Mutt, GMail, POP3 and IMAPS

[Hal Burgiss]

On Sun, Dec 23, 2007 at 03:04:16PM -0500, Paul Fortin wrote:
> I'm using Mutt to read and post to this mailing list.  Here is what I added to my .muttrc file:
> 
> set imap_user = "pauldesktop at gmail.com"
> set smtp_url = "smtp://pauldesktop@smtp.gmail.com:587/"
> set imap_pass = "---"
> set smtp_pass = "---"
> set from = "pauldesktop at gmail.com"
> set folder = "imaps://imap.gmail.com:993"
> 
> Does my .muttrc file determine how I _send_ mail?  Before adding
> this stuff to my .muttrc I didn't have anything listed and it was
> using sendmail...how, I'm not sure.

It can. Mutt checks ~/.muttrc and the system /etc/Muttrc (typically),
if available. And then there are compiled in defautls as well, which
is probably something like '/usr/sbin/sendmail -oi -oem'. Many MTA's
have a 'sendmail' command. 

> Am I now sending mail through google's smtp server?

Yes.
 
> What is IMAP?  My .fetchmailrc file has an entry for gmail, but it is as follows:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imap

> poll pop.gmail.com protocol POP3 and options no dns user "pauldesktop" password "---" options ssl

> So, am I using POP or IMAP?

Both. fetchmail can do either, but you are doing POP via fetchmail and
imap via .muttrc. Do one or the other. fetchmail has many options. It
can be configured to keep mail on the server, or not. Hard to say
without seeing the rest of your .fetchmailrc. Check man fetchmailrc
for other options and configuration particulars.
 
-- 
Hal