[9fans] RFC: MailFS-NG

[9fans] RFC: MailFS-NG

[Enrico Weigelt]

Hi folks,


I've started to design an new filesystem for univeral mail/message 
(as replacement for mailfs), which should be able to cope with all
kind of mail-alike messages (including NetNews, RSS, etc) and is 
meant to (ideally) be the primary/only interface for MUAs.

This of course requires a lot of more functionality, eg. handling
subscriptions, authentication (to the actual server) and misc
configuration stuff. 

My current ideas can be seen at:

* http://oss-qm.metux.de/index.php/9forge/mailfs-ng


What do you think about this ?


cu
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Re: [9fans] RFC: MailFS-NG

[Gabriel Diaz]

Hello

what about something (or a couple of things) that parse rss, netnews,
etc into a mailbox file like the ones in /mail/box/$user ? that way
you could still use the mail tools as they are :-?

btw, is there someone implementing what Russ said about upasfs from
p9p? (a mailbox or maildir module iirc) having an upasfs which do not
store all in ram would be great :)

slds.

gabi


On Jan 6, 2008 9:53 PM, Enrico Weigelt <weigelt@metux.de> wrote:
>
> Hi folks,
>
>
> I've started to design an new filesystem for univeral mail/message
> (as replacement for mailfs), which should be able to cope with all
> kind of mail-alike messages (including NetNews, RSS, etc) and is
> meant to (ideally) be the primary/only interface for MUAs.
>
> This of course requires a lot of more functionality, eg. handling
> subscriptions, authentication (to the actual server) and misc
> configuration stuff.
>
> My current ideas can be seen at:
>
> * http://oss-qm.metux.de/index.php/9forge/mailfs-ng
>
>
> What do you think about this ?
>
>
> cu
> --
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>  Enrico Weigelt    ==   metux IT service - http://www.metux.de/
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>  Please visit the OpenSource QM Taskforce:
>        http://wiki.metux.de/public/OpenSource_QM_Taskforce
>  Patches / Fixes for a lot dozens of packages in dozens of versions:
>        http://patches.metux.de/
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>

Re: [9fans] RFC: MailFS-NG

[Enrico Weigelt]

* Gabriel Diaz <gabidiaz@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi,

> what about something (or a couple of things) that parse rss, netnews,
> etc into a mailbox file like the ones in /mail/box/$user ? that way
> you could still use the mail tools as they are :-?

doesn't work for me. I want to have immediate access to several 
remote storages (virtually and kind of mail and similar thigs).

Just downloading isn't enough, would require sync back (and that's 
gonna be difficult). And having to download several Gig is not
an option for me.

It has to be an synthetic filesystem, since the server should do
most things. As already said: clients should only speak mailfs-ng,
and not doing their own storage handling anymore. This also includes
things lke filtering, searching, etc.


cu
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 Enrico Weigelt    ==   metux IT service - http://www.metux.de/
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 Please visit the OpenSource QM Taskforce:
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Re: [9fans] RFC: MailFS-NG

[Gabriel Diaz]

Hello

> Just downloading isn't enough, would require sync back (and that's
> gonna be difficult). And having to download several Gig is not
> an option for me.
>

I don't know what kind of storages are you talking about, but the way
is done by the mail system is just a read-fs and a smtp client, you do
not write into /mail/fs/mbox to send mail :-?,

> It has to be an synthetic filesystem, since the server should do
> most things. As already said: clients should only speak mailfs-ng,
> and not doing their own storage handling anymore. This also includes
> things lke filtering, searching, etc.
>

why do not start with what we have now? making upasfs to use the
remote storage, making it able to order mailbox and move messages
between them and those things? that's why i suggested taking a look at
what Russ said about upasfs from p9p :-? starting from scrach would be
much more painfull :-?

slds

gabi

Re: [9fans] RFC: MailFS-NG

[Enrico Weigelt]

* Gabriel Diaz <gabidiaz@gmail.com> wrote:

> > Just downloading isn't enough, would require sync back (and that's
> > gonna be difficult). And having to download several Gig is not
> > an option for me.
> >
> 
> I don't know what kind of storages are you talking about, 

Evrything that can store mail-like messages.

> but the way
> is done by the mail system is just a read-fs and a smtp client, you do
> not write into /mail/fs/mbox to send mail :-?,

Ugh, that's a *big* blocker for me. I *need* to write into 
certain boxes.

> > It has to be an synthetic filesystem, since the server should do
> > most things. As already said: clients should only speak mailfs-ng,
> > and not doing their own storage handling anymore. This also includes
> > things lke filtering, searching, etc.
> 
> why do not start with what we have now? making upasfs to use the
> remote storage, making it able to order mailbox and move messages
> between them and those things? 

I just want to make some clean concepts, and then let's see if 
mailfs is enough or could be easily extendet.

But my feeling is: mailfs won't be enough - I need much more 
functionality.

Remember: mailfs-ng should handle all the mail storage for commonly
used MUAs (eg. Mozilla or Mutt) - the individual MUA should do 
nothing more than just operating within mailfs-ng. 


cu
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 Enrico Weigelt    ==   metux IT service - http://www.metux.de/
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 Please visit the OpenSource QM Taskforce:
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Re: [9fans] RFC: MailFS-NG

[Gabriel Diaz Lopez de la Llave]

Hello


On Jan 8, 2008, at 6:44 PM, Enrico Weigelt wrote
>
> Evrything that can store mail-like messages.
>

isn't that just mail messages? you can transform whatever you need to  
look like a mail message, but i don't think thats the way to go. . .  
it is like make everything to look like a webpage, that way you only  
need a browser :?
>>
>
> Ugh, that's a *big* blocker for me. I *need* to write into
> certain boxes.
>

i would love upasfs to be able to move/copy messages between mailboxes  
and the like, i don't see the advantage of creating new mails with it

>
> I just want to make some clean concepts, and then let's see if
> mailfs is enough or could be easily extendet.
>
> But my feeling is: mailfs won't be enough - I need much more
> functionality.
>
> Remember: mailfs-ng should handle all the mail storage for commonly
> used MUAs (eg. Mozilla or Mutt) - the individual MUA should do
> nothing more than just operating within mailfs-ng.
>

and how do you plan to make mozilla or mutt talk to that fs server?  
wouldn't be easier to use imap? unless you wrote a new client or  
modify heavily an existing one i can't see a transparent integration :?

slds.

gabi

Re: [9fans] RFC: MailFS-NG

[Enrico Weigelt]

* Gabriel Diaz Lopez de la Llave <gdiaz@9grid.es> wrote:

> isn't that just mail messages? you can transform whatever you need to  
> look like a mail message, but i don't think thats the way to go. . .  

Well, evrything that fits into rfc2822 can be served by mailfs-ng ;-P
Where the messages actually coming from should not be relevant to
the client.

The client also needs an generic interface for configuring storages 
(ie. subscribing to imap folders, feeds, ...). Managing namespaces
and caching/sync'ing would also be nice. But evrysthing step by step ...

> it is like make everything to look like a webpage, that way you only  
> need a browser :?

in a way ... ;-o

> >Ugh, that's a *big* blocker for me. I *need* to write into
> >certain boxes.
> >
> 
> i would love upasfs to be able to move/copy messages between mailboxes  
> and the like, i don't see the advantage of creating new mails with it

can upasfs be extended for my requirements ?

> >I just want to make some clean concepts, and then let's see if
> >mailfs is enough or could be easily extendet.
> >
> >But my feeling is: mailfs won't be enough - I need much more
> >functionality.
> >
> >Remember: mailfs-ng should handle all the mail storage for commonly
> >used MUAs (eg. Mozilla or Mutt) - the individual MUA should do
> >nothing more than just operating within mailfs-ng.
> >
> 
> and how do you plan to make mozilla or mutt talk to that fs server?  

I'll rewrite the appropriate parts (same as I currently doing
w/ bookmark handling).

> wouldn't be easier to use imap? 

maybe easier, but doesn't fit my needs.


cu
-- 
---------------------------------------------------------------------
 Enrico Weigelt    ==   metux IT service - http://www.metux.de/
---------------------------------------------------------------------
 Please visit the OpenSource QM Taskforce:
 	http://wiki.metux.de/public/OpenSource_QM_Taskforce
 Patches / Fixes for a lot dozens of packages in dozens of versions:
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Re: [9fans] RFC: MailFS-NG

[ron minnich]

Enrico, as the song says, we can talk, talk, talk, bicker, bicker, bicker*,
but at some point, it's time to build a test bench and try your ideas
out. So, do it. Take a shot at writing the code. These discussions
never end. At some point it's time to give it a try.

thanks

ron
*from "THe Music Man"

Re: [9fans] RFC: MailFS-NG

[Francisco J Ballesteros]

We are trying a much simpler approach, just for mail.
Something to convert mails into a set of files (decent ones)
stored in the actual fs, so that you could use mostly the
editor to read/send mail.

I think I left the last version at sources /contrib/nemo/mail2fs

hth

On Jan 6, 2008 9:53 PM, Enrico Weigelt <weigelt@metux.de> wrote:
>
> Hi folks,
>
>
> I've started to design an new filesystem for univeral mail/message
> (as replacement for mailfs), which should be able to cope with all
> kind of mail-alike messages (including NetNews, RSS, etc) and is
> meant to (ideally) be the primary/only interface for MUAs.
>
> This of course requires a lot of more functionality, eg. handling
> subscriptions, authentication (to the actual server) and misc
> configuration stuff.
>
> My current ideas can be seen at:
>
> * http://oss-qm.metux.de/index.php/9forge/mailfs-ng
>
>
> What do you think about this ?
>
>
> cu
> --
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>  Enrico Weigelt    ==   metux IT service - http://www.metux.de/
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>  Please visit the OpenSource QM Taskforce:
>         http://wiki.metux.de/public/OpenSource_QM_Taskforce
>  Patches / Fixes for a lot dozens of packages in dozens of versions:
>         http://patches.metux.de/
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>

Fwd: [9fans] RFC: MailFS-NG

[hiro]

Hey guys,

I was also thinking a lot about this subject recently.
I would really love one file *tree* built from multiple file servers
as a general interface for all kind of text communication, feeds,
news.

I still can't see your goal.
>From your last messages it seems to me, as if you were trying to
integrate even some imap-server to access some other file server?
If you really only want to provide an interface for the mail clients
to access your filesystem, you should just write an imap server.

I hope you"re not planning to put too much functionality into one file server.

-- 
hiro