GNU bug report logs - #26376
Rmail fails with any protocol but pop and imap

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From: Glenn Morris <rgm <at> gnu.org>
To: 26376 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: bug#26376: Rmail fails with any protocol but pop and imap
Date: Wed, 05 Apr 2017 15:55:07 -0400

Package: emacs
Version: 25.2

The Emacs manual node "Movemail" goes on about the various protocols one
can use with GNU movemail: mbox, mh, maildir, file, pop, imap.

It seems that only pop and imap can ever have worked.

Eg:

emacs -Q --eval "(setq rmail-movemail-program \"/path/to/movemail\"
   rmail-primary-inbox-list \"/path/to/file\")"

works fine, but change that to "file:///path/to/file" and Emacs just
reports "No mail".

rmail-insert-inbox-text calls (expand-file-name "file:///path/to/file"),
which returns non-existent nonsense. It needs to strip the protocal prefix.


The maildir: case is then going to further break when it gets to this bit:

  ;; On some systems, /usr/spool/mail/foo is a directory
  ;; and the actual inbox is /usr/spool/mail/foo/foo.
  (if (file-directory-p file)
     (setq file (expand-file-name (user-login-name) file)))


On a related subject, all the non-remote examples in the manual seem to
be missing a "/" after the protocol. Eg "mbox://var/spool/mail/smith"
should be "mbox:///var/spool/mail/smith".

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