Re: can nnimap be used as a primary select method for GNUS?

[David]

Ed <edwardjameshartnett@gmail.com> writes:
> On Jul 26, 10:34 am, David <de...@arcor.de> wrote:
>> Ed <edwardjameshartn...@gmail.com> writes:
>> > Can nnimap be used as the primary select method?
>>
>> Yes.
>
> Here's the section of the GNUS manual that caused my confusion, I
> believe:
>
>    If you want to use IMAP as a mail storage protocol, use an nnimap
> entry in `gnus-secondary-select-methods'.  With this, Gnus will
> manipulate mails stored on the IMAP server.  This is the kind of usage
> explained in this section.

Yes, the manual always uses gnus-select-method for news and
gnus-secondary-select-methods for all the other back ends. I would guess
this is simply for historical reasons, but I don't really know.

I would assume that you can use every back end as a primary or secondary
select method, since for Gnus everything looks like news anyway:

(from the manual, section 10.7.2)
|Gnus doesn't know anything about NNTP, spools, mail or virtual groups.
|It only knows how to talk to "virtual servers".  A virtual server is a
|"back end" and some "back end variables".  As examples of the first, we
|have `nntp', `nnspool' and `nnmbox'.  As examples of the latter we have
|`nntp-port-number' and `nnmbox-directory'.

-David