Save mail in multiple mbox files

Save mail in multiple mbox files

[moocow]

I love gnus, but I am too stupid to understand it properly.
I have a hundreds of files in mbox format or partly mangled (enriched)
by a few years of using vm.
What I would like is
  * gnus reads from imap
  * I can store an article (mail message) in a file (mbox format)
    with an arbitrary name

Some observations..
I am having a hard time persuading the nnmbox backend not to use
~/mbox.
I would be content if I could
  * read from imap with gnus
  * save articles to a holding place (preferably mbox format)
  * use rmail to move them to final places later

This would allow me to visit these files with the nndoc backend and
read or reply.

Many thanks for any advice.

Re: Save mail in multiple mbox files

[William F Hammond]

moocow@mindless.com writes:

> . . .
> What I would like is
>   * gnus reads from imap
>   * I can store an article (mail message) in a file (mbox format)
>     with an arbitrary name

This can certainly be done with nnmbox as a secondary selection method
by setting up mail-sources suitably.

> Some observations..  I am having a hard time persuading the nnmbox
> backend not to use ~/mbox.

I don't know, but I guess that changing this would require modifying
the code for nnmbox.

> I would be content if I could
>   * read from imap with gnus
>   * save articles to a holding place (preferably mbox format)

      With nnmbox use the key C-o from the summary buffer, which
      invokes gnus-summary-save-article-mail (and appends to mbox),
      rather than the key o, which invokes gnus-summary-save-article
      (and appends to presumed babyl)

>   * use rmail to move them to final places later

    I don't understand what you mean, but I'm dubious about using
    rmail at all if you're using gnus.

    I have a privately written suite of shell scripts based on gawk
    for searching in and extracting messages from mboxes.  Other
    scripts that call them can be used to rearrange.  But the scripts
    are a tiny bit quirky in regard to message boundaries, so are
    not public.

> This would allow me to visit these files with the nndoc backend and
> read or reply.

Yes.

                                    -- Bill

Re: Save mail in multiple mbox files

[" "]

>> What I would like is
>>   * gnus reads from imap
>>   * I can store an article (mail message) in a file (mbox format)
>>     with an arbitrary name
>
> This can certainly be done with nnmbox as a secondary selection method
> by setting up mail-sources suitably.

But this may not be practical.
If one has 200 files, each with mail from different people, projects
would one have to set up 200 mail sources ?

>> Some observations..  I am having a hard time persuading the nnmbox
>> backend not to use ~/mbox.
>
> I don't know, but I guess that changing this would require modifying
> the code for nnmbox.

It seems as if ~/mbox is fixed in
   nnoo-state-alist
   nnoo-state-definition-alist
which are not customisable variables.

>> I would be content if I could
>>   * read from imap with gnus
>>   * save articles to a holding place (preferably mbox format)
>
>       With nnmbox use the key C-o from the summary buffer, which
>       invokes gnus-summary-save-article-mail (and appends to mbox),
>       rather than the key o, which invokes gnus-summary-save-article
>       (and appends to presumed babyl)

Yes, but then one has to go back to the mail item and
  B <delete>
Whereas gnus already has the idea of moving (not copying) with
  B m

>>   * use rmail to move them to final places later
>
>     I don't understand what you mean, but I'm dubious about using
>     rmail at all if you're using gnus.

There are two good reasons.
1. In the future, one may want to change mail reader. Unix mbox is a
rather common format and likely to be eaten by other programs.
2. From years of using rmail or vm, there are already 100's of such
files.

Re: Save mail in multiple mbox files

[William F Hammond]

"\" \"" <moocow@mindless.com> writes:

>>> What I would like is
>>>   * gnus reads from imap
>>>   * I can store an article (mail message) in a file (mbox format)
>>>     with an arbitrary name
>>
>> This can certainly be done with nnmbox as a secondary selection method
>> by setting up mail-sources suitably.
>
> But this may not be practical.
> If one has 200 files, each with mail from different people, projects
> would one have to set up 200 mail sources ?

I did not intend to suggest that.  I took it as given that the
mail-source was an imap server.  However, if mail is being fetched
outside of gnus to a location like /var/mail/username, then it would
be reasonable to set up the dump files as gnus mail-sources of type
"file".

                                    -- Bill

Re: Save mail in multiple mbox files

[" "]

Thanks for the comments, but I have still not found the best way to
handle this..
On Tuesday, January 25, 2011 7:02:04 PM UTC+1, William F Hammond wrote:

[....]
>> I would be content if I could
>>   * read from imap with gnus
>>   * save articles to a holding place (preferably mbox format)
>
>       With nnmbox use the key C-o from the summary buffer, which
>       invokes gnus-summary-save-article-mail (and appends to mbox),
>       rather than the key o, which invokes gnus-summary-save-article
>       (and appends to presumed babyl)
>
>>   * use rmail to move them to final places later
>
>     I don't understand what you mean, but I'm dubious about using
>     rmail at all if you're using gnus.

I think there is a good reason.
 * Get your mail via imap
 * C-o messages to separate files and delete them from imap tediously (B <del>)

Now you have all your messages nearly sorted into lots of files
according to author/subject..

You can read the files with nndoc, but nndoc is a read-only
affair. Having dealt with a topic, you really need something like rmail
(or mailx or whatever) to clean up. B <del> is not going to work here.

Re: Save mail in multiple mbox files

[William F Hammond]

moocow@mindless.com writes:

> I think there is a good reason.
>  * Get your mail via imap
>  * C-o messages to separate files and delete them from imap
>  tediously (B <del>)

One can write an elisp function (for placement in .gnus) to combine
the actions of C-o and B <del>, and one can wire that function to a
key.

> Now you have all your messages nearly sorted into lots of files
> according to author/subject..
>
> You can read the files with nndoc, but nndoc is a read-only
> affair.

Yes, nndoc objects are read-only from within gnus -- a feature I like
since I regard these files as records.

> Having dealt with a topic, you really need something like rmail (or
> mailx or whatever) to clean up. B <del> is not going to work here.

I don't remember being able to edit mboxes with rmail.  I commonly use
mailx for this.

                                    -- Bill

Re: Save mail in multiple mbox files

[" "]

>> Having dealt with a topic, you really need something like rmail (or
>> mailx or whatever) to clean up. B <del> is not going to work here.
>
> I don't remember being able to edit mboxes with rmail.  I commonly use
> mailx for this.

Sure you can use rmail. There is no need to start a shell and mailx.
C-u rmail, point it to the file and you can do all the things you would
expect (d for delete, e for literally editing the message, add labels,
...)