Re: MUAs and timestamps, was Re: how to grep without changing timestamps?
Quoting D-Man (dsh8290@rit.edu):
> | Also, where is
> | mutt supposed to keep the information about which messages were
> | previously in the folder?
> |
>
> In the folder itself. There is a header that has this info, just
> open it in vim or something. I did some checking just now and
> couldn't find it in my mutt mbox. I have seen it before. I think
> Netscape messenger sets such a header. Something like X-Status.
Status. Just press (H)eaders to see all the headers. If you still
can't see the status, then you're probably looking at an email that
was New when you entered the mailbox. Just ($)ync the mailbox (or
(C)hange to the same mailbox) and the three extra headers will appear.
You wrote "There is a header". But these flags are for *each message*.
There is no global header that remembers whether you entered the
mailbox itself. You would have to scan all the emails to see if there
were any without a Status header to decide if there were any new
emails in that folder.
> | d> All-in-all though it's not such a bad system (for mutt). It
> | d> probably solves a lot of headaches with locks and other
> | d> processes trying to write to the mbox as mutt reads to
> | d> determine if something is new or not.
> I just joined the thread when the subject changed.
I changed the subject. I wanted to know why R. Ransbottom
(rir@mediaone.net) felt that a bug report should be filed against
mutt, and what the bug was. There has been no response yet.
The idea that mutt should have to scan all my inboxes to determine
whether I have new mail is bad enough; the idea that the inboxes
should be rewritten (not even just appended to) would be crazy.
The status quo is automatic (that's how timestamps work), lightweight
and works. If you must grep your active inboxes, it seems a small price
to pay to have to reapply the access timestamps.
Cheers,
--
Email: d.wright@open.ac.uk Tel: +44 1908 653 739 Fax: +44 1908 655 151
Snail: David Wright, Earth Science Dept., Milton Keynes, England, MK7 6AA
Disclaimer: These addresses are only for reaching me, and do not signify
official stationery. Views expressed here are either my own or plagiarised.
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