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-The Linux Mail User HOWTO
-!!!The Linux Mail User HOWTO
-!Eric Steven Raymond Thyrsus Enterprises
-
- esr@thyrsus.com
-
-
-
-
-Copyright (c) 2000 by Eric S. Raymond
-
-
-__Revision History__Revision 3.222 February 2001Revised by: esrLDP Styleguide markup fixes.Revision 3.18 December 2000Revised by: esrMention Mailman.Revision 3.012 August 2000Revised by: esrFirst !DocBook version.
-
-
-
-
-
-This document is an introduction to the world of electronic
-mail
-(email) under Linux. It
-focuses on user-level issues and typical configurations for Linux home
-and small-business machines connected to the net via an ISP.
-
-
-
-You need to read this if you plan to communicate locally or to
-remote sites via electronic mail. You probably do
-''not'' need to read this document if don't exchange
-electronic mail with other users on your system or with other
-sites.
-
-
-
-For information on configuring and administering mail, see the
-Mail Administrator HOWTO.
-
-
-
-
-
-----; __Table of Contents__; 1. Introduction: ; 1.1. New versions of this document; 1.2. Hardware requirements for email programs; 1.3. Software sources for email programs; 2. Mail User Agents: ; 2.1. Setting your mail editor; 2.2. mutt; 2.3. elm; 2.4. pine; 2.5. Netscape; 2.6. Emacs rmail/smail and vm.; 2.7. BSD mail; 2.8. Other user agents; 3. Advanced topics: ; 3.1. Aliases; 3.2. Forwarding; 3.3. Auto-replying; 3.4. Mailing lists; 3.5. Mail filters; 3.6. Coping with spam; 4. Other sources of information: ; 4.1. USENET; 4.2. Books; 4.3. Periodic USENET Postings; 4.4. Where ''not'' to look for help; 5. Administrivia: ; 5.1. Feedback; 5.2. Copyright Information; 5.3. Standard Disclaimer; 5.4. Acknowledgements----
-!!!1. Introduction
-
-The intent of this document is to explain how email works, and answer
-some of the questions that appear to meet the definition of
-`frequently asked questions' about e-mail software under Linux.
-
-
-
-Modern Linux distributions give you a usable, preconfigured
-setup for electronic mail out of the box, usually featuring a late
-version of
-sendmail-v8.
-This HOWTO will assume that you have such a setup and a working
-Internet connection.
-
-
-
-(For information on how to set up a PPP or SLIP link to an ISP,
-see the ISP
-Hookup HOWTO.)
-
-
-
-Accordingly, unlike Vince Skahan's 1.x versions, this HOWTO focuses on
-user issues and architecture; most technical hair about UUCP, IDA
-sendmail and other formerly important topics has been dropped.
-
-----
-!!1.1. New versions of this document
-
-This document will be posted monthly to the newsgroup comp.os.linux.answers You
-should also be able to view the latest version of this HOWTO on the
-World Wide Web at http://metalab.unc.edu/LDP/HOWTO/Mail-User-HOWTO.html.
-
-----
-!!1.2. Hardware requirements for email programs
-
-There are no specific hardware requirements for mail under Linux.
-If you have the hardware necessary to connect to the Internet, it
-can support email over that link.
-
-----
-!!1.3. Software sources for email programs
-
-The software you will need for email support is probably
-preinstalled in your Linux distribution. You will find updates on the
-Metalab Linux
-Archive, especially in the mail
-subdirectory.
-
-----
-!!!2. Mail User Agents
-
-This section contains information related to user agents, which means
-the software the user sees and uses. This software relies on the
-transport agents described in the Mail Administrator's HOWTO (which
-also include user-agent configuration and troubleshooting tips for
-administrators).
-
-----
-!!2.1. Setting your mail editor
-
-Mail user agents call out to some editor to assist composition of
-mail. Which editor is the default varies. Most of them respect
-a convention going back to Unix's early days; the contents of the
-environment variable VISUAL, if it exists, is taken as the name
-of your preferred editor. If VISUAL is not set, the variable
-EDITOR is checked.
-
-
-
-Popular values for EDITOR include
-__vi__ and __emacs__.
-But if you are,
-like me, the sort who always has an Emacs running, the most useful way
-to set EDITOR is to the value
-__emacsclient__. Use this with the following lines in
-your .emacs file:
-
-
-(autoload 'server-edit "server" nil t)
-(server-edit)
-
-The emacsclient program, when it runs, tries to establish
-communication with an Emacs instance you already have running and
-hand the mail message temporary file to that Emacs to be edited.
-The effect of this will be that when your mailer calls out for an
-editor, a mail composition window pops open inside your Emacs.
-
-
-
-When you are ready to hand the file back to the mailer for
-sending, type C-x #. The mail buffer will leave
-your display and the emacsclient instance your mailer called will
-return, handing control back to the mailer.
-
-
-
-It is possible to have more than one emacsclient instance open at once
-without confusing Emacs. However, calling up another Emacs while an
-emacsclient session is running can confuse emacsclient enough that
-it won't be able to find either instance afterwards. If this happens,
-shut down all your Emacs instances and restart just one.
-
-----
-!!2.2. mutt
-
-This is what I use and recommend. It is descended from elm and
-has similar commands by default, but is much more powerful and
-configurable. It can be a POP3 or IMAP client, and includes excellent
-support for MIME and PGP. There is a Mutt home page on the web.
-
-
-
-Mutt respects the EDITOR/VISUAL convention.
-
-----
-!!2.3. elm
-
-Elm was the first modern, screen-oriented Unix mailer, but has
-been stagnant for years now and is being displaced by Mutt. Some
-versions of elm have POP3 support built in. For more information, see
-the elm sources and installation instructions in the Metalab mail user
-agents directory. Here are a few points that occasionally
-trip people up:
-
-
-
-No, stock elm is not PGP-aware. There are PGP support patches,
-but Mutt's PGP support is superior. If you want to use PGP, I
-recommend Mutt.
-
-
-
-Elm respects the EDITOR/VISUAL convention.
-
-----
-!!2.4. pine
-
-Pine is a user agent designed for novices; it includes
-news-reading capability and built-in support for the IMAP remote-mail
-protocol. A lot of people swear by it for new users. I find its
-impoverished command set, limited configurability and native editor
-hard to take. It has excellent built-in IMAP support, however. If
-you want to check it out, the distribution is available at http://www.washington.edu/pine.
-
-
-
-Pine respects the EDITOR/VISUAL convention.
-
-----
-!!2.5. Netscape
-
-The Netscape browser has POP3 and IMAP remote-mail capability built
-into it, so it can be used as a mail user agent. I don't recommend
-this; it doesn't specialize in being an MUA, and therefore does not
-offer many of the services that real MUAs do (such as aliases and
-PGP handling). It does, however, support LDAP and SSL.
-
-
-
-Netscape supplies its own mini-editor, the same one used throughout
-the browser (e.g. for text fields in forms).
-
-----
-!!2.6. Emacs rmail/smail and vm.
-
-Emacs has a mode called smail that can send mail, and another
-called rmail that can read mail. The smail mode can be quite useful,
-as you get to compose mail inside a full Emacs environment (but see
-also the discussion of emacsclient
-elsewhere in this document).
-
-
-
-The rmail mode, on the other hand, is not recommended. Every
-time you run it, it converts your inbox to BABYL format; ordinary mail
-tools will choke on that. (If this happens to you, do __M-x
-unrmail__ from the Emacs command line.)
-
-
-
-There is a mailreader for emacs called `vm' that writes and reads
-standard V7 mailboxes. It is not distributed with GNU Emacs,
-but you can find its home page at http://www.wonderworks.com/vm/.
-
-
-
-Emacs smail/rmail/vm do not respect the EDITOR/VISUAL
-convention. Instead, you use the Emacs they're embedded in.
-
-----
-!!2.7. BSD mail
-
-If you simply type `mail' to the shell on a Linux or any other modern
-Unix, you will invoke some variant of the BSD Mail program. It has a
-line-oriented interface originally designed for use on TTYs. It is,
-at this point, only of historical interest.
-
-
-
-BSD Mail invented the EDITOR/VISUAL convention.
-
-----
-!!2.8. Other user agents
-
-The following also are known to run under Linux. Consult `archie' to
-find them...
-
-
-
-
-
-; mush:
-
-mail user's shell, very powerful for filtering andbatch processing
-
-; mh:
-
-mail handler, yet another mail user agent
-
-
-
-I don't know enough about mh or mush to describe them in detail.
-They both have rather complex interfaces and are designed for
-sophisticated mail users.
-
-----
-!!!3. Advanced topics
-!!3.1. Aliases
-
-An `alias' is a way to set up a pseudo-address that simply directs
-mail to another (single) address. There are two kinds of aliases:
-MUA aliases and MTA aliases.
-
-
-
-An MUA alias is one you set up in your MUA as a kind of personal
-shorthand. Other people will not be able to see or use this alias.
-For example, you could write:
-
-
-alias esr Eric S. Raymond `esr@thyrsus.comb
-
-in your mutt configuration file. This would tell mutt that when it
-sees `esr' in an address line, it should behave as through you had
-typed `esr@thyrsus.com', Or you can type `mutt esr' and the expanded
-address will be automatically filled in on the `to' line.
-
-
-
-An MTA alias is one your MTA expands; it will be usable by
-everyone, both on your machine and remotely. To create MTA aliases
-you must modify a system file, usually but not always
-/etc/aliases or
-/etc/mail/aliases (the location depends on your
-MTA). It may be instructive for you to look at the the aliases on
-your system; it should contain a number of standard aliases such as
-`postmaster'.
-
-
-
-Your MTA may also allow the target of an alias to be a filename, which
-will be treated as a mailbox the mail is to be appended to (this is
-useful for archiving mail). It may also allow the target of an alias
-to be a program, in which case mail to that alias will be passed to
-an instance of the program on its standard input.
-
-----
-!!3.2. Forwarding
-
-MTA aliases usually require administrator privileges to set up. But
-it is desirable for mail users to be able to set up forwarding of
-their own mail without administrator intervention.
-
-
-
-To support this, most MTAs follow sendmail's lead and look for a
-file called
-.forward
-in your home directory. The contents of this file is interpreted like
-the target of an alias which should receive all your mail. The most
-common use for this facility is to redirect your mail to an account on
-another machine.
-
-----
-!!3.3. Auto-replying
-
-Another common use for the .forward
-facility is to pass your mail to a `vacation' program. A vacation
-program reads incoming mail and automatically generates a canned reply
-to it; they are so called because the most common form of canned reply
-is to inform the sender that you are on vacation and will not be
-reachable until a given date.
-
-
-
-There is no one standard vacation program that is in universal use.
-There are two good reasons for this: one, that such a program is
-very easy to write as a shellscript or filter rule (see below); and
-two, that vacation programs interact badly with mailing lists.
-
-
-
-You should temporarily unsubscribe from all mailing lists you are on
-before setting up auto-answering; otherwise, all members of the
-mailing lists mail find they are being flooded with canned messages
-by your vacation program. This is considered very rude behavior
-and will guarantee you quite a frosty reception on your return.
-
-----
-!!3.4. Mailing lists
-
-A mailing list is a pseudo-address that sends mail to more than
-one user.
-
-
-
-In its simplest form, mailing list is just an MTA alias with more than
-one recipient. Some small mailing lists are maintained this way.
-Sendmail assists by supporting a syntax in /etc/aliases
-that includes the contents of a given mailing list file in the target
-side of an alias. It looks like this:
-
-
-admin-list: ":include:/usr/home/admin/admin-list"
-
-with the advantage that the admin-list file can live in
-unprivileged-user space somewhere (root is only needed to set
-up the original inclusion). Some other MTAs have similar features.
-
-
-
-These simple lists are commonly called `mail
-reflectors'.
-There are a couple of problems with mail reflectors. One is that
-bounce messages from failed attempts to broadcast goes to all users.
-Another is that all subscriptions and unsubscriptions have to be done
-manually by the mailing list administrator.
-
-
-
-A kind of software called a mailing list
-manager
-has evolved to address these problems and other related ones. Its
-most important function is to permit mailing list users to subscribe
-and unscubscribe without going through the list maintainer.
-
-
-
-A mailing-list manager keeps its own user-list information and
-hooks up to the MTA through a program alias in
-/etc/aliases. For example, if the admin-list
-above were going through the mailing list manager called !SmartList on
-a sendmail system, a portion of /etc/aliases
-might look like this:
-
-
-admin-list: "|/usr/home/smartlist/bin/flist admin-list"
-admin-list-request: "|/usr/home/smartlist/bin/flist admin-list-request"
-
-Note that this is a pair of aliases. It is conventional for
-real mailing lists to have a request
-address to be
-used for user subscription and unsubscription requests. It is
-considered rude and ignorant to send subscription/unsubscription
-requests to the main address of such a list -- don't do it.
-
-
-
-The robot sitting behind the request address may offer other features
-besides just subscription/unsubscription. It may respond to help
-requests, allow you to query who is on the list, or give you automated
-access to list archives. It may also allow list administrators to
-restrict posting to known members, set the list to auto-subscribe
-nonmembers when they first post, or set various security policy
-options. Mailing-list managers differ primarily in the design and
-range of these secondary features.
-
-
-
-Unfortunately, the format for sending commands to mailing-list request
-robots is not standard. Some expect commands in the subject line,
-some ignore the subject line and expect commands in the message body.
-You need to pay attention to the response mail you get when you first
-subscribe; it's a good idea to save such mail to a subscriptions
-mailbox for later reference.
-
-
-
-The most important mailing-list managers to know about are majordomo,
-listserv, listproc, and smartlist; majordomo is the most popular by a
-considerable margin. Recently, mailman, a
-list manager with a rather nice Web-based signon/signoff/administration
-interface, has become very popular and may be in the pricess of obsolescing
-the older programs. There is a rather comprehensive list
-of such packages on the Web.
-
-
-
-For more about mailing list managers, consult the resources at
-the List-Managers Mailing
-List, including the FAQ (note: this list is
-''not'' appropriate for how-to questions).
-
-----
-!!3.5. Mail filters
-
-A mail filter is a program that sits between your local
-delivery agent and you, automatically dispatching or rejecting mail
-before you see it.
-
-
-
-Mail filters have a number of uses. The most important are spam
-filtering, dispatching to multiple mailboxes by topic or sender, and
-auto-answering mail.
-
-
-
-Typically, you set up mail filtering by putting a program alias
-for the filter program in your .forward file, and writing a file of
-filtering rules. The format and location of the filter rules file
-varies between filter programs.
-
-
-
-There are good feature summaries of the three major mail filters
-(procmail, mailagent, and deliver) in part
-3 of Chris Lewis's Email Software Survey. The most popular of
-these is (despite its rather nasty rule syntax) procmail, which is
-universally present on Linux systems (and, indeed, is generally used
-as the system's local delivery agent).
-
-----
-!!3.6. Coping with spam
-
-Spam is sometimes known as `UCE' (Unsolicited Commercial Email)
-or `UBE' (Unsolicited Bulk Email). As these names imply, it is an
-obnoxious form of advertising that stuffs your mailbox with form
-letters. (The term `spam' comes from a Monty Python's Flying Circus
-skit in which a choir of Vikings endlessly repeats the chant "Spam
-spam spam spam...").
-
-
-
-Most spam seems to consist of solicitations for pyramid schemes,
-ads for pornography, or (annoyingly) attempts to sell spam-sending
-programs. A few individual spams (like MAKE MONEY FAST or the Craig
-Shergold postcard hoax) have been so persistent as to become
-legendary. Spam tends to be both verbose and illiterate. It's a
-waste of time and a huge waste of network bandwidth.
-
-
-
-The spam epidemic seems to have peaked in mid-1997 and been
-slowly in decline since, but it can still be a serious annoyance. If
-you're being deluged with spam, get educated. Browse the Fight Spam on the Internet! page.
-The Death
-To Spam! page is particularly effective on methods for
-stopping or backtracking spam.
-
-----
-!!!4. Other sources of information
-!!4.1. USENET
-
-There are a number of Usenet groups devoted to electronic-mail
-technical issues:
-
-
-
-
-
-; comp.mail.elm:
-
-the ELM mail system.
-
-; comp.mail.mh:
-
-The Rand Message Handling system.
-
-; comp.mail.mime:
-
-Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions.
-
-; comp.mail.misc:
-
-General discussions about computer mail.
-
-; comp.mail.multi-media:
-
-Multimedia Mail.
-
-; comp.mail.mush:
-
-The Mail User's Shell (MUSH).
-
-; comp.mail.sendmail:
-
-the BSD sendmail agent.
-
-; comp.mail.smail:
-
-the smail mail agent.
-
-; comp.mail.uucp:
-
-Mail in the uucp environment.
-
-----
-!!4.2. Books
-
-The following is a non-inclusive set of books that will help...
-
-
-
-
-
-; Sendmail:
-
-from O'Reilly and Associates is
-the definitive reference on sendmail-v8 and sendmail+IDA. It's a
-``must have'' for anybody hoping to make sense out of sendmail without
-bleeding in the process.
-
-; The Internet Complete Reference:
-
-from Osborne is a fine reference book that explains the
-various services available on Internet and is a great source for
-information on news, mail, and various other Internet
-resources.
-
-; The Linux Networking Administrators' Guide:
-
-from Olaf Kirch of the LDP is available on the net and is
-also published by (at least) O'Reilly and SSC. It makes a fine
-one-stop shopping guide to learn about everything you ever imagined
-you'd need to know about Unix networking.
-
-----
-!!4.3. Periodic USENET Postings
-
-Also worth mentioning is Chris Lewis' periodic posting on unix
-e-mail software, which is available on ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/comp.mail.misc
-as the files named ``UNIX_Email_Software_Survey_*''. An HTMLized
-version is at http://www.faqs.org/faqs/mail/setup/unix/.
-At time writing in 1999 this posting has not been seriously updated
-since 1996, however.
-
-----
-!!4.4. Where ''not'' to look for help
-
-There is no longer anything special about configuring and
-running mail under Linux, relative to other Unixes. Accordingly, you
-almost certainly do ''not'' want to be posting
-generic mail-related questions to the comp.os.linux.*
-newsgroups.
-
-
-
-Unless your posting is truly Linux-specific (ie, ``please tell
-me what routers are already compiled into the SLS1.03 version of
-smail3.1.28'') you should be asking your questions in one of the
-newsgroups or mailing lists referenced above.
-
-
-
-Let me repeat that....
-
-
-
-There is virtually no reason to post anything mail-related in the
-comp.os.linux hierarchy any more. There are existing newsgroups in the
-comp.mail.* hierarchy to handle ''all'' your questions.
-
-
-
-''If you post to comp.os.linux.* for non-Linux-specific questions,
-you are looking in the wrong place for help. The electronic mail
-experts hang out in the places indicated above and generally not in
-the Linux groups.''
-
-
-
-'' Posting to the Linux hierarchy for non-linux-specific
-questions wastes your time and everybody else's...and it frequently
-delays you from getting the answer to your question.''
-
-----
-!!!5. Administrivia
-!!5.1. Feedback
-
-(Vince wrote this section, but my policy is the same.)
-
-
-
-I am interested in any feedback, positive or negative, regarding
-the content of this document via e-mail. Definitely contact me if you
-find errors or obvious omissions.
-
-
-
-I read, but do not necessarily respond to, all e-mail I receive.
-Requests for enhancements will be considered and acted upon based on
-that day's combination of available time, merit of the request, and
-daily blood pressure :-)
-
-
-
-Flames will quietly go to /dev/null so don't bother.
-
-
-
-In particular, the Linux filesystem standard for pathnames is an evolving
-thing. What's in this document is there for illustration only based on the
-current standard at the time that part of the document was written and in
-the paths used in the distributions or `kits' I've personally seen. Please
-consult your particular Linux distribution(s) for the paths they use.
-
-
-
-Feedback concerning the actual format of the document should go
-to the HOWTO coordinator - mail to linux-howto@metalab.unc.edu).
-
-----
-!!5.2. Copyright Information
-
-The Mail-User-HOWTO is copyrighted (c)1999 Eric S. Raymond.
-Copyright is retained for the purpose of enforcing the Linux
-Documentation Project license terms.
-
-
-
-A verbatim copy may be reproduced or distributed in any medium
-physical or electronic without permission of the author. Translations
-are similarly permitted without express permission if it includes a
-notice on who translated it.
-
-
-
-Short quotes may be used without prior consent by the author.
-Derivative work and partial distributions of the Mail-HOWTO must be
-accompanied with either a verbatim copy of this file or a pointer to
-the verbatim copy.
-
-
-
-Commercial redistribution is allowed and encouraged; however,
-the maintainer would appreciate being notified of any such
-distributions (as a courtesy).
-
-
-
-In short, we wish to promote dissemination of this information
-through as many channels as possible. However, we do wish to retain
-copyright on the HOWTO documents.
-
-
-
-We further want that ''all'' information
-provided in the HOWTOS is disseminated. If you have questions, please
-contact the Linux HOWTO coordinator, at
-`linux-howto@metalab.unc.edub.
-
-----
-!!5.3. Standard Disclaimer
-
-Of course, we disavow any potential liability for the contents of this
-document. Use of the concepts, examples, and/or other content of this
-document is entirely at your own risk.
-
-----
-!!5.4. Acknowledgements
-
-This was originally authored by Vince Skahan. I have rewritten
-it for the modern ISP-centric world in which UUCP is little more than
-a memory.
-
-
-
-In May 1999, the name was changed from "The Linux Electronic
-Mail HOWTO" to avoid a collision with Guylhem Aznar's Mail HOWTO,
-which will become the Mail Administrator HOWTO
.
+Describe [HowToMailUserHOWTO] here
.
