View source for Elm (email client)

{{About|the email client|the tree|Elm tree|the programming language|Elm (programming language)|other uses|Elm (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox software
|name=Elm
|screenshot = [[File:Elm.png|250px|]]
|author=Dave Taylor
|developer=Bill Pemberton
|released={{Start date and age|1986}}
|latest release version = {{wikidata|property|preferred|references|edit|Q1332651|P348|P548=Q2804309}}
|latest release date = {{wikidata|qualifier|preferred|single|Q1332651|P348|P548=Q2804309|P577}}
|latest preview version = {{wikidata|property|preferred|references|edit|Q1332651|P348|P548=Q51930650}}
|latest preview date = {{wikidata|qualifier|preferred|single|Q1332651|P348|P548=Q51930650|P577}}
|operating system=Any [[Unix-like]]
|genre=[[Email client]]
|license=[[BSD licenses|BSD-like]]
|website={{URL|www.instinct.org/elm/}}
}}
'''Elm''' is a text-based [[email client]] commonly found on [[Unix]] systems. First released in 1986, 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 '''''EL'''ectronic '''M'''ail''.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Unix & Shell Programming|last=Nagpal|first=Namrata|publisher=word-press|year=2009|isbn=9788190750530|pages=118}}</ref>

Dave Taylor (currently with Intuitive Systems) developed elm while working for [[Hewlett-Packard]].<ref>{{cite web | title=Dave Taylor's Biographical Information | url=http://www.intuitive.com/bio.shtml | access-date=2008-02-06 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130417002359/http://www.intuitive.com/bio.shtml | archive-date=2013-04-17 | url-status=dead }}</ref> Development later passed to a team of volunteers. The latest ({{as of|2014|5|21|lc=on}}) public release was version 2.5.8 in August 2005.

Other popular text-based email readers which followed elm and took it as an inspiration include [[Pine (email client)|Pine]] (1989) and [[Mutt (email client)|Mutt]] (1995). 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.

==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

==Unofficial versions==
Volunteer developers have forked the Elm code several times, producing modern versions of Elm with fixes and enhancements not in the official development branch. Among the more popular of these distributions are Kari Hurtta's "Millennium Edition" Elm 2.4 ME+ and Elm ME+ 2.5, both of which build upon Michael Elkins' extensions of Elm 2.4.24.

==See also==
* [[Comparison of email clients]]
* [[Text-based email client]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
*[http://www.instinct.org/elm/ Elm homepage] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021003013810/http://www.instinct.org/elm/ |date=2002-10-03 }}
*[http://www.guckes.net/mutt/vs.elm.html A comparison of Elm with Mutt]
*[http://viridian.itc.virginia.edu/elm2.5.8.tar.gz The current official version of Elm]{{Dead link|date=August 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} (source code tarball)
*[http://www.nic.funet.fi/index/unix/packages/elm elm packages on funet.fi]
*[http://www.elmme-mailer.org/ Elm ME+ homepage]

{{Email clients}}

[[Category:Email client software for Linux]]
[[Category:Termcap]]
[[Category:Software using the BSD license]]


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