Thursday, 17 January 2002
I didn't mention the conclusion to my Eudora-crashing story of yesterday, while I was desperately trying to get my research proposal finished. The short-term solution was to use Entourage, which I really do like, but the idea of my email being stored in a none-too-robust database is not one I'm happy with. In fact, as a reminder, my MacSOUP article database got somewhat corrupted today. Like the wonderful piece of software it is, MacSOUP stepped me through rebuilding it, but I did lose a few old articles. (Not worth it to restore from backup the contents of uiuc.test.)
Through Mac OS X's fs_usage tool, I found the strange software conflict that caused Eudora to start crashing. It wasn't Eudora's fault by any means. I posted my experiences as a reply to this thread on comp.mail.eudora.mac if you're interested.
My eventual solution to this whole mail situation will be to set up a good, fast and reliable IMAP server, probably Courier, since I can use Mutt to access its mailboxes locally as well. Last week I was at a bookstore and saw O'Reilly's Managing IMAP, which covers the UW imapd (which I will not use under any circumstances because of the number of lurking security holes there); and CMU's Cyrus (uses a proprietary format, and is really designed for huge installations). With my mail stored in safe Maildirs, I can use Entourage, Eudora, or both, and know that my mail will be safe.
2:58 AM
