On Thu, Apr 08, 2004 at 10:01:12AM +0800, Ow Mun Heng wrote: > > -----Original Message----- > > From: fedora-list-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx > > [mailto:fedora-list-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of William Hooper > > Sent: Wednesday, April 07, 2004 8:40 PM > > To: fedora-list@xxxxxxxxxx > > Subject: Re: MUA Filters vs Procmail filters[was] RE: Mailing list > > procmail recipe > > > > > > > > Ow Mun Heng said: > > > > > > After going through this thread. I just need to ask another stupid > > > question. What's the major benefit (newb) for one to be using > > > procmail to filter emails (besides filtering *.exe *.pif > > etc viruses) > > > versus that which is offered by MUAs such as Evolution. > > > (i'm on evolution) > > > > > > Both serves the same purpose right? I know IMAP is a better > > (from what I > > > hear. Pls don't make this an argument) vs Mbox. but mbox > > format is better > > > for archiving/writing to CDR. > > > > I'm pretty sure you mean Maildir vs Mbox. IMAP is a protocol, not a > > storage format. > > My Snafu there. :) > > > > > > Since I'm using Mbox format, I might need to re-word the > > above recipe to > > > put into my > > ~/home/evolution/local/subfolders/Linux/subfolders/Fedora > > > right? > > > > > > But I digress. What's the benefit of using procmail vs MUA > > filters??? > > > > As someone else pointed out, it frees you to use multiple > > clients with the > > same filters. For example you could use Evolution at home, > > mutt via SSH > > at work, and SquirrelMail via the web at the library. Have them all > > pointing to the same IMAP server with procmail filters and you are all > > set. > > Got it.. > > > > > I believe it would also be more efficient when using IMAP because the > > mails get moved on the server instead of the client having to > > move them, > > but it might not be that big of a difference. > > How about Archiving the emails? How do we do that using Maildir format? > (one of the reason I've not moved my laptop's mail format to maildir) Use tar to archive Maildir or mbox. Maildir creates a file for each message which uses an inode for each file. You could have plenty of disk space left but run out if inodes and your system would crash! This has happen to one system I was managing and I learned about the "df -i" command to check disk inode use;) If the only reason you are wanting to use Maildir format is because you want the mail delivered to your ~/mail instead of /var/spool/mail/$USER think about using a .forward file and procmail instead. In my .forward I have: "|IFS=' ' && exec /usr/bin/procmail -f- || exit 75 #drs" In my ~/.procmailrc I have an entry like: # Deliver to ~/mail/inbox instead of mail spool to control # usage. hum, no need to do maildir or run procmail suid;) # $HOME and ~/mail is chmod 700! DEFAULT=$MAILDIR/inbox note: the $MAILDIR variable in the .procmailrc has nothing to do with Maildir format! All my mail unless another filter catches it is send to ~/mail/inbox which is in mbox format. I am working on setting this up system wide in /etc/skel Don't just insert those file if you want to do that inbox thing. There is a little more to it, read the procmail and .forward howtos. Search google on how to set it all up. Maildir is not all it's cracked up to be and since Fedora is setup to use mbox by default, adding the .forward and using procmail will not affect any system config files or other users. As for imap, imap lets your mail stay on the server which is good for home users so you can read all your mail from any network connection while using another computer. About Maildir If anyone knows any reason to use Maildir format beside just putting mail in your home directory, please comment? I personally don't see any benefits since mbox has worked great for years on many systems around the world. jay
