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Mailutils configuration file

There are some command line options that are used so often that it is inconvenient to specify them in the command line each time you run a Mailutils utility. The configuration files provide a way to add default command line arguments without having to type them in the command line. Upon startup, each Mailutils utility scans and processes the contents of the three startup files, none of which are required to exist:

1. the site-wide configuration file

   mailutils.rc, found in your your system configuration directory (usually /etc or /usr/local/etc).

2. the user-specific configuration file

   Usually ~/.mailutils, unless ~/.mailutils is a directory, in which case ~/.mailutils/mailutils is used.

3. the programs-specific configuration file

   Usually ~/.mu.programrc, unless ~/.mailutils is a directory, in which case ~/.mailutils/programrc is used (where program means the program name).

These files have simple line-oriented syntax. Comments begin with the pound sign (#) and extend through the end of the line ¹. Very long lines may be split across several lines by escaping final newline with a backslash (\) character.

In the non-program-specific configuration files, any configuration line must start with a tag. In the program-specific configuration file the tag must not be present, all options are for that specific program.

A tag is either a name of a particular Mailutils utility or option group, prefixed with colon (:). The command line options common for several Mailutils programs are divided into option groups or capabilities, e.g. the options --mail-spool and --lock-flags form group mailbox. These groups are discussed in detail below.

When processing the non-program-specific configuration files, a Mailutils utility selects those lines whose tag is either the name of that utility or the name of the option group supported by it. In the program-specific configuration file, all lines are selected. For each line found, its tag (if present) is stripped away, and the rest of the line is split up into words. These words are regarded as command line options and are inserted to the program arguments before any options from the command line. Thus the options from .mailutils take precedence over those from mailutils.rc, and the options from the command line take precedence over those from all three configuration files.

The word splitting occurs at whitespace characters and is similar to that performed by the shell. If an option must contain embedded whitespace, it should be enclosed in a pair of quotes (either double or single quotes).

• default: Options understood by most GNU utilities.
• mailbox: Specifies the mail spool location, and locking strategy.
• mailer: Sets the mailer URL.
• address: Specifies the default email address and domain.
• daemon: Options common for daemon programs.
• auth: Authentication-specific options.
• logging: Logging control options.
• sieve: Sieve specific options
• config sample: A sample configuration file.

Footnotes

1. If # is not the first character on the line, it should be separated from the previous word by any amount of whitespace.