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7. Optional features

7.1 POP3 support

If Mutt was compiled with POP3 support (by running the configure script with the --enable-pop flag), it has the ability to fetch your mail from a remote server for local browsing. When you invoke the fetch-mail function (default: G), Mutt attempts to connect to pophost and authenticate by logging in as popuser. After the connection is established, you will be prompted for your password on the remote system.

Once you have been authenticated, Mutt will fetch all your new mail and place it in the local spoolfile. After this point, Mutt runs exactly as if the mail had always been local.

7.2 Random signatures

In order to use the random signature feature, you must first enable it during compilation. Edit config.h and make sure that it contains the line

#define ENABLE_RANDOM_SIG

To use it, first create a file called .sigfixed in your home directory and put in there one line that will contain the unchanging part of your signature. For example, your name and email address.

Now, create a directory that will contain the signatures you wish to use. I call it .Sig and have it in my home directory, but it can have any name as you will specify it in your .muttrc.

Put the signatures you wish to use in this directory, one per file. You can name the files anything you wish as the random signature process just grabs one from the directory and doesn't use the name to determine which one to grab. For example, my directory contains the following files:

3d              7thDay          EBS             IHS
Yoda            amnesia         asi             assembly
atomicBomb      amor            barker          blues
borg            brains          bugs            burningTree
catseye         crazy           delenn          dijkstra
dino            dinosaurs       disney          enhancement
evolve          fan             germanLoveLife  god
heard           hippogriff      hoare           hostCoast
infoHighway     instantCoffee   internet        kalidascope
kite            kenThompson     knuth           laws
lawyer          libClue         magic           meek
memories        memory          novocaine       nuclear
pace            pentBorg        pizza           poisonIvy
postman         robin           safety          serene
snow            starTrekC       styro           terror
thompson        torture         userFriendly    wrong

The only restrictions on names are:

  1. Names can't start with a ``.'' (period)
  2. Names can't start with a ``#'' (sharp or pound)
  3. Names can't contain a ``~'' (tilde)

Files with names that violate the above restrictions will not be used when determining which signature to append.

Now, edit your .muttrc and add (or change) the following two lines:

set localsignature=CompletePathToTheDirectoryOfSignatureFiles
set remotesignature=CompletePathToTheDirectoryOfSignatureFiles

If you want the same set of signatures for both local and remote mail, then you only need to set the signature variable:

set signature=CompletePathToTheDirectoryOfSignatureFiles

Because there are two different variables, you can have a different set of signatures for local and remote mail. Currently there is only one file for the fixed portion of the signature, but that can change if it turns out to be needed.


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