This is an alpha of a Mail::Folder module package for perl5.

This module provides an interface to email folders that is independent
from the physical folders.  The actual work on folders is done with
helper modules lying 'beneath' the Mail::Folder interface.

WARNING! Think twice about using this module in it's current release
WARNING! on mail folders that you consider important.  At the very
WARNING! least make sure you have backup copies.

WARNING! This code is in evaluation phase.  The interface will
WARNING! probably change in non-backwards-compatible ways.

To build and install the package execute the following commands:
		perl Makefile.PL
		make			# optional
		make test		# optional :-)
		make install

The TODO file has information on features that aren't present yet.  It
also has some general thoughts on futures.

The MailTools package is used to fling mail messages around as data
structures, so you'll need it.

I've included a basic helper module (Mail::Folder::Emaul) of my own to
serve as an example of hooking a folder interface into Mail::Folder.
Eventually, it will grow into a full-featured folder architecture, but
for now it's an adequate example.  I have no plans to make it a 100%
mh interface.  I haven't included any other folder interfaces yet
because this project started out as an attempt to write a leaner
alternative to mh for personal use.  I'll probably provide an mbox
(unix mailbox) folder handler soon.

Check the man-pages for Mail::Folder for information on using the
package and adding folder interfaces.  The Mail::Folder::Emaul
man-pages also have some useful information.  This will improve over
time.

I'm still pondering the details of interfacing to MailTools and
MIME-parser.  Expect changes here.

It is 'highly unlikely' that Mail::Folder will ever be capable of
abstracting every folder feature of every MUA out there in a truly
transparent way.  I don't, however, think that this detracts from some
of it's more interesting potential uses:
	100% pure perl MUAs
	perl scripting against mail folders
		(folder conversions are a snap :-)
		Larry Virden mentioned how nice a filter class ala
		mailagent would be.  That would make a nice addition
		to the suite of mail modules.
	adding folders to non-email packages

Please report any bugs/suggestions to <kjj@primenet.com>

Copyright (c) 1996 Kevin Johnson <kjj@primenet.com>.

All rights reserved. This program is free software; you can
redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.