[MlMt] New Experimental Version r6028 released

[Bill Cole]

On 2024-03-22 at 20:08:33 UTC-0400 (Sat, 23 Mar 2024 00:08:33 +0000)
Henry Seiden <mailmate at lists.freron.com>
is rumored to have said:

> Sadly, none of my feedback about r6025 was responded to since a 
> previous post and none of my reported issues were addressed by the 
> author, except sound which was a MacOS issue to begin with anyway. It 
> was found and corrected from advice here and elsewhere by the author.
>
> Previous issues (as seen in r6025 and still valid, to current):
> * No Help Menu shows up when the item is clicked in the Help Menu. An 
> unusual window with a blank screen instead, appears. If it’s a 
> Safari linkage, then why is it now broken? Are there settings for 
> this?

FWIW, I have not seen that in any recent build. The Help window opens 
normally for me currently in 6028.

> * No guidance on how flags work (if they are sent with composed 
> messages, which by trial and error, found that they are, so maybe 
> it’s moot).

That's interesting. There's no formal standard mechanism for indicating 
multiple 'flag' values in a message. The flags that clients use 
(including MM) are generally implemented at the IMAP layer as keywords 
and don't have any representation in messages as they are handled by 
SMTP. Historically, many POP3 servers and some IMAP servers maintained a 
Status header in messages, but that is rare these days and is formally a 
violation of the IMAP principle that messages are invariant. There is a 
standard \Flagged keyword, but

I wonder how you're seeing them transfer...

> * Whether a flag when applied to an incoming message (or a group of 
> messages) sticks on that message or is meant to, and/or is suggested 
> for any particular use. Seems less useful than tags.

Tags are also implemented via IMAP keywords and given a capable IMAP 
server (e.g. NOT MS Exchange) can be entirely freeform. However, they 
are intrinsically server-specific and the added layer of MM redefining 
keywords as tags with possibly different names just obfuscates 
everything.

Some people prefer a constricted set of colored flags, because it avoids 
over-classification. I guess. I don't much use tags, flags, or keywords 
so I don't really have a ranking of what mechanism works best or why 
people prefer one or another. I use a hierarchy of IMAP folders for 
organizing instead, which fits my brain better.


-- 
Bill Cole
bill at scconsult.com or billcole at apache.org
(AKA @grumpybozo and many *@billmail.scconsult.com addresses)
Not Currently Available For Hire