1.1 --- a/discussion.roff	Sat Jun 30 15:07:35 2012 +0200
     1.2 +++ b/discussion.roff	Sat Jun 30 16:50:35 2012 +0200
     1.3 @@ -3261,109 +3261,97 @@
     1.4  
     1.5  
     1.6  
     1.7 -.H2 "Separation
     1.8 -
     1.9 -.U3 "MH Directory Split
    1.10 +.H2 "User Data Locations
    1.11  .P
    1.12 -In MH and nmh, a personal setup had consisted of two parts:
    1.13 -The MH profile, named
    1.14 +In nmh, a personal setup consists of the MH profile and the MH directory.
    1.15 +The profile is a file named
    1.16  .Fn \&.mh_profile
    1.17 -and being located directly in the user's home directory.
    1.18 -And the MH directory, where all his mail messages and also his personal
    1.19 -forms, scan formats, other configuration files are stored.
    1.20 -The location
    1.21 -of this directory could be user-chosen.
    1.22 -The default was to name it
    1.23 +in the user's home directory.
    1.24 +It contains the static configuration.
    1.25 +It also contains the location of the MH directory in the profile entry
    1.26 +.Pe Path .
    1.27 +The MH directory contains the mail storage and is the first
    1.28 +place to search for personal forms, scan formats, and similar
    1.29 +configuration files.
    1.30 +The location of the MH directory can be chosen freely by the user.
    1.31 +The default and usual name is a directory named
    1.32  .Fn Mail
    1.33 -and have it directly in the home directory.
    1.34 +in the home directory.
    1.35  .P
    1.36 -I've never liked the data storage and the configuration to be intermixed.
    1.37 -They are different kinds of data.
    1.38 -One part, are the messages,
    1.39 -which are the data to operate on.
    1.40 -The other part, are the personal
    1.41 -configuration files, which are able to change the behavior of the operations.
    1.42 -The actual operations are defined in the profile, however.
    1.43 +The way MH data is splitted between profile and MH directory is a legacy.
    1.44 +It is only sensible in a situation where the profile is the only
    1.45 +configuration file.
    1.46 +Why else should the mail storage and the configuration files be intermixed?
    1.47 +They are different kinds of data:
    1.48 +The data to be operated on and the configuration to change how
    1.49 +tools operate.
    1.50 +Splitting the configuration between the profile and the MH directory
    1.51 +is bad.
    1.52 +Merging the mail storage and the configuration in one directory is bad
    1.53 +as well.
    1.54 +As the mail storage and the configuration were not separated sensibly
    1.55 +in the first place, I did it now.
    1.56  .P
    1.57 -When storing data, one should try to group data by its type.
    1.58 -There's sense in the Unix file system hierarchy, where configuration
    1.59 -file are stored separate (\c
    1.60 -.Fn /etc )
    1.61 -to the programs (\c
    1.62 -.Fn /bin
    1.63 -and
    1.64 -.Fn /usr/bin )
    1.65 -to their sources (\c
    1.66 -.Fn /usr/src ).
    1.67 -Such separation eases the backup management, for instance.
    1.68 -.P
    1.69 -In mmh, I've reorganized the file locations.
    1.70 -Still there are two places:
    1.71 -There's the mail storage directory, which, like in MH, contains all the
    1.72 -messages, but, unlike in MH, nothing else.
    1.73 -Its location still is user-chosen, with the default name
    1.74 +Personal mmh data is grouped by type, resulting in two distinct parts:
    1.75 +The mail storage and the configuration.
    1.76 +In mmh, the mail storage directory still contains all the messages,
    1.77 +but, in exception of public sequences files, nothing else.
    1.78 +In difference to nmh, the auxiliary configuration files are no longer
    1.79 +located there.
    1.80 +Therefore, the directory is no longer called the user's \fIMH directory\fP
    1.81 +but his \fImail storage\fP.
    1.82 +Its location is still user-chosen, with the default name
    1.83  .Fn Mail ,
    1.84  in the user's home directory.
    1.85 -This is much similar to the case in nmh.
    1.86 -The configuration files, however, are grouped together in the new directory
    1.87 +In mmh, the configuration is grouped together in
    1.88 +the hidden directory
    1.89  .Fn \&.mmh
    1.90  in the user's home directory.
    1.91 -The user's profile now is a file, named
    1.92 -.Fn profile ,
    1.93 -in this mmh directory.
    1.94 -Consistently, the context file and all the personal forms, scan formats,
    1.95 -and the like, are also there.
    1.96 +This \fImmh directory\fP contains the context file, personal forms,
    1.97 +scan formats, and the like, but also the user's profile, now named
    1.98 +.Fn profile .
    1.99 +The location of the profile is no longer fixed to
   1.100 +.Fn $HOME/.mh_profile
   1.101 +but to
   1.102 +.Fn $HOME/.mmh/profile .
   1.103 +Having both, the file
   1.104 +.Fn $HOME/.mh_profile
   1.105 +and the configuration directory
   1.106 +.Fn $HOME/.mmh
   1.107 +appeared to be inconsistent.
   1.108 +The approach chosen for mmh is consistent, simple, and familiar to
   1.109 +Unix users.
   1.110  .P
   1.111 -The naming changed with the relocation.
   1.112 -The directory where everything, except the profile, had been stored (\c
   1.113 -.Fn $HOME/Mail ),
   1.114 -used to be called \fIMH directory\fP.
   1.115 -Now, this directory is called the
   1.116 -user's \fImail storage\fP.
   1.117 -The name \fImmh directory\fP is now given to
   1.118 -the new directory
   1.119 -(\c
   1.120 -.Fn $HOME/.mmh ),
   1.121 -containing all the personal configuration files.
   1.122 -.P
   1.123 -The separation of the files by type of content is logical and convenient.
   1.124 -There are no functional differences as any possible setup known to me
   1.125 -can be implemented with both approaches, although likely a bit easier
   1.126 -with the new approach.
   1.127 -The main goal of the change had been to provide
   1.128 -sensible storage locations for any type of personal mmh file.
   1.129 -.P
   1.130 -In order for one user to have multiple MH setups, he can use the
   1.131 -environment variable
   1.132 +MH allows users to have multiiple MH setups.
   1.133 +Therefore, it is necessary to select a different profile.
   1.134 +The profile is the single entry point to access the rest of a
   1.135 +personal MH setup.
   1.136 +In nmh, the environment variable
   1.137  .Ev MH
   1.138 -the point to a different profile file.
   1.139 -The MH directory (mail storage plus personal configuration files) is
   1.140 -defined by the
   1.141 -.Pe Path
   1.142 -profile entry.
   1.143 -The context file could be defined by the
   1.144 -.Pe context
   1.145 -profile entry or by the
   1.146 +could be used to specifiy a different profile.
   1.147 +To operate in the same MH setup with a separate context,
   1.148 +the
   1.149  .Ev MHCONTEXT
   1.150 -environment variable.
   1.151 -The latter is useful to have a distinct context (e.g. current folders)
   1.152 -in each terminal window, for instance.
   1.153 -In mmh, there are three environment variables now.
   1.154 +environment variable could be used.
   1.155 +This allows having own current folders and current messages in
   1.156 +each terminal, for instance.
   1.157 +In mmh, three environment variables are used.
   1.158  .Ev MMH
   1.159 -may be used to change the location of the mmh directory.
   1.160 +overrides the default location of the mmh directory (\c
   1.161 +.Fn .mmh ).
   1.162  .Ev MMHP
   1.163  and
   1.164  .Ev MMHC
   1.165 -change the profile and context files, respectively.
   1.166 -Besides providing a more consistent feel (which simply is the result
   1.167 -of being designed anew), the set of personal configuration files can
   1.168 -be chosen independently from the profile (including mail storage location)
   1.169 -and context, now.
   1.170 -Being it relevant for practical use or not, it
   1.171 -de-facto is an improvement.
   1.172 -However, the main achievement is the
   1.173 -split between mail storage and personal configuration files.
   1.174 -
   1.175 +override the paths to the profile and context files, respectively.
   1.176 +This approach allows the set of personal configuration files to be chosen
   1.177 +independently from the profile, context, and mail storage.
   1.178 +.P
   1.179 +The separation of the files by type is sensible and convenient.
   1.180 +The new approach has no functional disadvantages,
   1.181 +as every setup I can imagine can be implemented with both approaches,
   1.182 +possibly even easier with the new approach.
   1.183 +The main achievement of the change is the clear and sensible split
   1.184 +between mail storage and configuration.
   1.185  
   1.186  
   1.187