MUTT - THE MONGREL OF MAIL USER AGENTS
THE MUTT FAQ
(Note: This is originally from 2006 and has not been touched since 2011)
WHY USE MUTT?
There are a number of reasons why I like mutt more than other mail readers:Mutt has become very stable. It hasn't dumped core on me for years now. I can wholeheartedly recommend it for production use.
- Comes with Autoconf support
- Small and efficient (if you don't compile it with "-g")
- Threading!
- Does everything ELM does
- Has PGP support (now officially outside the US)
- Excellent MIME support
- Scoring!
- Still being improved, and the author is open to suggestions
- All keys remappable
- Can open WWW browser with any URL in mail (you get a menu!)
- Color support (fully configurable)
- Xterm mouse support
- Efficient keyboard interface
- I can edit the header of the message on followup or reply
- Great mailing list support
- Functions for people with multiple email addresses
- Mutt is free!
HOW DO I SETUP MY .MUTTRC?
Here, have a look at my .muttrc.Several things to note:
- I don't like the current handling of the lists directive. That's why I don't really use it right now.
- If you don't set the editor in your .muttrc, mutt will use the $EDITOR environment variable.
WHERE CAN I ASK QUESTIONS ABOUT MUTT?
Before you ask questions, please read the FAQ. Thank you.
There is a Mutt mailing list, it's called mutt-users@mutt.org. To subscribe, send mail to mutt-users-request@mutt.org.
WHAT OTHER WEB PAGES ARE THERE ABOUT MUTT?
- http://www.mutt.org/ - the Mutt home page
- http://www.math.fu-berlin.de/~guckes/mutt/ - Sven's Mutt pages
- http://mutt.frmug.org/ - Ollivier Robert collects many of his Mutt patches there
- http://hoohoo.ncsa.uiuc.edu/~blong/programs/mutt - Brandon Long's collection of obscure patches
- http://www.ifi.uio.no/~jani/mutt/muttemacs.html -- Jan Ingvoldstad explains how to use Emacs with Mutt.
- [Ask HotBot]
HOW DOES MUTT COMPARE TO OTHER MAIL READERS?
Well, this is a matter of taste. Mutt looks a lot like ELM, so a lot people will feel right at home. Sven Guckes did a large comparison between Mutt and ELM.
CAN YOU RECOMMEND AN EDITOR WITH MUTT?
Yes. Vim.
WHERE CAN I DOWNLOAD MUTT?
This question is answered in the FAQ.