Re: Is nmh suitable for managing multiple email accounts?

[Tim Lee]

> I assume you want to keep the email from each account separate?

Yes, that is correct.

> I've been an MH user going on 33yrs.

I'm curious: what did people commonly use for reading mail when MH was
just invented? Was it the Unix "mail" program?

> Start with the realization the nmh is *not* a monolithic email client as
> Mutt/Elm/pine.  Each command within the nmh suite is a separate command 
> line executable.  nmh uses standard unix file structure for folders (which
> are directories) and messages (which are stored as files).  There is no
> IMAP support, so the email must be received locally to your machine.
> 
> In my case, I use fetchmail, and every 5 minutes it downloads my email from
> two different servers that I use for my personal email.  Those emails are
> co-mingled, so I don't know which email actually received them unless I look
> at the headers (which are not displayed by default).  Since you mentioned a 
> work account, I would think you want to keep those emails separate.
> 
> I use a GUI front-end for nmh, called Sylpheed (found at
> https://sylpheed.sraoss.jp/en/) and have been quite happy with it for over
> a decade.

Okay, I will take a look at these in more detail. I am currently
experimenting with fetchmail. I will try to experiment with the others
too.

> > Using different UNIX accounts ensures 100% separation. You can do
> > everything under one ID in theory, but you'll spend a lot of effort/time
> > switching email IDs via different profiles. My opinion is that this will be
> > error prone unless one has a lot of self discipline.
> 
> And I'll second the suggestion.  It is the easiest, cleanest solution and
> avoids any possible confusion where you sent a work email via a personal
> account *or* sent something personal via your work email.

I understand that this ensures that the accounts stay separate, but
managing multiple user accounts is not exactly light work. I guess the
use of separate UNIX accounts may be appropriate for particular use cases,
but I do not need such a strict separation at the moment.