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Re: folder-specific defaults? [long]

2002-07-04 10:20:13
bergman(_at_)merctech(_dot_)com wrote:

=> Allow folder specific component files to be located in a centralized
=> location.  For example, if I wanted a custom "scan.monthly" format
=> file for my inbox, I would create a file with a pathname of
=> `mhpath`/scan.monthly.inbox.  It does get ambiguous with sub-folders
=> since '/' cannot be a pathname (maybe tranlate '/' to '.').
=> 
=> The only real reason I bring up this alternative is it protects a user
=> from losing custom format/component files when using the rmf command.

There's another really good reason for this alternative. One of the strong
features of [n]mh is that every mail message is a file, conversely, every file
in a directory is presumed to be a mail message. Throwing meta-files into data
directories will have side effects on things like glimpse indexing and any
custom scripts that do things with every mail message in a directory.

Well..there's already a precedent - there are .mh_sequences "meta-files"
already there in each folder directory and there are rmm'd messages in
each folder. It's already necessary to be a little careful in picking
which files in a directory you operate on.  You're probably always safe if you
look for files starting with a decimal digit, though.

Scott


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