On Wed, Sep 22, 1999 at 03:31:42AM -0000, D. J. Bernstein wrote:
> Say you have a bunch of mboxes. You choose filenames for them. Of
> course, some filenames are prohibited:
>
> * You can't use the name .., because that's a directory.
> * You can't use the name /Mail, because you don't have permission.
> * You can't use the name Mailbox/2, because Mailbox is a file.
>
> But the complete list of restrictions is reasonably simple, and people
> don't seem to have much trouble dealing with a few special characters.
>
> Now change each mbox to a maildir. Whatever filenames worked with mbox
> will continue to work with maildir. You now have a bunch of maildirs.
With Maildir, the third restriction is no longer true - Maildir isn't a
file, it's a directory.
> What exactly is the problem?
1. Multiple folders, which I feel you handle by implication quite nicely:
Multiple mailboxes translates to multiple Maildirs.
(a) But some MUAs (sqwebmail) won't see such multiple maildirs as
multiple folders. They'd rather create Maildir/.foo, for instance, as
another folder 'foo' in the UA. This '.foo' is a Maildir in and of
itself.
2. Subfolders: Mailboxes can't do sub-folders within themselves. But
Maildir's structure is capable of that because it's a dir. The Maildir
spec is unclear whether the other files shown as allowed in a maildir
is all that's allowed or whether they are 'examples-without-limitation'.
We know that clueful extensions won't break Maildir's purpose. But
random extensions may (will!) produce a fractured non-standard.
Statement of problem: nobody has a standard, a spec, or even
recommendations from which to implement subfolders to Maildirs.
It seems clear to me that with #1 solved with multiple Maildirs in user's
home directory, that the application demonstrated in 1(a) could be applied
effectively to the #2 problem: Maildir/.foo is subfolder 'foo' in Maildir.
But that's less clear to others.
An alternative view is that cluttering ~ with Maildir-foo and Maildir-bar,
etc., is undesireable - hence the 1(a) solution to problem 1 (but what of
subfolders? I'm unclear on that). Other views manufacture creative
solutions, making compatibility more difficult, not easier.
Will you recommend a specific approach that UA's should use for implementing
folders and subfolders with Maildirs? Perhaps as part of the Maildir spec?
That would help switch the debate from "what do we do since Maildir's spec
doesn't specify?" to "do we resist or do we go along with the author's
recommendation?"
Thanks for your responses.
Randy
