MU(1)MU(1)NAMEmu - a set of tools to deal with Maildirs and message files, in partic‐
ular to index and search e-mail messages.
SYNOPSIS
In alphabetical order:
mu [options] general mu command
mu add add specific messages to the database
mu cfind [options] [<regexp>] find contacts
mu extract [options] <file> [<parts>] [<regexp>] extract attachments
and other MIME-parts
mu find [options] <search expression> find messages
mu index [options] (re)index the messages in a Maildir
mu mkdir [options] <dir> [<dirs>] create a new Maildir
mu remove [options] remove specific messages from the database
mu script [options] run a mu (Guile) script
mu server [options] start a server process (for mu4e-internal use)
mu view <file> [<files>] view a specific message
DESCRIPTIONmu is a set of tools for dealing with Maildirs and the e-mail messages
in them.
mu's main function is to enable searching of e-mail messages. It does
so by periodically scanning a Maildir directory tree and analyzing the
e-mail messages found ('indexing'). The results of this analysis are
stored in a database, which can then be queried.
In addition to indexing and searching, mu also offers functionality for
viewing messages, extracting attachments and creating maildirs, and
searching and exporting contact information.
mu can be used from the command line or can be integrated with various
e-mail clients.
This manpage gives a general overview of the available commands (index,
find, etc.); each mu command has its own man-page as well.
COMMANDSmu offers the following commands:
index for indexing (analyzing) the contents of your Maildirs, and
storing the information in a database. See mu-index(1)
find for finding messages in your database, using certain search
parameters. See mu-find(1)
cfind for finding contacts (names + e-mail addresses) matching a cer‐
tain expression, and exporting the results in various formats
for use in other programs. mu-cfind(1)
view for displaying e-mail messages. See mu-view(1)
mkdir for creating Maildirs. See mu-mkdir(1)
extract
for extract MIME-parts (such as attachments) from messages. See
mu-extract(1)COLORS
Some mu sub-commands support colorized output, and do so by default. If
you don't want colors, you can use --nocolor.
Currently, mu find, mu view, mu cfind and mu extract support colors.
ENCODING
mu's output is in the current locale, with the exceptions of the output
specifically meant for output to UTF8-encoded files. In practice, this
means that the output of commands index, view, extract is always
encoded according to the current locale.
The same is true for find and cfind, with some exceptions, where the
output is always UTF-8, regardless of the locale.
For cfind the exception is --format=bbdb. This is hard-coded to UTF-8,
and as such specified in the output-file, so emacs/bbdb can handle it
correctly without guessing.
For find the output is encoded according the locale for --format=plain
(the default), and UTF-8 for all other formats (json, sexp, xml).
DATABASE AND FILE
Commands mu index and find and cfind work with the database, while the
other ones work on invidual mail files. Hence, running view, mkdir and
extract does not require the mu database.
The various commands are discussed in more detail in their own separate
man-pages; here the general options are discussed.
OPTIONSmu offers several general options that apply to all commands, including
mu without any command.
--muhome
causes mu to use an alternative directory to store and read its
database and logs. By default, ~/.mu is used.
-d, --debug
makes mu generate extra debug information, useful for debugging
the program itself. By default, debug information goes to the
log file, ~/.mu/log/mu.log. It can safely be deleted when mu is
not running. When running with --debug option, the log file can
grow rather quickly. See the note on logging below.
-q, --quiet
causes mu not to output informational messages and progress
information to standard output, but only to the log file. Error
messages will still be sent to standard error. Note that mu
index is much faster with --quiet, so it is recommended you use
this option when using mu from scripts etc.
--log-stderr
causes mu to not output log messages to standard error, in addi‐
tion to sending them to the log file.
-v, --version
prints mu version and copyright information.
-h, --help
lists the various command line options, while --help-index,
--help-find and --help-all list only the options for respec‐
tively the specified command or for all commands.
ERROR CODES
The various mu subcommands typically exit with 0 (zero) upon success,
and non-zero when some error occurred. The table lists the various
error codes.
exit code | error
----------+-------------------------------------------
1 | MU_ERROR
2 | MU_ERROR_IN_PARAMETERS
3 | MU_ERROR_INTERNAL
4 | MU_ERROR_NO_MATCHES
|
11 | MU_ERROR_XAPIAN
|
13 | MU_ERROR_XAPIAN_QUERY
14 | MU_ERROR_XAPIAN_DIR_NOT_ACCESSIBLE
15 | MU_ERROR_XAPIAN_NOT_UP_TO_DATE
16 | MU_ERROR_XAPIAN_MISSING_DATA
17 | MU_ERROR_XAPIAN_CORRUPTION
18 | MU_ERROR_XAPIAN_CANNOT_GET_WRITELOCK
30 | MU_ERROR_GMIME
|
50 | MU_ERROR_CONTACTS
51 | MU_ERROR_CONTACTS_CANNOT_RETRIEVE
|
70 | MU_ERROR_FILE
71 | MU_ERROR_FILE_INVALID_NAME
72 | MU_ERROR_FILE_CANNOT_LINK
73 | MU_ERROR_FILE_CANNOT_OPEN
74 | MU_ERROR_FILE_CANNOT_READ
75 | MU_ERROR_FILE_CANNOT_CREATE
76 | MU_ERROR_FILE_CANNOT_MKDIR
77 | MU_ERROR_FILE_STAT_FAILED
78 | MU_ERROR_FILE_READDIR_FAILED
79 | MU_ERROR_FILE_INVALID_SOURCE
BUGS
Please report bugs if you find them: https://github.com/djcb/mu/issues
AUTHOR
Dirk-Jan C. Binnema <djcb@djcbsoftware.nl>
SEE ALSOmu-index(1)mu-find(1)mu-cfind(1)mu-mkdir(1)mu-view(1)mu-extract(1)mu-easy(1)mu-bookmarks(5)User Manuals March 2013 MU(1)
