Re: Balsa 0.4.9 comments

[Jules Bean <jmlb2 hermes cam ac uk>]

On Mon, 1 Feb 1999, Wayne Schuller wrote:

> I've simply setup fetchmail to get the mail, and using Balsa to read it.
> It works quite well...  I'm actually surprised that you would want to
> get POP/IMAP support into the first version of Balsa when you can just
> use fetchmail. But I agree that in built pop/imap support is necessary
> eventually. 

If (like me) you store your mail on a remote server (which is the Right
Way (tm) if you need the ability to read mail from various different
places), then IMAP support is a must.

Actually, balsa's IMAP support is not really there yet, as far as I'm
concerned.  When I have the time to a) set up a working gnome dev
environment and b) learn my way around the balsa code I'll start
submitting patches.  [For the programmers:  The show-stoppers for me right
now are the inability to periodically check the status on a large number
of mailboxes]


> -Why aren't mailbox transfers and mail deletions immediate in their
> effect? SHould they be? I have to click on "Mailboxes -> Commit Current"
> to make these have an effect. Would be better for this to be instant.
> I'm sure we'll have an "undo" button eventually. 

presumably this is thinking ahead to the IMAP case?

I would suggest it be optional, especially for people who have their mail
local.

> -Are mailboxes simply based on text files with the email concatenated
> inside them? This is a great idea. Very open. Plus it is compatible with
> other email programs like elm. Maybe down the track it would be a good
> idea to allow Balsa to read gziped mailboxes, for those of us who have
> more spare CPU than we do HD space. 

<grin> yes, but it's not a new idea - that's called mailbox or mbox
format, and is used by almost all unix emailers..

> 
> -I sometimes have lines cut off at the bottom of my emails. It may only
> be the bottom line, but in some of my emails balsa is clearly cutting
> off something toward the end. 

Hmm..

What most annoys me about balsa mail is that it doesn't appear to wrap
lines at 70 chars before sending.

Jules

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|  Julian Bean   | jmlb2@hermes.cam.ac.uk        |  TW9 2TF *UK*       |
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