Mercurial > docs > master
annotate intro.roff @ 208:fead1fc981f0
Added note about the `a' message sequence.
author | markus schnalke <meillo@marmaro.de> |
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date | Thu, 12 Jul 2012 12:27:18 +0200 |
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1 .RN 1 |
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2 .H0 "Introduction |
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3 .Id introduction |
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4 |
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5 .P |
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6 MH is a set of mail handling tools with a common concept, similar to |
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7 the Unix tool chest, which is a set of file handling tools with a common |
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8 concept. \fInmh\fP is the currently most popular implementation of an |
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9 MH-like mail handling system. |
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10 This thesis describes an experimental version of nmh, named \fImmh\fP. |
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11 .P |
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12 This chapter introduces MH, its history, concepts and how it is used. |
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13 It describes nmh's code base and community to give the reader |
106
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14 a better understanding of the state of mmh when it started off. |
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15 Furthermore, this chapter outlines the mmh project itself, |
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16 describing the motivation for it and its goals. |
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19 .H1 "MH \(en the Mail Handler |
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20 .Id mh |
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21 .P |
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22 MH is a conceptual email system design and its concrete implementation. |
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23 Notably, MH had started as a design proposal at RAND Corporation, |
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24 where the first implementation followed later. |
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25 In spirit, MH is similar to Unix, which |
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26 influenced the world more in being a set of system design concepts |
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27 than in being a specific software product. |
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28 The ideas behind Unix are summarized in the \fIUnix philosophy\fP. |
207 | 29 .[ |
30 gancarz unix philosophy | |
31 .] | |
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32 MH follows this philosophy. |
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33 |
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34 .U2 "History |
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35 .P |
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36 In 1977 at RAND Corporation, Norman Shapiro and Stockton Gaines |
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37 proposed the design |
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38 of a new mail handling system, called \fIMail Handler\fP (MH), |
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39 to superseed RAND's old monolithic \fIMail System\fP (MS). |
207 | 40 .[ |
41 shapiro gaines mh proposal | |
42 .] | |
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43 Two years later, in 1979, Bruce Borden took the proposal and implemented a |
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44 prototype of MH. |
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45 Before the prototype's existence, the concept was |
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46 believed to be practically unusable. |
207 | 47 But the prototype proved successful and replaced MS thereafter.\& |
48 .[ | |
49 history of mh website | |
50 .] | |
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51 .P |
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52 In the early eighties, |
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53 the University of California at Irvine (UCI) started to use MH. |
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54 Marshall T. Rose and John L. Romine then became the driving force. |
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55 They took over the development and pushed MH forward. |
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56 RAND had put the code into the public domain by then. |
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57 MH was developed at UCI at the time when the Internet appeared, |
207 | 58 the University of California at Berkeley (UCB) added TCP/IP |
59 networking to their distribution, and Eric Allman wrote Sendmail. | |
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60 MH was extended as emailing became more featured. |
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61 The development of MH was closely related to the development of email |
204
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62 RFCs. |
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63 In the advent of the \fIMultipurpose Internet Mail Extensions\fP (MIME), |
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64 MH was one of the first implementations of the new email standard. |
207 | 65 MH grew to provide anything necessary for emailing. |
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66 .P |
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67 In the nineties, the Internet became popular and in December 1996, |
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68 Richard Coleman initiated the \fINew Mail Handler\fP (nmh) project. |
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69 Nmh is a fork of MH 6.8.3 and bases strongly on the |
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70 \fILBL changes\fP by Van Jacobson, Mike Karels and Craig Leres. |
207 | 71 .[ |
72 lbl changes | |
73 .] | |
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74 Colman intended to modernize MH and improve its portability and |
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75 MIME handling capabilities. |
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76 This should be done openly within the Internet community. |
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77 The development of MH at UCI stopped after the 6.8.4 release in |
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78 February 1996, soon after the development of nmh had started. |
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79 Today, nmh has almost completely replaced the original MH. |
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80 Some systems might still provide old MH, but mainly for historical reasons. |
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81 .P |
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82 In the last years, the changes in nmh were mostly maintenance work. |
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83 However, the development was revived in December 2011 |
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84 and stayed busy since then. |
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85 |
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86 |
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87 .U2 "Concepts |
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88 .P |
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89 MH consists of a set of tools, each covering a specific task of |
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90 email handling, like composing a message, replying to a message, |
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91 refiling a message to a different folder, listing the messages in a folder. |
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92 All of the programs operate on a common mail storage. |
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93 .P |
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94 The mail storage consists of \fImail folders\fP (directories) and |
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95 \fPmessages\fP (regular files). |
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96 Each message is stored in a separate file in the format it was |
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97 received (i.e. transfer format). |
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98 The files are named with ascending numbers in each folder. |
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99 The specific format of the mail storage characterizes MH in the same way |
106
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100 as the format of the file system characterizes Unix. |
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101 .P |
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102 MH tools maintain a \fIcontext\fP, which includes for instance the |
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103 current mail folder. |
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104 Processes in Unix have a similar context, containing the current working |
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105 directory, for instance. In contrast, the process context is maintained |
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106 by the Unix kernel automatically, whereas MH tools need to maintain the MH |
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107 context themselves. |
106
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108 The user can have one MH context or multiple ones; he can even share it |
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109 with others. |
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110 .P |
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111 Messages are named by their numeric filename, |
207 | 112 but they can have symbolic names, as well. |
113 These are either one of six system-controlled position names | |
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114 and a shorthand for the range of all messages, |
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115 or user-settable group names for arbitrary sets of messages. |
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116 These names are called sequences. |
207 | 117 Automatically updated position names exist for the |
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118 first, last, previous, next, current message, and for the number |
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119 one beyond the last message. |
207 | 120 (In mmh, the names of these sequences are abbreviated to the |
121 first character.) | |
122 User-definded sequences can be bound to the folder containing the | |
123 messages (\fIpublic sequences\fP) or to the user's context | |
124 (\fIprivate sequences\fP). | |
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125 .P |
207 | 126 The user's \fIprofile\fP is the file that contains his MH configuration. |
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127 Default switches for the individual tools can be specified to |
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128 adjust them to the user's personal preferences. |
207 | 129 These switches will be automatically supplied whenever the specific |
130 tool is invoked. | |
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131 Additionally, a single command can be linked under different names |
207 | 132 with different default values. |
133 Form templates for new messages and replies, as well as format files | |
134 to adjust the output of tools are easily exchanged in the profile. | |
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135 .P |
207 | 136 Switches consist of a single dash (`\fL-\fP') followed by a word. |
137 To ease typing, the word can be abbreviated, given the remaining | |
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138 prefix remains unambiguous. |
207 | 139 If no other switch starts with the letter `t', then any of |
102
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140 .Cl "-truncate" , |
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141 .Cl "-trunc" , |
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142 .Cl "-tr" , |
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143 and |
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144 .Cl "-t |
207 | 145 is equal. |
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146 As a result, switches can neither be grouped (as in |
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147 .Cl "ls -ltr" ) |
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148 nor can switch arguments be appended directly to the switch (as in |
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149 .Cl "sendmail -q30m" ). |
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150 Many switches have negating counter-parts, which start with `no'. |
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151 For example |
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152 .Cl "-notruncate |
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153 inverts the |
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154 .Cl "-truncate |
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155 switch. |
207 | 156 They exist to override the effect of default switches in the profile. |
157 .P | |
158 The system is well scriptable and extensible. | |
159 Almost every part of the system can be adjusted to personal preference. | |
160 New MH tools are built out of or on top of existing ones quickly. | |
161 Furthermore, MH encourages the user to tailor, extend, and automate | |
162 the system. | |
163 As the MH tool chest was modeled after the Unix tool chest, the | |
164 properties of the latter apply to the former as well. | |
102
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165 |
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166 |
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167 |
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168 .U2 "Using MH |
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169 .P |
207 | 170 It is strongly recommended to have a look at the \fIMH Book\fP, |
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171 .[ [ |
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172 peek mh book |
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173 .], Part II] |
207 | 174 which introduces into using MH. |
175 Rose and Romine provide a deeper and more technical, | |
176 though slightly outdated, introduction in only about two dozen pages. | |
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177 .[ |
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178 rose romine real work |
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179 .] |
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180 .P |
207 | 181 Following here is an example mail handling session. |
182 Although it uses mmh, it is mostly compatible with nmh and the | |
183 original MH. | |
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184 Details might vary but the look and feel is the same. |
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185 |
202
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186 .so input/mh-session |
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187 |
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188 |
131
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189 .H1 "nmh |
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190 .P |
49 | 191 In order to understand the condition, goals and dynamics of a project, |
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192 one needs to know the reasons behind them. |
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193 This section explains the background. |
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194 .P |
197
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195 MH predates the Internet; |
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196 it comes from times before networking was universal, |
49 | 197 it comes from times when emailing was small, short and simple. |
106
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198 Then it grew, spread and adapted to the changes email went through. |
49 | 199 Its core-concepts, however, remained the same. |
106
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200 During the eighties, students at UCI actively worked on MH. |
164
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201 They added new features and optimized the code for the systems |
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202 popular at that time. |
49 | 203 All this still was in times before POSIX and ANSI C. |
204 As large parts of the code stem from this time, today's nmh source code | |
205 still contains many ancient parts. | |
51 | 206 BSD-specific code and constructs tailored for hardware of that time |
49 | 207 are frequent. |
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208 .P |
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209 Nmh started about a decade after the POSIX and ANSI C standards were |
49 | 210 established. A more modern coding style entered the code base, but still |
211 a part of the developers came from ``the old days''. The developer | |
106
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212 base became more diverse, thus broadening the range of different |
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213 coding styles. |
49 | 214 Programming practices from different decades merged in the project. |
51 | 215 As several peers added code, the system became more a conglomeration |
216 of single tools rather than a homogeneous of-one-cast mail system. | |
49 | 217 Still, the existing basic concepts held it together. |
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218 They were mostly untouched throughout the years. |
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219 .P |
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220 Despite the separation of the tool chest approach at the surface |
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221 \(en a collection of small, separate programs \(en |
171
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222 on the source code level, it is much more interwoven. |
49 | 223 Several separate components were compiled into one program |
51 | 224 for efficiency reasons. |
106
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225 This led to intricate innards. |
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226 While clearly separated on the outside, |
171
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227 the programs turned out to be fairly interwoven inside. |
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228 .\" XXX FIXME rewrite... |
171
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229 .\" nicht zweimal ``interwoven'' |
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230 .\" Unfortunately, the clear separation on the outside turned out to be |
171
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231 .\" fairly interwoven inside. |
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232 .P |
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233 The advent of MIME raised the complexity of email by a magnitude. |
49 | 234 This is visible in nmh. The MIME-related parts are the most complex ones. |
106
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235 It is also visible that MIME support was added on top of the old MH core. |
51 | 236 MH's tool chest style made this easily possible and encourages |
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237 such approaches, but unfortunately, it led to duplicated functions |
49 | 238 and half-hearted implementation of the concepts. |
239 .P | |
159
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240 To provide backward-compatibility, it is a common understanding not to |
49 | 241 change the default settings. |
51 | 242 In consequence, the user needs to activate modern features explicitly |
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243 to be able to use them. |
49 | 244 This puts a burden on new users, because out-of-the-box nmh remains |
245 in the same ancient style. | |
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246 If nmh is seen to be a back-end, |
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247 then this compatibility surely is important. |
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248 However, at the same time, new users have difficulties using nmh for |
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249 modern emailing. |
173
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250 The small but mature community around nmh needs little change |
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251 as they have had their convenient setups for decades. |
159
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252 .\" XXX Explain more |
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253 |
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254 |
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255 .H1 "mmh |
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256 .P |
49 | 257 I started to work on my experimental version in October 2011, |
197
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258 basing my work on nmh version \fInmh-1.3-dev\fP. |
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259 At that time no more than three commits were made to nmh |
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260 since the beginning of the year, the latest one being |
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261 .Ci a01a41d031c796b526329a4170eb23f0ac93b949 |
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262 on 2011-04-13. |
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263 In December, when I announced my work in progress on the |
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264 nmh-workers mailing list, |
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265 .[ |
51 | 266 nmh-workers mmh announce December |
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267 .] |
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268 nmh's community became active, all of a sudden. |
49 | 269 This movement was heavily pushed by Paul Vixie's ``edginess'' comment. |
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270 .[ |
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271 nmh-workers vixie edginess |
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272 .] |
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273 After long years of stagnation, nmh became actively developed again. |
197
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274 Hence, while I was working on mmh, the community was working on nmh, |
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275 in parallel. |
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276 .P |
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277 The name \fImmh\fP may stand for \fImodern mail handler\fP, |
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278 because the project tries to modernize nmh. |
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279 Personally however, I prefer to call mmh \fImeillo's mail handler\fP, |
207 | 280 emphasizing that the project is my version of nmh, |
281 following my visions and preferences. | |
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282 (My login name is \fImeillo\fP.) |
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283 This project model was inspired by \fIdwm\fP, |
207 | 284 .[ |
285 dwm website | |
286 .] | |
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287 which is Anselm Garbe's personal window manager \(en |
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288 targeted to satisfy Garbe's personal needs whenever conflicts appear. |
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289 Dwm had retained its lean elegance and its focused character, whereas |
207 | 290 its community-driven predecessor \fIwmii\fP |
291 .[ | |
292 wmii website | |
293 .] | |
294 had grown fat over time. | |
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295 The development of mmh should remain focused. |
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296 |
45 | 297 |
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298 .U2 "Motivation |
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299 .P |
207 | 300 MH is the most important of very few email systems in a tool chest style. |
51 | 301 Tool chests are powerful because they can be perfectly automated and |
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302 extended. They allow arbitrary kinds of front-ends to be |
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303 implemented on top of them quickly and without internal knowledge. |
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304 Additionally, tool chests are easier to maintain than monolithic |
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305 programs. |
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306 As there are few tool chests for emailing and as MH-like ones are the most |
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307 popular among them, they should be developed further. |
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308 This keeps their |
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309 conceptional elegance and unique scripting qualities available to users. |
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310 Mmh creates a modern and convenient entry point to MH-like systems |
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311 for new and interested users. |
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312 .P |
51 | 313 The mmh project is motivated by deficits of nmh and |
45 | 314 my wish for general changes, combined |
315 with the nmh community's reluctancy to change. | |
316 .P | |
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317 At that time, nmh had not adjusted to modern emailing needs well enough. |
45 | 318 The default setup was completely unusable for modern emailing. |
319 Too much setup work was required. | |
320 Several modern features were already available but the community | |
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321 did not want to have them as default. |
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322 Mmh is a way to change this. |
45 | 323 .P |
324 In my eyes, MH's concepts could be exploited even better and | |
325 the style of the tools could be improved. Both would simplify | |
326 and generalize the system, providing cleaner interfaces and more | |
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327 software leverage at the same time. |
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328 Mmh is a way to demonstrate this. |
45 | 329 .P |
330 In providing several parts of an email system, nmh can hardly | |
331 compete with the large specialized projects that focus | |
332 on only one of the components. | |
333 The situation can be improved by concentrating the development power | |
51 | 334 on the most unique part of MH and letting the user pick his preferred |
45 | 335 set of other mail components. |
336 Today's pre-packaged software components encourage this model. | |
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337 Mmh is a way to go for this approach. |
45 | 338 .P |
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339 It is worthwhile to fork nmh for the development of mmh, |
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340 because the two projects focus on different goals and differ in |
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341 fundamental questions. |
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342 The nmh community's reluctance regarding change conflicts |
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343 with my strong desire for it. |
207 | 344 .[ |
345 nmh-workers schnalke understanding nmh | |
346 .] | |
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347 In developing a separate experimental version new approaches can |
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348 easily be tried out without the need to discuss changes beforehand. |
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349 In fact, revolutionary changes are hardly possible otherwise. |
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350 .P |
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351 The mmh project provides the basis on which the aforementioned |
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352 ideas can be implemented and demonstrated, |
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353 without the need to change the nmh project or its community. |
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354 Of course, the results of the mmh project shall improve nmh, in the end. |
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355 By no means it is my intent to work against the nmh project. |
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356 |
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357 |
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358 .U2 "Target Field |
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359 .P |
45 | 360 Any effort needs to be targeted towards a specific goal |
361 in order to be successful. | |
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362 Therefore, a description of an imagined typical mmh user follows. |
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363 Mmh should satisfy his needs. |
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364 Actually, as mmh is my personal version of MH, this is a description |
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365 of myself. |
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366 Writing software for oneself is a reliable way to produce software |
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367 that matches the user's desires. |
45 | 368 .P |
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369 The target user of mmh likes Unix and its philosophy. |
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370 He appreciates to use programs that are conceptionally appealing. |
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371 He is familiar with the command line and enjoys its power. |
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372 He is capable of shell scripting and wants to improve his |
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373 productivity by scripting the mail system. |
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374 He uses modern email features, such as attachments, |
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375 non-ASCII text, digital signatures and message encryption in a natural way. |
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376 He is able to set up mail system components, |
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377 and like to have the choice to pick the ones he prefers. |
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378 He has a reasonably modern operating system that complies to the |
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379 POSIX and ANSI C standards. |
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380 .P |
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381 The typical user invokes mmh commands directly in an interactive |
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382 shell session, but he uses them to automate mail handling tasks as well. |
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383 Likely, he runs his mail setup on a server machine, |
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384 to which he connects via ssh. |
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385 He might also have a local mmh installation on his workstation. |
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386 Still, he tend to use mmh directly in the shell instead |
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387 of using graphical front-ends. |
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388 He definitely wants to be flexible and thus be able to change |
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389 his setup to suit his needs. |
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390 .P |
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391 The typical mmh user is a programmer. |
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392 He likes to, occasionally, take the opportunity of free software to put |
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393 hands on and get involved in the software he uses. |
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394 In consequence, he likes small and clean code bases and cares for |
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395 code quality. |
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396 In general, he believes that: |
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397 .BU |
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398 The elegance of source code is most important. |
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399 .BU |
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400 Concepts are more important than concrete implementations. |
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401 .BU |
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402 Code optimizations for anything but readability should be avoided. |
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403 .BU |
45 | 404 Having a lot of choice is bad. |
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405 .BU |
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406 Removed code is debugged code. |
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407 |
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408 |
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409 .U2 "Goals |
45 | 410 .P |
411 The general goals for the mmh project are the following: | |
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412 .IP "Streamlining |
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413 Mmh should be stripped down to its core, which is the user agent (MUA). |
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414 The feature set should be distilled to the indispensable ones, |
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415 effectively removing corner cases. |
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416 Parts that do not add to the main task of being a conceptionally |
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417 appealing user agent should be removed. |
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418 This includes the mail submission and mail retrieval facilities. |
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419 Choice should be reduced to the main options. |
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420 All tools should be tightly shaped. |
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421 .IP "Modernizing |
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422 Mmh's feature set needs to become more modern. |
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423 Better support for attachments, digital signatures and message encryption |
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424 should be added. |
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425 MIME support should be integrated deeper and more naturally. |
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426 The modern email features need to be readily available, out-of-the-box. |
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427 On the other hand, |
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428 bulletin board support and similar obsolete facilities can be dropped out. |
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429 Likewise, ancient technologies should not be supported any further. |
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430 The available concepts need to be expanded as far as possible. |
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431 A small set of concepts should recur consistently. |
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432 .IP "Styling |
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433 Mmh's source code needs to be updated to modern standards. |
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434 Standardized library functions should replace non-standard versions |
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435 whenever possible. |
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436 Code should be separated into distinct modules when feasible. |
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437 Time and space optimizations should to be replaced by |
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438 clear and readable code. |
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439 A uniform programming style should prevail. |
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440 The whole system should appear to be of-one-style; |
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441 it should feel like being cast as one. |