1.1 --- a/preface.roff	Wed Mar 07 16:03:36 2012 +0100
     1.2 +++ b/preface.roff	Wed Mar 07 16:04:08 2012 +0100
     1.3 @@ -1,5 +1,69 @@
     1.4  .H0 "Preface" no
     1.5  
     1.6 +.H1 "How the Fun Began" no
     1.7 +.P
     1.8 +I have discovered nmh in XXX. I used to use mutt, like many
     1.9 +command line-attracted Unix users. Nmh had convinced me conceptually
    1.10 +at once. Unfortunately, setting it up to a convenient state became a
    1.11 +tendious task. Learning its different model of email handling had,
    1.12 +in contrast, been relatively easy. Learning to use MH if you are used
    1.13 +to monolithic mail clients is like learning vi if you are used to
    1.14 +modeless editors.
    1.15 +Once having nmh set up, using it was joy because of its conceptional
    1.16 +elegance and scripting capabilities, but on the other hand it was
    1.17 +inconvenient in handling attachments, non-ASCII character encodings,
    1.18 +and similar stuff. I found it wrong to require more and more scripts
    1.19 +and configuration to have it act the expected way. In being a
    1.20 +software developer, I wanted to improve the situation.
    1.21 +.P
    1.22 +In Spring 2010, I asked on the nmh-workers mailing list for the
    1.23 +possibility to have a Google Summer of Code project on nmh. Being a
    1.24 +student, this appeared attractive to me. Eventually, it had not been
    1.25 +possible, but the nmh community started to move. In these months
    1.26 +nmh's future was discussed and I became part of a ``Does nmh need an
    1.27 +MTA'' discussion. There, my opinion differed from the opinion of
    1.28 +most others.
    1.29 +.P
    1.30 +As it hadn't been possible to work on nmh in a way that would be
    1.31 +accepted as part of my official studies, I needed to get my credit
    1.32 +points in some other way. But half a year later I was back. Starting
    1.33 +in Summer 2010, I took one semester off to travel through Latin America.
    1.34 +Within this time, I needed to do practical computer work for three
    1.35 +months. Richard Sandelman, an active nmh user, made it possible for
    1.36 +me to work on nmh during this time. Juan Granda, from Santiago del
    1.37 +Estero in Argentina, provided a computer and Internet connection.
    1.38 +Within these three month, I became familiar with nmh's code base and
    1.39 +its community. I learned how things work. Quickly it was obvious that
    1.40 +I wouldn't succeed to improve on the non-ASCII character encoding
    1.41 +problems, as this is one of the most intricate parts of the system.
    1.42 +Instead I improved code as I read through it. I found minor bugs in
    1.43 +the code and could improve the documentation. When I started with
    1.44 +larger code changes, I had to discover that the community's wish for
    1.45 +compatibility was stronger than its wish for convenient
    1.46 +out-of-the-box setups. This lead to long discussions, again. Finally,
    1.47 +I understand their point of view, but it's not mine.
    1.48 +At the end of my three-month project, I had became familiar with
    1.49 +nmh's code base and community, I had improved both a bit, and I still
    1.50 +was convinced that I wanted to go on with it.
    1.51 +.P
    1.52 +Another half a year later, I needed a topic for my master's thesis.
    1.53 +Now it was clear: I wanted to work on nmh. No, not exactly nmh,
    1.54 +because I had accepted that the nmh community has different goals
    1.55 +than I have. The won't be much progress if generally different opinions
    1.56 +lead to long discussions. After careful thought, I had decided to
    1.57 +start an experimental version of nmh. I wanted to go my way and see
    1.58 +where it would lead to. Time would tell if it would prove successful.
    1.59 +Nmh would hardly be hurt by my work, but could profit from my
    1.60 +experiences later.
    1.61 +.P
    1.62 +When I started to work on mmh, my experimental version, in Fall 2011,
    1.63 +activity in nmh rose suddenly. While I was working on mmh, XXX were
    1.64 +working on nmh. After long years of idleing, nmh was actively
    1.65 +developed again. That was a good sign. My own work went in parallel
    1.66 +and unrelated. Today, my experimental version became de facto a fork.
    1.67 +The mail storage, however, is still compatible.
    1.68 +
    1.69 +
    1.70  .H1 "Naming Conventions" no
    1.71  .P
    1.72  There are three different versions of MH available currently: original MH,
    1.73 @@ -9,14 +73,6 @@
    1.74  (Mail Handler).
    1.75  Used for any MH-like mail systems, namely the original MH, nmh, and mmh.
    1.76  .P
    1.77 -.B Nmh
    1.78 -(New Mail Handler).
    1.79 -Meaning the currently most widespread version of MH.
    1.80 -.P
    1.81 -.B Mmh
    1.82 -(Modern Mail Handler, or Meillo's Mail Handler).
    1.83 -A descendent of nmh. The version of MH that is covered in this thesis.
    1.84 -.P
    1.85  .B "Mail client" .
    1.86  Synonym for MUA. The part of the mail software the user directly
    1.87  interacts with.
    1.88 @@ -24,6 +80,12 @@
    1.89  
    1.90  .\" End or Preface. Start of the normal text.
    1.91  .\" Switch to arabic page numbers and start on a right page.
    1.92 -.pn 0
    1.93 -.af PN 0
    1.94 -.if o .bp
    1.95 +.if e \{
    1.96 +.	pn 1
    1.97 +.	af PN 1
    1.98 +.\}
    1.99 +.if o \{
   1.100 +.	pn 0
   1.101 +.	af PN 0
   1.102 +.	bp
   1.103 +.\}