Configuring Mutt and Pine

The default configurations for Mutt and Pine are are automatically added to all accounts created after 2005 (give or take a few years). The default file contents are provided below in case you need to generate the files yourself or reset your mail client configuration.

Since the mail server does not accept ssh connections from the internet, the configurations provided below will not work from off-campus. You’ll need to use a JumpHost If you want to replicate these configurations on a host that is connecting from an off-campus IP address. For more information, please see Tunnel to Campus.

Mutt Users

Include the following in your ~/.muttrc:

set tunnel="ssh -q mail.cs.brandeis.edu /etc/rimapd"
set spoolfile={mail.cs.brandeis.edu}INBOX
set folder={mail.cs.brandeis.edu}
set hidden_host=yes

Pine Users

Include the following in your ~/.pinerc:

user-domain=cs.brandeis.edu
smtp-server=smtp.cs.brandeis.edu
ssh-path=/usr/bin/ssh
ssh-command=%s %s -x -q -l %s exec /etc/r%sd
inbox-path={imap.cs.brandeis.edu}INBOX
folder-collections=Mail {imap.cs.brandeis.edu}[]

SSH Keys

Authorized SSH keys, like your .procmailrc, are kept on the mail server, specifically in /mnt/mail.cs.brandeis.edu/username/.ssh. Simply create the .ssh directory if it does not already exist, and place your authorized_keys file therein.

Notes

Clever users may have noticed that imap-, pop-, and smtp.cs.brandeis.edu are all currently CNAMEs to mail.cs.brandeis.edu. We ask that, even if you notice this, you continue to refer to servers in your mail client’s configuration with the proper DNS alias for the service you are accessing, as these functions will soon be parting ways, never to run on the same machine again. At that time, clients configured to talk to a single DNS name for multiple services will find functionality reduced or absent until they update their settings.