From: browning@willard.nas.nasa.gov (David S. Browning)
Subject: Re: VM with procmail?
Organization: NAS Program, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 92 05:59:14 GMT
Reply-To: browning@willard.nas.nasa.gov

In article <1992Aug28.004752.3971@nas.nasa.gov>, browning@willard.nas.nasa.gov (David S. Browning) writes:
|> I want to filter incoming mail into different folders BEFORE reading
|> it with VM (e.g. from noisy mailing lists).  An age-old problem, I'm
|> sure.  Someone suggested "procmail", a mail processing system from
|> comp.sources.misc.  Procmail uses its own lock files, though, and I'm
|> afraid of using VM to read procmail's folders for fear of losing mail.
|> I don't know if VM and procmail will cooperate safely.

Let me be so bold as to answer my own question.  After hearing
assertions that they should work together, I read movemail.c
(RTFSource).  I think I can specify the right lockfiles for procmail
to use:  the defaults.  The examples provided with procmail usually
changed the default to something else, and that threw me.

|> I want the following behavior.  When mail from certain mailing lists
|> comes in, I want it diverted to a folder BEFORE xbiff (actually,
|> "mailbox" on an SGI IRIS running IRIX 4.0.1) screams at me to read it.
|> I do want to be notified of other mail, so I can go to my In buffer
|> and type "g" to read it right away.  When I'm ready to read my "junk
|> mail" (say when I'm bored but I've had too much coffee so I have to
|> think of something else to do), I'll do something special in VM to
|> read it. (Visit another folder?  Change vm-spool-files?)

Unfortunately, VM seems to be letting me down here.  Suppose procmail
has divided up my incoming mail into various "spool" files, which I'll
call:

$HOME/Mail/spool/Primary
$HOME/Mail/spool/junk-mail-1
$HOME/Mail/spool/junk-mail-2
etc.

"Primary" is the mail I consider important.  Xbiff watches it, and I
might 'g'ather it right away.  So I have

(setq vm-spool-files (list "$HOME/Mail/spool/Primary"))

in my .vm file. (For the sake of discussion pretend $HOME gets
expanded.)  I don't want to read "junk-mail-N" yet, but when I do, I
want to gather from those just like spool files.  I can't have

(setq vm-spool-files (list "$HOME/Mail/spool/Primary"
			   "$HOME/Mail/spool/junk-mail-1"
			   "$HOME/Mail/spool/junk-mail-2"))

in my .vm because then 'g' will gather mail from all them every time.

Nor can I use 'C-u g' and enter the junk-mail files interactively,
because that command doesn't delete the spool file after gathering the
mail.

Nor can I 'v'isit the spool file as a folder, because I could lose
mail.  (Visiting doesn't honor locks, right?)

What can I do?

-- David

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| Internet:  browning@willard.nas.nasa.gov          Phone:  (415) 604-4321   |
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x-gateway: rodan.UU.NET from info-vm to gnu.emacs.vm.info; Thu, 27 Aug 1992 11:04:56 EDT
From: kyle@wendy-fate.uu.net (Kyle Jones)
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 11:04:18 -0400
Subject: Can't get vm to use spool file
Newsgroups: gnu.emacs.vm.info