Linux Command Line Email.

Mutt has issues with the latest ubuntu. Looking for answers, may have to use backport files.

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Linux command line email can be a very good thing. For example. if for some reason. you should lose your gui interface then you can still interact with the world. Personally I like it because not using the gui allows the machine to work faster and I can use an old laptop or desktop with less than up to date resources. Besides you can automate certain procedures repeatably, that you can not always do in a graphical environment. Hopefully once again you will have less reason to send a computer to the landfill.

NOTE:if you want to use mutt with at least gmail you will have to set gmail to use a less secure login. Not recommended,

see: Access for less secure apps DisabledSettings

Mutt has been around a long time. Great for using on low end machines. You can even do automation very easily with it. www.commandlinefu.com has some excellent examples. Let's install the software.

$ sudo apt-get mutt openssl

Or for RH based systems you could use:

$ sudo yum install mutt openssl

Let's make some directories to store information..

$ mkdir .mutt
$ mkdir .mutt/cache

$ mkdir .mutt/certificates

# mkdir .mutt/cache/bodies

$ mkdir .mutt/cache/headers

Now you need to create a file with your special information and settings. I have collected a lot of the settings that other people use to save you a lot of time. So you will need to create a mutt (mail) settings file. We want to use a dot in front of the file name to aid in keeping it hidden.

$ $EDITOR .muttrc

or

$ nano .muttrc

You will want to paste the following into the .muttrc file: (not the dashes though!!) (updated)

----------------------------------------------------------------------
# A basic .muttrc for use with Gmail

# Change the following six lines to match your Gmail account details
set imap_user = "YOUR.EMAIL@gmail.com"
set imap_pass = "PASSWORD"
set smtp_url = "smtp://YOUR.EMAIL@smtp.gmail.com:587/"
set smtp_pass = "PASSWORD"
set from = "YOUR.EMAIL@gmail.com"
set realname = "YOUR NAME"

# Change the following line to a different editor you prefer.
set editor = "nano"

# Basic config, you can leave this as is
set folder = "imaps://imap.gmail.com:993"
set spoolfile = "+INBOX"
set imap_check_subscribed
set hostname = gmail.com
set mail_check = 120
set timeout = 300
set imap_keepalive = 300
set postponed = "+[GMail]/Drafts"
set record = "+[GMail]/Sent Mail"
set header_cache=~/.mutt/cache/headers
set message_cachedir=~/.mutt/cache/bodies
set certificate_file=~/.mutt/certificates
set move = no
set include
set sort = 'threads'
set sort_aux = 'reverse-last-date-received'
set auto_tag = yes
ignore "Authentication-Results:"
ignore "DomainKey-Signature:"
ignore "DKIM-Signature:"
hdr_order Date From To Cc
alternative_order text/plain text/html *
auto_view text/html
#bind editor complete-query
#bind editor ^T complete
#bind editor noop

# Gmail-style keyboard shortcuts
macro index,pager y "unset trash\n " "Gmail archive message"
macro index,pager d "set trash=\"imaps://imap.googlemail.com/[GMail]/Bin\"\n " "Gmail delete message"
macro index,pager gi "=INBOX" "Go to inbox"
macro index,pager ga "=[Gmail]/All Mail" "Go to all mail"
macro index,pager gs "=[Gmail]/Starred" "Go to starred messages"
macro index,pager gd "=[Gmail]/Drafts" "Go to drafts"
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Save the file.

Now you will need to do one more step so that only you (not counting the admins of the system) can see your email settings and passwords.

$ chmod 700 .muttrc

Some of my favorite programs are:

alsa sound modules – music and to support speech programs (and voice recording)
Twidge – twitter client
links2 – internet browser
ps2ascii – convert postscript files to text files.
bashpodder – audio podcast collector
alpine sendEmail – email client tools
irssi – interrelay chat
centerim – instant messaging client
vim can be used as and editor or word processor, there are many others.
antiword – for dealing with proprietary word procesing formats.
screen – allows you to easily switch remote sessions
ledger – accounting program
curl wget – web page and file extracting tools
bash – the built in programming language that can be used with awk, sed, sort tr figlet (make your own database or game programs as well as other tools).
ImageMagick suite – manipulate graphics
cadubi tetradraw – ascii drawing programs
opensched – schedule formater.
hnb – notetaking and outlining
moc mplayer aplay ffmpeg – audio tools and players.
nget newbueter – newsreader
pal – calendar/planner program
cdrecord – burn cd’s and back up computer.
ssh and other tools. – network administration/file amangement
espeak festival – voice synthesis (great for having your computer read outloud documents) Who needs a Kindle?
wyrd - calendaring program.

The bottom line is that you can do word processing. spreadsheets. database, email, listen to podcasts or even hear documents spoken. Who could ask for more?