Re: Gnus5, procmail, and reading mail lists.

[mdb@cdc.noaa.gov (Mark Borges)]

Thanks for the tips, Joe and Steven...

>>>>> "j" == Joe Hildebrand <hildjj@fuentez.com> writes:
    j> you will have less difficulty if you use:

    j> $HOME/mail/spool/foo.spool $HOME/mail/spool/bar.spool

OK. I gave up and used the extension. I also gave up and used ~/Mail
instead of ~/mail. Gnus was stubborn about using the former for some
reason. Perhaps I was setting it too late, I don't know. I was setting
it in my `gnus-init-file', but it was being over-ridden. Is there a
preferred place for setting nnmail-directory (I assume that's the
correct variable to set)?

    j> fine.  gnus uses movemail, which does locking.  I have this at
    j> the top of my .procmailrc, though:
    j> # use lockfiles that Emacs movemail honours... otherwise you
    j> may lose mail LOCKEXT=+

OK. It sounds like it should be fine, then. I haven't had a problem
with VM w/o the LOCKEXT above, but what the heck, I'll add it to my
.procmailrc, too. 

    j> try (setq nnmail-spool-file 'procmail)

Yes, I suspected that but the doc-string wasn't clear to me.

    j> this was the old way.  don't worry about it.  Gnus takes care
    j> of everything, the way you are doing it.
OK.

Here are the nnmail related variables I explicitly set, in case anyone
cares:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 ;; mail reading stuff
(setq
 nnmail-use-procmail t
 nnmail-directory (expand-file-name "~/Mail")	; this is the default anyway
 nnmail-spool-file 'procmail
 nnmail-split-methods nil
 nnmail-procmail-directory (expand-file-name "~/Mail/spool")
 ;nnmail-procmail-suffix nil ; just use the group name? I
 nnml-get-new-mail t
 ;nnmail-keep-last-article t ; supposed to be important
)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

procmail delivers like into

	~/Mail/spool/lists.foo.spool

using recipes like:

	### ---------------------------------------
	## foo
	# 
	:0 :
	* ^TOfoo-digest
	lists.foo.spool

although it wasn't clear whether I should deliver into
~/Mail/spool/lists/foo.spool, (which turns out to be wrong)
instead, since the group resides in ~/Mail/lists/foo.

Anyway, then all one needs to do is follow the info page:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Go to the group buffer and type `G m'.  When prompted, answer `foo'
for the name and `nnmh' for the method.  Repeat twice for the two other
groups, `bar' and `mail.baz'.  Be sure to include all your mail groups.

   That's it.  You are now set to read your mail.  An active file for
this method will be created automatically.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

i.e., I typed `G m' and answered `lists.foo' for the name and `nnml'
for the method. Amazingly enough, it works!

Thanks again.
  -mb-