On Mon, Dec 08, 2014 at 09:59:17PM +0000, Chris Green wrote: > On Mon, Dec 08, 2014 at 06:33:40PM +0000, John Long wrote: > > On Mon, Dec 08, 2014 at 03:19:55PM +0000, Chris Green wrote: > > > I have been using mutt for many, many years with a local (Unix style) > > > mail spool. Mail is delivered to my system by SMTP (postfix locally). > > > > > > At the moment to access my mail remotely I ssh into the server and run > > > mutt. > > > > I suspect many people do this. I do this. > > > > > This works well in general but there are some disadvantages, in > > > particular the 'v' command to access and view HTML, PDF and other > > > graphical attachments doesn't work because, of course, there's no GUI > > > access to the machine where I'm reading the mail. > > > > Do you not have X-forwarding set or is there some other problem? I have a > > shell account that doesn't allow X forwarding so maybe you're in a situation > > like that. If it's your box it might be worth changing one line in the sshd > > config. > > > I could connect with X forwarding but I don't really see how it would > help. I just tried it with an HTML E-Mail, it doesn't find the file > because it sees Firefox already running on the local machine and tries > to use that. Also Firefox across an internet connection is impossibly > slow.
With Firefox you have to start it with the correct command not to use a local instance. This is a problem with Firefox, not X forwarding. And how well it works over an internet connection depends on your internet connection. In general, X forwarding seems like the best way to accomplish what you asked. > > > It's also a bit annoying simply saving attachments and then realising > > > they're on the remote machine. > > > > scp or rsync the file to your local box? Presumably you are reading mail > > from a remote box for other reasons that are beneficial, or maybe you should > > just run it locally. > > > Yes, if I really need to see what's in the file I do rsync it across > but for the casual look at something that's a lot of hassle. I'm > reading remotely usually because I'm a long way away, e.g. in London > (home is Suffolk) or on a boat in France. Then it sounds more and more like X forwarding over a sufficiently fast connection is your only workable answer. TINSTAAFL. > > > > So, I'm wondering if using IMAP would make my life easier. I would > > > run Dovecot I expect. If I do this do things become more transparent > > > to a remote mutt? > > > > I don't see how IMAP helps. What exactly is the difference in terms of how > > you read mail and where the apps run as opposed to POP? The only thing IMAP > > does it make you rely on a remote mail server. I never use IMAP unless they > > don't serve POP. I know one mail provider that doesn't honor POP delete > > requests so to avoid leaving 100,000 emails on their server that I can't > > delete I use IMAP with them. Everywhere else, POP. I'd rather rely on my own > > email storage. > > > I wondered if, when using IMAP, mutt will store the temporary HTML for > passing to Firefox on the local machine rather than the remote > machine. One would expect it to somehow. If I understood you then yes, but the local machine as far as mutt is concerned is the machine where mutt is running, not where you are running. All mutt's working data is where mutt runs, as in all normal apps. > > > E.g. if I want to view an HTML E-Mail in Firefox (default browser) > > > instead of within mutt (using lynx) can I just do 'v' followed by > > > selecting the HTML attachment as I would when running mutt locally on > > > the machine where mail is hosted? > > > > Maybe. I don't see why not. Presumably if an X app starts and you have > > forwarding set it should just work. Personally any HTML mail I can't read in > > mutt gets binned. If I get documents like PDFs I just save them on /tmp on > > the remote box and then use a PDF reader over X. > > > No, as I said I just tried it and it doesn't work because Firefox is > too clever and uses the local Firefox rather than the remote one so the > file is in the wrong place. Firefox is POS technology, but depending on the version you can start it not to use your local/running instance. try firefox --no-remote and look around on the web if that doesn't do it. I have run into this several times with network firefox etc and I have it working. Also Tor has a unique browser instance, obviously this can be done. /jl -- ASCII ribbon campaign ( ) Powered by Lemote Fuloong against HTML e-mail X Loongson MIPS and OpenBSD and proprietary / \ http://www.mutt.org attachments / \ Code Blue or Go Home! Encrypted email preferred PGP Key 2048R/DA65BC04
