Gnus vs mblaze
Gnus: Mail and news reader built into GNU Emacs, with back ends for IMAP, POP3, local mail folders and NNTP.
mblaze: Set of small Unix utilities for reading, searching, threading and composing mail stored in Maildir folders.
Differences
- Gnus is a mail client that runs inside Emacs; mblaze is a command-line program.
- Only Gnus has built-in IMAP, POP3, SMTP and mbox.
- On Windows, Gnus runs natively and mblaze runs through WSL.
- On Android, Gnus runs through Termux and mblaze is not available.
- Gnus has mouse support; mblaze does not.
- Gnus has calendar support; mblaze does not.
- Gnus has S/MIME; mblaze does not.
- Gnus has OAuth2 sign-in; mblaze does not.
- Gnus is written in Emacs Lisp; mblaze in C.
- Configuration: Gnus uses Emacs Lisp in init.el or ~/.gnus.el, and mblaze uses ~/.mblaze/profile (header-style key: value lines).
Side by side
| Gnus | mblaze | |
|---|---|---|
| Interface | Runs inside Emacs | Command-line tools and prompts |
| Language | Emacs Lisp | C |
| License | GPL 3.0 or later | CC0 1.0 and MIT |
| Latest version | 5.13 (bundled with Emacs 31.1) | 1.4 |
| Linux | Native | Native |
| macOS | Native | Native |
| Windows | Native | Through WSL |
| BSD | Native | Native |
| Android | Through Termux | No |
| IMAP | Yes | Through a separate tool |
| POP3 | Yes | Through a separate tool |
| SMTP | Yes | Through a separate tool |
| JMAP | No | No |
| Maildir | Yes | Yes |
| mbox | Yes | No |
| notmuch | Through a separate tool | No |
| OpenPGP | Yes | via contrib scripts |
| S/MIME | Yes | No |
| OAuth2 sign-in | via plugin | No |
| Threads | Yes | Yes |
| Search | gnus-search: IMAP SEARCH, or notmuch, mu, mairix and other local indexers | mpick and magrep filter messages by headers, flags and content |
| HTML mail | built-in, rendered with the Emacs shr library | via a filter command in ~/.mblaze/filter used by mshow |
| Mouse | Yes | No |
| Multiple accounts | Yes | via separate Maildirs and profile settings |
| Offline use | via the Gnus agent or local Maildir back ends | full; works only on local Maildir |
| Calendar | replies to invitations with gnus-icalendar | No |
| Contacts | via BBDB or EUDC | No |
| Vim-style keys | No | No |
| Configuration | Emacs Lisp in init.el or ~/.gnus.el | ~/.mblaze/profile (header-style key: value lines) |
Which to choose
Choose Gnus for
- Included with every GNU Emacs install, including native Windows builds.
- Reads IMAP directly, plus local Maildir, MH and mbox stores and NNTP newsgroups.
- Scoring, splitting and the Gnus agent allow detailed filtering and offline reading.
Watch out for
- The group, summary and article model takes time to learn.
- IMAP access runs inside Emacs, so large mailboxes can make Emacs wait.
- Configuration is Emacs Lisp spread across many variables.
Choose mblaze for
- Each command does one job, so mail handling is easy to combine in pipes and scripts.
- Works directly on Maildir with no index or database to maintain.
- Small C programs with no external library dependencies.
Watch out for
- No built-in IMAP, POP3 or SMTP; needs mbsync and msmtp or similar tools.
- Command-line only, with no full-screen interface.
- OpenPGP and S/MIME handling relies on unsupported contrib scripts.
Questions
What is the difference between Gnus and mblaze?
Gnus is a mail client that runs inside Emacs; mblaze is a command-line program. Only Gnus has built-in IMAP, POP3, SMTP and mbox. On Windows, Gnus runs natively and mblaze runs through WSL.
Which runs on Windows, Gnus or mblaze?
On Windows, Gnus runs natively. On Windows, mblaze runs through WSL.
See also: Gnus alternatives, mblaze alternatives.