Beyond Linux® From Scratch (systemd Edition) - Version 9.1

Chapter 19. Mail/News Clients

Mutt-1.13.4

Introduction to Mutt

The Mutt package contains a Mail User Agent. This is useful for reading, writing, replying to, saving, and deleting your email.

This package is known to build and work properly using an LFS-9.1 platform.

Package Information

Mutt Dependencies

Optional

Aspell-0.60.8, Cyrus SASL-2.1.27, GDB-9.1, GnuPG-2.2.19, GnuTLS-3.6.12, GPGME-1.13.1, libidn-1.35, MIT Kerberos V5-1.18, an MTA (that provides a sendmail command), slang-2.3.2, SQLite-3.31.1, libgssapi, Mixmaster, QDBM or Tokyo Cabinet

Optional (To Regenerate HTML Documentation)

libxslt-1.1.34 and either Lynx-2.8.9rel.1, W3m, or ELinks

Optional (To Generate PDF Manual)

docbook-dsssl-1.79, OpenJade-1.3.2, and texlive-20190410 (or install-tl-unx with pdfjadetex installed)

User Notes: http://wiki.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/wiki/mutt

Installation of Mutt

Mutt requires a group named mail. You can add this group, if it does not exist, with this command: 

groupadd -g 34 mail

If you did not install an MTA, you need to modify the ownership of /var/mail with this command: 

chgrp -v mail /var/mail

Mutt will rebuild the html documentation if libxslt is present, then use that to update the text manual - even if none of the specified browsers are present. That will create an empty text file, so we will save the shipped file.

Install Mutt by running the following commands: 

cp -v doc/manual.txt{,.shipped} &&
./configure --prefix=/usr                           \
            --sysconfdir=/etc                       \
            --with-docdir=/usr/share/doc/mutt-1.13.4 \
            --with-ssl                              \
            --enable-external-dotlock               \
            --enable-pop                            \
            --enable-imap                           \
            --enable-hcache                         \
            --enable-sidebar                        &&
make

To generate the PDF manual with texlive-20190410, run the following command: 

make -C doc manual.pdf

This package does not come with a test suite.

Now, as the root user: 

make install &&
test -s doc/manual.txt ||
  install -v -m644 doc/manual.txt.shipped \
  /usr/share/doc/mutt-1.13.4/manual.txt

If you generated the PDF manual, install it by issuing the following command as the root user: 

install -v -m644 doc/manual.pdf \
    /usr/share/doc/mutt-1.13.4
[Note]

Note

If you used a DESTDIR method to only install to a temporary location as a regular user (as part of a package menagement process), you will need to run the following as the root user after completing the real install: 

chown root:mail /usr/bin/mutt_dotlock &&
chmod -v 2755 /usr/bin/mutt_dotlock

An info file is now installed, so you will also need to recreate the /usr/share/info/dir as described when Texinfo was installed in LFS.

Command Explanations

--enable-external-dotlock: In some circumstances the mutt-dotlock program is not created. This switch ensures it is always created.

--enable-pop: This switch enables POP3 support.

--enable-imap: This switch enables IMAP support.

--enable-hcache: This switch enables header caching.

--enable-sidebar: This switch enables support for the sidebar (a list of mailboxes). It is off by default, but can be turned on by :set sidebar_visible in mutt (and off again with ':unset'), or it can be enabled in ~/.muttrc.

--with-ssl: This parameter adds SSL/TLS support from openssl in POP3/IMAP/SMTP.

--enable-autocrypt --with-sqlite3: These two switches add support for passive protection against data collection, using gnupg and gpgme (gpgme is enabled by autocrypt). See The Manual

--enable-gpgme: This switch enables GPG support through the GPGME package. Use this switch if you want GPG support in Mutt.

--enable-smtp: This switch enables SMTP relay support.

--with-idn2: Use this parameter if both libidn and libidn2 have been installed, and you wish to use libidn2 here.

--with-sasl: This parameter adds authentication support from Cyrus SASL-2.1.27 in POP3/IMAP/SMTP if they are enabled. Depending on the server configuration, this may not be needed for POP3 or IMAP. However, it is needed for SMTP authentication.

test -s doc/manual.txt || install -v -m644 doc/manual.txt.shipped ...: if the text manual is now empty (libxslt is installed, but without any of the specified text browsers), install the saved copy after running 'make install' (which would itself empty manual.txt if the shipped file had already been copied back).

Configuring Mutt

Config Files

/etc/Muttrc, ~/.muttrc, /etc/mime.types, ~/.mime.types

Configuration Information

No changes in these files are necessary to begin using Mutt. When you are ready to make changes, the man page for muttrc is a good starting place.

In order to utilize GnuPG, use the following command: 

cat /usr/share/doc/mutt-1.13.4/samples/gpg.rc >> ~/.muttrc

Contents

Installed Programs: flea, mutt, mutt_dotlock, muttbug, pgpewrap, pgpring, and smime_keys
Installed Libraries: None
Installed Directories: /usr/share/doc/mutt-1.13.4

Short Descriptions

flea

is a script showing where to report bugs.

mutt

is a Mail User Agent (MUA) which enables you to read, write and delete your email.

mutt_dotlock

implements the mail spool file lock.

muttbug

is a script identical to flea.

pgpewrap

prepares a command line for the GnuPG-2.2.19 utilities.

pgpring

is a key ring dumper for PGP. It is not needed for GnuPG-2.2.19.

smime_keys

manages a keystore for S/MIME certificates.

Last updated on 2020-02-17 15:32:53 -0800