<HTML ><HEAD ><TITLE >Introduction</TITLE ><META NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="Modular DocBook HTML Stylesheet Version 1.7"><LINK REL="HOME" TITLE="The Linux Mail User HOWTO" HREF="index.html"><LINK REL="PREVIOUS" TITLE="The Linux Mail User HOWTO" HREF="index.html"><LINK REL="NEXT" TITLE="Mail User Agents" HREF="mua.html"></HEAD ><BODY CLASS="sect1" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#000000" LINK="#0000FF" VLINK="#840084" ALINK="#0000FF" ><DIV CLASS="NAVHEADER" ><TABLE SUMMARY="Header navigation table" WIDTH="100%" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" ><TR ><TH COLSPAN="3" ALIGN="center" >The Linux Mail User HOWTO</TH ></TR ><TR ><TD WIDTH="10%" ALIGN="left" VALIGN="bottom" ><A HREF="index.html" ACCESSKEY="P" >Prev</A ></TD ><TD WIDTH="80%" ALIGN="center" VALIGN="bottom" ></TD ><TD WIDTH="10%" ALIGN="right" VALIGN="bottom" ><A HREF="mua.html" ACCESSKEY="N" >Next</A ></TD ></TR ></TABLE ><HR ALIGN="LEFT" WIDTH="100%"></DIV ><DIV CLASS="sect1" ><H1 CLASS="sect1" ><A NAME="introduction" ></A >1. Introduction</H1 ><P >The intent of this document is to explain how email works, and answer some of the questions that appear to meet the definition of `frequently asked questions' about e-mail software under Linux.</P ><P >Modern Linux distributions give you a usable, preconfigured setup for electronic mail out of the box, usually featuring a late version of sendmail-v8. This HOWTO will assume that you have such a setup and a working Internet connection.</P ><P >(For information on how to set up a PPP or SLIP link to an ISP, see the <A HREF="http://metalab.unc.edu/LDP/HOWTO/ISP-Hookup-HOWTO.html" TARGET="_top" >ISP Hookup HOWTO</A >.)</P ><P >Accordingly, unlike Vince Skahan's 1.x versions, this HOWTO focuses on user issues and architecture; most technical hair about UUCP, IDA sendmail and other formerly important topics has been dropped.</P ><DIV CLASS="sect2" ><H2 CLASS="sect2" ><A NAME="newversions" ></A >1.1. New versions of this document</H2 ><P >This document will be posted monthly to the newsgroup <A HREF="news:comp.os.linux.answers" TARGET="_top" >comp.os.linux.answers</A > You should also be able to view the latest version of this HOWTO on the World Wide Web at <A HREF="http://metalab.unc.edu/LDP/HOWTO/Mail-User-HOWTO.html" TARGET="_top" > http://metalab.unc.edu/LDP/HOWTO/Mail-User-HOWTO.html</A >.</P ></DIV ><DIV CLASS="sect2" ><H2 CLASS="sect2" ><A NAME="hardware" ></A >1.2. Hardware requirements for email programs</H2 ><P >There are no specific hardware requirements for mail under Linux. If you have the hardware necessary to connect to the Internet, it can support email over that link.</P ></DIV ><DIV CLASS="sect2" ><H2 CLASS="sect2" ><A NAME="sources" ></A >1.3. Software sources for email programs</H2 ><P >The software you will need for email support is probably preinstalled in your Linux distribution. You will find updates on the <A HREF="http://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux" TARGET="_top" >Metalab Linux Archive</A >, especially in the <A HREF="http://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/system/mail" TARGET="_top" >mail subdirectory</A >.</P ></DIV ></DIV ><DIV CLASS="NAVFOOTER" ><HR ALIGN="LEFT" WIDTH="100%"><TABLE SUMMARY="Footer navigation table" WIDTH="100%" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" ><TR ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="index.html" ACCESSKEY="P" >Prev</A ></TD ><TD WIDTH="34%" ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="index.html" ACCESSKEY="H" >Home</A ></TD ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="mua.html" ACCESSKEY="N" >Next</A ></TD ></TR ><TR ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" >The Linux Mail User HOWTO</TD ><TD WIDTH="34%" ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" > </TD ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" >Mail User Agents</TD ></TR ></TABLE ></DIV ></BODY ></HTML >
