Mutt not working due to "gnutls_handshake: A TLS packet with unexpected length was received." error
Unfortunately this can be a problem with Mutt and its use of gnutls
, as can be seen from the Mutt mailing lists, however there are some solutions.
It is worth removing the header files from .mutt/cache/headers
because they can sometimes cause problems. I also note that in your .muttrc
you do not have a mailboxes
line. I use gmail in Mutt
and have the following in my .muttrc
(though yours may differ):
mailboxes +INBOX +archive +sent +drafts +spam +trash
I mention this because at Launchpad this error was discussed and someone mentioned that specifying only the correct mailboxes solved his problem.
Comparing your .muttrc
to mine in general reveals no other differences, and Mutt
and gmail are working for me with almost identical settings.
However, if these suggestions do not solve your problem, it is possible to build Mutt
from source and ensure that you build it with openssl
support, so you can use openssl
instead of gnutls
. I note that in your second Pastebin, your Mutt has indeed been built with gnutls
, as your debug reveals:
-USE_SSL_OPENSSL +USE_SSL_GNUTLS
Here -
means without that attribute and +
means with that attribute.
So, before we start building, purge the currently installed mutt
:
sudo apt-get purge mutt
and then get the dependencies with
sudo apt-get build-dep mutt
It is fine to use build-dep
here as the latest version of mutt
(at this time of writing) doesn't require any newer libraries than those fetched with build-dep
.
You will also need to make sure you enter:
sudo apt-get install openssl libsasl2-modules libssl-dev libssl1.0.0
Now download the latest source code from the official site (which is 1.5.21 at time of writing) and then verify the appropriate gpg signature, and
cd
to the downloaded file and unpack the source code with
tar xzvf mutt-1.5.21.tar.gz
Then pass these extra options to configure
(we need to include the other options as well as ssl
as imap
and smtp
support and other things are not compiled in by default):
./configure --enable-pop --enable-imap --enable-smtp --with-ssl --enable-hcache --with-gss --with-sasl --enable-debug --enable-gpgme
Then proceed to build and then install the program with
make
sudo make install or sudo checkinstall
The build only takes a few moments and it should allow you to use Mutt
again. It is probably a good idea to clear the header cache (as I detailed much further above) before you run the new program. It will use ssl automatically as there is now no tls support built in.
A screenshot from the newly compiled program (showing some older, non-personal emails):
Related videos on Youtube
![Tim](https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Q5zLOM1EhKc/AAAAAAAAAAI/AAAAAAAAAKI/SMyu0WMdh78/photo.jpg?sz=256)
Tim
Hi, My name is Vinit Kumar, and I'm a Software Engineer. I am mainly interested in building the scalable backend in Django, Python, Node, Go, Tooling, Vim, and Coffee. In my personal website, you will find my thoughts and musings about a range of topics. My strength is in coming up with simple solutions to difficult problems. I especially enjoy reading books and spending time with my family. Currently, I lead the development of multi-tenant CMS at SocialSchools B.V. I have 9 years of experience writing backend in Django for a successful product and numerous service projects. I do plenty of OSS work, and you find some interesting projects at my GitHub profile, vinitkumar.
Updated on September 18, 2022Comments
-
Tim almost 2 years
I am expecting lots of problem trying to make mutt work in Ubuntu 12.04. Here is my .muttrc : http://paste.ubuntu.com/1273585/
Here is the bug I am getting when i tried to connect.
gnutls_handshake: A TLS packet with unexpected length was received.
Do anyone knows a workaround to fix this error.If so please suggest it asap.
Many Thanks in Advance!
For debug here is the output of my mutt -v: http://paste.ubuntu.com/1273590/
-
mfisch over 11 yearsAre you on quantal?
-
Tim over 11 yearsNo, Ubuntu 12.04!
-
mfisch over 11 yearsI thought it was a 12.10 TLS issue that was fixed a couple days back, but I guess not, sorry.
-
yves Baumes about 9 yearsI had the exact same issue today... And the answer on this page did not help. But the answer here : unix.stackexchange.com/questions/66560/… solved my problem.
-