From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: main.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Miles Bader Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: Re: Which mail client? Date: 20 May 2004 06:57:50 +0900 Organization: FusionGOL - Global Online Japan Sender: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Message-ID: <87r7tg13mp.fsf@tc-1-100.kawasaki.gol.ne.jp> References: NNTP-Posting-Host: deer.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: sea.gmane.org 1085005728 25860 80.91.224.253 (19 May 2004 22:28:48 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 19 May 2004 22:28:48 +0000 (UTC) Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Thu May 20 00:28:44 2004 Return-path: Original-Received: from monty-python.gnu.org ([199.232.76.173]) by deer.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 3.35 #1 (Debian)) id 1BQZYJ-0003g2-00 for ; Thu, 20 May 2004 00:28:43 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.34) id 1BQZ7f-0000el-K4 for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Wed, 19 May 2004 18:01:11 -0400 Original-Path: shelby.stanford.edu!newsfeed.stanford.edu!newsfeed.news.ucla.edu!newsfeed.media.kyoto-u.ac.jp!nntp.gol.com!203.216.70.8.MISMATCH!not-for-mail Original-Newsgroups: gnu.emacs.help Original-Lines: 32 Original-NNTP-Posting-Host: yokohama2-61-203-152-246.ap.0038.net Original-X-Trace: nnrp.gol.com 1085003872 14817 61.203.152.246 (19 May 2004 21:57:52 GMT) Original-X-Complaints-To: abuse@gol.com Original-NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 19 May 2004 21:57:52 +0000 (UTC) System-Type: i686-pc-linux-gnu Original-Xref: shelby.stanford.edu gnu.emacs.help:123309 Original-To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-BeenThere: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.4 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 Xref: main.gmane.org gmane.emacs.help:18605 X-Report-Spam: http://spam.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.help:18605 exits funnel writes: > seems there are many choices: gnus, rmail, vm. Are > they all three still actively maintained? Yes (well actually I'm not entirely sure about vm, but the likelihood is high). rmail is the simplest, but the least powerful; it operates on single-file mailboxes. I think in released versions of emacs, rmail stores mail in the non-standard `babyl' format, which might occasionally be annoying; plans are to change to using the more standard unix mbox format instead (with appropriate conversion function in place of course). Gnus is utterly, insanely powerful, and is probably the most well supported of any of them (there's a large and very active Gnus community too). It supports mail very well, but is a news-reader at heart and treats mail as simply a special sort of newsgroup, which turns some people off. The last time I checked, setting up Gnus to read mail was slightly fiddly. This is what I use. VM is sort of in-between -- it's only a mail reader, and while it's a lot more featureful than rmail, it doesn't really approach the giddy heights of Gnus. Unlike the others, VM is not included in the GNU Emacs distribution, and so may have a few issues because of that (it's been a while since I kept up with VM, but when I did, the maintainer seemed quite responsive and helpful). -Miles -- Somebody has to do something, and it's just incredibly pathetic that it has to be us. -- Jerry Garcia