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1
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2 @node Reading Mail, Calendar/Diary, Sending Mail, Top
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3 @chapter Reading Mail
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4 @cindex mail
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5 @cindex message
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6
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7 XEmacs provides three separate mail-reading packages. Each one comes with
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8 its own manual, which is included standard with the XEmacs distribution.
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9
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10 The recommended mail-reading package for new users is VM. VM works
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11 with standard Unix-mail-format folders and was designed as a replacement
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12 for the older Rmail.
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13
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14 XEmacs also provides a sophisticated and comfortable front-end to the
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15 MH mail-processing system, called @samp{mh-e}. Unlike in other
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16 mail programs, folders in MH are stored as file-system directories,
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17 with each message occupying one (numbered) file. This facilitates
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18 working with mail using shell commands, and many other features of
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19 MH are also designed to integrate well with the shell and with
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20 shell scripts. Keep in mind, however, that in order to use mh-e
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21 you must have the MH mail-processing system installed on your
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22 computer.
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23
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24 Finally, XEmacs provides the Rmail package. Rmail is (currently) the
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25 only mail reading package distributed with FSF GNU Emacs, and is
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26 powerful in its own right. However, it stores mail folders in a special
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27 format called @samp{Babyl}, that is incompatible with all other
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28 frequently-used mail programs. A utility program is provided for
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29 converting Babyl folders to standard Unix-mail format; however, unless
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30 you already have mail in Babyl-format folders, you should consider
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31 using VM or mh-e instead. (If at times you have to use FSF Emacs, it
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32 is not hard to obtain and install VM for that editor.)
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