Re: mail-source.el patch to use netrc-parse

[Ted Zlatanov <tzz@lifelogs.com>]

Reiner Steib wrote:
> Ted Zlatanov wrote:
> > modifies mail-source.el to use a netrc (~/.authinfo) file for IMAP
> > fetching.  It will be triggered when mail-source-authinfo-file is
> > not nil.  It will override the :user and
> > :password parameters set in mail-sources unconditionally.

> Is it good to override it?  Wouldn't it be more natural if
> `mail-source-authinfo-file' is used if no user/password is given in
> `mail-sources'?

I think you're right.

> > This allows users to store their passwords for an IMAP mail source
> > in the authinfo file, encrypted if necessary.  

> I think this is useful.

> > I use this for my IMAP fetching and it worked fine; please test
> > (also if you don't use the feature, make sure your IMAP fetching
> > works OK).  I won't commit until I get confirmations it works, since
> > mail fetching is a sensitive area for improvements.
> >
> > I plan to add this to POP and webmail fetching as well, possibly through
> > mail-source-bind instead of in each individual fetching function.
> > Please let me know what you think.

> I'm not sure if I understand what you have in mind.

Right now it's a special case for IMAP.  Instead, I could set up
mail-source-bind to read the authentication info and bind the
corresponding variables for every mail source available.  But also see
my authinfo proposal, sent separately.

Ted