question about extending Tramp

[Ted Zlatanov]

Hello,

I tried writing my own file handler for storing files on an IMAP
server but it was not as easy as I had hoped.  Can anyone offer
insight on adding an IMAP handler to Tramp?  I plan to use the Gnus
imap.el and nnimap.el packages to speak the IMAP protocol to the IMAP
server.  There is no single Tramp example package, but tramp-smb.el
seems to be closest in that it implements almost all the functionality
it needs internally.

I also plan to add LDAP as a method at a later point, if the IMAP
storage goes well.

All this will actually go in the Gnus CVS repository, since that's
where it will be used for things like shared newsrc.el/score/kill
files.  But it could go in the Tramp CVS if that's what people want.

So my questions are:

- should I use Tramp, or will there be no appreciable benefit compared
  to writing my own file handler from scratch?

- is there an example in the manual on adding a new external Tramp
  method?

- has anything like this been done before?  I assume not, based on
  Googling and asking around.

- is tramp-smb.el the right place to start?

Thanks
Ted