Re: [nmh-workers] real basic nmh question

[Jude DaShiell]

Originally I figured nmh used the maildir format but apparently the
maildir format is used by other programs.  I run command line and since
I'm retired tend to test many things in Linux and learn from that
testing too.  Also Linux is my main productivity environment.
I got getmail working when I found most of my braille notes on
.fetchmailrc were gone and decided to try a fetchmail competitor.  I
found in getmail the mboxrd type could be used for the inbox then I
figured I could use nmh with this set up.  Then I found out about the
different formats.  For now, mutt can't even find my inbox but I'm
pretty sure nmh won't have any problems with that.

On Wed, 22 May 2019, Ken Hornstein wrote:

> Date: Wed, 22 May 2019 11:27:37
> From: Ken Hornstein <address@hidden>
> To: Jude DaShiell <address@hidden>
> Cc: address@hidden
> Subject: Re: [nmh-workers] real basic nmh question
>
> >Yes, that's what happened until I found nmh doesn't use maildir format.
> >Originally I was trying to set up getmail and nmh and I already have
> >mutt running.  So next project is to move any content of those three
> >subdirectories into ~/Mail and loose those subdirectories and in that
> >way normalize environment for nmh.  You are correct mhparam path returns
> >Mail for a path.
>
> I think Ralph answered all of your questions, but one of my long-term
> goals is to make nmh as friendly as possible to new users.  So, to
> that end I'd like to ask you a few questions, and let you know something.
>
> First, it's mentioned briefly in the man page but inc(1) can incorporate
> email from a Maildir maildrop/mailbox.  If you just point it at the
> Maildir location with the -file switch (give it the Maildir directory
> name) and it should do all of the right things.  If that doesn't work
> or is unclear then please let us know.
>
> Secondly, mutt can handle MH mailboxes fine, so if you wish to use
> mutt and nmh simultaneously, then that will be fine (mutt does not
> respect custom sequences, but that may not matter if you are not a nmh
> power user; certainly plenty of people use both and are fine with it).
>
> My larger question is ... was it unclear that MH uses it's own mailbox
> format?  Was there an assumption that it would support Maildir as well?
> I ask these questions not to accuse you of anything, but because as a
> long-time user it's not always obvious where assumptions are made in
> our documentation and if we could make things clearer, that would be
> better for everyone.
>
> We have talked on and off about supporting Maildir "natively", as in
> all of the nmh tools could be used on Maildir folders, but that is a
> large job and I can't promise it will be done anytime soon.
>
> --Ken
>

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