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meillo@161
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1 .H0 "Summary
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2 .P
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3 This document describes and explains my work on mmh.
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4 I have streamlined the project by removing programs, facilities,
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5 and options that diverted from the main task of mmh, being an MUA.
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6 I have modernized the code base removing obsolete functions and
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7 activating modern features per default.
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8 Furthermore, I have improved the style by refactoring clumpsy code
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9 and by identifying and forcing clear concepts.
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10 All my work was motivated by Antoine de Saint Exupery's well-known
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11 statement:
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12 .[
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13 antoine de saint exupery: Wind, Sand and Stars (1939)
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14 .]
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15 .QS
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16 It seems that perfection is attained not when there is nothing
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17 more to add, but when there is nothing more to remove.
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18 .QE
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19 .LP
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20 Against the common expectations, I hardly added new features.
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21 I regard my achievement in the selection of the relevant set of existing
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22 features, the choice of sensible defaults, and the extensive
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23 focus on structure and concepts.
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24 I believe, the result is a system simpler and clearer for both
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25 developing and using, without lacking important functionality.
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26
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27 .KS
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28 .in 1c
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29 .so input/sloc.grap
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30 .KE
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31
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32
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33 .U2 "Outlook
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34 .P
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35 The work on mmh is not finished.
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36 Several tasks are left to do.
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37 .P
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38 MIME handling is the most complex part of mmh and the one with the
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39 highest potential for improvements.
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40 The changes already accomplished so far build upon the existing structure,
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41 but deeper rework is necessary to integrate MIME handling consistently.
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42 For instance, accessing messages and accessing their MIME parts
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43 should both covered by a single approach.
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44 This requires the sequence notation to provide a way to address
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45 MIME parts directly.
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46 In general, the sequence notation should become more powerful.
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47 For instance, it is currently not possible to access the second last
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48 message in a given sequence.
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49 Furthermore, displaying messages can be improved.
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50 Encrypted messages should be decoded automatically
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51 and digital signatures verified on-the-fly.
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52 In this rework, MH's unique features need to be preserved,
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53 but as well the default behavior should become less surprising.
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54 Still, encoding and decoding is not done everywhere it is necessary.
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55 The problems of not decoded quotations of the original message in replies
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56 and not encoded non-ASCII characters in the message header remain.
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57 .P
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58 Some of mmh's tools were hardly touched, yet.
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59 Among them are
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60 .Pn dist ,
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61 .Pn rcvdist ,
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62 .Pn mark ,
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63 .Pn pick ,
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64 and
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65 .Pn sortm .
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66 They should be refactored as well.
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67 Related to
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68 .Pn sortm
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69 is the threaded message view, which is completely missing, so far.
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70 .Pn pick
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71 could profit from message indexing.
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72 These fields deserve further research.
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73 .P
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74 Nmh's testing framework has not been updated for mmh, yet.
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75 All refactoring had been done without the safety net of a test framework.
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76 Hence, experience warns that there may be subtle bugs in the code base.
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77 .P
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78 The features most often asked for are IMAP and Maildir support.
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79 But, both of them collide with MH in the same fundamental way as
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80 different filesystem approaches collide with Unix.
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81 Nevertheless, an abstraction layer could provide a mapping between such
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82 storage back-ends and the MH storage format.
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83 Or, the mmh tool chest could be reworked to operate on a generic back-end,
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84 making the MH storage format only one of many possible back-ends.
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85 Research in this area is highly appreciated.
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86
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87
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88 .U2 "Relationship to nmh
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89 .P
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90 The mmh project started as an experimental version of nmh because the
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91 nmh community did not welcome my changes in the mainline version.
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92 To not slow down my work by the need to convince the community in
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93 discussions for each step I liked to take,
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94 I started to create an experimental version to convicce by demonstration
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95 of the result.
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96 .\" behind closed doors; talks I've given
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97 My work on mmh was independent of the nmh community. .\" XXX clarify
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98 .\" XXX straight?
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99 This enabled me to follow my vision straightforwardly and thus produce
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100 a result of greater pureness.
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101 .P
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102 Mmh shall be considered as an inspiration for the future development of nmh.
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103 It shall identify weak parts of nmh and suggest possible
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104 improvements by change.
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105 It shall present a lean appearance that is simpler to understand
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106 and work with for developers and users.
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107 By all means, my work on mmh shall improve nmh somehow.
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108 Improving nmh directly in the way I wanted was impossible
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109 due to personal and community-related circumstances.
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110 The mmh project is my way to offer my gifts though.
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111 .\" XXX zweimal ``my way''
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112 .P
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113 .\" XXX
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114 During my work on mmh, the community of nmh suddenly became very active.
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115 In parallel to my work on mmh, they have worked on nmh. \" XXX rewrite
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116 There was no collaberation in our work, except that I have pulled some
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117 changes from nmh to mmh.
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118 Our work was motivated partly by similar and partly by different aims.
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119 Although some changes are common among both projects,
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120 fundamental differences exist.
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121 My experimental version thus more and more felt like being a fork.
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122 I am still undecided how I like to treat it.
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123 .P
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124 I am strongly convinced that the decisions taken for the
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125 development of mmh were good ones regarding my goals,
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126 and I like to push the project farther in this direction.
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127
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128
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129 .ig
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130 .U2 "Weaknesses of My Work
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131 .P
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132 not targeting on the right problems (maildir, imap)
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133
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134 .P
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135 refactoring requires testing, automated testing
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136
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137 .P
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138 communication with nmh.
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139 worked behind closed doors, but no:
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140 talks I've given
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141
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142 .P
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143 focus on myself.
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144 But: If good for me then also good for others.
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145 ..
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