reading mail with emacs

reading mail with emacs

[visaris tds.net]

Whereas I have been reading mail with emacs for decades, I did a new install
(I'm a gentoo user) and now what once automagically worked nolonger does...
Emacs seems to function -- exept for mail.

Although I have fethcmail and exim running, and although mail does
arive in /var/spool/exim/input, the format is that each message is split
into
a header file and then the body of the message.

M-x rmail does not get mail from  /var/spool/exim/input.

I have spent much time chasing cryptic pointers reading unintelligable
documents making vague references to "movemail" but it is beyond me.
I have contemplated perusing the RMAIL file and comparing it with
contents of /var/spool/exim/input so as to increase the chance that I can
make some lucky guesses and write a c program to bridge the gap from
/var/spool/exim/input to RMAIL.  Surely emacs has not deteriated to the
point that this would be necessary.  I find it difficult to believe there
is not
 some simple way to proceed.

Sorry to be so ingorant of what must be the obvious simple solution.

Re: reading mail with emacs

[Sharon Kimble]

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"visaris tds.net" <visaris@tds.net> writes:

> Whereas I have been reading mail with emacs for decades, I did a new install
> (I'm a gentoo user) and now what once automagically worked nolonger does...
> Emacs seems to function -- exept for mail.
>
> Although I have fethcmail and exim running, and although mail does
> arive in /var/spool/exim/input, the format is that each message is split
> into
> a header file and then the body of the message.
>
> M-x rmail does not get mail from  /var/spool/exim/input.
>
> I have spent much time chasing cryptic pointers reading unintelligable
> documents making vague references to "movemail" but it is beyond me.
> I have contemplated perusing the RMAIL file and comparing it with
> contents of /var/spool/exim/input so as to increase the chance that I can
> make some lucky guesses and write a c program to bridge the gap from
> /var/spool/exim/input to RMAIL.  Surely emacs has not deteriated to the
> point that this would be necessary.  I find it difficult to believe there
> is not
>  some simple way to proceed.
>
> Sorry to be so ingorant of what must be the obvious simple solution.

I use gnus and part of my 'gnus.el' is -
--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
(setq mail-sources '((file :path "/var/mail/boudiccas")
		        	 ;; (pop :server "mail.talktalk.net" :user "boudiccas@talktalk.net" :password "cherrypie")
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

That gets my mail from the root message spool, but it could help in your
situation.

Sharon.
-- 
A taste of linux = http://www.sharons.org.uk
my git repo = https://bitbucket.org/boudiccas/dots
TGmeds = http://www.tgmeds.org.uk
Debian testing, fluxbox 1.3.5, emacs 24.3.92.1

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Re: reading mail with emacs

[Robert Thorpe]

"visaris tds.net" <visaris@tds.net> writes:

> Whereas I have been reading mail with emacs for decades, I did a new install
> (I'm a gentoo user) and now what once automagically worked nolonger does...
> Emacs seems to function -- exept for mail.
>
> Although I have fethcmail and exim running, and although mail does
> arive in /var/spool/exim/input, the format is that each message is split
> into
> a header file and then the body of the message.
>
> M-x rmail does not get mail from  /var/spool/exim/input.

Did you post about this to the Emacs Reddit group recently?  As someone
else wrote there /var/spool/exim/input is Exim's *input* spool file.
It's where Exim puts emails before they are delivered.  As far as I
understand it Exim is not designed to have users get stuff from that
directory.  In the past it may have only worked by coincidence, because
older versions of Exim stored stuff in some format that movemail
understands.

> I have spent much time chasing cryptic pointers reading unintelligable
> documents making vague references to "movemail" but it is beyond me.
> I have contemplated perusing the RMAIL file and comparing it with
> contents of /var/spool/exim/input so as to increase the chance that I can
> make some lucky guesses and write a c program to bridge the gap from
> /var/spool/exim/input to RMAIL.  Surely emacs has not deteriated to the
> point that this would be necessary.  I find it difficult to believe there
> is not
>  some simple way to proceed.

"Movemail" fulfills two purposes.  Firstly, it moves mails between
different places on one system.  It can take mail from the spool file(s)
to a mbox file in the user's home directory.  (If the spool file is in
MH or Maildir format it can translate that to mbox).  Secondly, it can
act rather like fetchmail, it can download mails from an IMAP or POP
server and copy them to a mbox file in the user's home directory.

After movemail has done it's thing rmail itself takes over.  Rmail is
really just a viewer for mbox files.  Rmail runs movemail automatically,
there's no need to run it manually.

If you have an MTA setup then it's normal to use it in the first way.
The MTA puts mail in a spool file.  Then when you do M-x rmail it calls
movemail which moves it to the "RMAIL" file in your home directory.
That's what happens if you set the MAIL environment variable to your
spool file.  If you want to make that approach work you need to figure
out Exim (I find its manual baffling).  One way that could work is to
use the LMTP transport of Exim to communicate with a mail delivery
program such as maidag or maildrop.  Those programs put mail into spool
files for users to access.  In this case you'll have:
fetchmail(MRA)->Exim(MTA)->Maidag(MDA)->SpoolFile->movemail->rmail.

Alternatively, you can bring mail directly from your IMAP or POP server
using movemail.  That's what I do, I don't run an MTA on my PC at all, I
deliver using Emac's smtpmail library.  To do this do something like:
(setq send-mail-function 'smtpmail-send-it)
(setq smtpmail-smtp-server "smtp.yourisp.com")
(setq rmail-primary-inbox-list
  '("imap://yourlogin:password@imap.yourisp.com"))

To use IMAP you need the version of movemail in the GNU mailutils
package.  The one that comes with Emacs only supports POP.

BR,
Robert Thorpe

Re: reading mail with emacs

[visaris tds.net]

I managed to throw together some c code that does the quick-and-dirty (with
my mail at least).  Here it is in case anyone finds it useful...

#include <stdio.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/stat.h>
#include <fcntl.h>
#include <dirent.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <sys/mman.h>
#include <unistd.h>

long   PageSize,Start,End,Count,Debug;
char  *Path,*Address,*Date;
off_t  H_size, B_size;

char *found(char *p, char t, int d, long l) // string, target, delta, count
{
  while (l-- > 0){
    if (*p == t) return p;
    p = p+d;
  }
  return NULL;
}

char *locate(char *p, char *t, int d, long l) // string, target, delta,
count
{
  char *q;

  while (*t){
    if ((q = found(p,*t,d,l))){
      if (*++t){
    l -= 1+ ((d>0)? (q-p)/d: -(p-q)/d);
    p  = q+d;
    continue;
      }
      return q;
    }
    return NULL;
  }
  return NULL;
}

char *find(char *p, char *t, long l) // string, target, bound
{
  char *q,*r;

  if (strlen(t) < 2) return locate(p,t,1,l);

  while ((q = found(p,*t,1,l))){
    if (r = find(q+1,t+1,l-(q-p)-1)){
      if (*t == r[-1]) return r-1;
      l -= r-p;
      p  = r;
      continue;
    }
    return NULL;
  }
  return NULL;
}

long address(char *p)
{
  char *s,*e;  long i = H_size;

  Address = NULL;
  if ((s = locate(p,"\n\n",1,i))){
    if (*++s == '<'){
      i -= s-p;
      if ((e = found(s,'\n',1,i))){
    if (*--e == '>'){
      if (e-s > 1){
        Address = ++s;
        return e-s;
      }
    }
      }
    }
  }
  return 0;
}

int date(char *p)
{
  static char buf[512];
  char *s,*e,d[64],n[64],m[64],y[64],t[64],z[64];  long i = H_size;

  Date = NULL;
  if ((s = find(p,"Date: ",i))){
    i -= s-p;
    if ((e = found(s,'\n',1,i))&&(e-s < 64)){
      strncpy(buf,s,63); buf[63] = 0;
      if (6 == sscanf(buf,"Date: %s %s %s %s %s %s",d,n,m,y,t,z)){
    if ((s = index(d,','))) *s = 0;
    sprintf(buf," %s %s %s %s %s\n",d,m,n,t,y);
    if (strlen(buf) < 64){
      Date = buf;
      return 1;
    }
      }
    }
  }
  return 0;
}

void dump(char *p, char *t, char *r)
{
  char *s,*e;  long i = H_size;

  if ((s = find(p,t,i))){
    if ((e = found(s,'\n',1,i))){
      if (r){
    s += strlen(t);
    printf("%s",r);
      }
      do putchar(*s); while (s++ < e);
    }
  }
}

void content_type(char *p)
{
  char *s,*e;  long i = H_size;

  if ((s = find(p,"Content-Type: ",i))){
    if ((e = found(s,'\n',1,i))){
      do putchar(*s); while (s++ < e);
      s = e+1;
      while (*++e) if (*e == '\n') break;
      if ((*e)&&(s = find(s,"boundary",e-s))){
    putchar('\t');
    do putchar(*s); while (s++ < e);
      }
    }
  }
}

void user_agent(char *p)
{
  char *s,*e;  long i = H_size;

  printf("User-Agent: (%ld) ", Count);
  if ((s = find(p,"User-Agent: ",i))){
    if ((e = found(s,'\n',1,i))){
      s += 12; e--;
      do putchar(*s); while (s++ < e);
    }
  }
  putchar('\n');
}

size_t head(char *h)
{
  long i,j;

  if (Debug){
    for (i = 0; i < H_size; i++){
      fputc(h[i], stderr);
    }
  }
  if ((i = address(h))){
    printf("From ");
    for (j = 0; j < i; j++) putchar(Address[j]);
    if (date(h))
      printf("%s",Date);

    //    printf("X-Coding-System: undecided-unix\n");

    dump(h,"Date: "               , NULL           );
    //    dump(h,"From: "               , ">From: "      );
    dump(h,"From: "               , NULL           );
    dump(h,"To: "                 , NULL           );
    dump(h,"Subject: "            , NULL           );
    dump(h,"Message-ID: "         , NULL           );
    dump(h,"References: "         , NULL           );
    dump(h,"MIME-Version: "       ,"Mime-Version: ");
    dump(h,"X-MimeOLE: "          , NULL           );
    content_type(h);
    dump(h,"Content-Disposition: ", NULL           );
    dump(h,"In-Reply-To: "        , NULL           );
    user_agent(h);
    printf("X-RMAIL-ATTRIBUTES: --------\n");
    putchar('\n');
  }
  return PageSize*(1+(H_size-1)/PageSize);
}

size_t body(char *b)
{
  unsigned long i;

  if (Debug){
    for (i = 0; i < B_size; i++){
      fputc(b[i], stderr);
    }
  }
  if (Address){
    for (i = 0; i < B_size; i++){
      if (b[i] == '\n')
    break;
    }
    while (++i < B_size) putchar(b[i]);
    putchar('\n');
  }
  return PageSize*(1+(B_size-1)/PageSize);
}

void message(char *n) // convert and dump to stdout
{
  struct stat st;
  void *p,*q; char *s, name[1024], buf[1024];  int h,b;  size_t hl, bl;

  if ((Start > ++Count)||(Count > End)) return;

  if ((-1 == (h = open(n, O_RDONLY)))){             // open headder?
    fprintf(stderr,"can't open %s\n", n);
    return;
  }
  if (fstat(h,&st)){
    fprintf(stderr, "can't stat %s\n", n);
    close(h);
    return;
  }
  H_size = st.st_size;
  if (!(p = mmap(0, H_size, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, h, 0))){
    fprintf(stderr, "can't mmap %s\n", n);
    close(h);
    return;
  }
  for (s = n; *s; s++);
  while (*s^'/') s--;
  if ((1^sscanf((char *)p, "%1000s", name))||(strcmp(++s, name))){
    fprintf(stderr,"file %s: format error\n", n);
    munmap(p,hl);
    close(h);
    return;
  }
  for (s = n; *s; s++);
  s[-1] = 'D';
  if ((-1 == (b = open(n, O_RDONLY)))){             // open body?
    fprintf(stderr,"can't open %s\n", n);
    munmap(p,hl);
    close(h);
    return;
  }
  if (fstat(b,&st)){
    fprintf(stderr, "can't stat %s\n", n);
    munmap(p,hl);
    close(h);
    return;
  }
  B_size = st.st_size;
  if (!(q = mmap(0, B_size, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, b, 0))){
    fprintf(stderr, "can't mmap %s\n", n);
    munmap(p,hl);
    close(h);
    close(b);
    return;
  }
  for (s = n; *s; s++);
  while (*s^'/') s--;
  if ((1^sscanf((char *)q, "%1000s", name))||(strcmp(++s, name))){
    fprintf(stderr,"file %s: format error\n", n);
    munmap(p,hl);
    close(h);
    munmap(q,bl);
    close(b);
    return;
  }
  hl = head((char *)p);
  bl = body((char *)q);
  munmap(p,hl);
  munmap(q,bl);
  close(h);
  close(b);
}

main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
  char *p,*q, buf[4096];  int i,j;   DIR *dirp;  struct dirent *d;

  if (argc^4) goto usage;
  Debug = atoi(argv[1]);
  Start = atoi(argv[2]);
  End   = atoi(argv[3]);

  if (!(p = argv[4])){
  usage:
    printf("usage: access debug start end path\n"
       "where debug is 0 or 1, \n"
       "start and end are integers (range of messages to convert)\n"
       "and path is for example /var/spool/exim/input \n"
       "(locking needs to be added, and it is most certainly incomplete and
buggy)\n");
    return 1;
  }
  for (i = 0; i < 3072; i++, p++){                  // copy path to buf
    if ((buf[i] = *p)) continue;
    break;
  }
  if (*(p = buf+i)){                                // p is buf at end of
path
    goto usage;
  }
  if (!(dirp = opendir(buf))){
    fprintf(stderr,"can't open %s\n",p);
    return 1;
  }
  PageSize = sysconf(_SC_PAGE_SIZE);
  if (*--p^'/') *++p = '/';                         // terminate path with
'/'
  while ((d = readdir(dirp))){
    for (i = 1, q = d->d_name; i < 1000; i++, q++){
      if ((p[i] = *q)) continue;
      break;
    }
    if ((*q)||(q[-1]^'H')) continue;                // find headder files
    message(buf);                                   // convert and dump to
stdout
  }
  closedir(dirp);
  return 0;
}
/*
gcc -g -o access access.c
*/



On Wed, Aug 13, 2014 at 3:56 PM, visaris tds.net <visaris@tds.net> wrote:

> I know movemail purportedly can transfer email from mysterious places to
> wherever emacs needs to find it, but I don't know how to make movemail work
> (I've read the documentation several times, but find it baffling).
>
> I wrote c code to move messages from /var/spool/input to an RMAIL file,
> but I evidently have not guessed correctly as to the exact file format
> emacs needs (M-x rmail complains
> and chokes on the RMAIL file I generate).
>
> I thought exim was a MTA.  I thought it already puts mail in a spool file.
> All my mail is in /var/spool/exim/input. I believe that exim could be
> configured somehow to allow emacs to read mail, but I don't know how.
>
> I stumbled across a mailing list for exim.  Perhaps I need to start there.
>
>
> On Tue, Aug 12, 2014 at 9:18 PM, Robert Thorpe <
> rt@robertthorpeconsulting.com> wrote:
>
>> "visaris tds.net" <visaris@tds.net> writes:
>>
>> > Whereas I have been reading mail with emacs for decades, I did a new
>> install
>> > (I'm a gentoo user) and now what once automagically worked nolonger
>> does...
>> > Emacs seems to function -- exept for mail.
>> >
>> > Although I have fethcmail and exim running, and although mail does
>> > arive in /var/spool/exim/input, the format is that each message is split
>> > into
>> > a header file and then the body of the message.
>> >
>> > M-x rmail does not get mail from  /var/spool/exim/input.
>>
>> Did you post about this to the Emacs Reddit group recently?  As someone
>> else wrote there /var/spool/exim/input is Exim's *input* spool file.
>> It's where Exim puts emails before they are delivered.  As far as I
>> understand it Exim is not designed to have users get stuff from that
>> directory.  In the past it may have only worked by coincidence, because
>> older versions of Exim stored stuff in some format that movemail
>> understands.
>>
>> > I have spent much time chasing cryptic pointers reading unintelligable
>> > documents making vague references to "movemail" but it is beyond me.
>> > I have contemplated perusing the RMAIL file and comparing it with
>> > contents of /var/spool/exim/input so as to increase the chance that I
>> can
>> > make some lucky guesses and write a c program to bridge the gap from
>> > /var/spool/exim/input to RMAIL.  Surely emacs has not deteriated to the
>> > point that this would be necessary.  I find it difficult to believe
>> there
>> > is not
>> >  some simple way to proceed.
>>
>> "Movemail" fulfills two purposes.  Firstly, it moves mails between
>> different places on one system.  It can take mail from the spool file(s)
>> to a mbox file in the user's home directory.  (If the spool file is in
>> MH or Maildir format it can translate that to mbox).  Secondly, it can
>> act rather like fetchmail, it can download mails from an IMAP or POP
>> server and copy them to a mbox file in the user's home directory.
>>
>> After movemail has done it's thing rmail itself takes over.  Rmail is
>> really just a viewer for mbox files.  Rmail runs movemail automatically,
>> there's no need to run it manually.
>>
>> If you have an MTA setup then it's normal to use it in the first way.
>> The MTA puts mail in a spool file.  Then when you do M-x rmail it calls
>> movemail which moves it to the "RMAIL" file in your home directory.
>> That's what happens if you set the MAIL environment variable to your
>> spool file.  If you want to make that approach work you need to figure
>> out Exim (I find its manual baffling).  One way that could work is to
>> use the LMTP transport of Exim to communicate with a mail delivery
>> program such as maidag or maildrop.  Those programs put mail into spool
>> files for users to access.  In this case you'll have:
>> fetchmail(MRA)->Exim(MTA)->Maidag(MDA)->SpoolFile->movemail->rmail.
>>
>> Alternatively, you can bring mail directly from your IMAP or POP server
>> using movemail.  That's what I do, I don't run an MTA on my PC at all, I
>> deliver using Emac's smtpmail library.  To do this do something like:
>> (setq send-mail-function 'smtpmail-send-it)
>> (setq smtpmail-smtp-server "smtp.yourisp.com")
>> (setq rmail-primary-inbox-list
>>   '("imap://yourlogin:password@imap.yourisp.com"))
>>
>> To use IMAP you need the version of movemail in the GNU mailutils
>> package.  The one that comes with Emacs only supports POP.
>>
>> BR,
>> Robert Thorpe
>>
>
>

Re: reading mail with emacs

[visaris tds.net]

Sorry to spam everyone... its late and I', tired...

In main it should be

if (argc^5) goto usage;


On Wed, Aug 13, 2014 at 9:14 PM, visaris tds.net <visaris@tds.net> wrote:

> I managed to throw together some c code that does the quick-and-dirty
> (with my mail at least).  Here it is in case anyone finds it useful...
>
> #include <stdio.h>
> #include <sys/types.h>
> #include <sys/stat.h>
> #include <fcntl.h>
> #include <dirent.h>
> #include <string.h>
> #include <sys/mman.h>
> #include <unistd.h>
>
> long   PageSize,Start,End,Count,Debug;
> char  *Path,*Address,*Date;
> off_t  H_size, B_size;
>
> char *found(char *p, char t, int d, long l) // string, target, delta, count
> {
>   while (l-- > 0){
>     if (*p == t) return p;
>     p = p+d;
>   }
>   return NULL;
> }
>
> char *locate(char *p, char *t, int d, long l) // string, target, delta,
> count
> {
>   char *q;
>
>   while (*t){
>     if ((q = found(p,*t,d,l))){
>       if (*++t){
>     l -= 1+ ((d>0)? (q-p)/d: -(p-q)/d);
>     p  = q+d;
>     continue;
>       }
>       return q;
>     }
>     return NULL;
>   }
>   return NULL;
> }
>
> char *find(char *p, char *t, long l) // string, target, bound
> {
>   char *q,*r;
>
>   if (strlen(t) < 2) return locate(p,t,1,l);
>
>   while ((q = found(p,*t,1,l))){
>     if (r = find(q+1,t+1,l-(q-p)-1)){
>       if (*t == r[-1]) return r-1;
>       l -= r-p;
>       p  = r;
>       continue;
>     }
>     return NULL;
>   }
>   return NULL;
> }
>
> long address(char *p)
> {
>   char *s,*e;  long i = H_size;
>
>   Address = NULL;
>   if ((s = locate(p,"\n\n",1,i))){
>     if (*++s == '<'){
>       i -= s-p;
>       if ((e = found(s,'\n',1,i))){
>     if (*--e == '>'){
>       if (e-s > 1){
>         Address = ++s;
>         return e-s;
>       }
>     }
>       }
>     }
>   }
>   return 0;
> }
>
> int date(char *p)
> {
>   static char buf[512];
>   char *s,*e,d[64],n[64],m[64],y[64],t[64],z[64];  long i = H_size;
>
>   Date = NULL;
>   if ((s = find(p,"Date: ",i))){
>     i -= s-p;
>     if ((e = found(s,'\n',1,i))&&(e-s < 64)){
>       strncpy(buf,s,63); buf[63] = 0;
>       if (6 == sscanf(buf,"Date: %s %s %s %s %s %s",d,n,m,y,t,z)){
>     if ((s = index(d,','))) *s = 0;
>     sprintf(buf," %s %s %s %s %s\n",d,m,n,t,y);
>     if (strlen(buf) < 64){
>       Date = buf;
>       return 1;
>     }
>       }
>     }
>   }
>   return 0;
> }
>
> void dump(char *p, char *t, char *r)
> {
>   char *s,*e;  long i = H_size;
>
>   if ((s = find(p,t,i))){
>     if ((e = found(s,'\n',1,i))){
>       if (r){
>     s += strlen(t);
>     printf("%s",r);
>       }
>       do putchar(*s); while (s++ < e);
>     }
>   }
> }
>
> void content_type(char *p)
> {
>   char *s,*e;  long i = H_size;
>
>   if ((s = find(p,"Content-Type: ",i))){
>     if ((e = found(s,'\n',1,i))){
>       do putchar(*s); while (s++ < e);
>       s = e+1;
>       while (*++e) if (*e == '\n') break;
>       if ((*e)&&(s = find(s,"boundary",e-s))){
>     putchar('\t');
>     do putchar(*s); while (s++ < e);
>       }
>     }
>   }
> }
>
> void user_agent(char *p)
> {
>   char *s,*e;  long i = H_size;
>
>   printf("User-Agent: (%ld) ", Count);
>   if ((s = find(p,"User-Agent: ",i))){
>     if ((e = found(s,'\n',1,i))){
>       s += 12; e--;
>       do putchar(*s); while (s++ < e);
>     }
>   }
>   putchar('\n');
> }
>
> size_t head(char *h)
> {
>   long i,j;
>
>   if (Debug){
>     for (i = 0; i < H_size; i++){
>       fputc(h[i], stderr);
>     }
>   }
>   if ((i = address(h))){
>     printf("From ");
>     for (j = 0; j < i; j++) putchar(Address[j]);
>     if (date(h))
>       printf("%s",Date);
>
>     //    printf("X-Coding-System: undecided-unix\n");
>
>     dump(h,"Date: "               , NULL           );
>     //    dump(h,"From: "               , ">From: "      );
>     dump(h,"From: "               , NULL           );
>     dump(h,"To: "                 , NULL           );
>     dump(h,"Subject: "            , NULL           );
>     dump(h,"Message-ID: "         , NULL           );
>     dump(h,"References: "         , NULL           );
>     dump(h,"MIME-Version: "       ,"Mime-Version: ");
>     dump(h,"X-MimeOLE: "          , NULL           );
>     content_type(h);
>     dump(h,"Content-Disposition: ", NULL           );
>     dump(h,"In-Reply-To: "        , NULL           );
>     user_agent(h);
>     printf("X-RMAIL-ATTRIBUTES: --------\n");
>     putchar('\n');
>   }
>   return PageSize*(1+(H_size-1)/PageSize);
> }
>
> size_t body(char *b)
> {
>   unsigned long i;
>
>   if (Debug){
>     for (i = 0; i < B_size; i++){
>       fputc(b[i], stderr);
>     }
>   }
>   if (Address){
>     for (i = 0; i < B_size; i++){
>       if (b[i] == '\n')
>     break;
>     }
>     while (++i < B_size) putchar(b[i]);
>     putchar('\n');
>   }
>   return PageSize*(1+(B_size-1)/PageSize);
> }
>
> void message(char *n) // convert and dump to stdout
> {
>   struct stat st;
>   void *p,*q; char *s, name[1024], buf[1024];  int h,b;  size_t hl, bl;
>
>   if ((Start > ++Count)||(Count > End)) return;
>
>   if ((-1 == (h = open(n, O_RDONLY)))){             // open headder?
>     fprintf(stderr,"can't open %s\n", n);
>     return;
>   }
>   if (fstat(h,&st)){
>     fprintf(stderr, "can't stat %s\n", n);
>     close(h);
>     return;
>   }
>   H_size = st.st_size;
>   if (!(p = mmap(0, H_size, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, h, 0))){
>     fprintf(stderr, "can't mmap %s\n", n);
>     close(h);
>     return;
>   }
>   for (s = n; *s; s++);
>   while (*s^'/') s--;
>   if ((1^sscanf((char *)p, "%1000s", name))||(strcmp(++s, name))){
>     fprintf(stderr,"file %s: format error\n", n);
>     munmap(p,hl);
>     close(h);
>     return;
>   }
>   for (s = n; *s; s++);
>   s[-1] = 'D';
>   if ((-1 == (b = open(n, O_RDONLY)))){             // open body?
>     fprintf(stderr,"can't open %s\n", n);
>     munmap(p,hl);
>     close(h);
>     return;
>   }
>   if (fstat(b,&st)){
>     fprintf(stderr, "can't stat %s\n", n);
>     munmap(p,hl);
>     close(h);
>     return;
>   }
>   B_size = st.st_size;
>   if (!(q = mmap(0, B_size, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, b, 0))){
>     fprintf(stderr, "can't mmap %s\n", n);
>     munmap(p,hl);
>     close(h);
>     close(b);
>     return;
>   }
>   for (s = n; *s; s++);
>   while (*s^'/') s--;
>   if ((1^sscanf((char *)q, "%1000s", name))||(strcmp(++s, name))){
>     fprintf(stderr,"file %s: format error\n", n);
>     munmap(p,hl);
>     close(h);
>     munmap(q,bl);
>     close(b);
>     return;
>   }
>   hl = head((char *)p);
>   bl = body((char *)q);
>   munmap(p,hl);
>   munmap(q,bl);
>   close(h);
>   close(b);
> }
>
> main(int argc, char *argv[])
> {
>   char *p,*q, buf[4096];  int i,j;   DIR *dirp;  struct dirent *d;
>
>   if (argc^4) goto usage;
>   Debug = atoi(argv[1]);
>   Start = atoi(argv[2]);
>   End   = atoi(argv[3]);
>
>   if (!(p = argv[4])){
>   usage:
>     printf("usage: access debug start end path\n"
>        "where debug is 0 or 1, \n"
>        "start and end are integers (range of messages to convert)\n"
>        "and path is for example /var/spool/exim/input \n"
>        "(locking needs to be added, and it is most certainly incomplete
> and buggy)\n");
>     return 1;
>   }
>   for (i = 0; i < 3072; i++, p++){                  // copy path to buf
>     if ((buf[i] = *p)) continue;
>     break;
>   }
>   if (*(p = buf+i)){                                // p is buf at end of
> path
>     goto usage;
>   }
>   if (!(dirp = opendir(buf))){
>     fprintf(stderr,"can't open %s\n",p);
>     return 1;
>   }
>   PageSize = sysconf(_SC_PAGE_SIZE);
>   if (*--p^'/') *++p = '/';                         // terminate path with
> '/'
>   while ((d = readdir(dirp))){
>     for (i = 1, q = d->d_name; i < 1000; i++, q++){
>       if ((p[i] = *q)) continue;
>       break;
>     }
>     if ((*q)||(q[-1]^'H')) continue;                // find headder files
>     message(buf);                                   // convert and dump to
> stdout
>   }
>   closedir(dirp);
>   return 0;
> }
> /*
> gcc -g -o access access.c
> */
>
>
>
> On Wed, Aug 13, 2014 at 3:56 PM, visaris tds.net <visaris@tds.net> wrote:
>
>> I know movemail purportedly can transfer email from mysterious places to
>> wherever emacs needs to find it, but I don't know how to make movemail work
>> (I've read the documentation several times, but find it baffling).
>>
>> I wrote c code to move messages from /var/spool/input to an RMAIL file,
>> but I evidently have not guessed correctly as to the exact file format
>> emacs needs (M-x rmail complains
>> and chokes on the RMAIL file I generate).
>>
>> I thought exim was a MTA.  I thought it already puts mail in a spool
>> file. All my mail is in /var/spool/exim/input. I believe that exim could be
>> configured somehow to allow emacs to read mail, but I don't know how.
>>
>> I stumbled across a mailing list for exim.  Perhaps I need to start there.
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Aug 12, 2014 at 9:18 PM, Robert Thorpe <
>> rt@robertthorpeconsulting.com> wrote:
>>
>>> "visaris tds.net" <visaris@tds.net> writes:
>>>
>>> > Whereas I have been reading mail with emacs for decades, I did a new
>>> install
>>> > (I'm a gentoo user) and now what once automagically worked nolonger
>>> does...
>>> > Emacs seems to function -- exept for mail.
>>> >
>>> > Although I have fethcmail and exim running, and although mail does
>>> > arive in /var/spool/exim/input, the format is that each message is
>>> split
>>> > into
>>> > a header file and then the body of the message.
>>> >
>>> > M-x rmail does not get mail from  /var/spool/exim/input.
>>>
>>> Did you post about this to the Emacs Reddit group recently?  As someone
>>> else wrote there /var/spool/exim/input is Exim's *input* spool file.
>>> It's where Exim puts emails before they are delivered.  As far as I
>>> understand it Exim is not designed to have users get stuff from that
>>> directory.  In the past it may have only worked by coincidence, because
>>> older versions of Exim stored stuff in some format that movemail
>>> understands.
>>>
>>> > I have spent much time chasing cryptic pointers reading unintelligable
>>> > documents making vague references to "movemail" but it is beyond me.
>>> > I have contemplated perusing the RMAIL file and comparing it with
>>> > contents of /var/spool/exim/input so as to increase the chance that I
>>> can
>>> > make some lucky guesses and write a c program to bridge the gap from
>>> > /var/spool/exim/input to RMAIL.  Surely emacs has not deteriated to the
>>> > point that this would be necessary.  I find it difficult to believe
>>> there
>>> > is not
>>> >  some simple way to proceed.
>>>
>>> "Movemail" fulfills two purposes.  Firstly, it moves mails between
>>> different places on one system.  It can take mail from the spool file(s)
>>> to a mbox file in the user's home directory.  (If the spool file is in
>>> MH or Maildir format it can translate that to mbox).  Secondly, it can
>>> act rather like fetchmail, it can download mails from an IMAP or POP
>>> server and copy them to a mbox file in the user's home directory.
>>>
>>> After movemail has done it's thing rmail itself takes over.  Rmail is
>>> really just a viewer for mbox files.  Rmail runs movemail automatically,
>>> there's no need to run it manually.
>>>
>>> If you have an MTA setup then it's normal to use it in the first way.
>>> The MTA puts mail in a spool file.  Then when you do M-x rmail it calls
>>> movemail which moves it to the "RMAIL" file in your home directory.
>>> That's what happens if you set the MAIL environment variable to your
>>> spool file.  If you want to make that approach work you need to figure
>>> out Exim (I find its manual baffling).  One way that could work is to
>>> use the LMTP transport of Exim to communicate with a mail delivery
>>> program such as maidag or maildrop.  Those programs put mail into spool
>>> files for users to access.  In this case you'll have:
>>> fetchmail(MRA)->Exim(MTA)->Maidag(MDA)->SpoolFile->movemail->rmail.
>>>
>>> Alternatively, you can bring mail directly from your IMAP or POP server
>>> using movemail.  That's what I do, I don't run an MTA on my PC at all, I
>>> deliver using Emac's smtpmail library.  To do this do something like:
>>> (setq send-mail-function 'smtpmail-send-it)
>>> (setq smtpmail-smtp-server "smtp.yourisp.com")
>>> (setq rmail-primary-inbox-list
>>>   '("imap://yourlogin:password@imap.yourisp.com"))
>>>
>>> To use IMAP you need the version of movemail in the GNU mailutils
>>> package.  The one that comes with Emacs only supports POP.
>>>
>>> BR,
>>> Robert Thorpe
>>>
>>
>>
>

Re: reading mail with emacs

[Emanuel Berg]

"visaris tds.net" <visaris@tds.net> writes:

> if (argc^5) goto usage;

The XOR/argc hack, implicit brackets, and goto - in one
line! You should teach at the university...

Does the code implement what Robert Thorpe suggested,
namely

    fetchmail(MRA)->Exim(MTA)->Maidag(MDA)->SpoolFile->movemail->rmail

?

I'm impressed!

-- 
underground experts united

Re: reading mail with emacs

[Jorge Araya Navarro]

Impressive indeed, but, it wouldn't be rather easy if the OP just
install mu4e and use it to read and reply his emails from Emacs?

Emanuel Berg writes:

> "visaris tds.net" <visaris@tds.net> writes:
>
>> if (argc^5) goto usage;
>
> The XOR/argc hack, implicit brackets, and goto - in one
> line! You should teach at the university...
>
> Does the code implement what Robert Thorpe suggested,
> namely
>
>     fetchmail(MRA)->Exim(MTA)->Maidag(MDA)->SpoolFile->movemail->rmail
>
> ?
>
> I'm impressed!

-- 
Pax et bonum.
Jorge Araya Navarro.
Diseñador Publicitario, Programador Python y colaborador en Parabola
 GNU/Linux-libre
https://es.gravatar.com/shackr

Re: reading mail with emacs

[Emanuel Berg]

Jorge Araya Navarro <elcorreo@deshackra.com> writes:

> Impressive indeed, but, it wouldn't be rather easy if
> the OP just install mu4e and use it to read and reply
> his emails from Emacs?

I don't know the specifics (I don't know why people
would want to be that close to their mail backends, but
I see it from time to time) but even so, I would think
there is an easier way, yes. But it is never wrong to
first just solve the problem, then you can solve it the
right way. Often writing code to solve it your way is
very helpful, it makes you realize just what tools you
need, and at that point it is only a matter of finding
and employing them.

By the way, I got a mail from the OP which I suspect
was aimed for this list:

    It just grabs (from /var/spool/exim/input if
    supplied on the command line) and dumps a (halfway)
    converted file (RMAIL format).

    Something about my mail is horribly broken. I don't
    know what yet, but it has to do with exim (that is
    my current understanding at least), emacs and
    friends seem not to be implicated.

-- 
underground experts united

Re: reading mail with emacs

[Emanuel Berg]

"visaris tds.net" <visaris@tds.net> writes:

> Whereas I have been reading mail with emacs for
> decades, I did a new install (I'm a gentoo user) and
> now what once automagically worked nolonger does...
> Emacs seems to function -- exept for mail.

Well, how did you read mail in Emacs for all those
decades?

> Although I have fethcmail and exim running, and
> although mail does arive in /var/spool/exim/input,
> the format is that each message is split into a
> header file and then the body of the message.
>
> M-x rmail does not get mail from /var/spool/exim/input.

I use Gnus but before that I used Rmail, and what I
remember it collected all the mails in one single file
in the user home directory, a file with the name RMAIL
as well. I'm not familiar with the
/var/spool/exim/input method, but if that is a file
that Rmail can parse then you should tell Rmail to look
in that direction. If it isn't Rmail-compatible, you
must respool it to bridge the gap, if you want to use
Rmail, that is. I would recommend Gnus, which talks to
several mail and news backends, and thus have all but a
swiss army knife ready to spool and respool back and
forth between all those methods. You probably already
used the Emacs message-mode to send messages (mails),
which I just recently learned is part of Gnus as well.
Also, there is gnu.emacs.gnus where you can get help if
this group can't help you (but I think it can).

-- 
underground experts united