Elm (e-mail client)
Encyclopedia
Elm, is a text-based email client commonly found on Unix
systems. It became popular as one of the first email clients to use a text user interface
, and as a utility with freely-available source code
. The name elm originated from the phrase ELectronic Mail.
Dave Taylor (currently with Intuitive Systems) developed elm while working for Hewlett-Packard
. Development later passed to a team of volunteers. The latest public release occurred in August 2005, version 2.5.8 (available via the site below).
Other popular email readers which followed elm and took it as an inspiration include the Mutt and Pine programs. From about 1995 elm slipped in popularity and functionality, and it now sees relatively little use.
Bill Pemberton of the University of Virginia
currently maintains elm. A former Elm Coordinator was Sydney Weinstein from the Myxa Corporation.
Unix
Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...
systems. It became popular as one of the first email clients to use a text user interface
Text user interface
TUI short for: Text User Interface or Textual User Interface , is a retronym that was coined sometime after the invention of graphical user interfaces, to distinguish them from text-based user interfaces...
, and as a utility with freely-available source code
Source code
In computer science, source code is text written using the format and syntax of the programming language that it is being written in. Such a language is specially designed to facilitate the work of computer programmers, who specify the actions to be performed by a computer mostly by writing source...
. The name elm originated from the phrase ELectronic Mail.
Dave Taylor (currently with Intuitive Systems) developed elm while working for Hewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard Company or HP is an American multinational information technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, USA that provides products, technologies, softwares, solutions and services to consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and large enterprises, including...
. Development later passed to a team of volunteers. The latest public release occurred in August 2005, version 2.5.8 (available via the site below).
Other popular email readers which followed elm and took it as an inspiration include the Mutt and Pine programs. From about 1995 elm slipped in popularity and functionality, and it now sees relatively little use.
Bill Pemberton of the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
currently maintains elm. A former Elm Coordinator was Sydney Weinstein from the Myxa Corporation.
Release history
To get an idea of the period when elm was used and developed, this is a list of major.minor releases, included the last .patch level.- 1986-11-30 first release?
- 1987-03-08 elm2
- 1989-04-12 elm2.2
- 1990-12-16 elm-2.3.0
- 1993-01-05 elm-2.4
- 1996-01-26 elm2.4.25
- 1999-03-24 elm2.5.0
- 2004-05-21 elm2.5.7
- 2005-08-18 elm2.5.8