Now that you mention it, I could start another thread with the
subject, ``Why do we need Soup Packets for Linux?''
Mail and news is usually stored on your ISP server in relatively
simple, ``traditional'' text file formats with no wierd non-ASCII
characters and such, as found in yarn folders -- e.g., Unix mailbox
format, and rmail format.
If you have Unix and its traditional mail/news readers on your own
PC, you have programs that already read these formats. You can download
your news and mail files directly from the ISP, using ftp, zmodem, POP --
or whatever protocol is most convenient to get files. Your Linux mail
and news readers can read these files directly, with no need to alter
them at all.
As I understand the history of the SOUP format, it was a revision of the
original QWK format used to download BBS message files. The QWK format
had various problems, like it would not handle long subject lines.
But SOUP is an intermediate format -- you convert your ISP's news/mail
to SOUP, transport it to your PC, then convert it again to Yarn's format,
MS Outlook format, or whatever strange file type your PC reader has adapted.
Why bother with all the conversions?
I dont really see an advantage to packing news/mail into a SOUP format,
if you already have a version of Unix on your PC. I guess it is that
``Tower of Babel'' problem again -- finding common formats that various
programs will all understand.