# HG changeset patch # User markus schnalke # Date 1337264229 -7200 # Node ID 7a33b5adb6727020eb22ffc409299b61f90c6dff # Parent 18e56d609fbf9ddd988ad5dfb86932e93482c987 Rework in the Intro. diff -r 18e56d609fbf -r 7a33b5adb672 ch01.roff --- a/ch01.roff Wed May 16 20:42:30 2012 +0200 +++ b/ch01.roff Thu May 17 16:17:09 2012 +0200 @@ -233,8 +233,6 @@ After long years of much stagnation, nmh became actively developed again. Hence, while I was working on mmh, the community was working on nmh, in parallel. - -.U2 Naming .P The name \fImmh\fP stands for \fImeillo's mail handler\fP, because mmh is my own version of MH. @@ -264,33 +262,11 @@ However, this step backward actually is a step forward, although in another direction. + +.H1 "This Thesis + .U2 "Motivation .P -The mmh project is motivated by deficites of nmh and -my wish for general changes, combined -with the nmh community's reluctancy to change. -.P -nmh hadn't adjusted to modern emailing needs well enough. -The default setup was completely unusable for modern emailing. -Too much setup work was required. -Several modern features were already available but the community -didn't wanted to have them as default. -.P -In my eyes, the concepts could be exploited even better and -the style of the tools could be improved. Both would would simplify -and generalize the system, providing cleaner interfaces and more -software leverage, at the same time. -.P -In providing several parts of an email system, nmh would hardly -be able to compete with the large specialized projects that focus -on only one of the components. Concentrating all development power -on the most unique part of nmh and giving the user the choice to -pick his prefered set of the other mail components would be the better -approach in my eyes. -Today's pre-packaged software components encourage this approach. - -.U2 "Why it is worth it -.P MH is the most important of very few command line toolchest email systems. (There's also \fIim\fP by Tatsuya Kinoshita, which operates on an MH mail storage.) @@ -306,6 +282,32 @@ mmh will create a modern and convenient entry point for new, interested users to MH-like systems. .P +The mmh project is motivated by deficites of nmh and +my wish for general changes, combined +with the nmh community's reluctancy to change. +.P +nmh hadn't adjusted to modern emailing needs well enough. +The default setup was completely unusable for modern emailing. +Too much setup work was required. +Several modern features were already available but the community +didn't wanted to have them as default. +mmh is a way to change this. +.P +In my eyes, MH's concepts could be exploited even better and +the style of the tools could be improved. Both would simplify +and generalize the system, providing cleaner interfaces and more +software leverage, at the same time. +mmh is a way to demonstrate this. +.P +In providing several parts of an email system, nmh can hardly +compete with the large specialized projects that focus +on only one of the components. +The situation can be improved by concentrating the development power +on the most unique part of MH and letting the user pick his prefered +set of other mail components. +Today's pre-packaged software components encourage this model. +mmh is a way to go for this approach. +.P It's worthwhile to fork nmh for the development of mmh, because the two projects focus on different goals and differ in fundamental questions. The nmh community's reluctance to change conflicts @@ -313,15 +315,19 @@ In developing a separate experimental version new approaches can easily be tried out without the need to discuss changes beforehand. In fact, revolutionary changes are hardly possible otherwise. -By forking nmh, mmh will likelier bring fresh air into the field of -MH-like mail systems than without forking. -Fresh air is good to reactivate a matured project. +These reasons support the decision to start mmh as a fork of nmh. .P -These reasons support the decision to start mmh as a fork of nmh. +The mmh project provides the basis to implemented and demonstrated +the listed ideas without the need to change nmh or its community. Of course, the results of the mmh project shall improve nmh, in the end. .U2 "Target Field .P +Any effort needs to be targeted towards a specific goal +in order to be successful. +Following is a description of the imagined typical mmh user. +mmh should satisfy his needs. +.P The target user of mmh likes Unix and its philosophy. He likes to use programs that are conceptionally appealing. He's familiar with the command line and enjoys its power. @@ -335,26 +341,28 @@ like POSIX and ANSI C. .P XXX common scenarios? - -.U2 "The Vision .P -The general goals of the mmh project are the following: +General assumptions of the project are: .BU -I believe that mmh should be perfectly suited for modern emailing, -out-of-the-box. +Elegance \(en being simplicity, clarity and generality \(en is most important. .BU -I care less about compatibility and more about conceptionally elegant -approaches. +Concepts are more important than concrete implementations. .BU -I care for general, clear, and simple concepts. +Time and space optimizations are only useful if absolutely needed to make +the software usable. .BU -I like to create an of-one-style email system. It should feel like -cast as one. -.BU -I plan to remove any optimizations that rises obscurity, unless it -appears to be neccessary to make mmh usable at all. +Having a lot of choice is bad. .U2 "Work to do +.P +The general goals for the mmh project are the following: +.BU +mmh should be perfectly suited for modern emailing, out-of-the-box. +This is a necessity to spread among new users. +.BU +The system shall be of-one-style. It should feel like cast as one. +.P +To do list: .BU Remove the MTA and MRA facilities. Mmh shall concentrate on the MUA task. Mail shall enter mmh's mail storage via the system mail drop @@ -380,11 +388,6 @@ .BU Provide a ready-to-use setup out-of-the-box. - -.H1 "Goals of this Thesis - .U2 "Methods .P foo -mmh wants to provide a ready-to-use setup for modern emailing, -which is a necessity to spread among new users.