instlaling mutt on linux

[M.R.P.]

Hello I have installed mutt on linux and when I run it get the message.no
mailbox /var/mail/zenkde: no such file or directory. What do i need to
create and were is the best place on my system for mutt config files.

[Rathbone]

Post by M.R.P.
Hello I have installed mutt on linux and when I run it get the message.no
mailbox /var/mail/zenkde: no such file or directory. What do i need to
create and were is the best place on my system for mutt config files.

This is a big and broad question. When you start up mutt, it's trying to
read your standard UNIX mailspool, which must not exist because you
haven't configured an MTA to deliver mail there.

If you're interested in learning about and configuring mutt, I would
start with this website:

http://mutt.postle.net/

It's a bit old at this point, but it is still helpful to get you into
the mindset of what mutt is, what it isn't, and how to get started.

From there, you can move on to the mutt manual, which may have come with
mutt on your distribution, but if not, you can view it here:

http://www.mutt.org/doc/manual/

[Jorgen Grahn]

Post by Rathbone

Post by M.R.P.
Hello I have installed mutt on linux and when I run it get the message.no
mailbox /var/mail/zenkde: no such file or directory. What do i need to
create and were is the best place on my system for mutt config files.

This is a big and broad question. When you start up mutt, it's trying to
read your standard UNIX mailspool, which must not exist because you
haven't configured an MTA to deliver mail there.

Or he has, but noone has sent any mail to it ...

[snip links to documentation]

The traditional Unix way of dealing with mail is letting the system
handle it. An MTA puts incoming mail in /var/mail/$USER; calling
/usr/lib/sendmail makes the MTA send a mail. Then people can use Mutt
or any traditional mailer they prefer.

Later mailers began to handle remote mailboxes using POP3 or IMAP, and
send mail using SMTP. And mutt added support for such things too.

There are a number of options:

- Configure your Linux system (your MTA) the traditional way. This
may mean running fetchmail or something to drain remote mailboxes
into your local MTA.

- Skip that and configure Mutt to use IMAP or whatever you have.

In that scenario you should at least make local->local mail work the
traditional way, so that utilities like cron and at can send mail to
zenkden when something goes wrong -- and ensure that Mutt still can
show the system mailbox.

I have always done it the traditional way, but I suspect most don't.

/Jorgen

[Volker Englisch]

Post by M.R.P.
Hello I have installed mutt on linux and when I run it get the message.no
mailbox /var/mail/zenkde: no such file or directory. What do i need to
create

# touch /var/mail/zenkde
# chown zenkde /var/mail/zenkde

and maybe a chmod 600 too.

Like the others stated, there is no such file, because noone sent you
some mail yet.

[downtime null]

Post by M.R.P.
Hello I have installed mutt on linux and when I run it get the message.no
mailbox /var/mail/zenkde: no such file or directory. What do i need to
create and were is the best place on my system for mutt config files.

What exactly are you trying to do? Mutt and Neomutt are extremely
configurable and flexible MUAs, meaning that if you want anything more
than the very basic, default functionality, you will have to configure
it. This is typically in ~/.muttrc or similar. If you are trying to
check mail on an IMAP server, you will have to setup that account
information in the Mutt config. I would recommend using Neomutt, unless
you have some reason for wanting to use Mutt specifically, and referring
to the guide at https://neomutt.org/guide/. That will get you started.