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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 Exup\[eacute]ry's
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11 well-known statement:
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12 .[
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13 antoine de saint exupery wind sand and stars
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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 MIME handling is the most complex part of mmh and the one with the
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36 highest potential for improvements.
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37 The changes already accomplished so far build upon the existing structure,
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38 but deeper rework is necessary to integrate MIME handling consistently.
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39 For instance, accessing messages and accessing their MIME parts
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40 should both covered by a single approach.
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41 This requires the sequence notation to provide a way to address
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42 MIME parts directly.
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43 In general, the sequence notation should become more powerful.
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44 For instance, it is currently not possible to access the second last
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45 message in a given sequence.
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46 Furthermore, displaying messages can be improved.
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47 Encrypted messages should be decoded automatically
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48 and digital signatures verified on-the-fly.
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49 In this rework, MH's unique features need to be preserved,
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50 but as well the default behavior should become less surprising.
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51 Still, encoding and decoding is not done everywhere it is necessary.
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52 The problems of not decoded quotations of the original message in replies
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53 and not encoded non-ASCII characters in the message header remain.
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54 .P
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55 Some of mmh's tools were hardly touched, yet.
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56 Among them are
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57 .Pn dist ,
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58 .Pn rcvdist ,
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59 .Pn mark ,
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60 .Pn pick ,
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61 and
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62 .Pn sortm .
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63 They should be refactored as well.
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64 Related to
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65 .Pn sortm
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66 is the threaded message view, which is completely missing, so far.
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67 .Pn pick
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68 could profit from message indexing.
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69 These fields deserve further research.
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70 .P
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71 Nmh's testing framework has not been updated for mmh, yet.
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72 All refactoring had been done without the safety net of a test framework.
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73 Hence, experience warns that there may be subtle bugs in the code base.
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74 As a consequence of the modularization rework (cf. Sec.
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75 .Cf modularization ),
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76 the compiler can no longer check the integrity of the interfaces
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77 when tools invoke each other.
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78 Automated testing should detect errors there.
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79 .P
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80 The features most often asked for are IMAP and Maildir support.
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81 But, both of them collide with MH in the same fundamental way as
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82 different file system approaches collide with Unix.
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83 Nevertheless, an abstraction layer could provide a mapping between such
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84 storage back-ends and the MH storage format.
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85 Or, the mmh tool chest could be reworked to operate on a generic back-end,
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86 making the MH storage format only one of many possible back-ends.
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87 Research in this area is highly appreciated.
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88
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89
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90 .U2 "Relationship to nmh
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91 .P
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92 The mmh project started as an experimental version of nmh because the
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93 nmh community did not welcome my plans and visions.
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94 The need to convincing the community of every change I liked to
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95 undertake would have slowed down my work too much.
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96 Hence, I created this experimental version to convince by demonstration.
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97 .P
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98 While I worked on mmh, nmh's community became very active as well.
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99 Although we both worked on the same code base, there was no collaboration.
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100 This, I must admit, was my failure because I kept my work hidden
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101 from the nmh community.
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102 The reasons are personal and community-related.
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103 I am sorry for that and I like to improve in the future.
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104 Nonetheless, I did not work behind completely closed doors.
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105 I discussed within the regional computer community and
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106 presented the project in two video-recorded lectures.
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107 .[
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108 chaosseminar ccc ulm mmh
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109 .]
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110 .[
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111 gpn entropia mmh
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112 .]
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113 First users appeared and provided feedback.
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114 .P
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115 Over time, I had to realize that, although nmh and mmh have much
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116 in common, the projects target different goals.
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117 I am still undecided how to handle it, but my experimental version
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118 more and more feels like being a fork.
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119 As I am strongly convinced that the path taken for the
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120 development of mmh is a good one,
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121 I like to push the project farther in this direction.
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