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  • From: cce.zizkov AT volny.cz
  • To: baslinux AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [BL] mutt-bl2 actualized
  • Date: Sun, 19 Dec 2004 02:16:04 +0000

Mutt for BasicLinux (updated 19.12. 2004)
-------------------

Mutt is a highly customizable e-mail client that works well with older
hardware. It can be run in Linux console as well as in an Xterm window.
Besides ordinary reading and composing capabilities the latest version
of mutt is also able to access the mailbox on a pop3 server online in
the same way as
one of its own mail folders. This is a very comfortable
way to delete spam and download
only those messages which you are
interested in.

I bundled Mutt with three small utilities catdoc, xls2csv and html2text
which quite reliably display the most frequent attachments (html, rtf,
doc, xcl). Mutt also supports different national character sets. A few
fonts and key maps for for West-European, East-European and Russian
languages are included in the package.

1. Installation:

BL2: Untar mail-bl2.tgz to the root directory. If you want to install
mutt
to the RAM version, you have to use the /tmp directory and create
symbolic
links manually

BL3: Run 'pkg mail-bl3.tgz' this installs mutt into the BasicLinux
file system.

Run 'musetup' once to configure your internet settings. All mail folders
and configuration files will be stored in the directory /root/Mail.

2. Running the program

Start the program with the command 'mu'. You can send or receive messages
only while being online. If you are not connected to the internet
outgoing
messages will be stored in the file /root/Mail/_outbox. Incoming messages
got into /root/Mail/_inbox

You can dial, hang up and call mail transport routines from within
the program or independently with the shell commands ppp-on, ppp-off
and mailmutt. Also the commands switching between Spanish, Czech and
Russian character sets are available within Mutt. The easiest way is
to use Fkeys in mutt (for information on function keys type '?'):

Ctrl D: dial
Ctrl H: hang up

F1: show manual
F2: edit internet settings
F3: edit configuration file (.muttrc)
F4: define editor macros (.macro)

F5: edit viewers to open attachments (.mailcap)
F6: Spanish (West European) settings for edit/view
F7: Czech (East European) settings for edit/view
F8: Russian settings for edit/view

F9: send and receive mail
F10: select folder

These key bindings are defined in .fkeys. Change them according to
your needs (cf. comments in that file and hints in .macro).


3. Documentation

You find very detailed documentation and some sample files for
customization in /usr/doc/mutt and /usr/man. The mutt manual
can also be opened from the program with the F1 key.


4. FAQ

How do I know that an outgoing message has actually been sent?

--------------------------------------------------------------

At the end of mail composing dialogue (type: y) mutt calls a script
called 'sendmail'. Unfortunately screen output is not possible here
(if you have a soundcard you may want to add some kind of acoustic
signalization). When you compose mail online, sendmail will sent the
message out immediately through pmail. Otherwise it is stored to
_outbox and will be sent later:

a) when you compose another message and happen to be online
b) when you are online and use the shell command 'mailmutt'
c) when you press F8 in Mutt that also starts 'mailmutt'

NOTE: Unfortunately the term 'postponed' is understood in a different
way by Mutt menu and by pmail documention. For pmail postponed
messages are all those which have not been sent out. Mutt uses
the term for message drafts you still have to finish. If you select
the menu
option p in the mail composer, the message will not be handed
over to the sendmail script, but can be completed when you call the
mail composer the next time.


Changing fonts and character sets
---------------------------------

The directory /usr/lib/kbd contains only a few fonts and keyboard
mappings for West European, Central European and Russian languages.
In order to switch between a Spanish, a Czech-German, and a Russian
keyboard use the commands 'es', 'cz', 'ru', 'ru2'. In Mutt you can
accomplish the same effect by pressing the function keys F6, F7, F8.

The present configuration offers a maximum power according different
international character encoding. If you never get mail with 8bit
characters or non-English attachments you probably will not notice.
In that case you do not need to read the following.

a) The scripts es, cz and ru are only examples. If you need a different
national keyboard (Italian, Polish, Ukrainian etc.) you have to get
them from the Slackware distribution (kbd.tgz) and create your own
analog scripts. If you do not like the russian phonetic keyboard, use
ru2 instead of ru.

b) The scripts es, cz, and ru - no matter if called from the command
line or by a FNkey in Mutt - change not only the screen font and
the keyboard, but even the behaviour of links, catdoc and html2text.
That means the links browser and the viewers for html, doc, rtf and
xcl attachments will always convert attachments into the character set
belonging to the chosen language. If you are browsing messages and
find a message that is not readable, press F6, F7 and F8. One of these
three should always display it correctly.

c) What to do if attachments do not display correctly even then?
If it is a html attachment type 'v' to view them with links and
change the language settings manually. If it is an rtf or doc you may
add a parameter to the catdoc line in .mailcap. E.g. -scp1252 indicates
the encoding in source file and -d8859-2 the target charset. You
obtain a list of all available charsets with 'catdoc -l'.


Spam filters
------------

There are two ways of implementing a spam filter: You can add
filter routines to ~/.pmailrc or to ~/Mail/.muttrc - for more
information read the man pages and sample configuration files.


5. To-Do-List

- Find a way how to send messages to a list of multiple undisclosed
recipients.

- Add a module that parses the incoming mail and translates non-English
quoted-printable text in header field.






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