Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2013 11:26:18 +0100 From: Polytropon <freebsd@edvax.de> To: Joshua Isom <jrisom@gmail.com> Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Sharing a mail folder between Linux and FreeBSD Message-ID: <20130122112618.9ef2bb2a.freebsd@edvax.de> In-Reply-To: <50FE670A.9040500@gmail.com> References: <1358811229.2031.60.camel@precise> <50FE670A.9040500@gmail.com>
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On Tue, 22 Jan 2013 04:16:42 -0600, Joshua Isom wrote: > On 1/21/2013 5:33 PM, Ralf Mardorf wrote: > > Hi :) > > > > I'm sharing the same directory for Evolution emails, by several Linux > > installs. For e.g. Ubuntu Precise it's Evolution 3.2.3 and for e.g. > > Ubuntu Quantal it's Evolution 3.6.0. > > > > I'm doing it by a link: > > > > It looks like to me you're asking for long term trouble. You're using > multiple versions, so in the future there could be changes that could > corrupt your mail. Why not just use an IMAP server instead? It's what > I do, so my mail's shared between FreeBSD, Windows, and Android. That might be overhead, but still the approach contains potential for future trouble, as you correctly pointed out. The reason is simple: While you may not have trouble if all programs use the same mechanism for _storing_ mail (e. g. in mbox, MH or Maildir format), they might store other aspects of communication (read / unread, address books, configuration settings) differently. This should happen _independently_ of the mail storage. As long as all involved programs are the same version, it will probably work without any trouble. But if one program of a newer version decides to rewrite the configuration data in a new (and backwards-incompatible) format, the older versions will definitely run into trouble. I've been using a similar approach in the past, having several GUI and TUI mail clients use the same mail _storage_. Still as you suggest, running a (local) IMAP server may prevent trouble, at least on the long run, and it enables you easier testing for mail clients that do not use the same storage format as your "old" ones do. Still you can have any "storage backend" you like, so even "plain text work" (easily done with MH and Maildir) can be done if required (like grepping through messages or processing them automatically in whatever manner). -- Polytropon Magdeburg, Germany Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0 Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...
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