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     1.4 +.H0 "Summary
     1.5 +.P
     1.6 +This document describes and explains my work on mmh.
     1.7 +I have streamlined the project by removing programs, facilities
     1.8 +and options that diverted from the main task of mmh, being a MUA.
     1.9 +I have modernized the code base removing obsolete functions and
    1.10 +activating modern features per default.
    1.11 +Further more, I improved the style by refactoring clumpsy code
    1.12 +and by defining or exploiting clear concepts.
    1.13 +All my work was motivated by Antoine de Saint Exupery's well-known
    1.14 +statement:
    1.15 +.[
    1.16 +antoine de saint exupery: Wind, Sand and Stars (1939)
    1.17 +.]
    1.18 +.QS
    1.19 +It seems that perfection is attained not when there is nothing
    1.20 +more to add, but when there is nothing more to remove.
    1.21 +.QE
    1.22 +.P
    1.23 +In contrast to the common expectations, I have hardly added new features.
    1.24 +I regard my improvements in selecting the relevant set of existing
    1.25 +features and exploiting the concepts more thoroughly.
    1.26 +I believe, the result is a system simpler and clearer for both
    1.27 +developing and using, without lacking important functionality.
    1.28 +
    1.29 +
    1.30 +.U2 "Work Left to Do
    1.31 +.P
    1.32 +The work done during the project is not finished.
    1.33 +Several tasks are left to do, mainly the MIME integration.
    1.34 +.P
    1.35 +MIME handling is the most complex part of mmh and it requires
    1.36 +general rework.
    1.37 +The changes already done to it build upon the existing structure.
    1.38 +Yet, MIME support is not truly integrated.
    1.39 +For instance, accessing messages and accessing MIME parts of messages
    1.40 +have inherently different concepts, although a single concept should
    1.41 +cover both.
    1.42 +The sequence notation should provide a way to address MIME parts directly.
    1.43 +Furthermore, the sequence notation should be made more powerful in general.
    1.44 +For instance, it is currently not possible to access the second last
    1.45 +message in a given sequence.
    1.46 +Displaying messages with
    1.47 +.Pn show
    1.48 +requires further rework.
    1.49 +Encrypted messages, for example, should be decoded automatically
    1.50 +and digital signatures should be verified on-the-fly.
    1.51 +The whole task should be aligned with the common behavior of other
    1.52 +mail clients.
    1.53 +MH's unique features should not be lost, but the default should become
    1.54 +less surprising.
    1.55 +Transfer-decoding of the quoted text in replys and encoding of non-ASCII
    1.56 +characters in message header fields like
    1.57 +.Hd Subject
    1.58 +remain unsolved.
    1.59 +.P
    1.60 +Besides MIME-related tasks, some tools were not worked on yet.
    1.61 +Among them are
    1.62 +.Pn dist ,
    1.63 +.Pn rcvdist ,
    1.64 +.Pn mark ,
    1.65 +.Pn pick ,
    1.66 +and
    1.67 +.Pn sortm .
    1.68 +Concerning
    1.69 +.Pn sortm ,
    1.70 +a threaded message view is completely missing to mmh, yet.
    1.71 +.Pn pick
    1.72 +could profit from message indexing.
    1.73 +No research was performed in this field.
    1.74 +.P
    1.75 +The features most often asked for are Maildir and IMAP support.
    1.76 +Yet, both of them collide with MH in the same fundamental way as
    1.77 +different filesystem approaches would collide with Unix.
    1.78 +Nevertheless, a storage back-end abstraction layer could provide
    1.79 +a mapping from such back-ends to the MH storage format.
    1.80 +Research in this area is highly appreciated.
    1.81 +
    1.82 +
    1.83 +.U2 "Relationship to nmh
    1.84 +.P
    1.85 +The mmh project started as an experimental version of nmh because the
    1.86 +nmh community did not welcome my changes in the mainline version.
    1.87 +To not slow my work down by the need to convince the community in
    1.88 +discussions for each step I liked to take,
    1.89 +I started to create an experimental version to convicce by demonstration
    1.90 +of the result.
    1.91 +My worked on mmh was independent of the nmh community.
    1.92 +This enabled me to follow my vision straightly and thus produce
    1.93 +a result of greater pureness.
    1.94 +.P
    1.95 +Mmh shall be considered an inspiration for the future development of nmh.
    1.96 +It shall show identify weak part of nmh and suggest possible
    1.97 +improvements by change.
    1.98 +It shall present a lean appearance that is simpler to understand
    1.99 +and work with for developers and users.
   1.100 +By all means shall my work on mmh improve nmh in some way.
   1.101 +Improving nmh directly in the way I wanted was impossible for me
   1.102 +due to personal and community-related circumstances.
   1.103 +The mmh project is my way to offer my gifts though.
   1.104 +.P
   1.105 +During my work on mmh, the community of nmh suddenly became very active.
   1.106 +They have worked on nmh in parallel to my work on mmh.
   1.107 +There was no collaberation in our work, except that I have pulled some
   1.108 +changes from nmh to mmh.
   1.109 +Our work was motivated partly by similar and partly by different aims.
   1.110 +Although some changes are common among both projects,
   1.111 +fundamental differences exist.
   1.112 +My experimental version thus more and more felt like being a fork.
   1.113 +I am undecided how I like to have it.
   1.114 +Yet, I am strongly convinced that most of the decisions taken in mmh
   1.115 +were good to achieve my goals and I like to push the project even
   1.116 +farther in this direction.
   1.117 +
   1.118 +
   1.119 +.U2 "Weaknesses of My Work
   1.120 +.P
   1.121 +not targeting on the right problems (maildir, imap)
   1.122 +
   1.123 +.P
   1.124 +refactoring requires testing, automated testing
   1.125 +
   1.126 +.P
   1.127 +communication with nmh.
   1.128 +worked behind closed doors, but no:
   1.129 +talks I've given
   1.130 +
   1.131 +.P
   1.132 +focus on myself.
   1.133 +But: If good for me then also good for others.