The currently only and recommended way to specify a default limit pattern (message filter) is a folder_hook with a push command. Unfortunately this breaks POP/IMAP authentication, because the hook is executed before login has succeeded and the keyboard buffer is used by the password prompt. Example: folder-hook . push "l!~D<enter> This bug has already been fixed in upstream as of 2005-08-07. Unfortunately mutt seems to have one of the most conservative release policies, because 1.5 is still marked "development" while the last stable 1.4 release dates back more than 19 months!
Well, I am about to setup a ticket asking for inclusion of mutt 1.5.x into fedora core. Even the less progressive guys of debian fame are using a 1.5.9. Most of the fixes applied to the 1.4.2 source tree inside the rpm are also already included. May be we also do the transition to 1.5. Even if it is a "development" version.
mutt-1.5 is in rawhide now.
List of patches present on mutt-1.5.20-6.20091214hg736b6a.el6: http://pkgs.devel.redhat.com/cgit/rpms/mutt/commit/?h=rhel-6.6&id=7c9fc75e4d08207e32427bd3d153b8b380eb8efb
Recovered from unwanted changes caused by a badly chosen bug number choice.