View Source: PINE - Waikato Linux Users Group

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[PINE | http://www.washington.edu/pine/] is an [Acronym] for __P__rogram for InterNet __N__ews & __E__mail.


The name [Pine|PINE] was the obvious choice, being a tree like [Elm], being prominent in the Pacific North West and with many possible acronyms. The first acronym choice was __P__ine __I__s __N__early __E__lm as that was the case. It has ''never'' stood for __P__ine __I__s __N__ot __E__lm as we were happy to have Elm as a starting point. For more naming history, visit [What "Pine" really stands for|http://www.island-resort.com/pine.htm].


It's a console based mail client written at The University of Washington but licensed under non-[Free] terms, so that many [LinuxDistribution]s (such as [Debian]) do not contain it. Features include

* Support for Roles - This allows you to easily assume different Roles (ie. From Addresses / Signatures) when composing mail.
* Excellent [IMAP]/IMAPS Support
* It's very quick and can be used over any [SSH] connection, unlike other graphical [MailClient]s.
* Very simple menu and key configurations unlike other console mail clients such as [Mutt] which take a lot more learning. (Of course this can also be construed as a weakness.)
* It's not MozillaMail

A major disadvantage is that it will not check for new email in multiple INBOXes automatically: you need to press Tab.

10 pages link to PINE:

Last edited on Tuesday, March 9, 2004 10:22:13 am by DavidHallett

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