Differences and interactions between subscribe, lists, group, alternates and alias.

[Wim]

Hi boB,

On Monday, 15 February at 21:53, boB Stepp wrote:

> The current ongoing thread about lists and subscribe have led to my email.  I
> don't think I am understanding the differences and interactions to these
> different Mutt configuration possibilities.
>
> From the other thread if I am understanding correctly for those mailing lists
> that I am subscribed to and actively participating in in real life, it is to my benefit to set these up with
> setting subscribe for each such list.  For these lists there is no point in my
> using the lists configuration option.  If I a just following a list, then
> using lists configuration option is probably more appropriate.
>
> As to the group option I was under the impression that I could give a nice
> shortcut name and assign a list of email addresses to it and then use it as an
> alias.  But that does not appear to be the case.  For instance I had forgotten
> to explicitly subscribe to Mutt-Users, so today added to my muttrc:
>
> subscribe -group Mutt-Users mutt-users at mutt.org
>

I've got a simple 'subscribe mutt-users' in my muttrc. It works.

Subscribing to a list allow replying to that list with 'L'.

> and had the expectation that since I used "-group", I could type "Mu" and hit
> <Tab> in the "To:" field and get the Mutt-Users address inserted.  I was sadly
> mistaken!  I had to explicitly add
>
> alias Mutt-Users <mutt-users at mutt.org>
>
> to my aliases file before that would occur.  So I am not seeing how to use
> "group".  Can someone explain please?  BTW, typing "Mu" into the "To:" field
> and then hitting <Tab> does *not* fill in the email address; instead, it
> brings up a browser view where I have to hit <Enter> before the address is
> inserted.  Is there a way, when there are no conflicting "Mu" entries, to just
> *immediately* have hitting <Tab> insert the address?
>

If you change your alias line to:

alias Mu Mutt-Users <mutt-users at mutt.org>

typing Mu and <Enter> will work, not <Tab>.

> I haven't done it yet, but what I would like to do is have different groups
> that I can type a shortcut and have all the email addresses inserted.  For
> instance, I would like to have a group "Kids" which when typed would
> auto-expand into my kids' email addresses.  Also, I would like to be able to
> type in abbreviations like "Jess" and have that expand to my daughter's email
> address.  How would I go about doing this without having a browser view come
> up with numbered entries?

I think what you want is this. Given the kids' email addresses:

alias Joe Josephine Murphy <joe at someaddress.com>
alias Moe Moe Murphy <moe at anotherisp.com>

you can alias them as:

alias fam Joe Moe

and typing fam and <Enter> will auto-expand.

>
> And from reading the Mutt manual I have encountered the alternates option, but
> now I am not sure what it is useful for and how to most effectively use it.
>
> I think that sums up most of my current head scratching.
>
> --
> Wishing you only the best,
>
> boB Stepp

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