mblaze vs Wanderlust
mblaze: Set of small Unix utilities for reading, searching, threading and composing mail stored in Maildir folders.
Wanderlust: Mail and news reader for Emacs, written in Emacs Lisp, with built-in IMAP, POP3, NNTP and SMTP support.
Differences
- mblaze is a command-line program; Wanderlust is a mail client that runs inside Emacs.
- Only Wanderlust has built-in IMAP, POP3 and SMTP.
- On Android, mblaze is not available and Wanderlust runs through Termux.
- Wanderlust has mouse support; mblaze does not.
- Wanderlust has OAuth2 sign-in; mblaze does not.
- mblaze is written in C; Wanderlust in Emacs Lisp.
- Configuration: mblaze uses ~/.mblaze/profile (header-style key: value lines), and Wanderlust uses Emacs Lisp in ~/.wl, folder list in ~/.folders.
Side by side
| mblaze | Wanderlust | |
|---|---|---|
| Interface | Command-line tools and prompts | Runs inside Emacs |
| Language | C | Emacs Lisp |
| License | CC0 1.0 and MIT | GPL 2.0 or later |
| Latest version | 1.4 | 2.15.9 |
| Linux | Native | Native |
| macOS | Native | Native |
| Windows | Through WSL | Through WSL |
| BSD | Native | Native |
| Android | No | Through Termux |
| IMAP | Through a separate tool | Yes |
| POP3 | Through a separate tool | Yes |
| SMTP | Through a separate tool | Yes |
| JMAP | No | No |
| Maildir | Yes | Yes |
| mbox | No | No |
| notmuch | No | Through a separate tool |
| OpenPGP | via contrib scripts | Yes |
| S/MIME | No | No |
| OAuth2 sign-in | No | via oauth2.el |
| Threads | Yes | Yes |
| Search | mpick and magrep filter messages by headers, flags and content | IMAP server-side search; local search via mu, notmuch, grep or namazu |
| HTML mail | via a filter command in ~/.mblaze/filter used by mshow | via mime-w3m (emacs-w3m) |
| Mouse | No | Yes |
| Multiple accounts | via separate Maildirs and profile settings | Yes |
| Offline use | full; works only on local Maildir | message cache and disconnected operation |
| Calendar | No | No |
| Contacts | No | built-in address book |
| Vim-style keys | No | No |
| Configuration | ~/.mblaze/profile (header-style key: value lines) | Emacs Lisp in ~/.wl, folder list in ~/.folders |
Which to choose
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.
Choose Wanderlust for
- Built-in IMAP, POP3 and SMTP; no external sync or send tool needed
- Offline cache with disconnected operation
- Packaged in Debian, Ubuntu, Arch, FreeBSD and MELPA
Watch out for
- No formal release in many years; only 2.15.9 snapshots
- Folder syntax and the APEL/FLIM/SEMI dependency stack take time to learn
- Debian and Ubuntu ship an older snapshot than MELPA and Arch
Questions
What is the difference between mblaze and Wanderlust?
mblaze is a command-line program; Wanderlust is a mail client that runs inside Emacs. Only Wanderlust has built-in IMAP, POP3 and SMTP. On Android, mblaze is not available and Wanderlust runs through Termux.
Which runs on Windows, mblaze or Wanderlust?
On Windows, mblaze runs through WSL. On Windows, Wanderlust runs through WSL.
See also: mblaze alternatives, Wanderlust alternatives.