Mutt + Procmail Filters

[Tillman Hodgson]

On Wed, Dec 17, 2003 at 06:22:14PM -0600, Bryan Cassidy wrote:
> I have just started using Mutt again. I would rather use Mutt
> if I can just setup my filters like I have in Sylpheed. I don't
> know if this is what Procmail filtering is suppose to do but
> this is what I want and I am very confused about setting up
> mail filters in Mutt. Have no clue where to even start with
> setting up config files. When I first load Mutt (1.5 btw) I
> want to see say a group Called FreeBSD-Questions, FreeBSD-Hardware
> and FreeBSD-Hackers. When I scroll to FreeBSD-Hackers I want
> all the e-mail that is sent to the -hacker mailing list to be
> in that. Is this what Procmail does or am I suppose to load
> the filters some other way? That is the way I want to do it
> but if I can't could someone help with me setting this up. I
> would really appreciate it. I've been strugling with Mutt +
> Procmail for a couple days now and I am just more confused.

It sounds like you got the idea figured out correctly. All that's left
is the details ;-)

Generally, when I want to create a new folder, I take an existing email
and (s)ave it to a new folder name. Mutt takes care of creating my new
Maildir (the mailbox format that I use) for me. Then I add a rule to my
~/.mailfilter (Note: maildrop, not procmail) to sort mail for this new
folder.

You also need to either set up procmail globally or per-user. Per-user
is simple: just put this in their ~/.forward file:

 | /full/path/to/procmail

<heresy mode: on>

Rather than procmail, which is very common but has an arcane syntax,
consider maildrop (in the ports tree. The syntax is quite a bit easier
to read and it supports Maildir format natively. Here's a sample from my
~/.mailfilter:

# Definite default mailbox
DEFAULT="/exports/tillman/Maildir"
#
# Automated emails from the Seekingfire network
if (/^From: .*root at .*seekingfire*/)
	to /exports/tillman/Maildirs/system/
# FreeBSD mailing lists
if (/^(From|To|cc): .*freebsd\.org/)
	to /exports/tillman/Maildirs/freebsd/
# Zebra & Quagga lists
if (/^(From|To|cc): .*zebra\.org/)
	to /exports/tillman/Maildirs/zebra/
if (/^(From|To|cc): .*lists\.quagga\.net/)
	to /exports/tillman/Maildirs/zebra/

etc ...

</heresy>

-T


-- 
First time I've gotten a programming job that required a drug test.
I was worried they were going to say "you don't have enough LSD in your
system to do Unix programming".
    - A.S.R. quote (Paul Tomblin)