tlug: Naive VM question

[Matt Gushee <matt@example.com>]

Stephen J. Turnbull writes:
 > >>>>> "Kei" == Kei Furuuchi <kfur@example.com> writes:

 >     Kei> Also the spoolfile is a file used for local mail server to
 >     Kei> serve for other computers on the local net.  It is not
 >     Kei> convenient to be erased everytime VM is initiated.  Or using
 >     Kei> POP will delete a mail after read by VM?
 > 
 > I believe that VM does delete the mail read using POP from the
 > server.  VM assumes you want to keep your mail archives locally.  I
 > don't know if you can change this.

A few months ago I had a similar situation and, feeling totally
incompetent to deal with Sendmail, I thought I'd try using only
VM-POP, and get rid of the whole nasty Fetchmail-Procmail-Sendmail
complex. Okay, well, Fetchmail isn't nasty, and I'm sure Procmail is
very useful--but I think you know what I mean.

I found that:

* There doesn't appear to be any user option to disable deleting
messages from the server, but:

* If you look at vm-pop.el, it's not too hard to see what commands it
is sending to the server.

So I hacked it a little bit, and was able to get it to keep messages
on the server. But there were one or two other problems--if memory
serves, I couldn't figure out how to prevent VM from retrieving the
same messages repeatedly. Anyway, I didn't think I understood enough
about mail systems to be sure I was doing the right thing, so I gave
it up and went back to Fetchmail+Sendmail.

Anyway, my impression is that if you understand the POP protocol it
would be fairly easy to fix VM to do what you want. I *probably* still 
have my modified version somewhere, and I could send it if you were
interested (with the understanding that it still needs work).

Hope this helps,

Matt Gushee
Oshamanbe, Hokkaido
---------------------------------------------------------------
Next Nomikai: 15 May Fri, 19:30 Tengu TokyoEkiMae 03-3275-3691
Next TLUG Meeting: 13 June Sat, Tokyo Station Yaesu gate 12:30
Featuring Stone and Turnbull on .rpm and .deb packages
---------------------------------------------------------------
a word from the sponsor:
TWICS - Japan's First Public-Access Internet System
www.twics.com  info@example.com  Tel:03-3351-5977  Fax:03-3353-6096