Re: Need mutt explanation: "alternates"
On Sat, May 24, 2003 at 03:40:25PM -0400, Soren Andersen wrote:
> A mutt variable (a variable mutt knows about, that might be typically
> set in one's .muttrc file) named "$alternates", is apparently how to
> tell Mutt that you are the same person in several variant forms. What I
> need to have explained to me is whether this comes from a file (and that
> file's path is what "$alternates" is to be set to) and what the format
> of that file is supposed to be.
No external files are involved. $alternates should be set to a regular
expression matching the addresses that belong to you. For example, I
have (in part):
set alternates="cjw44@flatline.org.uk|cjwatson@(debian.org|chiark.greenend.org.uk|riva.debian.net)"
This is slightly obfuscated because I didn't want to bother writing
"cjwatson" several times, but hey.
"one@email.address|another@email.address|a-third@email.address" is
sufficient.
If you search for "alternates" in the mutt manual, every hit apart from
those describing the variable itself describe some other part of mutt
that's affected by $alternates.
I thought the mutt manual was quite clear on this point, although
perhaps my copy is more recent than the one you're looking at. Mine
says:
6.3.7. alternates
Type: regular expression
Default: ""
A regexp that allows you to specify alternate addresses where you
receive mail. This affects Mutt's idea about messages from you and
addressed to you.
> In replying, it is requested that you please not assume that I ought to
> have been able to know this because, of course, everyone in the known
> universe has at one time been an admin of 'sendmail' (I have not; I use
> Postfix).
Your choice of MTA doesn't matter here. (Why the aggressive stance? Did
some piece of documentation suggest that it was a hackers-only variable
or something?)
Cheers,
--
Colin Watson [cjwatson@flatline.org.uk]
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