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

[raf]

On Mon, Feb 15, 2021 at 06:04:03PM -0600, boB Stepp <robertvstepp at gmail.com> wrote:

> On 21/02/16 12:28AM, Øyvind A. Holm wrote:
> > On 2021-02-16 00:17:22, Øyvind A. Holm wrote:
> > > On 2021-02-15 16:01:06, boB Stepp wrote:
> > > > > On Monday, 15 February at 21:53, boB Stepp wrote:
> > > > > > 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.
> > > >
> > > > And "alternates" is still a mystery...
> > > 
> > > It is used if you have any alternate or old email addresses.
> > > `alternates` makes it possible for Mutt to mark messages in the index
> > > with "F" (from one of your addresses), "+" or "T" (to one of your
> > > addresses), etc. For example,
> > > 
> > >    alternates job_email at example.net
> > >    alternates old_email at example.com
> > >    alternates another_old at example.org
> > > 
> > > Now Mutt knows that all these addresses belong to you.
> > 
> > A small correction (even though the above example will work). The
> > parameter after `alternates` is a regexp, so a more correct way to write
> > them would be
> > 
> >    alternates ^job_email at example\.net$
> >    alternates ^old_email at example\.com$
> >    alternates ^another_old at example\.org$
> > 
> > to avoid false positives with for example "yet_another_old at example.org".
> 
> So is this mostly to provide labeling information in the index?  I suppose it
> might be usable for some sort of filtering purposes...
> 
> -- 
> Wishing you only the best,
> 
> boB Stepp

Alternates is also relevant for the reverse_name setting:

   reverse_name
     Type: boolean
     Default: no

	 It may sometimes arrive that you receive mail to a
	 certain  machine,  move  the  messages  to
	 another machine, and reply to some the messages
	 from there.  If this variable is set, the default
	 From: line of the reply messages is built using
	 the address where you received the messages you
	 are  replying  to  if that  address  matches  your
	 “alternates”.  If the variable is unset, or the
	 address that would be used doesn't match your
	 “alternates”, the From: line will use your address
	 on the current machine.

     Also see the “alternates” command.

Very handy when you have hundreds of email addresses.

cheers,
raf