[VM] Problem running vm-8.09 / XEmacs 21.1.3 Solaris SPARC

[J***@Encompasserve.org]

Hi you brainy lot, :) I'd appreciate your solutions. Thanks & regards.

Goal: Sort unix mbox into chronological order, removing duplicates
Platform: Sun/Oracle SPARC Solaris 10 or 11
Done: 1. Installed latest binary xemacs-21.1.3-sparc-sun-solaris2.6.tar.gz
2. Installed xemacs-all-packages.tar.gz containing vm-8.09
3. Launched XEmacs > Apps > Read Mail (VM). Result:-

--**-XEmacs: *Warnings-Show*
Loading vm...done
Loading vm...
Loading cus-face...done
Loading cus-face...
Wrong number of arguments: #<compiled-function (face spec &optional frame)
"...(53)" [spec atts display face-spec-set-match-display frame face
custom-face-display apply face-custom-attributes-set put nil] 5 646941>, 4
--**-XEmacs: *scratch*
(1) (warning/warning) Autoload error in:
/usr/local/lib/xemacs/xemacs-packages/lisp/guided-tour/autoloads:
Symbol's function definition is void: add-one-shot-hook

4. Options > Edit Faces (nothing flagged there needing attention)
5. Try installing vm-8.1.1 instead. Result:-
# pwd
/usr/local/lib/xemacs/xemacs-packages

# ls
etc info lib-src lisp man pkginfo vm-8.1.1

# cd vm-8.1.1

# ./configure --with-emacs=xemacs \
--with-lispdir=/usr/local/lib/xemacs/xemacs-packages/lisp \
--infodir=/usr/local/lib/xemacs/xemacs-packages/info
checking whether make sets $(MAKE)... yes
checking for a BSD-compatible install... /usr/local/bin/install -c
checking whether ln -s works... yes
checking for rm... /usr/bin/rm
checking for ls... /usr/bin/ls
checking for mkdir... /usr/bin/mkdir
checking for grep... /usr/bin/grep
checking for xargs... xargs
checking for gtar... gtar
checking for makeinfo... makeinfo
checking for texi2dvi... texi2dvi
checking checking emacs-type of xemacs... xemacs
checking checking emacs-version of xemacs... 21
checking where .elc files should go... /usr/local/lib/xemacs/xemacs-packages/lisp
checking where pixmaps should go... ${datarootdir}/vm
checking which options to pass on to (X)Emacs... -batch -no-autoloads -l $(srcdir)/vm-build.el
checking where the TeXinfo docs should go... /usr/local/lib/xemacs/xemacs-packages/info
checking otherdirs... nil
configure: creating ./config.status
config.status: creating Makefile
config.status: creating lisp/Makefile
config.status: creating info/Makefile
config.status: creating src/Makefile
config.status: creating pixmaps/Makefile
config.status: creating vm-load.el

# which make
/usr/ccs/bin/make

# make
make: Fatal error in reader: Makefile, line 20: Extra `:', `::', or `:=' on dependency line

# head -21 Makefile | tail -2
Makefile vm-load.el: %: config.status ./%.in
./config.status $@
#
So the issue with running vm 8.0.9 that XEmacs 21.1.3 autoloads actually appears
to be an issue with custom face compiled into XEmacs but am way out of my depth.

[John Stoffel]

I'd suggest you go and get the latest release from
http://www.nongnu.org/viewmail/ and compile it youself to make sure
it's all upto date. vm-8.1.1 is a bit old, though 8.1.2 is the latest
stable release. I'd suggest you goto 8.2.0b instead, since it's
actually quite stable.

The make errors might be because you need to use 'gmake' instead. I
think the install docs talk about the gnu make requirement.

John

[Julian Bradfield]

Post by J***@Encompasserve.org
Done: 1. Installed latest binary xemacs-21.1.3-sparc-sun-solaris2.6.tar.gz

I'm afraid XEmacs 21.1 is so ancient you can't expect anything less
than ten years old to work with it, and even that's optimistic.

Compile a recent XEmacs (21.4 is officially stable, but almost
everybody (except me) uses 21.5), and get a current VM.

[J***@Encompasserve.org]

A h/w failure resulted in a mail semi-outage. A secondary spool caught
mail that didn't hit primary, but overlaps with deleted mail etc. etc.

Hence the goal posted. Installing a compiler to compile the latest
XEmacs to run the lasted VM in to sort the mailspool didn't strike me
at the time as the fastest way to get the mail sorted. I didn't care
if XEmacs 21.1.3 wasn't the latest and greatest, or for that matter,
vm 8.09. Googling sort mbox mail file produced similar queries for
similar reasons for which someone posted vm as the solution. That's
why I downloaded a pre-compiled binary, rather than install gcc and
compile XEmacs from source. Sorting the mail is my goal rather than
equipping myself with compilers and latest Emacs-based text editor.

[John Stoffel]

JACKSON> A h/w failure resulted in a mail semi-outage. A secondary
JACKSON> spool caught mail that didn't hit primary, but overlaps with
JACKSON> deleted mail etc. etc.

Bummers. HW failures are a great way of showing you where you forgot
to do proper redundancy. God knows I've been bitten before too.

JACKSON> Hence the goal posted. Installing a compiler to compile the
JACKSON> latest XEmacs to run the lasted VM in to sort the mailspool
JACKSON> didn't strike me at the time as the fastest way to get the
JACKSON> mail sorted. I didn't care if XEmacs 21.1.3 wasn't the
JACKSON> latest and greatest, or for that matter, vm 8.09. Googling
JACKSON> sort mbox mail file produced similar queries for similar
JACKSON> reasons for which someone posted vm as the solution. That's
JACKSON> why I downloaded a pre-compiled binary, rather than install
JACKSON> gcc and compile XEmacs from source. Sorting the mail is my
JACKSON> goal rather than equipping myself with compilers and latest
JACKSON> Emacs-based text editor.

Maybe it would be better to use procmail to filter your emails,
dumping those that were seen already, and forwarding back to the
primary spool those you haven't seen?

Obviously, you'd run this on the primary, pulling from the secondary,
to merge the mailspools.

http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~thurston/ua/pm-tips.html#kill_duplicate_messages

John

[Uday Reddy]

Post by J***@Encompasserve.org
Hi you brainy lot, :) I'd appreciate your solutions. Thanks & regards.
Goal: Sort unix mbox into chronological order, removing duplicates
Platform: Sun/Oracle SPARC Solaris 10 or 11
Done: 1. Installed latest binary xemacs-21.1.3-sparc-sun-solaris2.6.tar.gz
2. Installed xemacs-all-packages.tar.gz containing vm-8.09
3. Launched XEmacs > Apps > Read Mail (VM). Result:-

Given that you are only interested in getting your mbox back into shape
rather than the long-term use of VM, your best bet is to install

- GNU Emacs version 23.x
- a compiled binary of a recent VM version from here:

https://launchpad.net/vm/+download

As people have remarked, the latest beta version, vm-8.2.0b should work
fine.

If the compiled binary doesn't work for you, you can also get the source
version and compile it for yourself. The INSTALL file gives instructions
for building it.

The recent versions will have a function called
vm-delete-duplicate-messages, which removes duplicate copies, using the
message id for identification. But, note that this function selects the
*first* copy of each message (as seen in the mbox) and deletes the later
copies. You might need to double check that the copies it retains are the
good ones before expunging the other copies.

Cheers,
Uday