Running multiple copies of Mail?

R

rfm

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Is there a way to run two seperate copies of Apple Mail on the same system? My wife also uses my computer and I don't want to set up a separe user profile for her. It would mean continuously having to log off and log in. Too much hassle. I am using Entourage now, whilst she has taken possession of Mail but I would rather use Mail too.
 
Probably not - they would both use the same preference file, and the same place to store all the mail, so they would have identical setups.
 
What are you trying to accomplish?

Using two different mail programs or the same one twice will have the same effect. The mailbox(es) will be stored in the currently logged in user's home. And you may corrupt the mail programs database!

If you can convince one of the mail program processes to write to your wife' home directory then the file permissions will be all wrong.

If what you are trying to avoid is creating a separate computer user account for your wife, then just setup multiple email accounts within the single mail program (supported in both Mail and Entourage). Rules could then organize the mail.

Am I understanding what you are trying to do?
 
I suggest you give her a separate account on your computer. In the long run you'll be better off, as there is much less chance of her trashing your precious data - or more to the point - of you trashing hers. She doesn't really want to look at all your hyper-masculine desktop pictures anyways, does she?
 
Thanks for your replies! I guess what I had in mind isn't really possible.

My wife had a seperate account on my computer but when I was logged in she tended to come around and say "can I just quickly check my mail?" or "I quickly want to check this webpage...". Logging out of my account and into her account just never happened, it isn't practical.

I know I can have multiple accounts on Mail and filter all incoming messages. I was just looking for someting that went a bit further than that. What would be great is an option in Mail that would at startup ask under what personality you would want to log in similar to Mac OSX.

Anyway...thanks!
 
Slur,

It took me awhile to figure it out, but your avatar is incredible! Way to go!
 
rfm, what you want to do, can only be done through the command line, with command line apps or x11 apps. I haven't found a way to get Aqua apps to run as different users!
 
Originally posted by wiz
rfm, what you want to do, can only be done through the command line, with command line apps or x11 apps. I haven't found a way to get Aqua apps to run as different users!
Click to expand...
Maybe yes, maybe no...

If his wife could issue the following command lines, wouldn't this open Mail from his account using her account... and therefore using her home directory preferences?
Code: 
{husband}# su {wife}
{wife}# Open /Applications/Mail.app/
Can't you then use AppleScript or something to call this command line script so that she does not have to do anything except double-click an AppleScript icon?
 
No...the open command won't work.

The application won't be able to make a connection to the window manager under that case because of the different permissions.
 
I know for a fact that i can run BBedit as root doing this... The only thing I am not sure about is where it reads the preferences from.
 
No...when you use root like that, it still opens under the user you're logged in as. Do the open command as root, then do ps -auxc - you'll see that BBEdit (though it'll be listed as LaunchCFMApp...err, unless they've come out with an OSX version rather than a Carbon one) is running as the user you're logged in as, NOT root.

When you try to use the open command from some other user, it won't even launch at all.
 
You can always have her check her mail account via the web if your isp has webmail. My wife does this with my laptop all the time.
 
Originally posted by Darkshadow
No...when you use root like that, it still opens under the user you're logged in as. Do the open command as root, then do ps -auxc - you'll see that BBEdit (though it'll be listed as LaunchCFMApp...err, unless they've come out with an OSX version rather than a Carbon one) is running as the user you're logged in as, NOT root.

When you try to use the open command from some other user, it won't even launch at all.
Click to expand...
Okay...

I see that you are right, but the odd thing is that doing this DOES allow BBEdit to read/modify files that only root has access to... So something else must be going on in this instance.
 
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