While the default configuration (or ``preferences'') make Mutt
usable right out of the box, it is often desirable to tailor Mutt to
suit your own tastes. When Mutt is first invoked, it will attempt to
read the ``system'' configuration file (defaults set by your local
system administrator), unless the ``-n''
command line option is specified. This file is typically
/usr/local/share/mutt/Muttrc
or /etc/Muttrc
. Mutt
will next look for a file named .muttrc
in your home
directory. If this file does not exist and your home directory has
a subdirectory named .mutt
, mutt try to load a file named
.mutt/muttrc
.
.muttrc
is the file where you will usually place your
commands to configure Mutt.
In addition, mutt supports version specific configuration files that are
parsed instead of the default files as explained above. For instance, if
your system has a Muttrc-0.88
file in the system configuration
directory, and you are running version 0.88 of mutt, this file will be
sourced instead of the Muttrc
file. The same is true of the user
configuration file, if you have a file .muttrc-0.88.6
in your home
directory, when you run mutt version 0.88.6, it will source this file
instead of the default .muttrc
file. The version number is the
same which is visible using the ``-v''
command line switch or using the show-version
key (default:
V) from the index menu.