Re: NetBSD mail client

["James K. Lowden" <jklowden%schemamania.org@localhost>]

On Sat, 11 Feb 2012 17:04:36 -0500
Steven Bellovin <smb%cs.columbia.edu@localhost> wrote:

> On Feb 11, 2012, at 11:24 AM, Brook Milligan wrote:
> 
> > I have to manage thousands of email messages in my inbox and am
> > looking for a mail client that will handle this well.  Every one I
> > have tried so far maintains the messages in mbox format, which leads
> > to massively large files even when split apart into various folders.
> > I think it would be better if the messages were managed by the
> > client in maildir format instead so that each message is a single
> > file.
> > 
> > Are there any recommendations on what would be useful for this?
> > 
> You don't say if you want command line or GUI.  I'm partial to
> claws-mail.  It uses MH format, rather than maildir, but MH is also
> one message per file.

Yes.  I have used mutt, nmh, and Sylpheed (not claws) in combination for
10 years. I have many thousands of messages and no real performance
problems.  They all operate on the same MH store.  

Normally I use Sylpheed, but when I log in remotely I typically use
mutt, so as not to drag X over the slow link.  Sylpheed also deals with
imap accounts and usenet.  

nmh I consider the command-line complement to Sylpheed.  Its search and
ability to operate on all messages meeting very specific criteria are
invaluable.  

I generally don't use nmh to compose or forward mail.  I've found that
attachments and HTML in messages it forwards sometimes arrive
unreadable.  I don't know if that's because the message didn't conform
to the standard.  I observe only that the same message, forwarded by
mutt (or Sylpheed), arrive intact.  

--jkl