Re: Notification of new email at gmail?

[Anselm Helbig <anselm.helbig+news2009@googlemail.com>]

Hi Bob!

> I am now using emacs to dirctly send and receive email using gmail as
> the mail server.  This works well except that new mail notification on
> the mode line no longer works as the mail doesn't appear in any file on
> the computer until VM is invoked.  Is there any application available
> that can provide the notification function on the mode line?  I've found
> independent applications that will popup a notification on my desktop,
> but I would much prefer to keep it in the emacs mode line.

I don't use VM myself, but a quick look at the documentation seems to
indicate that you need to set the `vm-auto-get-new-mail' variable:

  *Non-nil value causes VM to automatically move mail from spool files
  to a mail folder when the folder is first visited.  Nil means
  you must always use `vm-get-new-mail' to pull in newly arrived messages.

  If the value is a number, then it specifies how often (in
  seconds) VM should check for new mail and try to retrieve it.
  This is done asynchronously and may occur while you are editing
  other files.  It should not disturb your editing, except perhaps
  for a pause while the check is being done."

I used a similar setting in my setup once - I'm using wanderlust - but
it became too annoying: if your internet connection hangs or mail
provider becomes unresponsive your whole emacs session hangs. So maybe
you'd rather go back and use fetchmail/getmail or some external
utility - wmmail is one, but there sure are others that also get the
job done. 

HTH, 

Anselm



-- 
Anselm Helbig 
mailto:anselm.helbig+news2009@googlemail.com