[Discuss] Running a mail server, or not

[smallm at sdf.org (Mike Small)]

Dan Ritter <dsr at randomstring.org> writes:
>
> So when the very first line of the entry is:
>
>   The nnml spool mail format isn?t compatible with any other known
>   format. It should be used with some caution. 
>
> you should read that as "don't use this, it was an experiment in
> being better than everybody else that didn't work out".

Oh it's not as bad as all that. nnml is actually the format the manual
auther gives in his quick getting started section before documenting
that there are many backend options. I think it's more or less the
default or most commonly used backend for people not needing IMAP.  If
you read more of the manual you'll see that it's just the author's style
to be open about such things. E.g. if you read the section, "Comparing
Mail Back Ends," you'll see lots of caveats across formats (though true
enough, nnmaildir seems not to have them, except see later note about
nnml's speed). I did have some doubts once about the inode usage
(nnmaildir would have same issue), but a quick check of what sdf has for
inodes free put that concern to bed quite quickly. In that same section
there's also a statement that nnml is probably the fastest format for
reading mail. Gnus is not a racehorse like mutt so this is a factor to
consider.  I look now and also notice that the emacswiki page
corresponding to the manual's, "which backend," section had no one chime
in on nnmaildir. More suggestion that it's less exercised/known than
nnml.

As far as compatibility with standard formats used by other clients I
don't care. I've both used Gnus and nnml for a long time but have also
had the odd "forget about emacs and use mutt and vi" phases. When you
change you either write or find something to convert, or (more likely in
my case) just leave the old stuff where it is and fire up Gnus if you
ever want to read old email (which I don't tend to outside work). It's a
bit like using a new source control system. There's the deluxe and
correct way to convert and then there's the way your company will do
it. That's it, I'm not lazy only cost conscious. Aside from that,
future wavering may be less likely now. I'm a lot more tied to Gnus and
emacs ever since I started using the feature of org-mode where you can
make (emacs specific) hyperlinks to emails very easily in notes and
planning files. At best I might try another emacs client, and I've
already gotten my rmail phase out of the way. How many emacs mail
clients can there be?  No wait, don't answer that.

> The point of having IMAP access on your phone is not to have
> every feature from your desktop available on your phone. The
> point is to be able to read new messages which are important to
> you, search for a message that you need right now, and compose a
> short message right now.

I don't get any important messages at the email address in question. But
I'll use IMAP eventually probably.

>> What I'd really like is if someone made a mobile version of emacs,
>> somehow, maybe with some complicated gesture scheme for input. There's
>> some emacs person, I think, who's done something to make it possible to
>> keep two Gnusae's set of folders in sync across two machines. So if I
>> could run Gnus on the phone and use that person's scripts, that would be
>> the ideal. Probably will never happen.
>
> If Gnus read IMAP, you would get this for free.

Someone emailed me off list with some good advice about splitting
(automatically filing into folders) using IMAP and Gnus. I'll probably
look into that eventually. I'd be more likely to switch to that backend
thatn try taking nnmaildir for a ride.

This still leaves the issue that emacs doesn't have a good phone
interface yet. I'd still be using k9 or whatever on the phone, so the
Gnus IMAP support would only be a way of addressing the caveat I raised
about how my normal email checking on real computers messes up the IMAP
on the phone checking. A good thing, but not a huge problem I need to
solve right now.

I may be pessimistic, but I suspect using Gnus with IMAP will have
interesting corner cases I'll find out about over time. emacs is nice
and featureful, but lots of features and many options usually means
flakiness across some permutations. I wonder a bit about the size and
voice of the IMAP section in the manual (not original author?). It
starts out with, "The most popular mail backend is probably ?nnimap?,"
but the rest of the section is spare and functional. The author didn't
feel the urge to get chatty like he did in the next mail section or in
the USENET sections, so I wonder whether nnimap is quite as much in the
strike zone for Gnus as is nnml. It's probably a newer feature grafted
on later vs. the old spool based stuff. Maybe it works as well maybe it
doesn't.

-- 
Mike Small
smallm at sdf.org