[neomutt-users] set up maildir -> /var/mail/user, mbox_type, spoolfile, $MAIL

Sven Guckes neomutt-lists at guckes.net
Sun Jul 1 21:33:55 CEST 2018


* Teno Deuter <gvgter at googlemail.com> [2018-07-01 20:11]:
> Here are my comments/observations:
> 1.  when I did define the mbox type to 'maildir'
> in the /etc/neomuttrc nothing was affected.
> The old behavior persists.

well, there is a little typo in your setup file.
at least this is what my glass sphere shows.
(it's a bit cloudy.)

by the way, mutt does not create /var/mail/user.
you cannot expect it to find any mails there.
try sending yourself an email to create it:

    echo i want a mailbox | neomutt -s waah $USER

chances are that your local MDA will create it.

> 2.  when I did define the mbox type to 'maildir' in
> the /home/[user]/.neomuttrc I get the following:
>
> /home/[user]/Mail does not exist. Create it?
> I type 'no'

this question you will get over and
over again until $folder exists.

> /var/mail/[user] is not a mailbox
>
> please note that in /var/mail/[user] a maildir structure does exist!

this default mailbox file might exist,
and yet it might not be a mailbox.
(the glass sphere is still cloudy.)

the structure you have there is... cloudy.
maybe the glass sphere is broken.
but you could clear it up by
actually giving some info.
HINT HINT

please check again:

    file /var/mail/user

what does it say?

here is how it looks on my machine:

  guckes at hostname:~> file /var/mail/guckes
  /var/mail/guckes: empty

and indeed it *is* empty:

  guckes at hostname:~> ll /var/mail/guckes
  -rw-------    1 12345    root   0 Mar 11  2008 /var/mail/guckes

and that's okay because i have been using
another file as my main inbox for years:

  guckes at hostname:~> echo $MAIL
  /home/user/guckes/Mail.IN/INBOX

just in case the shell variable MAIL is unset
i have ":set spoolfile="~/Mail.IN/INBOX"
in my ~/.muttrc and ~/.neomuttrc.
so simply starting with "neomutt"
it knows to open *that* file. :-)

> 3.  regarding the mail archives of the list, I think it would
> have been quite helpful to have them online and searchable.
> That way redundant tickets can be avoided.

well, the mail archive *is* online, and you can use
"CTRL-F" or ⌘-F to find something in your browser. :-P

better searches are available within (neo)mutt -
(hint: use the "limit" command and search patterns)
so downloading a copy in mailbox format is advised.

NEOMUTT.Lists.2018-07-01.bz2 -- 950 messages in 1.1MB.
unpacked it is almost 6MB.

Sven

-- 
Limit/Search Patterns for mutt and neomutt:
http://www.guckes.net/mutt/limit_patterns.txt


More information about the neomutt-users mailing list