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/Muttrc
or /usr/local/lib/Muttrc
. Next,
it looks for a file in your home directory named .muttrc
. In this file
is where you place
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.