[Asrg] What can we expect MUAs to do?

[John Levine <[e-mail]>]

It seems to me that a lot of these arguments would be easier to resolve
if we had an agreed model of an MUA.  So here's an attempt to do so.
This is a generic model of an MUA, the things we can expect any MUA,
or at least most MUAs to do.  The items with one star are supposed to
be universal, the ones with two stars common but not all MUAs do it

* Log into a POP server and retrieve mail

** Remember the credentials for that server

** Log into several POP servers, remember several sets of credentials

* Log into one or more IMAP servers and do IMAP stuff

** Remember the credentials for that server

** Log into several IMAP servers, remember several sets of credentials

* Compose and send mail (maybe via SUBMIT, maybe hand off to
  another program)

** Use multiple outbound channels

** Some MUAs match up inbound and outbound channels, some don't

* Store mail messages locally

* Display mail messages to the user

** Render HTML

** Make HTTP requests, needed for HTML rendering

Anything important I forgot?

R's,
John