5 ms·

I used to have a "homely mutt"[1] kind of setup but eventually got tired of offline imap, msmtp, and all that. Now I use mutt only directly on the server runni

I used to have a "homely mutt"[1] kind of setup but eventually got tired of offline imap, msmtp, and all that. Now I use mutt only directly on the server running exim. Painless support for multiple domains, completely arbitrary from addresses with no configuration necessary, no imap, no magic directories showing up for no reason, no weird certificates, just pure ssh... It's the way to do it. Otherwise, I stick to generic clients (Google webmail and Android app). [1] http://stevelosh.com/blog/2012/10/the-homely-mutt/ http://stevelosh.com/blog/2012/10/the-homely-mutt/

stevekemp 12y ago
I have used the same setup for the past five-ten years. I have IMAP setup for when I want to travel, but I find console access to mail just simpler. Though I migrated from mutt to lumail[0] (which I wrote) as I find the ability to script operations in Lua very useful. 0 - http://lumail.org/ http://lumail.org/
- darklajid 12y ago
  FYI: You might have DDOS'd yourself here - the site is loading for minutes so far (but no timeout yet). I'm interested and will check back later :)
  - stevekemp 12y ago
    Oops bad timing there - the server is in the process of being physically relocated (moving data centers via a van).
Schiphol 12y ago
But that kind of solution works only if you are self-hosting, or anyway have access to the server, doesn't it?
bigbugbag 12y ago
how exactly does your setup works when offline ? what if you do understand the internet and stay away from centralized third party solutions and rather self-host your email because it is too sensitive to give away to giant corporations ?
- spindritf 12y ago
  I don't really understand this comment. You can host exim+mutt anywhere. With a megacorp, in the cloud, even under your bed... The only problem you face is getting the giants to accept your mail so you will probably want another server acting as a smarthost if you host at home. I also don't remember being involuntarily offline in the last four years so I don't optimize for it any more. Plus, it's email. It will be there when I get to it. You can incur hours of downtime and other servers will just dutifully keep trying to deliver messages. It's a pretty laid back service.
  - mnw21cam 12y ago
    Well-configured other servers will just dutifully keep trying to deliver messages. There are plenty of less well configured servers out there. For instance, I have greylisting configured on my primary SMTP server, but no greylisting on my secondary (because it's run by a friend, not me). Some servers will contact mine, offer a message, get told "try again", and just not bother, even though they could try the secondary and get through straight away. Other servers will give up after failing to deliver for 30 minutes.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
mike-cardwell 12y ago
"completely arbitrary from addresses with no configuration necessary" That is the main reason I still use mutt. I like to be able to edit my from header when sending messages without having to pre-create virtual identities and then pick from a list. I asked for this functionality to be added to Evolution but apparently my use case wasn't common enough.
jackalope 12y ago
Mutt has had excellent built-in SMTP/IMAP/POP3 support for years. I'm always surprised to see guides suggesting helpers like msmtp, offlineimap, etc. And with a few macros and save-hooks that you'll only write once, you'll have a fast, flexible mail client that will beat nearly any GUI client in mail processing speed.
- floatboth 12y ago
  msmtp supports reading passwords from OS X's and Gnome's keychain programs. Also, having a separate program for that is very UNIX-way :)
floatboth 12y ago
I've got tired of IMAP too. Now I just sync my maildir using Syncthing (Pulse). I can use mutt both on the server and on my local machines, everything gets synchronized.
mindslight 12y ago
I use unison to synchronize maildirs between the machine that receives mail and the machines where I read it. It has worked quite well, especially for catching up on my mailing list backlog while on a plane.

stevekemp 12y ago

I have used the same setup for the past five-ten years. I have IMAP setup for when I want to travel, but I find console access to mail just simpler. Though I migrated from mutt to lumail[0] (which I wrote) as I find the ability to script operations in Lua very useful. 0 - http://lumail.org/ http://lumail.org/

darklajid 12y ago
FYI: You might have DDOS'd yourself here - the site is loading for minutes so far (but no timeout yet). I'm interested and will check back later :)
- stevekemp 12y ago
  Oops bad timing there - the server is in the process of being physically relocated (moving data centers via a van).

Schiphol 12y ago

But that kind of solution works only if you are self-hosting, or anyway have access to the server, doesn't it?

bigbugbag 12y ago

how exactly does your setup works when offline ? what if you do understand the internet and stay away from centralized third party solutions and rather self-host your email because it is too sensitive to give away to giant corporations ?

spindritf 12y ago
I don't really understand this comment. You can host exim+mutt anywhere. With a megacorp, in the cloud, even under your bed... The only problem you face is getting the giants to accept your mail so you will probably want another server acting as a smarthost if you host at home. I also don't remember being involuntarily offline in the last four years so I don't optimize for it any more. Plus, it's email. It will be there when I get to it. You can incur hours of downtime and other servers will just dutifully keep trying to deliver messages. It's a pretty laid back service.
- mnw21cam 12y ago
  Well-configured other servers will just dutifully keep trying to deliver messages. There are plenty of less well configured servers out there. For instance, I have greylisting configured on my primary SMTP server, but no greylisting on my secondary (because it's run by a friend, not me). Some servers will contact mine, offer a message, get told "try again", and just not bother, even though they could try the secondary and get through straight away. Other servers will give up after failing to deliver for 30 minutes.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]

mike-cardwell 12y ago

"completely arbitrary from addresses with no configuration necessary" That is the main reason I still use mutt. I like to be able to edit my from header when sending messages without having to pre-create virtual identities and then pick from a list. I asked for this functionality to be added to Evolution but apparently my use case wasn't common enough.

jackalope 12y ago

Mutt has had excellent built-in SMTP/IMAP/POP3 support for years. I'm always surprised to see guides suggesting helpers like msmtp, offlineimap, etc. And with a few macros and save-hooks that you'll only write once, you'll have a fast, flexible mail client that will beat nearly any GUI client in mail processing speed.

floatboth 12y ago
msmtp supports reading passwords from OS X's and Gnome's keychain programs. Also, having a separate program for that is very UNIX-way :)

floatboth 12y ago

I've got tired of IMAP too. Now I just sync my maildir using Syncthing (Pulse). I can use mutt both on the server and on my local machines, everything gets synchronized.

mindslight 12y ago

I use unison to synchronize maildirs between the machine that receives mail and the machines where I read it. It has worked quite well, especially for catching up on my mailing list backlog while on a plane.