[SLUG] Why i started using mutt

[Paul Teasdale]

On Saturday 24 Jan 2004 23:51, Jamie Adams wrote:
> > The reason i started using mutt because i saw Al Girling use it at the
> > SLUG meeting <where were the rest of you?>
> >
> > i had tried using mutt months ago but gave up as i couldn't get some of
> > the things to work but seeing Al go through it quickly and having it
> > tailored the way he likes it ...ignited my interest with mutt again
>
> Mutt is, without doubt, the king of email clients. It can be tailered to do
> pretty much anything you could want an email client to do. The only bad
> things I could say bad about it, from my point of view anyway, is the poor
> pop/imap support and the initial learning curve. I used to use Mutt
> exclusivly, until I forgot to backup my muttrc when reinstalling. I just
> haven't had the inclination to go through the setup again (yet).
>
> Jamie
>

I have got to agree about your comment on the pop/imap support. I have never 
investigated mutt (let alone use it) but on Wednesday IRC when Al explained 
you also needed to configure a local MTA for mutt to work (unless you patch 
it) I was a little taken aback.

Fundamentally there is absolutely nothing wrong with configuring your own 
local MTA as opposed to pointing at your ISPs MTA but these things are not 
easy to configure correctly (especially sendmail). Using your own local MTA 
also means that there is an extra server process (with an open port) running 
in the background on your computer that you need to be at least aware of. 
Also when you browse security related websites MTAs seem to be very easy to 
exploit for various reasons the most common being due to incorrect 
configuration. Open mail relays and spammers always on the lookout for one 
come to mind here.

Just my thoughts.

Paul.