Re: Filter

["David W. Jablonski" <dave energyfinancesolutions com>]

 I think everyone's observations are right.  I think Balsa should look 
 into a standards based filtering language like what CMU is doing with 
 sieve.  I have sieve running on my Cyrus imap server and it does what it 
 does well.  I don't believe that licensing is an issue.  It is also 
 supposed to be able to be programmed for client side imap clients as 
 well so you can take a sieve script apply it to your server and get the 
 same effects as if you were to take the same script and apply it to your 

 imap client.  Use ACAP to transfer the updates to the server or from the 
 server to your client and you shouldn't have to worry anymore.  I think 
 Balsa should look into implementing ACAP, sieve, etc. though ACAP and 
 sieve are still slightly a moving target.  Also I know, I know - patches 
 welcome though my C skills suck.
 
 Also one other note:  If you're going to implement a filtering tool then 
 you should first get IMAP to work right.  I can get all my folders 
 listed in Balsa by manually putting in the Inbox.Folder myself and then 
 they are not listed hierachally (maybe it's not supposed to) but is 
 still nice when the mailboxes are listed under the main INBOX instead of 
 separate mailboxes.  The only way right now to filter my mail is to use 
 either procmail or sieve on the IMAP server so it will go to the right 
 folder and then use Balsa to check all the different individual folders. 
  Just my $0.02
> 
> Brian Stafford wrote:
> 
>> Procmail is a command line tool driven by a configuration file
>> containing regular expressions and using obscure syntax to
>> determine the filtering actions.  It is intended as a delivery
>> program for use by a mail transport agent, such as sendmail
>> (another program configured using an obscure syntax resembling
>> modem noise), and as such it is responsible for writing incoming
>> mail to the user's mailbox.
>> 
>> It cannot be used to filter mailboxes fetched from a POP server.
>> 
>> Mailbox filtering can be carried out pre-delivery or during delivery
>> from within a mail transport agent, or post delivery in a mail user
>> agent (such as Balsa).  Both have their uses and procmail definitely
>> does not operate post delivery.
>> 
>> Balsa should, IMO, offer mail box filtering and the filter operations
>> and the file format for storage of the filters should, I believe,
>> conform to the work being discussed on the ietf-mta-filters mailing
>> list. See http://www.imc.org/ietf-mta-filters/  This effort is to
>> design a syntax for specification of mail filters such that it can
>> easily be generated and parsed by both GUI and non-GUI applications
>> and the resulting filter specifications are transportable across
>> various mail systems and operating systems.  It is currently a work
>> in progress but nearing completion.  I believe the CMU Cyrus has
>> an implementation available (not sure about the licence).
>> 
>> It is crucial that filters are easy for punters to use otherwise they
>> will be ignored and the effort of implementing them is wasted.
>> Procmail is for evil geniuses who want to dominate the world by using
>> regular expressions. Punters want something simple and uncomplicated.
>> 
>> 
>> -- 
>> Brian Stafford
>> 
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> balsa-list mailing list
>> balsa-list@gnome.org
>> http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/balsa-list


-- 
David W. Jablonski
Wisconsin Energy Conservation Corporation
Systems Administrator
RHCE, MCSE
www.weccusa.org
www.energyfinancesolutions.com