[comp.emacs] VM versus RMAIL

lms@think.com (Luis Miguel Silveira) (02/01/91)

Could somebody please post or e-mail me something about the possible
advantages/disadvantages of using VM versus using RMAIL for reading
mail from within emacs ?

Thank you

-Miguel
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Luis Miguel Silveira          e-mail : lms@sobolev.mit.edu  (or)  lms@think.com
Research Laboratory for Electronics  ---  Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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kyle@uunet.UU.NET (Kyle Jones) (02/02/91)

lms@think.com (Luis Miguel Silveira) writes:
 > Could somebody please post or e-mail me something about the possible
 > advantages/disadvantages of using VM versus using RMAIL for reading
 > mail from within emacs ?

For me, the most important advantage of VM is that it uses that
standard UNIX mailbox format.  I can use standard UNIX tools and
mailers on VM folders interchangably, and not get any surprises.
If RMAIL had used the standrad mailbox format, or if I thought
its code could have been converted to do so without excessive
pain, VM probably never would have been written.  At least not by
me.  I would have worked on improving RMAIL instead.

Beyond that you'll have to ask others to compare and contrast VM
and RMAIL.  I didn't use RMAIL long enough to learn all that it can
do.