Comments on: Mail and news http://www.kryogenix.org/days/2004/03/05/mailNews scratched tallies on the prison wall Sat, 22 Nov 2008 00:22:31 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: Martin Geisler http://www.kryogenix.org/days/2004/03/05/mailNews#comment-4115 Martin Geisler Thu, 27 Oct 2005 22:21:26 +0000 http://www.kryogenix.org/adpb/2004/03/05/mailNews/#comment-4115 I stumbled upon your post --- I don't know if this would be relevant anymore, but I've been through some of the same before reaching an optimal solution (for me at least): Gnus as the mail- and newsreader. Leafnode to fetch news. Getmail with maildrop to do virus/spam checks, and to sort mails into `~/Maildir`. (I like those two programs better than the more traditional fetchmail + procmail combo, but the important thing is to use the Maildir format which nice and fast). Use Dovecot to present the Maildir as an IMAP server. Dovecot is a super piece of software --- the author writes that you're not supposed to make it segfault, even if you actively try to by poking at its files. I guess you either love or hate Gnus, but for me it's perfect to have mail and news combined inside Emacs. With an IMAP server I can access my mail from wherever in the world, secured by SSL. Dovecot is very fast too, so having thousands of mails in a folder is no problem (but accessing the Maildir directly using Gnus is, so that's another reason for me to put in this extra layer). I stumbled upon your post — I don’t know if this would be relevant anymore, but I’ve been through some of the same before reaching an optimal solution (for me at least):

Gnus as the mail- and newsreader.

Leafnode to fetch news.

Getmail with maildrop to do virus/spam checks, and to sort mails into `~/Maildir`. (I like those two programs better than the more traditional fetchmail + procmail combo, but the important thing is to use the Maildir format which nice and fast).

Use Dovecot to present the Maildir as an IMAP server. Dovecot is a super piece of software — the author writes that you’re not supposed to make it segfault, even if you actively try to by poking at its files.

I guess you either love or hate Gnus, but for me it’s perfect to have mail and news combined inside Emacs.

With an IMAP server I can access my mail from wherever in the world, secured by SSL. Dovecot is very fast too, so having thousands of mails in a folder is no problem (but accessing the Maildir directly using Gnus is, so that’s another reason for me to put in this extra layer).

]]> By: Aquarion http://www.kryogenix.org/days/2004/03/05/mailNews#comment-1791 Aquarion Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0000 http://www.kryogenix.org/adpb/2004/03/05/mailNews/#comment-1791 A description of my mail/news system:<br /> <br /> All mail goes to /var/mail/aquarion, mailboxen in ~/Mail/, procmail filters it as it arrives to either get placed in ~/Mail/spam/$DATE, a variety of different local newsgroups, my mail folder and - if it matches criteria - forwarded to my mobile phone.<br /> <br /> Leafnode2 (http://www.dt.e-technik.uni-dortmund.de/~ma/leafnode/beta/) is my news server. It - unlike leafnode1 - supports local groups. It uses leafnode's fetchnews to fetch news from a bewildering array of newsservers across the world (Most notably the gmane (http://www.gmane.org/) server, which saves me from subscribing to an awful lot of newsgroups by converting them to NNTP for me). Any lists that haven't been picked up by gmane (ie, I've subscribed to) are filtered into local groups by 'pyg' (Debian package, I've never found anything mentioning it outside debian) which Just Works (tm).<br /> <br /> The local groups are set up as moderated, with the groups e-mail address as the moderator.<br /> <br /> Leafnode2, despite being beta, is one of the more stable pieces of software I've ever had the pleasure of using. The one segfault problem I've ever had with it I reported to the maintainer and got a patch within a couple of hours.<br /> <br /> Accessing news is done using slrn, tin, agent or TBird with a shared .newsrc file.<br /> <br /> Accessing mail is done using mutt locally or TBird from my desktop machine over imap, which I don't find slow at all. A description of my mail/news system:

All mail goes to /var/mail/aquarion, mailboxen in ~/Mail/, procmail filters it as it arrives to either get placed in ~/Mail/spam/$DATE, a variety of different local newsgroups, my mail folder and - if it matches criteria - forwarded to my mobile phone.

Leafnode2 (http://www.dt.e-technik.uni-dortmund.de/~ma/leafnode/beta/) is my news server. It - unlike leafnode1 - supports local groups. It uses leafnode’s fetchnews to fetch news from a bewildering array of newsservers across the world (Most notably the gmane (http://www.gmane.org/) server, which saves me from subscribing to an awful lot of newsgroups by converting them to NNTP for me). Any lists that haven’t been picked up by gmane (ie, I’ve subscribed to) are filtered into local groups by ‘pyg’ (Debian package, I’ve never found anything mentioning it outside debian) which Just Works ™.

The local groups are set up as moderated, with the groups e-mail address as the moderator.

Leafnode2, despite being beta, is one of the more stable pieces of software I’ve ever had the pleasure of using. The one segfault problem I’ve ever had with it I reported to the maintainer and got a patch within a couple of hours.

Accessing news is done using slrn, tin, agent or TBird with a shared .newsrc file.

Accessing mail is done using mutt locally or TBird from my desktop machine over imap, which I don’t find slow at all.

]]> By: Clayton Scott http://www.kryogenix.org/days/2004/03/05/mailNews#comment-1792 Clayton Scott Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0000 http://www.kryogenix.org/adpb/2004/03/05/mailNews/#comment-1792 I use gui and commandline all of the time.<br /> GUI at home and ssh to the server from work.<br /> <br /> I use thunderbird for mail(IMAP) and news from my desktop and I use Pine and tin for commandline.<br /> <br /> I'd like to read all of my mailing lists as newsgroups as well as my blogs. Right now I just read a bunch of the Perl lists via nntp.perl.org I use gui and commandline all of the time.
GUI at home and ssh to the server from work.

I use thunderbird for mail(IMAP) and news from my desktop and I use Pine and tin for commandline.

I’d like to read all of my mailing lists as newsgroups as well as my blogs. Right now I just read a bunch of the Perl lists via nntp.perl.org

]]> By: sil http://www.kryogenix.org/days/2004/03/05/mailNews#comment-1793 sil Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0000 http://www.kryogenix.org/adpb/2004/03/05/mailNews/#comment-1793 OK, I have been thinking about this, and I believe I have decided on the following:<br /> <b>Axiom 1</b>: reading news in a mail client is difficult (requiring Cyrus IMAP+inn (bad because of inn) or news2mail (bad because posting is hard)) and should not be done.<br /> <b>Axiom 2</b>: mailing lists are newsgroups, and should be treated as such.<br /> So, I think I'm going to go for leafnode for Usenet, MLGroups or pyg for mailing lists, and either Maildir or IMAP for mail (and I can't decide between the two, because I am short of data, other than my last unsuccessful IMAP trial (which Aquarion points out was probably not representative)). So, nearly a decision! Thanks for your help, chaps; it was useful. OK, I have been thinking about this, and I believe I have decided on the following:
Axiom 1: reading news in a mail client is difficult (requiring Cyrus IMAP+inn (bad because of inn) or news2mail (bad because posting is hard)) and should not be done.
Axiom 2: mailing lists are newsgroups, and should be treated as such.
So, I think I’m going to go for leafnode for Usenet, MLGroups or pyg for mailing lists, and either Maildir or IMAP for mail (and I can’t decide between the two, because I am short of data, other than my last unsuccessful IMAP trial (which Aquarion points out was probably not representative)). So, nearly a decision! Thanks for your help, chaps; it was useful.

]]> By: sil http://www.kryogenix.org/days/2004/03/05/mailNews#comment-1794 sil Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0000 http://www.kryogenix.org/adpb/2004/03/05/mailNews/#comment-1794 Naturally, I've changed my mind.<br /> According to <a href="http://asg.web.cmu.edu/cyrus/download/imapd/install-netnews">http://asg.web.cmu.edu/cyrus/download/imapd/install-netnews</a>.html, Cyrus just reads out of a news spool. So I can install leafnode to run the news spool, and Cyrus IMAP to serve the news spool, use pyg to send my mailing lists into the news spool, and read the whole damned lot by IMAP. Bonus. So, I'll have a news server, but won't use any news clients with it; I'll read the lot in my mail client(s). That sounds like the approach, to me. Naturally, I’ve changed my mind.
According to http://asg.web.cmu.edu/cyrus/download/imapd/install-netnews.html, Cyrus just reads out of a news spool. So I can install leafnode to run the news spool, and Cyrus IMAP to serve the news spool, use pyg to send my mailing lists into the news spool, and read the whole damned lot by IMAP. Bonus. So, I’ll have a news server, but won’t use any news clients with it; I’ll read the lot in my mail client(s). That sounds like the approach, to me.

]]> By: sil http://www.kryogenix.org/days/2004/03/05/mailNews#comment-1795 sil Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0000 http://www.kryogenix.org/adpb/2004/03/05/mailNews/#comment-1795 I lie. Cyrus <b>is</b> the news server. Don't need leafnode. So I just install Cyrus IMAP and "suck":<a href="http://home.comcast.net/~bobyetman/">http://home.comcast.net/~bobyetman/</a> to get the news and feed it to Cyrus. Cool beans. I lie. Cyrus is the news server. Don’t need leafnode. So I just install Cyrus IMAP and “suck”:http://home.comcast.net/~bobyetman/ to get the news and feed it to Cyrus. Cool beans.

]]> By: sil http://www.kryogenix.org/days/2004/03/05/mailNews#comment-1796 sil Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0000 http://www.kryogenix.org/adpb/2004/03/05/mailNews/#comment-1796 I'm thinking that I might change my mnd again. It looks like it might be a pain in the arse to do news by IMAP -- not to serve out news, but to post to newsgroups. Dammit. I liked the idea of doing it all in one client. Um, um, um, I'm open to suggestions here, all. Mailing lists will have a reply-to set to the list; to do newsgroups by IMAP I'd have to munge the created messages to contain a Reply-To of a faked email address (which would stomp on any existing reply-to, and mail munging is bad) and then route mail to that fakes email address back into the news server. That's a big fat pain in the arse, which is tragic. So I dunno what to do now. I’m thinking that I might change my mnd again. It looks like it might be a pain in the arse to do news by IMAP — not to serve out news, but to post to newsgroups. Dammit. I liked the idea of doing it all in one client. Um, um, um, I’m open to suggestions here, all. Mailing lists will have a reply-to set to the list; to do newsgroups by IMAP I’d have to munge the created messages to contain a Reply-To of a faked email address (which would stomp on any existing reply-to, and mail munging is bad) and then route mail to that fakes email address back into the news server. That’s a big fat pain in the arse, which is tragic. So I dunno what to do now.

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