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Bug#109171: Use Maildir format by default



On Sat, Aug 18, 2001 at 08:36:05PM -0300, Cesar Eduardo Barros wrote:
> Package: debian-policy
> Version: 3.5.6.0
> Severity: wishlist
> 
> Debian uses the traditional mailbox style by default. However, it has some
> disadvantages over maildir -- one of them is that it does a non-reversible
> modification to the message's text if it contains the sequence 'From ' at the
> beginning of a line. MUAs like mutt also save the user's mail folders in the
> same problematic format.

well, FWIW, one of the first actions I do on newly 
installed debian systems is to change mail delivery to maildirs

> 
> My proposal is to:
> 
> 1. Use the maildir format by default for storage of the user's incoming mail.
>    This means both the MTA must be configured for maildir by default (e.g. in
>    eximconfig) and all the MUAs must be able to grok it without needing any
>    manual configuration

elm (so far still very popular) does not work with maildirs.

> 2. Use the maildir format to store the user folders by default if the user's
>    MUA allows it
> 
> The issues are:
> - Debian is about choice. So, of course mailbox vs maildir will end up being a
>   configuration question. Just make maildir the default, please.

does not matter much when it is a configuration question :-)

> - Standards for where to put the user's incoming mail/where in $HOME to put the
>   folders. I believe most programs which use maildir already share common
>   places, but putting them in policy would be good.
> - Making programs which can't use it yet be able to use it
> - Somehow making programs able to guess which is the mbox/mdir choice of the
>   day (perhaps using debconf).

environmental variable MAIL

> - Dealing with indecise people who change the default while the system is live
> 

that's the biggest problem.
Changing the setup on live system is not trivial to automatize.
I would just go for exim postinst configuration question,
and if somebody wants to switch his system over, he can do it manually

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