Re: modifying movemail

[Florian von Savigny <florian265@uboot.com>]

We both seem to be online right now, the way you were faster than my
immediate addendum...

Pascal Bourguignon <spam@thalassa.informatimago.com> writes:

> > So thanks a lot - but is anybody able to help with the conversion (or
> > supply a pointer to the right information)?
> 
> 
> In emacs:  C-h i m emacs RET m rmail RET m movemail RET

Sorry, I thought I had already read this information and that it
contained nothing helpful. That wasn't quite right:

--snip--
   When getting new mail, Rmail first copies the new mail from the inbox
file to the Rmail file; then it saves the Rmail file; then it truncates
the inbox file.  This way, a system crash may cause duplication of mail
between the inbox and the Rmail file, but cannot lose mail.
--snap--

Thus, normally, movemail isn't even used. That had escaped me.

--snip--
   In some cases, Rmail copies the new mail from the inbox file
indirectly.  First it runs the `movemail' program to move the mail from
the inbox to an intermediate file called `~/.newmail-INBOXNAME'.  Then
Rmail merges the new mail from that file, saves the Rmail file, and
only then deletes the intermediate file.
--snap--

Sounds like this intermediate file is the second argument to movemail.

What makes me wonder now is: is the fact alone that emacs under Linux
hangs when trying to rmail-get-new-mail from a spool file on a FAT32
partition enough proof that it is using movemail? After all, it might
hang when executing its lisp code, and modifying movemail would not
change a bit about that...


[I'll spare the theoretical question: under what circumstances and why
Emacs (does not) use(s) movemail.]


-- 


Florian v. Savigny

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