From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Jan 22 10:26:24 2013 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::19:1]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 11C5CFF3 for ; Tue, 22 Jan 2013 10:26:24 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Received: from mx01.qsc.de (mx01.qsc.de [213.148.129.14]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id CDED37CE for ; Tue, 22 Jan 2013 10:26:23 +0000 (UTC) Received: from r56.edvax.de (port-92-195-45-17.dynamic.qsc.de [92.195.45.17]) by mx01.qsc.de (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6020A3C98F; Tue, 22 Jan 2013 11:26:16 +0100 (CET) Received: from r56.edvax.de (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by r56.edvax.de (8.14.5/8.14.5) with SMTP id r0MAQIAS002807; Tue, 22 Jan 2013 11:26:19 +0100 (CET) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2013 11:26:18 +0100 From: Polytropon To: Joshua Isom 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> Organization: EDVAX X-Mailer: Sylpheed 3.1.1 (GTK+ 2.24.5; i386-portbld-freebsd8.2) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.14 Precedence: list Reply-To: Polytropon List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2013 10:26:24 -0000 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, ...