Since I first got Coherent I was not happy with the mailer
that comes with it. I have now spent a few days making a
"mail organizer" that makes the task of reading, archiving,
sending and replying to mail much easier. The program,
called "mo", could be made available here on BIX if anybody
is interested. "mo" has the following characteristics:

- It splits the mailfile in separate messages with a table
  of pointers, and lets the user have direct access to
  messages through a list on the screen.

- It uses an external pager (scat or less) for viewing
  messages. The name of the pager is found in an
  environment variable.

- It uses an external editor for editing messages. If "me"
  is used, the additional feature of viewing the message
  replied to in a separate window is provided.

- It extracts messages into separate archives in the
  original format. Mo can thus be used to maintain mail
  archives.

- It provides a "reply"-function, where the calling address
  and subject becomes a basis for the new message.

- It provides address handling in a separate program
  module, where customized address rules can be put.

- It uses the "/bin/mail" for submitting messages, so that
  there is no need for "mo" to be suid, or to duplicate code
  already present elsewhere in the system. The information in
  files "/usr/lib/mail/aliases" and "$HOME/.sig.mail" is still
  being used.

"mo" is compact (< 800 lines in C), fast and useful. It
needs testing though, so interested users so regard
themselves as "beta" testers.

Though the process of porting existing SysV software is
somewhat awkward in Coherent, I enoy now Coherent even more
than before. The compactness, easy execution, utilities, networking 
software and excellent documentation makes this my software bargain 
of this year.

Best regards,
Anders Fongen
