Re: BUG: Tools Meanu -> "Read Mail" is TOO DANGEROUS

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: jari.aalto@poboxes.com (Jari Aalto+mail.emacs)
> Newsgroups: gnu.emacs.bug
> Date: 04 Mar 2001 15:19:16 +0200
> 
> Usually MUAs leave the mailbox where it is.

My experience is different; see Kai's message for some additional
data points that are contrary to yours.

> I believe VM also reads $MAIL and doesn't move it. Gnus also can read
> $MAIL directly and only if configured, it moves mail to backends.

As Kai points out, the only practical wau to read mail with Gnus is to
copy the mailbox to "~".

> The problem is the format: babyl, which is not know to any other 
> MUA out there, at lest not to those of mainstream.

You can convert it back, either with unrmail or with b2m.

> In my opinion the RMAIL should not be the default Mail reader now when
> Gnus in in Emacs.

A lot of people still use RMAIL, and it is actively maintained.
Anyway, this is a separate issue, almost orthogonal to what you
originally brought up.

> | At least Emacs has "M-x unrmail".
> 
> Sure, but it has already destroyed $MAIL content. It won't put 
> the mail back to $MAIL. Poor user if helpless with his mutt, elm, pine
> even after this.

The user is not helpless: any reasonable mailer has an option to read
mail from a file whose name is specified by the user.