On Tuesday, 23 December 2025 00:38:37 Greenwich Mean Time Dale wrote: > Howdy, > > I didn't want to clutter the other thread any further. So, Seamonkey is > about to be removed. I don't have the skills to update the ebuild to > manage it locally, plus, even if I did, it is likely just pushing the > problem further down the road. After all, the web browser part is > almost useless as it is now. The Gentoo website works but it's about > the only website that does. Most other websites give a blank white > screen or some sort of error. I've discussed this in the past but now > the time is here. Here is some info that may help you to help me.
If it's built and it runs, keep it. At some point its runtime dependencies
may no longer exist in your Gentoo system and this is where the problem will
require a more in depth intervention. By then the Seamonkey dev(s) may have
stepped up to the plate and the package could return to portage (or an
overlay) if a maintainer for it can be found.
If and when Seamonkey won't build or no longer run on your system you could
try Flatpak or Snapd, in case you can install it in isolation from the rest of
your software.
> I'm a HTML guy. I figure >95% of my email is HTML. The Gentoo list
> emails, and maybe a couple other random ones, are text only but that's
> about it. So, I'm not looking for a text only or command line
> solution. I've tried some mail clients in the past. I used Kmail for a
> while way back around 2003 or so. Then I switched to Seamonkey. In all
> honesty, I like the email part of Seamonkey just fine. Other than
> having to copy links to Firefox since the browser part doesn't work, it
> does it's job. I have a encrypted/signed email setup as well.
> Seamonkey uses Enigmail. I'd like to be able to move that over but
> suspect it is as simple as importing or something.
If you created your gpg keypair using the system's app-crypt/gnupg, then
you'll be able to either configure your new mail client application to use
these keys stored in ~/.gnupg, or export them from enigmail in an appropriate
format and import them into your new email client.
> Also, I have the
> very first email I ever sent or received. I'd like to be able to
> transfer all my emails to whatever I switch too. Either by importing
> them or copying the directory for current emails to the new location.
Where are these messages stored and in what format? A POP3 or IMAP4 mail
server? Mbox or Maildir storage format?
Whichever type of mail storage you have, just make sure you take a backup
BEFORE you start messing up with different clients/servers. If you use Mbox,
then take two backups! LOL!
> Also, I have a LOT of folders and such to organize my emails. I have a
> folder for example for Gentoo user mailing list emails. I have similar
> for my bank, forums, websites I order from etc etc etc. I'd need that
> ability as well but I suspect most email clients have that ability.
The IMAP4/maildir storage structure has an index of messages which allows
indexing for each individual folder, de-duplication, search, filters, etc.
Each message is stored, indexed and presented separately, akin to how you
access files with your file manager.
The POP3/Mbox structure uses one single big file containing all your messages
and waiting for the time it will ... corrupt itself. It's not very forgiving
if you try to access it simultaneously with different clients, because it uses
a lock file feature. Unlike maildir where only one message is locked when
operated on, with mbox the whole file is locked when accessed and operated on.
Should you try to access a Maildir file via a network fs which does not use
lockfiles, expect tears before bedtime.
With a POP3 client any folders you created are only local and do not reflect
what's on the server. The POP3 concept relies on you fetching your messages
from the Inbox and storing them locally on your machine. With an IMAP4 client
the folder structure reflects what is present on the server and syncs
bidirectionally each moment the client(s) access the server.
The above is the basic concept of POP3 Vs IMAP4 and Mbox Vs Maildir message
storage. There are many sources and RFCs on the interwebs if you want to
delve into the details of it all. Suffice to say POP3/Mbox is a legacy system
the deficiencies of which were addressed by IMAP4/Maildir for decades now.
> Once switched, my main web browser will be Firefox, as it is now
> really. I do use multiple profiles. It would be nice if when I click
> on a link in the email software, it opens in a Firefox profile. Maybe
> has a way I can set it to do so in a selected profile. This has been a
> sticking point in the past. I find it hard to believe that with Firefox
> having multiple profile options available that there isn't a way to
> handle this. Multiple profile support has been available in Firefox for
> many years now.
The default desktop browser is set at the desktop environment using xdg-
settings {get | check | set}, or some GUI equivalent in the desktop's 'System
Settings'. I don't know how you would open a particular link from your stand-
alone mail client via a particular Firefox profile automatically. This
functionality would require the mail client to invoke different incantations
of e.g. 'firefox --profile ~/.mozilla/XXXXXXX <URL>' depending on the mail
folder the message was stored in. There may be mail clients which offer this
configuration at a folder level - but I've not looked into it.
> Some people on this mailing list see more email software than I do.
> It's mostly me, myself and I here. All three of us use Seamonkey right
> now. LOL I haven't seen Kmail or Thunderbird in a while. I did try
> Thunderbird a couple years ago and I couldn't get it to work right. No
> idea on Kmail. So, my question is this. What is going to be the
> closest email client I can switch to that is like, or close to, how
> Seamonkey works? Is Thunderbird my best option? Should I try Kmail
> again? Is there some new email client that I'm not aware of that is
> even better than those? Also, I'd like something that is going to be
> around long term. I'd like to avoid software that will be in the same
> spot Seamonkey is in right now anytime soon.
I can't make a suggestion which client may be best for you, beyond the obvious
- T'bird should be close /enough/ to Seamonkey's mail client and with some
configuration tweaks may be tolerable for your use case and majority of
requirements. Although I use mutt/neomutt when on a console and on systems
without a GUI, I have used Kmail since KDE3, if not before then. I've tried
to migrate to many different clients when KDE decided to break their PIM with
KDE4. Most of the time I ended up spending more time trying to bend these
different clients out of shape to force them to work like Kmail, than actually
using them to manage my messages. After a few weeks I would end up being so
frustrated by the new mail client's foibles, I would always return back to
Kmail.
Therefore, all I can recommend is try different mail clients and see what
functionality you can compromise with. There are tools to convert Mbox to
Maildir storage and you'd need to do this on a local backup before you start
trying things out. Alternative, since you are using Gmail you will be able to
access its storage via IMAP4 and the folder structure on the server will be
reflected on what the client sees.
HTH.
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