Lightweight, portable e-mail client: any suggestions?

shako · 2022-09-04 16:27:54

Hi everyone,

the title is pretty much self-explanatory. I got tired of Thunderbird and I am looking for a lightweight mail client that is portable, meaning I can easily transfer my setup from one machine to another by simply copying a bunch of config files. So far I've tried:

Neomutt, but eventually abandoned it since it currently does not support OAuth2 (AFAIK), which is required by Google since May 30, 2022 to allow """less-secure apps""" to fetch and edit emails from Gmail. I still somehow depend on Google, since I have a few Gmail accounts that I use for the non-serious-but-nonetheless-important stuff.

Claws-mail, which I am currently using, and which I love. Supports OAuth2 and is lightweight and lightning-fast, but unfortunately doesn't seem to be portable: there are a bunch of config files in ~/.claws-mail/*rc which contain messy and scattered settings, as well as quite a few other files, and it doesn't look like they are intended to be ported to other systems (but please correct me if I'm wrong!)

Take this topic as a brainstorm: what do you personally use and enjoy?

Thanks in advance, Shako

Last edited by shako (2022-09-04 16:28:48)

jasonwryan · 2022-09-04 16:30:03

mutt. No issues with Gmail here.

shako · 2022-09-04 16:44:41

jasonwryan wrote:

mutt. No issues with Gmail here.

Wat.

Did you set anything particular in your .muttrc? Or it just worked out-of-the-box?

I just tried running neomutt with a basic .muttrc containing basic settings for my gmail account:

set sidebar_width=38
set sidebar_visible=yes
set folder = "imaps://myaddress@gmail.com@imap.gmail.com:993"
set smtp_url = "smtp://myaddress@gmail.com@smtp.gmail.com:587"
set imap_pass = "mypassword"
set smtp_pass = "mypassword"
set from = "myaddress@gmail.com"
set realname = "myname"
set spoolfile = "+INBOX"
set sort = 'reverse-date'
set record = "+Sent"
set trash = "+Trash"
set postponed = "+Drafts"
set editor = vim
set timeout = "5"
set mail_check = "10"
mailboxes =INBOX =Sent =Trash =Drafts =Junk =Other

All I get from neomutt is:

Login failed
No authenticators available or wrong credentials

What am I missing?

Last edited by shako (2022-09-04 16:52:41)

jasonwryan · 2022-09-04 16:51:28

I set up a unique app password in my Google account, and then retrieve mail with isync.

shako · 2022-09-04 17:05:54

jasonwryan wrote:

I set up a unique app password in my Google account, and then retrieve mail with isync.

I see! Thanks, I'm gonna try it ASAP

CarbonChauvinist · 2022-09-04 17:21:50

aerc is a pretty decent email client as well too, I'd suggest checking it out to see if you like it.

progandy · 2022-09-04 17:48:53

If you like neomutt, then you can use it with an app-password as well (you need 2FA enabled to create app passwords)

By the way, it is in theory possible to use oauth2 with neomutt:
https://neomutt.org/guide/optionalfeatu … h2-support

shako · 2022-09-04 18:04:45

CarbonChauvinist wrote:

aerc is a pretty decent email client as well too, I'd suggest checking it out to see if you like it.

It looks cool! Also, configuration seems quite a bit more user-friendly than that of neomutt. I will definitely give it a try, thanks!

progandy wrote:

If you like neomutt, then you can use it with an app-password as well (you need 2FA enabled to create app passwords)
By the way, it is in theory possible to use oauth2 with neomutt:
https://neomutt.org/guide/optionalfeatu … h2-support

I didn't know about that! From the neomutt website, it seemed to me that it was a feature yet to be implemented in the future. Glad to know I was wrong! Maybe I simply haven't dug enough. Thanks everyone for your kind answers, I now have plenty to experiment with

Arch Linux

#1 2022-09-04 16:27:54

Lightweight, portable e-mail client: any suggestions?

#2 2022-09-04 16:30:03

Re: Lightweight, portable e-mail client: any suggestions?

#3 2022-09-04 16:44:41

Re: Lightweight, portable e-mail client: any suggestions?

#4 2022-09-04 16:51:28

Re: Lightweight, portable e-mail client: any suggestions?

#5 2022-09-04 17:05:54

Re: Lightweight, portable e-mail client: any suggestions?

#6 2022-09-04 17:21:50

Re: Lightweight, portable e-mail client: any suggestions?

#7 2022-09-04 17:48:53

Re: Lightweight, portable e-mail client: any suggestions?

#8 2022-09-04 18:04:45

Re: Lightweight, portable e-mail client: any suggestions?

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