Alpine (Alternatively Licensed Program for Internet News and Email) is a fast, easy to use console based email client, developed at the University of Washington. It is suitable for both the inexperienced email user as well as for the most demanding power user.
Alpine is a screen-oriented message-handling tool. In its default configuration, Alpine offers an intentionally limited set of functions geared toward the novice user, but it also has a large list of optional “power-user” and personal-preference features.
Alpine is based on the Pine Message System, which was also developed at the University of Washington. Alpine can be learned by exploration and the use of context-sensitive help.
Alpine uses the c-client messaging API to access local and remote mail folders. This library provides a variety of low-level message-handling functions, including drivers for a variety of different mail file formats, as well as routines to access remote mail and news servers, using IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) and NNTP (Network News Transport Protocol).
Key Features
- View, Save, Export, Delete, Print, Reply and Forward messages.
- Compose messages in a simple editor (Pico) with word-wrap and a spelling checker. Messages may be postponed for later completion.
- Full-screen selection and management of message folders.
- Address book to keep a list of long or frequently-used addresses. Personal distribution lists may be defined. Addresses may be taken into the address book from incoming mail without retyping them.
- New mail checking and notification occurs automatically every 2.5 minutes and after certain commands, e.g. refresh-screen (Ctrl-L).
- On-line, context-sensitive help screens.
- Support for MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions).
- Save MIME objects to files.
Website: alpineapp.email
Support:
Developer: University of Washington
License: Apache License
Alpine is written in C. Learn C with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
Related Software
| Console Email Clients | |
|---|---|
| NeoMutt | Brings together many patches to extend Mutt |
| mu4e | An extension of mu that runs a full-featured email client within Emacs |
| Himalaya | CLI email client written in Rust |
| Sup | Curses threads-with tags style email client |
| Mutt | Small but very powerful text based program |
| Alpine | Alternatively Licensed Program for Internet News and Email |
| meli | Configurable and extensible e-mail client with sane defaults |
| nmail | User interface similar to alpine / pine |
| alot | Lets notmuch handle your mailindex and uses a toolkit to render its display |
| Wanderlust | Mail/news management system with IMAP4rev1 support for Emacs |
| aerc | Billed as a "pretty good email client" |
| Cone | COnsole Newsreader And Emailer |
| matcha | Powerful, feature-rich email client for your terminal |
| bower | Curses frontend for the Notmuch email system |
| Vmail | Vim interface to Gmail |
| neatmail | Non-interactive email client |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
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