MOVEMAIL.MAILUTILS(1)

📦
version 3.21 · 7 versions
, in ubuntu stonking

💖 MOVEMAIL.MAILUTILS(1) 💖

okay bestie, welcome to the movemail.mailutils page — a User Command, no cap. it's all about moving messages around, and honestly? it's giving main character energy.

✨ NAME ✨

movemail.mailutils — move messages across mailboxes. literally just that. mailbox → mailbox. slay.

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

movemail.mailutils [OPTION...] inbox-url destfile [POP-password]

like… you give it an inbox, you give it a destination file, and if the inbox is a POP situation it might want that password too. that's the whole vibe.

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

GNU movemail — move messages across mailboxes. periodt. it takes ur mail from one place and puts it somewhere else, and there are a lot of little knobs to turn, so buckle up.

here's every single one of them, no skipping, i promise:

  • --[no-]emacs — output information used by Emacs rmail interface. so if ur an emacs girlie, this one's for you 🎀
  • --[no-]ignore-errors — try to continue after errors. it's giving "we don't stop, we keep going" but also use it responsibly, bestie.
  • --max-messages=NUMBER — process at most NUMBER messages. a whole limit, set by you.
  • -m, --[no-]progress-meter — enable progress meter. the little bar that goes brrr so you know things are happening 👑
  • --[no-]notify — enable biff notification. biff!! iconic.
  • --onerror=KW[,KW...] — what to do on errors. you pick the keywords, comma-separated, decide the drama level.
  • -P, --owner=MODELIST — control mailbox ownership. u get to say who owns what.
  • -p, --[no-]preserve, --keep-messages — preserve the source mailbox. yes, keep the originals. do not delete. 🫶
  • --program-id=FMT — set program identifier for diagnostics (default: program name). it's the name tag it wears when it's telling you what went wrong.
  • -s, --sync=all|uidnext|uidl — set mail synchronization mode. pick ur flavor: all, uidnext, or uidl.
  • --sync-dir=DIR — set synchronization directory. tell it where the sync stuff lives.
  • -u, --uidl — same as --sync=uidl. a lil shortcut, we love shortcuts. ✨
  • -v, --verbose — increase verbosity level. the more you say it, the more it talks. not me spamming -v for the lore.

🧚 Global debugging settings

  • --debug-level=LEVEL — set Mailutils debugging level.
  • --[no-]debug-line-info — show source info with debugging messages. receipts, basically.

💅 Configuration handling

  • --config-file=FILE — load this configuration file; implies --no-config.
  • --config-lint — check configuration file syntax and exit. a vibe check for ur config, fr fr.
  • --config-verbose — verbosely log parsing of the configuration files.
  • --no-config — do not load site and user configuration files.
  • --no-site-config — do not load site-wide configuration file.
  • --no-user-config — do not load user configuration file.
  • --set=PARAM=VALUE — set configuration parameter. u set it, u own it.

⭐ Informational options

  • --config-help — show configuration file summary.
  • --show-config-options — show compilation options.
  • -?, --help — give this help list. the classic. we stan.
  • --usage — give a short usage message.
  • -V, --version — print program version. 🏆
⚠️ heads up bestie: mandatory or optional arguments to long options are also mandatory or optional for any corresponding short options. so like… don't forget the argument just because the flag got shorter, okay? 🙈

😭 REPORTING BUGS 😭

found a bug? tell the devs, they wanna know:

Copyright © 2007-2025 Free Software Foundation, inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>

This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

like… it's free, u can remix it, but there's no warranty, so don't come for anyone if it goes sideways. 💀

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

The complete GNU mailutils documentation is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If the mailutils-doc package is installed, the command

info mailutils

should give you access to the complete manual.

You can also find this manual online in the GNU mailutils webpage: https://www.gnu.org/software/mailutils/manual/index.html.

Please note this manpage was automatically generated by the Debian mailutils packagers. Do not file bugs for its content to the GNU Mailutils upstream authors.

and that's the whole page, bestie!! 🎀 brought to u by the FSF, dated August 2026, from MOVEMAIL.MAILUTILS(1) — go move some mail, u got this 💜✨

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