Gnus encouragement of GMail (was: Installation, activation and setup of packages (e.g. Gnus))

Gnus encouragement of GMail (was: Installation, activation and setup of packages (e.g. Gnus))

[Ted Zlatanov]

The following message is a courtesy copy of an article
that has been posted to gmane.emacs.devel as well.

On Tue, 05 Jan 2010 14:43:33 -0500 Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> wrote: 

> Ted Z wrote:
>> GMail should have a specific setup path since it's so popular.

SM> I definitely do not want Emacs to encourage the use of GMail over
SM> any other service.

Well, users are constantly pointed to the relevant EmacsWiki page for
GMail support in Gnus.  The settings required are not intuitive.  So we
either accept the support burden and frustrated users, or we give them
the sensible settings as I suggested, or we point them to the
EmacsWiki.

I don't think the second and third options encourage GMail use in
particular.  They are just tweaks for those who use GMail IMAP.  GMail
is the only major IMAP provider to require well-known tweaks; when
others arise we'll handle them.

Similarly, there's code in Gnus to address Exchange IMAP issues; does
that encourage Exchange use?  I don't think so.  IMHO it actually
broadens the appeal of free software to support Exchange IMAP better.

I guess a fourth option is to write gnus-gmail.el, host it externally,
and make it clear that it's not endorsed by the FSF.  But that's no
better--how will the users know they need gnus-gmail.el?  I'd rather
include the support and make it clear it's not an endorsement.

Ted