[net.mail] gripe about Berkeley Mail

dave@utcsrgv.UUCP (Dave Sherman) (09/28/83)

If you invoke an editor with "~e", and the editor exits with a non-zero
value, Mail assumes the editor died a horrible death, reports "Fatal
error in .....[name of editor]", and goes back to what was in the
buffer before invoking the editor. Any work done with the editor is
LOST, unless you've saved it elsewhere.

I don't mind the software assuming editors will all exit with 0
when exiting normally (I was working with one which exited with
the value of the char in the last error message displayed to the
user). But it shouldn't be so draconian as to throw away all work
done with the editor. Either keep the file, and report the fact of
the error, or go back to the old file but *save* the edited file
somewhere where it can be found.

Aside from that, I think Berkeley Mail is great.
(This is version 2.0 January 13, 1981.)

Dave Sherman
Toronto
-- 
 {cornell,decvax,ihnp4,linus,utzoo,uw-beaver}!utcsrgv!lsuc!dave