Re: read mail in mbox files

[Richard Riley]

asjo@koldfront.dk (Adam Sjøgren) writes:

> On Tue, 18 Jan 2011 14:59:40 +0100, Richard wrote:
>
>>> nnml does not store in mbox format:
>
>>> ,----[ 6.3.13.3 Mail Spool <http://gnus.org/manual/gnus_194.html#SEC194> ]
>>> |
>>> | If you use this back end, Gnus will split all incoming mail into files,
>>> | one file for each mail, and put the articles into the corresponding
>>> | directories under the directory specified by the nnml-directory
>>> | variable. The default value is `~/Mail/'.
>
>> So what format? Maildir?
>
> No, that would be nnmaildir.

nnmaildir is a format? I thought it was a back end that fed on Maildir?
Possibly silly wording issues only. I dont know at times.

>
> nnml stores mail in its own format, call it nnml-format if you wish -
> i.e. each article in a file by itself and with a .overview and a .marks
> file for each group.
>
>> What is a "nnaml-directory"?
>
> nnml-directory is where the email (files and directories) are stored.
>
>> Maybe I'm overthinking it.
>
> Or under-, I dunno... ;-)

Heh ...

>
>> But "nnml"?
>
> What about "nnml"? It's just the name of a backend to store email in.
>
>> My comments are also reflective of the times we see the same questions
>> here and in #emacs : clearly it isnt at all clear.
>
> You'll need to say _what_ isn't clear.

I think I have but not in a single coherent post. My mistake for
"butterflying" back and forth. mea culpa.

>
>> As it is nnfolder, nnml and some others seem to be some sort of
>> abstract gnus only concepts.
>
> Abstract is perhaps a little much, but they are Gnus concepts
> (backends). What did you imagine they were?
>
>> I'm just voicing the difficulties and many others find trying to
>> configure gnus.
>
> That is fine, but I find it very hard to understand what exactly it is
> you don't comprehend, so my attempts at helping are quite feeble, I'm
> afraid.

And I fully understand : I am not communicating my poor understanding
well as I'm -- confused ;)

>
>> One cant improve it if one doesnt know what something is;) What is nnml?
>
> I just quoted you half of the page in the manual that answers that
> question, and even included the link:
> http://gnus.org/manual/gnus_194.html#SEC194 - what else do you need?
> (I'm not being sarcastic, I actually want your answer.)

What I didnt understand is it proclaiming that its the "Mail Spool".

Its not. Its ONE such. And whether its even a spool is questionable
keeping in mind it defaults to fetching mail from the system spool.

Possibly that was the catalyst that started my confusion.
Possibly that explains where I was getting lost a little.

I must admit the mist is clearing : I will be the first to admit I was
lost in a cloud of my own confusion there for a while.

But whats not helping me is something like this


  (setq gnus-select-method '(nnml "nnml"))
  (setq nndrafts-directory "~/Mail")
  (setq nnml-directory "~/Mail")


and then starting Gnus and finding TWO Mail dirs. one in ~ and the other
in .emacs.d. The ~/Mail is fine : it shows an "active" file and a "mail"
dir. The one in .emacs has similar and ALSO an "incomingXXXXX"
file. Examining the value of nnml-directory it tells me the value is
... "~/.emacs.d/Mail/archive". Its at this point my eyes start to mist
over ...


Thanks for taking the time to hand hold!