white black + Mutt-ng will denote attachments with a couple lines describing them. These lines are of the form: +[-- Attachment #1: Description --] +[-- Type: text/plain, Encoding: 7bit, Size: 10000 --] - The available functions are: + Where the Description is the description or filename given for the attachment, and the Encoding is one of 7bit/8bit/quoted-printable/base64/binary. - sidebar-scroll-up Scrolls the mailbox list up 1 page - sidebar-scroll-down Scrolls the mailbox list down 1 page - sidebar-next Highlights the next mailbox - sidebar-next-new Highlights the next mailbox with new mail - sidebar-previous Highlights the previous mailbox - sidebar-open Opens the currently highlighted mailbox + If Mutt-ng cannot deal with a MIME type, it will display a message like: +[-- image/gif is unsupported (use 'v' to view this part) --] - Reasonable key bindings look e.g. like this: +1.2. The Attachment Menu - bind index \Cp sidebar-prev - bind index \Cn sidebar-next - bind index \Cb sidebar-open - bind pager \Cp sidebar-prev - bind pager \Cn sidebar-next - bind pager \Cb sidebar-open + The default binding for view-attachments is `v', which displays the attachment menu for a message. The attachment menu displays a list of the attachments in a message. From the attachment menu, you can save, print, pipe, delete, and view attachments. You can apply these operations to a group of attachments at once, by tagging the attachments and by using the ``tag-prefix'' operator. You can also reply to the current message from this menu, and only the current attachment (or the attachments tagged) will be quoted in your reply. You can view attachments as text, or view them using the mailcap viewer definition. - macro index B ':toggle sidebar_visible^M' - macro pager B ':toggle sidebar_visible^M' + Finally, you can apply the usual message-related functions (like resend-message, and the reply and forward functions) to attachments of type message/rfc822. - You can then go up and down by pressing Ctrl-P and Ctrl-N, and switch on and - off the sidebar simply by pressing 'B'. + See the help on the attachment menu for more information. - _4_._7 _E_x_t_e_r_n_a_l _A_d_d_r_e_s_s _Q_u_e_r_i_e_s +1.3. The Compose Menu - Mutt-ng supports connecting to external directory databases such as LDAP, - ph/qi, bbdb, or NIS through a wrapper script which connects to mutt using a - simple interface. Using the _$_q_u_e_r_y___c_o_m_m_a_n_d (section 7.4.237 , page 146) vari- - able, you specify the wrapper command to use. For example: + The compose menu is the menu you see before you send a message. It allows you to edit the recipient list, the subject, and other aspects of your message. It also contains a list of the attachments of your message, including the main body. From this menu, you can print, copy, filter, pipe, edit, compose, review, and rename an attachment or a list of tagged attachments. You can also modifying the attachment information, notably the type, encoding and description. - set query_command = "mutt_ldap_query.pl '%s'" + Attachments appear as follows: +- 1 [text/plain, 7bit, 1K] /tmp/mutt-euler-8082-0 + 2 [applica/x-gunzip, base64, 422K] ~/src/mutt-0.85.tar.gz - The wrapper script should accept the query on the command-line. It should - return a one line message, then each matching response on a single line, each - line containing a tab separated address then name then some other optional - information. On error, or if there are no matching addresses, return a non- - zero exit code and a one line error message. + The '-' denotes that Mutt-ng will delete the file after sending (or postponing, or canceling) the message. It can be toggled with the toggle-unlink command (default: u). The next field is the MIME content-type, and can be changed with the edit-type command (default: ^T). The next field is the encoding for the attachment, which allows a binary message to be encoded for transmission on 7bit links. It can be changed with the edit-encoding command (default: ^E). The next field is the size of the attachment, rounded to kilobytes or megabytes. The next field is the filename, which can be changed with the rename-file command (default: R). The final field is the description of the attachment, and can be changed with the edit-description command (default: d). - An example multiple response output: +2. MIME Type configuration with mime.types - Searching database ... 20 entries ... 3 matching: - me@cs.hmc.edu Michael Elkins mutt dude - blong@fiction.net Brandon Long mutt and more + When you add an attachment to your mail message, Mutt-ng searches your personal mime.types file at ${HOME}/.mime.types, and then the system mime.types file at /usr/local/share/mutt/mime.types or /etc/mime.types - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 60 + The mime.types file consist of lines containing a MIME type and a space separated list of extensions. For example: +application/postscript ps eps +application/pgp pgp +audio/x-aiff aif aifc aiff - roessler@guug.de Thomas Roessler mutt pgp + A sample mime.types file comes with the Mutt-ng distribution, and should contain most of the MIME types you are likely to use. - There are two mechanisms for accessing the query function of mutt. One is to - do a query from the index menu using the query function (default: Q). This - will prompt for a query, then bring up the query menu which will list the - matching responses. From the query menu, you can select addresses to create - aliases, or to mail. You can tag multiple addresses to mail, start a new - query, or have a new query appended to the current responses. + If Mutt-ng can not determine the mime type by the extension of the file you attach, it will look at the file. If the file is free of binary information, Mutt-ng will assume that the file is plain text, and mark it as text/plain. If the file contains binary information, then Mutt-ng will mark it as application/octet-stream. You can change the MIME type that Mutt-ng assigns to an attachment by using the edit-type command from the compose menu (default: ^T). The MIME type is actually a major mime type followed by the sub-type, separated by a '/'. 6 major types: application, text, image, video, audio, and model have been approved after various internet discussions. Mutt-ng recognises all of these if the appropriate entry is found in the mime.types file. It also recognises other major mime types, such as the chemical type that is widely used in the molecular modelling community to pass molecular data in various forms to various molecular viewers. Non-recognised mime types should only + be used if the recipient of the message is likely to be expecting such attachments. - The other mechanism for accessing the query function is for address completion, - similar to the alias completion. In any prompt for address entry, you can use - the complete-query function (default: ^T) to run a query based on the current - address you have typed. Like aliases, mutt will look for what you have typed - back to the last space or comma. If there is a single response for that query, - mutt will expand the address in place. If there are multiple responses, mutt - will activate the query menu. At the query menu, you can select one or more - addresses to be added to the prompt. +3. MIME Viewer configuration with mailcap - _4_._8 _M_a_i_l_b_o_x _F_o_r_m_a_t_s + Mutt-ng supports RFC 1524 MIME Configuration, in particular the Unix specific format specified in Appendix A of RFC 1524. This file format is commonly referred to as the mailcap format. Many MIME compliant programs utilize the mailcap format, allowing you to specify handling for all MIME types in one place for all programs. Programs known to use this format include Netscape, XMosaic, lynx and metamail. - Mutt-ng supports reading and writing of four different mailbox formats: mbox, - MMDF, MH and Maildir. The mailbox type is autodetected, so there is no need to - use a flag for different mailbox types. When creating new mailboxes, Mutt-ng - uses the default specified with the _$_m_b_o_x___t_y_p_e (section 7.4.132 , page 122) - variable. + In order to handle various MIME types that Mutt-ng can not handle internally, Mutt-ng parses a series of external configuration files to find an external handler. The default search string for these files is a colon delimited list set to +${HOME}/.mailcap:/usr/local/share/mutt/mailcap:/etc/mailcap:/etc/mailcap:/usr/etc/mailcap:/usr/local/etc/mailcap - mmbbooxx. This is the most widely used mailbox format for UNIX. All messages are - stored in a single file. Each message has a line of the form: + where $HOME is your home directory. - From me@cs.hmc.edu Fri, 11 Apr 1997 11:44:56 PST + In particular, the metamail distribution will install a mailcap file, usually as /usr/local/etc/mailcap, which contains some baseline entries. - to denote the start of a new message (this is often referred to as the - ``From_'' line). +3.1. The Basics of the mailcap file - MMMMDDFF. This is a variant of the _m_b_o_x format. Each message is surrounded by - lines containing ``^A^A^A^A'' (four control-A's). + A mailcap file consists of a series of lines which are comments, blank, or definitions. - MMHH. A radical departure from _m_b_o_x and _M_M_D_F, a mailbox consists of a directory - and each message is stored in a separate file. The filename indicates the mes- - sage number (however, this is may not correspond to the message number Mutt-ng - displays). Deleted messages are renamed with a comma (,) prepended to the file- - name. NNoottee:: Mutt detects this type of mailbox by looking for either - .mh_sequences or .xmhcache (needed to distinguish normal directories from MH - mailboxes). + A comment line consists of a # character followed by anything you want. - MMaaiillddiirr. The newest of the mailbox formats, used by the Qmail MTA (a replace- - ment for sendmail). Similar to _M_H, except that it adds three subdirectories of - the mailbox: _t_m_p, _n_e_w and _c_u_r. Filenames for the messages are chosen in such a - way they are unique, even when two programs are writing the mailbox over NFS, - - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 61 - - which means that no file locking is needed. - - _4_._9 _M_a_i_l_b_o_x _S_h_o_r_t_c_u_t_s - - There are a number of built in shortcuts which refer to specific mailboxes. - These shortcuts can be used anywhere you are prompted for a file or mailbox - path. + A blank line is blank. - +o ! -- refers to your _$_s_p_o_o_l_f_i_l_e (section 7.4.313 , page 165) (incoming) - mailbox - - +o > -- refers to your _$_m_b_o_x (section 7.4.131 , page 122) file - - +o < -- refers to your _$_r_e_c_o_r_d (section 7.4.246 , page 148) file + A definition line consists of a content type, a view command, and any number of optional fields. Each field of a definition line is divided by a semicolon ';' character. - +o ^ -- refers to the current mailbox + The content type is specified in the MIME standard type/subtype method. For example, text/plain, text/html, image/gif, etc. In addition, the mailcap format includes two formats for wildcards, one using the special '*' subtype, the other is the implicit wild, where you only include the major type. For example, image/*, or video, will match all image types and video types, respectively. - +o - or !! -- refers to the file you've last visited + The view command is a Unix command for viewing the type specified. There are two different types of commands supported. The default is to send the body of the MIME message to the command on stdin. You can change this behavior by using %s as a parameter to your view command. This will cause Mutt-ng to save the body of the MIME message to a temporary file, and then call the view command with the %s replaced by the name of the temporary file. In both cases, Mutt-ng will turn over the terminal to the view program until the program quits, at which time Mutt will remove the temporary file if it exists. - +o ~ -- refers to your home directory + So, in the simplest form, you can send a text/plain message to the external pager more on stdin: +text/plain; more - +o = or + -- refers to your _$_f_o_l_d_e_r (section 7.4.70 , page 105) directory - - +o @_a_l_i_a_s -- refers to the _d_e_f_a_u_l_t _s_a_v_e _f_o_l_d_e_r (section 3.18 , page 39) as - determined by the address of the alias + Or, you could send the message as a file: +text/plain; more %s - _4_._1_0 _H_a_n_d_l_i_n_g _M_a_i_l_i_n_g _L_i_s_t_s - - Mutt-ng has a few configuration options that make dealing with large amounts of - mail easier. The first thing you must do is to let Mutt know what addresses - you consider to be mailing lists (technically this does not have to be a mail- - ing list, but that is what it is most often used for), and what lists you are - subscribed to. This is accomplished through the use of the _l_i_s_t_s _a_n_d _s_u_b_s_c_r_i_b_e - (section 3.13 , page 36) commands in your muttrc. - - Now that Mutt-ng knows what your mailing lists are, it can do several things, - the first of which is the ability to show the name of a list through which you - received a message (i.e., of a subscribed list) in the _i_n_d_e_x menu display. - This is useful to distinguish between personal and list mail in the same mail- - box. In the _$_i_n_d_e_x___f_o_r_m_a_t (section 7.4.116 , page 116) variable, the escape - ``%L'' will return the string ``To '' when ``list'' appears in the ``To'' - field, and ``Cc '' when it appears in the ``Cc'' field (otherwise it - returns the name of the author). + Perhaps you would like to use lynx to interactively view a text/html message: +text/html; lynx %s - Often times the ``To'' and ``Cc'' fields in mailing list messages tend to get - quite large. Most people do not bother to remove the author of the message they - are reply to from the list, resulting in two or more copies being sent to that - person. The ``list-reply'' function, which by default is bound to ``L'' in the - _i_n_d_e_x menu and _p_a_g_e_r, helps reduce the clutter by only replying to the known - mailing list addresses instead of all recipients (except as specified by Mail- + In this case, lynx does not support viewing a file from stdin, so you must use the %s syntax. Note: Some older versions of lynx contain a bug where they will check the mailcap file for a viewer for text/html. They will find the line which calls lynx, and run it. This causes lynx to continuously spawn itself to view the object. - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 62 + On the other hand, maybe you don't want to use lynx interactively, you just want to have it convert the text/html to text/plain, then you can use: +text/html; lynx -dump %s | more - Followup-To, see below). + Perhaps you wish to use lynx to view text/html files, and a pager on all other text formats, then you would use the following: +text/html; lynx %s +text/*; more - Mutt-ng also supports the Mail-Followup-To header. When you send a message to - a list of recipients which includes one or several subscribed mailing lists, - and if the _$_f_o_l_l_o_w_u_p___t_o (section 7.4.72 , page 106) option is set, mutt will - generate a Mail-Followup-To header which contains all the recipients to whom - you send this message, but not your address. This indicates that group-replies - or list-replies (also known as ``followups'') to this message should only be - sent to the original recipients of the message, and not separately to you - - you'll receive your copy through one of the mailing lists you are subscribed - to. + This is the simplest form of a mailcap file. - Conversely, when group-replying or list-replying to a message which has a Mail- - Followup-To header, mutt will respect this header if the _$_h_o_n_o_r___f_o_l_l_o_w_u_p___t_o - (section 7.4.94 , page 111) configuration variable is set. Using list-reply - will in this case also make sure that the reply goes to the mailing list, even - if it's not specified in the list of recipients in the Mail-Followup-To. +3.2. Secure use of mailcap - Note that, when header editing is enabled, you can create a Mail-Followup-To - header manually. Mutt-ng will only auto-generate this header if it doesn't - exist when you send the message. + The interpretation of shell meta-characters embedded in MIME parameters can lead to security problems in general. Mutt-ng tries to quote parameters in expansion of %s syntaxes properly, and avoids risky characters by substituting them, see the mailcap-sanitize variable. - The other method some mailing list admins use is to generate a ``Reply-To'' - field which points back to the mailing list address rather than the author of - the message. This can create problems when trying to reply directly to the - author in private, since most mail clients will automatically reply to the - address given in the ``Reply-To'' field. Mutt-ng uses the _$_r_e_p_l_y___t_o (section - 7.4.249 , page 149) variable to help decide which address to use. If set to - _a_s_k_-_y_e_s or _a_s_k_-_n_o, you will be prompted as to whether or not you would like to - use the address given in the ``Reply-To'' field, or reply directly to the - address given in the ``From'' field. When set to _y_e_s, the ``Reply-To'' field - will be used when present. + Although mutt's procedures to invoke programs with mailcap seem to be safe, there are other applications parsing mailcap, maybe taking less care of it. Therefore you should pay attention to the following rules: - The ``X-Label:'' header field can be used to further identify mailing lists or - list subject matter (or just to annotate messages individually). The - _$_i_n_d_e_x___f_o_r_m_a_t (section 7.4.116 , page 116) variable's ``%y'' and ``%Y'' - escapes can be used to expand ``X-Label:'' fields in the index, and Mutt-ng's - pattern-matcher can match regular expressions to ``X-Label:'' fields with the - ``~y'' selector. ``X-Label:'' is not a standard message header field, but it - can easily be inserted by procmail and other mail filtering agents. + Keep the %-expandos away from shell quoting. Don't quote them with single or double quotes. Mutt-ng does this for you, the right way, as should any other program which interprets mailcap. Don't put them into backtick expansions. Be highly careful with eval statements, and avoid them if possible at all. Trying to fix broken behaviour with quotes introduces new leaks - there is no alternative to correct quoting in the first place. - Lastly, Mutt-ng has the ability to _s_o_r_t (section 7.4.307 , page 163) the mail- - box into _t_h_r_e_a_d_s (section 2.5.3 , page 11). A thread is a group of messages - which all relate to the same subject. This is usually organized into a tree- - like structure where a message and all of its replies are represented graphi- - cally. If you've ever used a threaded news client, this is the same concept. - It makes dealing with large volume mailing lists easier because you can easily - delete uninteresting threads and quickly find topics of value. + If you have to use the %-expandos' values in context where you need quoting or backtick expansions, put that value into a shell variable and reference the shell variable where necessary, as in the following example (using $charset inside the backtick expansion is safe, since it is not itself subject to any further expansion): +text/test-mailcap-bug; cat %s; copiousoutput; test=charset=%{charset} \ + && test "`echo $charset | tr '[A-Z]' '[a-z]'`" != iso-8859-1 - _4_._1_1 _E_d_i_t_i_n_g _t_h_r_e_a_d_s +3.3. Advanced mailcap Usage - Mutt-ng has the ability to dynamically restructure threads that are broken +3.3.1. Optional Fields - The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client 63 + In addition to the required content-type and view command fields, you can add semi-colon ';' separated fields to set flags and other options. Mutt-ng recognizes the following optional fields: - either by misconfigured software or bad behavior from some correspondents. This - allows to clean your mailboxes formats) from these annoyances which make it - hard to follow a discussion. + copiousoutput + This flag tells Mutt-ng that the command passes possibly large amounts of text on stdout. This causes Mutt-ng to invoke a pager (either the internal pager or the external pager defined by the pager variable) on the output of the view command. Without this flag, Mutt-ng assumes that the command is interactive. One could use this to replace the pipe to more in the lynx -dump example in the Basic section: - _4_._1_1_._1 _L_i_n_k_i_n_g _t_h_r_e_a_d_s +text/html; lynx -dump %s ; copiousoutput - Some mailers tend to "forget" to correctly set the "In-Reply-To:" and "Refer- - ences:" headers when replying to a message. This results in broken discussions - because Mutt-ng has not enough information to guess the correct threading. You - can fix this by tagging the reply, then moving to the parent message and using - the ``link-threads'' function (bound to & by default). The reply will then be - connected to this "parent" message. + This will cause lynx to format the text/html output as text/plain and Mutt-ng will use your standard pager to display the results. - You can also connect multiple children at once, tagging them and using the tag- - prefix command (';') or the auto_tag option. + needsterminal + Mutt-ng uses this flag when viewing attachments with auto-view, in order to decide whether it should honor the setting of the wait-key variable or not. When an attachment is viewed using an interactive program, and the corresponding mailcap entry has a needsterminal flag, Mutt-ng will use wait-key and the exit status of the program to decide if it will ask you to press a key after the external program has exited. In all other situations it will not prompt you for a key. - _4_._1_1_._2 _B_r_e_a_k_i_n_g _t_h_r_e_a_d_s + compose= + This flag specifies the command to use to create a new attachment of a specific MIME type. Mutt-ng supports this from the compose menu. - On mailing lists, some people are in the bad habit of starting a new discussion - by hitting "reply" to any message from the list and changing the subject to a - totally unrelated one. You can fix such threads by using the ``break-thread'' - function (bound by default to #), which will turn the subthread starting from - the current message into a whole different thread. + composetyped= + This flag specifies the command to use to create a new attachment of a specific MIME type. This command differs from the compose command in that mutt will expect standard MIME headers on the data. This can be used to specify parameters, filename, description, etc. for a new attachment. Mutt-ng supports this from the compose menu. - _4_._1_2 _D_e_l_i_v_e_r_y _S_t_a_t_u_s _N_o_t_i_f_i_c_a_t_i_o_n _(_D_S_N_) _S_u_p_p_o_r_t + print= + This flag specifies the command to use to print a specific MIME type. Mutt-ng supports this from the attachment and compose menus. - RFC1894 defines a set of MIME content types for relaying information about the - status of electronic mail messages. These can be thought of as ``return - receipts.'' + edit= + This flag specifies the command to use to edit a specific MIME type. Mutt-ng supports this from the compose menu, and also uses it to compose new attachments. Mutt-ng will default to the defined editor for text attachments. - Users can make use of it in one of the following two ways: + nametemplate=