1.1 --- a/ch01.roff	Tue May 08 17:45:02 2012 +0200
     1.2 +++ b/ch01.roff	Tue May 08 18:37:12 2012 +0200
     1.3 @@ -7,20 +7,31 @@
     1.4  it headed to. This shall give an overview.
     1.5  
     1.6  
     1.7 +.H1 "Email Prerequisites
     1.8 +.P
     1.9 +XXX Do we really need that?
    1.10 +
    1.11 +
    1.12  .H1 "What is MH?
    1.13  .P
    1.14  MH is an electronic mail system, originating in the RAND Corporation.
    1.15 -Historically, it had been a all-in-one mail system, with Mail Transfer
    1.16 +Historically, it had been a all-in-one mail system, with both Mail Transfer
    1.17  Agent (MTA) and Mail User Agent (MUA).
    1.18 -Later, when electronic mail systems changed, Mail Submission Agent (MSA)
    1.19 +Later, when email setups changed, Mail Submission Agent (MSA)
    1.20  and Mail Retrieval Agent (MRA) facilities were added.
    1.21  The MTA became less important, whereas the MUA became even more the
    1.22  central part.
    1.23  .P
    1.24 -First of all, MH is a style of a mail handling system.
    1.25 +MH defines a mail handling concept.
    1.26  It had started as a design proposal, not as an implementation, and 
    1.27 -had in spirit remained so. This is similar to Unix, which much less
    1.28 -is a specific software product, as it is a style of system design.
    1.29 +in spirit had remained this way. This is similar to Unix, which
    1.30 +rather is a style of system design than specific software product.
    1.31 +.P
    1.32 +XXX Link to the Unix phil.
    1.33 +.P
    1.34 +XXX comparision to monolithic mail systems.
    1.35 +.P
    1.36 +XXX Differenciation of MUA and mail system.
    1.37  
    1.38  .U2 "History
    1.39  .P
    1.40 @@ -28,7 +39,7 @@
    1.41  In 1977, Norman Shapiro and Stockton Gaines had proposed the design
    1.42  of a new mail handling system, called ``Mail Handler'' (MH) for RAND,
    1.43  to superseed their ``Mail System'' (MS).
    1.44 -Two years later, in 1979, XXX took the proposal and implemented a
    1.45 +Two years later, in 1979, Bruce Borden took the proposal and implemented a
    1.46  prototype of MH. It proved successful and replaced MS thereafter.
    1.47  .P
    1.48  A decade later, the University of California had started to use MH.
    1.49 @@ -43,26 +54,6 @@
    1.50  (nmh), a fork of MH. He intended to modernize MH, improve its MIME
    1.51  capabilities, and this should be done openly within the Internet
    1.52  community. Today, nmh almost completely replaced the original MH.
    1.53 -.P
    1.54 -Three versions of MH are available:
    1.55 -.BU
    1.56 -.B "Old MH" .
    1.57 -In most cases it has been replaced by nmh, but some systems still
    1.58 -provide old MH. As nmh is old MH-compatible, there exist few reasons
    1.59 -not to upgrade to new.
    1.60 -The development of old MH stopped almost completely.
    1.61 -.BU
    1.62 -.B Nmh .
    1.63 -The most widespread version of MH. Backward-compatible to old MH.
    1.64 -Provides new featues, which need to be activated explicitely.
    1.65 -Its development went slowly in the previous years, but had revived
    1.66 -in Fall 2011.
    1.67 -.BU
    1.68 -.B Mmh
    1.69 -A descendent of nmh. Had started as a non-compatible experimental
    1.70 -version, but became de facto a fork. Tries to expand the same
    1.71 -principle concepts in a more modern way. This version of MH is the
    1.72 -subject of this thesis.
    1.73  
    1.74  .U2 "Concepts
    1.75  .P
    1.76 @@ -87,8 +78,38 @@
    1.77  MH allows the user to automate almost everything and to modify amost
    1.78  any behavior. The system is scriptable and extendable.
    1.79  
    1.80 +.U2 "Available Versions
    1.81 +.P
    1.82 +Three versions of MH are available today:
    1.83 +.BU
    1.84 +.I "Original MH" .
    1.85 +In most cases it has been replaced by nmh, but some systems still
    1.86 +provide old MH. As nmh is old MH-compatible, there exist few reasons
    1.87 +not to upgrade to new.
    1.88 +The development of old MH has stopped after the 6.8.4 release in
    1.89 +February 1996.
    1.90 +.BU
    1.91 +.I nmh .
    1.92 +The most widespread version of MH was forked off version 6.8.3 in December
    1.93 +1996. It incorporated the \fILBL changes\fP.
    1.94 +It provides backward-compatible to old MH by having new featues deactivated
    1.95 +by default. To use them, the user needs to activate them explicitely.
    1.96 +Its development went slowly in the previous years, but had revived
    1.97 +in December 2011.
    1.98 +.BU
    1.99 +.I mmh .
   1.100 +This version is the subject of this thesis.
   1.101 +It is a descendent of nmh. It had started as a non-compatible experimental
   1.102 +version, but became de facto a fork. It tries to expand the same
   1.103 +principle concepts in a more modern way.
   1.104  
   1.105 -.H1 "Understanding of the Code and Community
   1.106 +.U2 "Example Session
   1.107 +.P
   1.108 +Example mail handling session with mmh, but mostly compatible with nmh
   1.109 +and old MH. The look'n'feel is common among them.
   1.110 +
   1.111 +
   1.112 +.H1 "Understanding the Code and Community
   1.113  .P
   1.114  In order to understand the state, goals and dynamics of a project,
   1.115  one needs to know its history. MH comes from a time before the
   1.116 @@ -135,7 +156,38 @@
   1.117  back-end.
   1.118  
   1.119  
   1.120 -.H1 "My Vision
   1.121 +.H1 "mmh
   1.122 +
   1.123 +.U2 "Motivation
   1.124 +.P
   1.125 +XXX
   1.126 +
   1.127 +.U2 "Why it is worth it
   1.128 +.P
   1.129 +XXX
   1.130 +
   1.131 +.U2 "Target Field
   1.132 +.P
   1.133 +XXX Target field and scenarios
   1.134 +.P
   1.135 +The target user in mind likes Unix and its philosophy.
   1.136 +He likes to use programs that are conceptionally appealing.
   1.137 +He's familiar with the command line and enjoys its power.
   1.138 +He is at least capable of shell scripting and wants to improve his
   1.139 +productivity by scripting the mail system.
   1.140 +His computer and operating system are from post-ANSI C times.
   1.141 +He likes to attach files, exchanges text containing non-ASCII
   1.142 +characters, signs or encrypts his messages.
   1.143 +He does not use bulletin boards anymore, nor non-mbox style mail
   1.144 +drops, nor does he rely on compatibility to nmh.
   1.145 +He already has and MTA/MSA and MRA running or is able to set them
   1.146 +up.
   1.147 +He does not want to have to read a book in order to make his MUA
   1.148 +usable.
   1.149 +.P
   1.150 +XXX Limitations
   1.151 +
   1.152 +.U2 "The Vision
   1.153  .P
   1.154  The general goals of the mmh project are the following:
   1.155  .BU
   1.156 @@ -152,27 +204,10 @@
   1.157  .BU
   1.158  I plan to remove any optimizations that rises obscurity, unless it
   1.159  appears to be neccessary to make mmh usable at all.
   1.160 -.P
   1.161 -.B "The target user in mind
   1.162 -likes Unix and its philosophy.
   1.163 -He likes to use programs that are conceptionally appealing.
   1.164 -He's familiar with the command line and enjoys its power.
   1.165 -He is at least capable of shell scripting and wants to improve his
   1.166 -productivity by scripting the mail system.
   1.167 -His computer and operating system are from post-ANSI C times.
   1.168 -He likes to attach files, exchanges text containing non-ASCII
   1.169 -characters, signs or encrypts his messages.
   1.170 -He does not use bulletin boards anymore, nor non-mbox style mail
   1.171 -drops, nor does he rely on compatibility to nmh.
   1.172 -He already has and MTA/MSA and MRA running or is able to set them
   1.173 -up.
   1.174 -He does not want to have to read a book in order to make his MUA
   1.175 -usable.
   1.176  
   1.177 -
   1.178 -.H1 "Things to do
   1.179 +.U2 "Work to do
   1.180  .BU
   1.181 -Remove any MTA and MRA facilities. Mmh shall concentrate on the MUA
   1.182 +Remove the MTA and MRA facilities. Mmh shall concentrate on the MUA
   1.183  task. Mail shall enter mmh's mail storage via the system mail drop
   1.184  and it shall leave mmh via the local \fLsendmail\fP command.
   1.185  .BU
   1.186 @@ -195,3 +230,10 @@
   1.187  Integrate MIME support deeper and more natural into MH.
   1.188  .BU
   1.189  Provide a ready-to-use setup out-of-the-box.
   1.190 +
   1.191 +
   1.192 +.H1 "Goals of this Thesis
   1.193 +
   1.194 +.U2 "Methods
   1.195 +.P
   1.196 +foo