Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!think!ames!sri-spam!wohler
From: wohler@sri-spam.istc.sri.com (Bill Wohler)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.misc
Subject: Mail User's Shell
Message-ID: <10654@sri-spam.istc.sri.com>
Date: Sat, 5-Sep-87 16:53:37 EDT
Article-I.D.: sri-spam.10654
Posted: Sat Sep  5 16:53:37 1987
Date-Received: Sun, 6-Sep-87 06:27:04 EDT
References: <8708270054.AA02979@ephemeral.ai.toronto.edu> <1700@fmsrl7.UUCP>
Organization: SRI International, Menlo Park, CA
Lines: 58
Summary: a "new mailer"

In article <1700@fmsrl7.UUCP>, wayne@fmsrl7.UUCP (//ichael R. //ayne) writes:
> In article <8708270054.AA02979@ephemeral.ai.toronto.edu> lamy@ai.toronto.edu (Jean-Francois Lamy) writes:
> 
> >In fact, there is no real reason either why you can't have the best of all
> >worlds.  This message is composed in a MH mode in GNU-emacs (with roughly the
> >same features as mailtool), will be processed by the standard Unix sendmail,
> 						      ^^^^^^^
> Right.  "Standard" if you have BSD.  What about all the poor suckers out
> there that have System V (like me)?  We end up with a broken mailer that
> taunts us with wonderful promises but fails to deliver (pun intended).

(Using a friend's account -- please don't respond to this account; respond to
 island!argv@sun.com)

may I suggest "mush" -- the Mail User's Shell.  It is in queue to be posted
on comp.sources.unix, but who knows what's happened ...

anyway, I wrote this mailer and many of you might find it useful.  It
can run under sendmail, delivermail, execmail, smail ... I haven't seen
it run on anything else.  I mention this mailer here because I've seen a lot
of discussion lately on user interfaces being unacceptable or a general
desire to "have the best of all worlds."

I'm not claiming that my mailer is better than MH or Elm -- but if you're
frustrated with whatever you're running (Especially ucb-Mail or sun's
mail/mailtool) give mush a try and see what you think.

On sun's, it'll run in tool-mode under 2.0 and up (mailtool only runs 3.0+)
and is fully compatible with sun's mailer and ucb-Mail.  This interface is
only available on suns, but other computers running many flavors of unix
can successfully use mush's other two interfaces.

The screen oriented interface that has 'vi' style pattern searches and screen
movement between messages.  curses based commands are editable and function
keys or other key sequences may be bound to mail commands.

The line mode (which requires no terminal capabilities at all) is like 'csh'
in that you can create command line aliases, supports a subset of csh-style
command history reference and pattern matching, and has a piping mechanism
allowing you to pipe mail commands to one another.

More functions include sorting messages (plus subsorting), automatic
forwarding, filtering scripts, and unix command access without having
to fork a shell. If new mail comes in while you're in a mail session,
it is automatically appended to the end of your folder so you don't have
to update your mailbox or exit and re-enter mail just to read it.

There is much more than I have room to discuss here, but I thought I would
announce it's availability to those who wish to use it. You can get a copy
from anonymous ftp at spam.istc.src.com in ~ftp/pub/mush/mush.tar-5.6.Z

It _should_ be posted officially as soon as ... well, as soon as it happens :-)
I have no usenet access, so I can't followup to this article if any 
discussion is generated.  However, please feel free to mail me at the address
posted above.  Sorry, I can *not* send source via uucp at this time. This
restriction is indefinite at the moment.  If you do not have arpanet access
to obtain the sources yourself, I request you find someone on the net who
can uucp the source for you.