Re: [Nmh-workers] What is MH ? (was: exciting new stuff for 2.0 (IMAP proposal))

[Mike O'Dell]

Robert Elz wrote:

> I can't speak to your comfort level, but accessing the files directly
> is necessary for some usages, and definitely part of what MH offers.

"aye, laddie...." (doing my best Cmdr. Montgomery Scott impression)

when i had to implement a mandatory document retention policy for
MH users i came very close to touching files directly, but i managed to
get everything done with some shell scripts  and a .mh_profile
that intercepted a number of things.  without the rich interception
points in the MH commands, i would have had to do more direct
messing with things - as it was, i  squeaked by.  but knowing
i had "enough rope" if i ran out of luck was critical - the
alternative was moving off MH because of DoJ requirements
on a very tight deadline.

when it came to delivering the "retained emails" to "Them What Must Get Them",
a "tar" in the right place slurped-up everything, neat and tidy,
unlike the horrorshow that ensued with people using other
email clients.  of course, i did get the question about "Why isn't
this a Windows zip file?"

my "unrmm" command (shell script) does mess with files directly, though,
but it was written eons ago - maybe today the intercepts
would be rich enough, but i don't have to care!! (it would be
useful if the "delete prefix character" were available for the asking,
rather than having to wire it in - maybe it should be specifiable
in .mh_profile and logically retrievable from there?)

as for "flame war", as KRE can attest, this discussion is nowhere close to
a genuine flame war.  i will note in passing that a legend tells
of the early email behavior of an IMAP luminary as
being the reason the verb "to flame" was coined.  the person
has since grown into considerable wisdom (he was very young at the time)
so the name need not be repeated.  and as with all legends,
it might not be true, but it is a great legend.

        cheers,
        -mo