From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Hikaru Ichijyo Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: Emacs mailreader that doesn't move the spool Date: 22 Oct 2013 19:05:56 GMT Organization: UN Spacy Message-ID: <5266cc94$0$9750$c3e8da3$aae71a0a@news.astraweb.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: plane.gmane.org X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1382469578 22819 80.91.229.3 (22 Oct 2013 19:19:38 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 22 Oct 2013 19:19:38 +0000 (UTC) To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Tue Oct 22 21:19:43 2013 Return-path: Envelope-to: geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([208.118.235.17]) by plane.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1VYhUT-0008Hv-5o for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Tue, 22 Oct 2013 21:19:41 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:46402 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1VYhUS-0001PH-MD for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Tue, 22 Oct 2013 15:19:40 -0400 Original-Path: usenet.stanford.edu!news.glorb.com!news.astraweb.com!border5.newsrouter.astraweb.com!not-for-mail Original-Newsgroups: gnu.emacs.help User-Agent: tin/2.0.1-20111224 ("Achenvoir") (UNIX) (Linux/3.3.4 (x86_64)) Original-Lines: 38 Original-NNTP-Posting-Host: cf6fbcd6.news.astraweb.com Original-X-Trace: DXC=Xf@9; ?26I_>o^d=IeQT`3>L?0kYOcDh@::TJDfnkk_G8iG8i?S9JJ<5[`2jY88ceP:miXkheEkhK:=H7fHKEgI?=B7Ce?EnIe_>QT?gf@H3@K= Original-Xref: usenet.stanford.edu gnu.emacs.help:201876 X-Mailman-Approved-At: Tue, 22 Oct 2013 15:19:30 -0400 X-BeenThere: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.14 Precedence: list List-Id: Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.help:94146 Archived-At: Every now and then, I consider migrating my mail and news reading to the wonderful wild world of Emacs, but every time I do, the main thing that always makes me decide to forget about it is that, as far as I can tell, there isn't a single Emacs mailreader that doesn't insist on copying your mailbox into your home directory and leaving it there. For mail, currently I use Alpine, but I like occasionally using Mutt, and sometimes even Kmail. All of these mailreaders have appropriate file locking mechanisms implemented to make it possible to operate on the system mailbox in place, in /var/spool/mail or wherever it happens to be. Having it this way makes it so that even if I use Alpine most of the time, I can switch if I like, and the mail is always where it's expected to be. Even my shell knows to give me the "You have new mail" notication by watching the system spool (where else should my mail be?). Most UNIX newsreaders also seem to have a similar philosophy of sharing, since they all more or less have agreed to keep read/subscribed article information in ~/.newsrc, even ones that have more efficient mechanisms that they use for themselves, so you don't have to stay in one newsreader. I mostly use Tin, but I also use Pan, and sometimes SLRN. None of them lock me in. I've gone over the documentation for RMAIL, VM, and Gnus, and they all seem to require moving your mailbox to the home directory, apparently because none of them can lock the mailbox for exclusive access. Emacs seems powerful enough that a kludge could probably be written that puts your mailbox back the way it was every time you close your mailreader, but that seems sort of ugly and unnecessary. I'm strongly leaning toward either VM or Gnus if I did migrate, but I really want to keep my mailbox where it is. Is there any way to do that? -- He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself. --Thomas Paine