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Wrote some text for removal of old code.
author markus schnalke <meillo@marmaro.de>
date Fri, 20 Apr 2012 19:14:56 +0200
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1 .H0 "Preface" no
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3 .H1 "How the Fun Began" no
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4 .P
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5 I have discovered nmh in XXX. I used to use mutt, like many
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6 command line-attracted Unix users. Nmh had convinced me conceptually
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7 at once. Unfortunately, setting it up to a convenient state became a
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8 tendious task. Learning its different model of email handling had,
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9 in contrast, been relatively easy. Learning to use MH if you are used
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10 to monolithic mail clients is like learning vi if you are used to
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11 modeless editors.
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12 Once having nmh set up, using it was joy because of its conceptional
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13 elegance and scripting capabilities, but on the other hand it was
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14 inconvenient in handling attachments, non-ASCII character encodings,
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15 and similar stuff. I found it wrong to require more and more scripts
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16 and configuration to have it act the expected way. In being a
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17 software developer, I wanted to improve the situation.
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18 .P
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19 In Spring 2010, I asked on the nmh-workers mailing list for the
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20 possibility to have a Google Summer of Code project on nmh. Being a
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21 student, this appeared attractive to me. Eventually, it had not been
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22 possible, but the nmh community started to move. In these months
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23 nmh's future was discussed and I became part of a ``Does nmh need an
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24 MTA'' discussion. There, my opinion differed from the opinion of
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25 most others.
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26 .P
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27 As it hadn't been possible to work on nmh in a way that would be
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28 accepted as part of my official studies, I needed to get my credit
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29 points in some other way. But half a year later I was back. Starting
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30 in Summer 2010, I took one semester off to travel through Latin America.
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31 Within this time, I needed to do practical computer work for three
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32 months. Richard Sandelman, an active nmh user, made it possible for
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33 me to work on nmh during this time. Juan Granda, from Santiago del
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34 Estero in Argentina, provided a computer and Internet connection.
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35 Within these three month, I became familiar with nmh's code base and
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36 its community. I learned how things work. Quickly it was obvious that
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37 I wouldn't succeed to improve on the non-ASCII character encoding
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38 problems, as this is one of the most intricate parts of the system.
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39 Instead I improved code as I read through it. I found minor bugs in
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40 the code and could improve the documentation. When I started with
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41 larger code changes, I had to discover that the community's wish for
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42 compatibility was stronger than its wish for convenient
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43 out-of-the-box setups. This lead to long discussions, again. Finally,
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44 I understand their point of view, but it's not mine.
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45 At the end of my three-month project, I had became familiar with
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46 nmh's code base and community, I had improved both a bit, and I still
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47 was convinced that I wanted to go on with it.
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48 .P
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49 Another half a year later, I needed a topic for my master's thesis.
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50 Now it was clear: I wanted to work on nmh. No, not exactly nmh,
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51 because I had accepted that the nmh community has different goals
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52 than I have. The won't be much progress if generally different opinions
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53 lead to long discussions. After careful thought, I had decided to
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54 start an experimental version of nmh. I wanted to go my way and see
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55 where it would lead to. Time would tell if it would prove successful.
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56 Nmh would hardly be hurt by my work, but could profit from my
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57 experiences later.
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58 .P
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59 When I started to work on mmh, my experimental version, in Fall 2011,
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60 activity in nmh rose suddenly. While I was working on mmh, XXX were
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61 working on nmh. After long years of idleing, nmh was actively
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62 developed again. That was a good sign. My own work went in parallel
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63 and unrelated. Today, my experimental version became de facto a fork.
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64 The mail storage, however, is still compatible.
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65
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66
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67 .H1 "Naming Conventions" no
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69 There are three different versions of MH available currently: original MH,
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70 nmh, and mmh. Following is a description how the terms are used.
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71 .P
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72 .B MH
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73 (Mail Handler).
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74 Used for any MH-like mail systems, namely the original MH, nmh, and mmh.
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75 .P
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76 .B "Mail client" .
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77 Synonym for MUA. The part of the mail software the user directly
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78 interacts with.
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81 .\" End or Preface. Start of the normal text.
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82 .\" Switch to arabic page numbers and start on a right page.
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83 .if e \{
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84 . pn 1
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85 . af PN 1
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86 .\}
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87 .if o \{
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88 . pn 0
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89 . af PN 0
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90 . bp
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91 .\}