Where to configure my smtp server in Mutt utility

Question

I have my smtp server -- smtp.drdb.com which is registered in DNS. I need to setup Mutt utility in my RHEL 6 server. Where should I input my smtp server details in mutt.rc file so that I can send mail. When I try to send mail from mutt, it goves me error Invalid URL - smtp.drdb.com

Answer 1

If you use a version of mutt that is compiled with SMTP support then mutt can send mail to another server via SMTP. Otherwise it will always use the local mail server.

To use it, you have to set the smtp_urlvariable.

  smtp_url
          Type: string
          Default: “”

          Defines the SMTP smarthost where sent messages should relayed
          for delivery. This should take the form of an SMTP URL, e.g.:


          smtp[s]://[user[:pass]@]host[:port]


          where “[...]” denotes an optional part.  Setting this variable
          overrides the value of the $sendmail variable.

Answer 2

Just to complement the original answer - in order to set external SMTP server you need to add following line either to /etc/Muttrc (for system-wide configuration) or ~/.muttrc (for user configuration):

set smtp_url = "smtp[s]://[user[:pass]@]host[:port]"

where host is your SMTP server, and as said in the original answer everything inside [] is optional...

Answer 3

The actual sending of mail is traditionally delegated to an external program like sendmail, mutt does not connect to SMTP directly itself. If sendmail is too much for you, you can consider using something like msmtp for a simple delivery mechanism to an SMTP server, the actual SMTP server is then configured in a simple ~/.msmtprc configuration. Consult the documentation (man msmtp).