Re: Filter

[Brian Stafford <brian stafford office-logic com>]

Dmitri Pogosyan wrote:
> 
> Gaelyne expressed exactly the sentiment I got from this discussion.
> Thanks,  quoting you saved me lots of typing :)

It it clear, from this message and the one it references, that there is a
fundamental misunderstanding about the division of functionality with in
mail transport agents (MTA) and mail user agents (MUA).

Until mail has been delivered to a mailbox by an MTA it cannot be retrieved
from the mailbox by an MUA.  Period.  Procmail filters run within the MTA to
select a mailbox for message delivery; procmail finishes execution *before*
an MUA can even access the message - it's a causal relationship.

I am advocating the position that it would be a mistake to implement procmail
as a means of filtering *within Balsa*.  Procmail was never designed for use
within an MUA.  Sieve is a much better choice, for many reasons.

As I stated elsewhere, pre-delivery (MTA) filtering is different from post-
delivery (MUA) filtering, both in implementation and use.  Other than noting
the distinction, I have discussed only post-delivery filtering within an MUA
in general and Balsa in particular.

> I have sendmail running great, procmail filtering
> polished, and have no desire to touch them.

So don't touch them.  Sendmail is an MTA which uses procmail to implement
part of its functionality.  Nothing to do with MUAs.  If we were discussing
the implementation of a procmail like program that used Sieve as the
language for its scripts instead of procmail's syntax, such concerns about
translation of the filtering scripts might be valid.  But we aren't.

I would make a personal request that we do not discuss pre-delivery filtering
any further, its an interesting topic but not one relevant to filtering within
Balsa.

--
Brian Stafford