From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Jude DaShiell Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: Re: Emacs mailreader that doesn't move the spool Date: Tue, 22 Oct 2013 18:07:26 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: References: <5266cc94$0$9750$c3e8da3$aae71a0a@news.astraweb.com> <20131022201734.GA32746@dbn66.laserlab.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: plane.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1382479655 7979 80.91.229.3 (22 Oct 2013 22:07:35 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 22 Oct 2013 22:07:35 +0000 (UTC) Cc: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org To: Gregory Benjamin Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Wed Oct 23 00:07:39 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 1VYk70-00082c-AQ for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Wed, 23 Oct 2013 00:07:38 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:46850 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1VYk6z-0005Gi-Hd for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Tue, 22 Oct 2013 18:07:37 -0400 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::10]:50636) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1VYk6k-0005FW-DD for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Tue, 22 Oct 2013 18:07:27 -0400 Original-Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1VYk6f-0000i1-CF for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Tue, 22 Oct 2013 18:07:22 -0400 Original-Received: from shellworld.net ([69.60.117.94]:63470 helo=server1.shellworld.net) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1VYk6f-0000hw-80 for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Tue, 22 Oct 2013 18:07:17 -0400 Original-Received: by server1.shellworld.net (Postfix, from userid 1024) id BC5DE2292C; Tue, 22 Oct 2013 17:07:26 -0500 (CDT) Original-Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by server1.shellworld.net (Postfix) with ESMTP id B9D5E22852; Tue, 22 Oct 2013 18:07:26 -0400 (EDT) In-Reply-To: <20131022201734.GA32746@dbn66.laserlab.com> X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: Mac OS X 10.x X-Received-From: 69.60.117.94 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:94150 Archived-At: On Tue, 22 Oct 2013, Gregory Benjamin wrote: > Hi Hikaru, > > On Tue, Oct 22, 2013 at 07:05:56PM +0000, Hikaru Ichijyo wrote: > > 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? > > I'm sorry I cannot offer any help at the moment, but wanted to say two > things. > > First, I admire your English writing. Very, very clear and > well done. > > Second, I too use mutt and would like to move to a mixed mutt/emacs > environment for mail processing until I'm fully comfortable with the > emacs solution. I've used rmail a bit, and tried to force myself to > like it, but mutt is still faster and more capable for me. I cannot > afford to 'break' email while playing around with rmail, gnus, vm, or > some other emacs email configuration. One advantage of having an e-mail spool in the $HOME directory is that the $HOME directory is usually lots larger than /var/spool. This makes denial of service attacks a little more difficult and take a little longer since the directory capacity is larger and will take longer to fill and crash a system. > > --------------------------------------------------------------------------- jude Avoid the Gates Of Hell, use Linux!