Allegedly, on or about 18 December 2017, Temlakos sent:
> Well, I've identified one application, the configuration of which I
> must preserve in some fashion, and that is: Thunderbird. At a
> minimum, I need to preserve a folder that has e-mail accounts and
> saved mail databases on it. Otherwise, I lose more than some minor,
> out-of-sight configuration. And when I have as many as twenty e-mail
> accounts or more, I cannot afford to have to re-list them all.
Keeping mail going across many system updates is a pain. As you say,
in essence, the whole thing is a database. It's a lot of data,
specially organised. And it's another of those things that suffers
from program changes over time.
I had a lot of email addresses, too, but this is how I handle them on
my system.
1. I have a local mail server, *all* my mail goes into it.
2. On it, I have fetchmail drag in all the mail from all my external
email accounts, every so-many minutes, and store them in my
(singular) local mailbox.
3. I use IMAP with my mail program, it accesses the mail in the local
mailbox.
Keeping point 1 up to date over time is the hardest thing. Though
there are various migration tools, but some mail servers you can simply
copy the files over as-is. And if you put it on something like CentOS,
the OS has a very long lifespan.
The configuration file for fetchmail is a simple thing to understand,
since it allows you to write a configuration in an almost human
fashion. And that one configuration file can be easily copied onto a
new PC. Again, if your server is a long lifespan OS, that's an issue
that rarely crops up.
e.g. It's virtually:
poll ExternalMailServerAddress proto pop3 user LogonName with password TopSecret is LocalLogonName here
Just substitute actually details for the variables, one line of
configuration per external mail service.
Alternatively, points 1 and 2 can be handled by using an external mail
server, one that allows the same kind of thing (it being a central
point for all your various addresses).
To set up the mail program, it only has to access one mail server,
mine. I set up various identities (different email addresses) within
that configuration, so I can reply to mail using the same address it
was sent to. That's relatively easy to do so on each PC once or twice
a year. And this is the only thing I have to keep on doing each time
Fedora gets a version change.
I don't bother, any more, with setting up address books. Since the
server keeps the mail, it's not hard to find a prior email from someone
and click on their address. And the program can be sent to
automatically address-book any email I reply to, so it will auto-fill-
in someone's address as I type it.
------------------
Compare that to moving a mail client program (Thunderbird, Evolution,
et cetera) over to a new software installation, every time Fedora
updates. You have to hope that the mail program allows a straight-
forward import of old data (most make it relatively simply to use an
import function, even if they don't allow you to simply copy the
files). That old configuration files don't cause problems (that
happens a lot). You have to be able to find all the hidden files that
set up the mail program (some programs seem to spread them here, there,
and everywhere). That if you have plug-ins, they'll transfer over
(they frequently don't). If there's SSL certificates to deal with,
that they'll be managed without a stuff-up.
---------------------
After being on the internet since the 1990s, I've come to believe that
mail has being the biggest pain. You lose contact with people because
email addresses change (someone's ISP closes, they get a better deal,
they change addresses due to spam flooding, etc.). You collect a
series of addresses over time, and you get more spam simply because you
have more accounts to receive it at. You have to manage changing ISPs,
mail and operating system software.
It's easier to:
1. Get your own domain name, so you can keep email address permanently,
and are free to create them in the manner that you want to (no ISP
restrictions on naming).
2. Never use an ISP address, because it makes it harder for you to
leave that ISP (because you'd lose an address that you might not
want to).
3. Only have a small number addresses (e.g. personal, family, business,
public). Avoid accumulating addresses simply because they're
offered to you.
Personal, rather obviously, means private mail just to you.
Family and business addresses would be pertinent to everyone in that
group (i.e. not private). This means that communication doesn't go
into a black hole if you, personally, aren't responding to mail for
some reason. Anxious relatives don't have to wonder if you're alive or
dead when you're away for a while, when someone else in your family
reads and responds. Business doesn't grind to a halt because people
you work with can't read client mail addressed to you personally.
A public address being the one that you'd provide anywhere where you
think it may be subjected to spam (you give out this one, instead, so
that your other addresses are less likely to receive spam). Whether
that be to the shop that wants to email you a guarantee (plus marketing
mail), people you meet at gatherings, mailing lists. And this address
may be the one that you're prepared to throw away if it gets abused.
--
[tim@localhost ~]$ uname -rsvp
Linux 4.13.16-202.fc26.x86_64 #1 SMP Thu Nov 30 15:39:32 UTC 2017 x86_64
Boilerplate: All mail to my mailbox is automatically deleted.
There is no point trying to privately email me, I only get to see
the messages posted to the mailing list.
I reserve the right to treat other people in exactly the same way that they
treat me.
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