Phil's Blog

Hi,

For some weeks now, I'm trying to use emacs as a mail reader. I want to remove sylpheed as I don't use it very often. Plus, I would like to become more power using emacs too.

As today my main machine is running under windows, things are a little bit more complex than using any unix.

So, here is my configuration : emacs 23.3.1.

To be able to get your mails from IMAPS servers, you need to be able to open a SSL connection. You can read Configuring Gnus and Gmail With IMAP on MS Windows. I prefer to use stunnel. So, I can manage a simplier gnus.el configuration.

Example for gmail:

1. stunnel file
1. [imaps-gmail]
2. accept=localhost:12345
3. connect=imap.gmail.com:993
2. gnus.el for email reading
1. 
   ;;limit the number of fetch email (too avoid to slow down the system and to run in out of memory)
   (setq gnus-newsgroup-maximum-articles 30)
   ;;here, only 30 mails are fetched
   
2. 
   ;;gmail account
   (setq gnus-select-method '(nnimap "Example GMAIL"
   (nnimap-address "localhost")
   (nnimap-server-port 12345)
   (nnimap-authenticator login)
   (nnimap-stream network)
   (nnimap-authinfo-file
   "~/.imap-auth")
   ))
   
   
3. the imap-auth file
1. 
   machine localhost login GMAIL_LOGIN password GMAIL_PASSWORD port 12345
   

You must have at least one gnus-select-method in this file before using the gnus-secondary-select-methods !!! It is hardly said on the web.

A great tutorial,My experiences from setting up Gnus with nnimap and Courier IMAP, about the splitting feature provided by emacs. Splitting is like an automatic sorting according to rules, like in outlook.

Sources

1. Official emacs wiki : GnusGmail
2. emacs wiki : gnus nifty tricks: the basics
3. sample gnus.el config file
4. another gnus.el sample
5. a discussion about "the gnus-secondary-select-methods and use of variables"

Labels: emacs, gmai, gnus, imap, mail, microsoft, MS, nnimap, split, splitting, ssl, stunnel, win, windows, xp

Hi Foxes!

When you are dealing with many mail account, you know, it takes a lot of time. Firrst, you have to found an efficient email client, and that is very difficult. Plus, today, everyone is using IMAP protocol to deal with email, if it is not the HTTPS provided from GMAIL or another webmail gateway.

So, according to some reading, the best combo is to use a local IMAP server which will retrieve/fetch mails from a remote server to the local server, then use a regular mail client to read mail which are on the local computer. So, reading is fast, search is fast too, and you can read your mails offline too :D.

I let you read this comment.

So, one nice solution may be to use :

• offlineimap to create a maildir mail database from a remote IMAP server. It needs Python.
• use an email client which fully support maildir database OR use a POP/IMAP local server such :
• dovecot on linux
• xmail server on linux and windows
• UW Imap on windows and linux. No more under development
• panda imap
• an email cliant such GNUS (emacs), Mutt, Alpine, etc.

Such combinaison is described there for MacOS.

Another solution is to use a local mail server which can retrieve mails from a remote server, such as :

• hmailserver is working pretty nice under windows. You should read ALL the documentation. Everything is on the website. It is quite easy to configure everything.

Labels: gnus, imap, linux, local, mail, maildir, mutt, offlineimap, outlook, pop, server, thunderbird, windows, xmail

Hi readers,

Tonight I was looking for a secure email service. Not a basic mail provider which offer SSL (IMAP/POP/SMTP) connexions, but also that every email and attached file is store in a secure way. I have found the following website :

• PKI is hiden through the website. So you can only send and read the email body using the website
• sendinc service. It seems that you can only send email through the website. It is free and ,restricted to send 20 emails a day
• thruinc
• zsentry and zmail The free version is restrict to send 5 email (no limit about receiving)
• opolis runs only on Windows and MacOS.You need to install a software. It is free to use today.
• s-mail service, no software to install.
• husmail is not so good according to the wikipedia article
• a short list of various secure email solutions
• These ones provide PGP / GPG/ PKI like facilities:
• safe-mail, a free account gives you 3MB of mailbox, with a sign certificate,
• comodo secure email free for personnal use, installs a software, runs only under Windows. It seems to be a PGP / GPG kind of solution, but easier to set up and to use for the mass.

And some reason about using such services:

• using secure mail service is easier for the mass than using GPG / PGP

You can also add a GPG proxy on your local windows PC:
GPG Relay for windows

Labels: comodo, email, GPG, hushmail, mail, opolis, PGP, pki, s-mail, secure email, sendinc, thruinc, zmail, zsentry

Hi all!

Still looking for a light footprint, fast email client under windows, I have done some googling and here are what I have found:

• i.scribe / in.scribe. It seems to be efficient, light and still in development. The free version, i.scribe, can only support one account. I have not achieved to configure gmail using IMAP protocol. So wait for another update.
• Becky. It seems very efficient, light, powerful. But it is 40$. You can try it for free for 30 days.
• Mulberry. It doesn't seem to be still in development. Open source, light and efficient email client. It fails in fetching all my email from my gmail account. But it is very fast! There is a nice review about it there
• The Bat!. It seems as good as Becky.
• sylpheed. I'm using this one daily. It is light with many features, but to me it is slow on windows (v2.6.0). I will install the version 3.1 this week end. UPDATE: i have moved to the 3.1 version. It is as light as usual, works, and maybe a little bit faster.
• Alpine mail, a full CLI mail client.
• Mahogany mail, last realase august 2006. Not supported : PGP.
si.mail. Not supported : IMAP, PGP.
• an interesting service to secure and follow email use : opolis

Labels: alpine, becky, gmail, i.scribe, imap, in.scribe, inscribe, iscribe, mail, mulberry, opolis, pop, sylpheed, the bat, thunderbird, windows

Hi all!

Tonight, I was looking on how to use a CLI mail client on Windows. I found :

* Alpine
* Mutt.

I have choosed to use Alpine, which look more adapt on windows. So, here is a quick setup how to.

Then, you can mix Alpine with stunnel and avast for a light mail solution on your laptop.

You can add some check spelling.

If you want to manage you professionnal email over MS Exchange (OWA), you can use some additionnal tools such as :
* msfetch
* OWA sync

Additionnal interesting links:
quick how to about interfacing msfetch and mutt
light data base
pmail, or a way to send emails
mail server easy to setup on linux only
mutt and ldap
mail drop on alpine
mbox on alpine
how to save email on your local hard drive with alpine, it means how to work offline with Alpine
Alpine mail client installation
Maildrop Alpine feature: it moves a message from a remote/local folder to another remote/local folder
A PINE dedicated website
another PINE configuration example
dealing with PGP and ALPINE mail client. It is based on filter definition. May work with WinXP
a project to glue PGP and alpine (official wabsite). Works on Unix. It is a start point to work with windows
some additionnal explication about TOPAL configuration on ArchLinux
another how to on alpine, in French

Labels: alpine, aspell, CLI, LDAP, mail, mutt, pine, plugin