I think I'm finally ready to abandon Pine as my e-mail client and to start
using Mutt. I thought of doing this a few years ago, but looking over Mutt
documentation and config files left me bewildered. I'm sure I will still
be confused about some of the program's workings, but it seems, after 4
years or so of using and admin'ing my Linux system(s), I have good enough
grasp of the program's basics and related e-mail workings now that I'm
ready to give it a serious go. This switch is also partly precipitated by
certain ways in which Pine has been failing me. Despite what I've said
above, the present message is not a Mutt-specific query: I'll probably be
directing those to the Mutt user list. What I'm wondering about is
something more fundamental about e-mail technology.
One of the things that kept me from using Mutt previously was the fact
that it does not do smtp, but rather apparently relies on other programs
such as sendmail for passing mail to servers that in turn pass it to other
servers and eventually to recipients. I don't care how stupid I might
sound to the initiated in saying this, but for the technically-challenged
such as myself, having an extra layer of program activity between the
e-mail client and the outgoing server is confusing: it's just another set
of configuration files to edit and keep current, and another place to look
for errors should problems arise. At the same time, I suppose there are
good reasons for having a separate program to do mail passing to outgoing
servers. The most sensible reason I can think of is that e-mailing is
often done in an institutional environment, one that has a machine on its
network dedicated to mailing functions. I have no experience of working in
such an environment, so I'm guessing at this, but that seems like it could
provide a sensible explanation for the separation between e-mail client
and outgoing mail server.
Anyway, Pine does do smtp: you enter info about your smtp server in its
config file, and away you go with sending out your mail. Mutt, as I
understand it "will never do smtp" (quotation from a Mutt information site
I haven't checked for a couple years but which I assume to reflect the
current state of affairs). I will thus, I assume, need to look into
getting and setting up a program to interact with the smtp server I will
be sending mail through. Sendmail is one I recall reading about: can
anyone supply names of, and recommendations about, others? I want the
simplest possible program for this one-user (Debian) machine.
Finally, can anyone enlighten me as to why a program like Mutt--which is
actually the only e-mail client I know of that won't interact with smtp
servers--will not do smtp? Is it for puristic reasons, i.e., because it
would somehow contaminate the program's perceived function by introducing
extra functionality? I.e., a line in the sand against feature-creep? Could
it be for some sort of security reasons?
Sorry for the long message. Input will be appreciated.
Thanks, James
PS Recommendations for other text-mode e-mail clients would also be
appreciated.
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