Ubuntu Manpage: mu - a set of tools to deal with Maildirs and message files, in particular to index and

Provided by: maildir-utils_1.8.7-2_amd64

NAME

       mu  -  a  set of tools to deal with Maildirs and message files, in particular to index and
       search e-mail messages.

SYNOPSIS

       In alphabetical order:

       mu [options] general mu command.

       mu add add specific messages to the database. See mu-add(1)

       mu cfind [options] [<regexp>] find contacts. See mu-cfind(1)

       mu extract [options] <file> [<parts>] [<regexp>] extract attachments and other MIME-parts.
       See mu-extract(1)

       mu find [options] <search expression> find messages. See mu-find(1)

       mu help [command] get help for some command. See mu-help(1)

       mu index [options] (re)index the messages in a Maildir. See mu-index(1)

       mu info [options] show information about the mu database mu-info(1)

       mu init [options] initialize the mu database mu-init(1)

       mu mkdir [options] <dir> [<dirs>] create a new Maildir. See mu-mkdir(1)

       mu remove [options] remove specific messages from the database. See mu-remove(1)

       mu script [options] run a mu (Guile) script. See mu-script(1)

       mu server [options] start a server process (for mu4e-internal use). See mu-server(1)

       mu view <file> [<files>] view a specific message. See mu-view(1)

DESCRIPTION

       mu is a set of tools for dealing with Maildirs and the e-mail messages in them.

       mu's  main  purpose  is to enable searching of e-mail messages. It does so by periodically
       scanning a Maildir directory tree and analyzing the e-mail messages found (this is  called
       'indexing').  The  results  of  this  analysis are stored in a database, which can then be
       queried.

       In addition to indexing and searching, mu also offers functionality for viewing  messages,
       extracting  attachments  and  creating  maildirs,  and  searching  and  exporting  contact
       information.

       mu can be used from the command line or can be integrated with various e-mail clients.

       This manpage gives a general overview of the available commands (index, find, etc.);  each
       mu command has its own man-page as well.

COLORS

       Some  mu  sub-commands  support  colorized output, and do so by default. If you don't want
       colors, you can use --nocolor.

       Currently, mu find, mu view, mu cfind and mu extract support colors.

ENCODING

       mu's output is in the current locale, with the exceptions of the output specifically meant
       for  output  to  UTF8-encoded  files.  In practice, this means that the output of commands
       index, view, extract is always encoded according to the current locale.

       The same is true for find and cfind, with some exceptions,  where  the  output  is  always
       UTF-8, regardless of the locale.

       For  cfind  the  exception  is  --format=bbdb.  This  is  hard-coded to UTF-8, and as such
       specified in the output-file, so emacs/bbdb can handle it correctly without guessing.

       For find the output is encoded according the locale for --format=plain (the default),  and
       UTF-8 for all other formats (json, sexp, xml).

DATABASE AND FILE

       Commands  mu index and find and cfind work with the database, while the other ones work on
       individual mail files. Hence, running view, mkdir and extract  does  not  require  the  mu
       database.

       The  various  commands  are discussed in more detail in their own separate man-pages; here
       the general options are discussed.

OPTIONS

mu offers several general options that apply to all commands, including mu without any
command.

--muhome
use an alternative directory to store and read the database, write the logs, etc.
By default, mu uses XDG Base Directory Specification (e.g. on Linux by default
~/.cache/mu, ~/.config/mu). Earlier versions of mu defaulted to ~/.mu, which now
requires --muhome=~/.mu.

-d, --debug
makes mu generate extra debug information, useful for debugging the program itself.
By default, debug information goes to the log file, ~/.cache/mu/mu.log. It can
safely be deleted when mu is not running. When running with --debug option, the log
file can grow rather quickly. See the note on logging below.

-q, --quiet
causes mu not to output informational messages and progress information to standard
output, but only to the log file. Error messages will still be sent to standard
error. Note that mu index is much faster with --quiet, so it is recommended you use
this option when using mu from scripts etc.

--log-stderr
causes mu to not output log messages to standard error, in addition to sending them
to the log file.

-V, --version
prints mu version and copyright information.

-h, --help
lists the various command line options.

ENVIRONMENT

       MUHOME can be used as an alternative to --muhome. The latter has precedence.

       NO_COLOR can be used as an alternative to --nocolor.

ERROR CODES

       The  various  mu  subcommands typically exit with 0 (zero) upon success, and non-zero when
       some error occurred.

BUGS

       Please report bugs if you find them: https://github.com/djcb/mu/issues

AUTHOR

       Dirk-Jan C. Binnema <djcb@djcbsoftware.nl>