What is the purpose of --with-mailutils and should I use it if I want to setup a mail client ?

My need is simple. I want to be able to read and reply to google mails in Emacs. I'm trying to build emacs 29 now. So my first question is: ***1. Should I use --with-mailutils while building emacs (Or not) for that ?*** I raised this query on IRC emacs and many people mentioned it's not required, but didn't explain clearly why. If it's not required, and If I can setup a client by just adding some mail handling packages later on, then, ***2. I'm wondering what is the use of --with-mailutils, while building ?*** Now that's not the only confusion. I've went through the [MailUtils](https://mailutils.org/) page (assuming that's what emacs will be building, if I specify the option). It mentions that it provides rich set of utilities for mail handling, so why would anyone say not to use it. Does it make Emacs bulky or anything. Idk. I'm just assuming (since they said no). Can anyone please explain me these things to clear the confusion.

Good question! I use notmuch to handle emails in EMacs, never needed to build emacs with the —with-mailutils option. Never really bothered to check what it really is. So, your first question, I’d say there is definitely no need to do that. To handle emails in emacs, you might want to start with mu4e or notmuch. I’m also interested to know the answer to your 2nd question.

IIRC, mailutils is used by Rmail for something. Sorry, my memory is too fuzzy and I don't remember where I read it either.

Check this video out. I think mailutils are used in GNUS https://youtu.be/jwz7aYUWIbM

From `NEWS` that came with Emacs 26, where this configuration option was added: ** The new option 'configure --with-mailutils' causes Emacs to rely on GNU Mailutils to retrieve email. It is recommended, and is the default if GNU Mailutils is installed. When '--with-mailutils' is not in effect, the Emacs build procedure by default continues to build and install a limited 'movemail' substitute that retrieves POP3 email only via insecure channels. To avoid this problem, use either '--with-mailutils' or '--without-pop' when configuring; '--without-pop' is the default on platforms other than native MS-Windows. So if the MUA you intend to use needs to fetch email from some server, you do want to have GNU Mailutils installed, and then Emacs will by default use those utilities to fetch email.

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Thanks a lot u/eli-zaretskii. This clears it. I also did some digging of my own and found the 'movemail' (never heard before) page explaining something similar. Apparently, the Mailutils also has a 'movemail' version of it's own and since it mentions being more secure, it should've been the default, IMO with the 'movemail' from GNU Emacs (the old one), as optional.

GNU Mailutils’ movemail is the the default if it is installed on your system (as explained in the comment you’ve replied to). The ‘old’ version is only installed by default if GNU Mailutils isn’t found. Also note that movemail isn’t used by all (most?) Emacs email clients (for example, Gnus includes an IMAP client written in Elisp).