http://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=578019
http://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=578019#c18
--- Comment #18 from Eduardo Chappa 2010-07-20 15:17:58 UTC ---
Jan,
If what you are looking for is a replacement for Alpine, at this moment I
think Re-Alpine is your only alternative. What Re-Alpine lacks is direction (I
really have no idea where they want to go - there are no future plans that
anyone is actively working on). Re-Alpine has some branches, some of them seem
as they have been finished, but there are others that are competing among each
other, some code that is clearly a hack, etc. I would say that Re-Alpine is
really in a "Version 0.1 stage". It is just beginning, and their developers
have to learn the code. It is clear that none of them have the expertise that
is required to lead this project to its next step, so that we will have a non
rusting Re-Alpine for the coming years.
I do not know the state of the code in Alpine. I think they are concentrating
in developing the web version, since the University of Washington is going to
use it officially. The old version WebPine is being retired, and WebAlpine will
take its place.
At this moment it does not make sense to start a new project unless that
project starts with huge improvements over Re-Alpine. The community might
question why that improvement was not added to Re-Alpine. I think it's too
early to try to find a replacement for Re-Alpine, since it is still maintained.
My hunch is that it is going to take a while for the code in Alpine and in
Re-Alpine to differ substantially. I have tried the Alpine svn code and in
general it is reasonable. If I were you, I would test that code and release as
an update of Alpine.
In regards to contributing to Alpine, i do not know if it makes sense, since
they have not made a release, nor there are news about when one might come.
In my ideal world, I would continue with Alpine since I know that the Alpine
Team writes good code, and they know the internals of their program. I hope
that Re-Alpine takes off some day (in a real way).
I know you are worried about adding features that the community wants. What
are those? at this time I can think of maildir, and PGP support. The former
exists and is reasonable. The latter does not exist, although many people have
tried. Maybe you need to try find someone to help with what is missing to do
there, so you can have it too. You can simply decide if you want to add it to
Alpine or distribute it as Re-Alpine.
Can you think of any other features the community wants? I do not know what
the future might bring, but probably people will try to contribute them to
Re-Alpine.
At this time there is so little difference, that the move from Alpine to
Re-Alpine makes no difference. You can patch Alpine if needed.
I hope this makes sense.
--
Eduardo
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